vl hrm b

VL HRM B – G. Grote ETHZ, SS07

Human Resource Management (HRM)

What?… the functional area of an organization that is responsible for all aspects of hiring

and supporting employees (e.g., providing and administering employee benefits).

… all the activities related to the recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, retention, separation, and support of employees.

… functions within a company that relate to people.

Why?… is the effective use of human resources in order to enhance organisational

performance.… the process of evaluating human resource needs, finding people to fill those

needs, and getting the best work from each employee by providing the right incentives and job environment, all with the goal of meeting the needs of the firm.

… applying human resources within complex systems such that people succeed, performance improves, and human error decreases.

(Quelle: web definitions for HRM)


Effects of HRM

• HRM-practices (especially job design and selection/ appraisal/training) better predict company performance than R&D, QM, strategy and technology (West, 2001)

• Empowerment better predicts company performance than technology-based management practices (Patterson et al., 2004)

• HRM-practices as cause and effect of company performance (Guest et al., 2003)


HRM from a work and organizational psychology perspective

• Scientific foundation for HRM tools • HRM as a function penetrating the whole

organization• Focus on working conditions as influences on

human competence and motivation• Systematic linking of "fit human to task" and

"fit task to human"


Road map for HRM A

MotivationSatisfaction

Performance

Task /Work process


Road map for HRM B

MotivationSatisfaction

Performance

Personnel selection

Performance appraisal / Compensation

Personnel development

Task /Work process


Topics HRM B: Leading teams

19.3. Introduction; Core functions of HRM – Benchmarking HRM

26.3. HRM as strategic and operative leadership task; Personnel selection: Theory

2.4. Personnel selection: Instruments (exercise in small groups)

16.4. Performance appraisal: Instruments for employee (and leader) appraisal

23.4. Compensation: Job evaluation, salary systems; Personnel development

30.4. Management by Objectives: Integrating appraisal/compensation/development in leadership

7.5. Leadership

14.5. Guest speaker from industry

21.5. Teams

4.6. Teams (exercise in small groups)

11.6. Discussion of student projects in small groups

18.6. Managing diversity; Exam preparation


Organization of course

• HRM B provides 3 ETCS points (approx. 75-90 work hours).

• Besides the lecture, the prerequisite for credits points and exam participation is the completion of a semester project in groups of 4 students.

• The exam is written (1.5 hours; open book) and takes place the first week of the holidays. Overall grade: 30% project & 70% exam.

• Material for each lecture by the previous friday on www.oat.ethz.ch.


Semester project

• Choose one of four topics:– 1: Leadership assessment– 2: Best practice in HRM– 3: Pay for performance– 4: Promotion of employability

• Work in groups of four - final product is written report (to be handed in by June 18)

• Depending on topic chosen, project entails literature reviews, interviews/observations/document analyses in companies, group exercises

• Selection of topics/assignment to groups: fill out sign-up sheet


1: Leadership assessment Marius Gerber & Barbara Künzle

• Assessment Center: Evaluation of personal characteristics based on behavior in realistic situations

• Task: develop and test an assessment method for leadership based on a chosen theory of leadership

• Methods: determine relevant personal characteristics related to good leadership behavior, create an assessment scenario and carry out an assessment


2: Best Practice in HRMSabine Raeder & Johann Weichbrodt

• Best practice: finding businesses with an excellent HRM (Swiss HR-Award), focus on practice, not results

• Task: evaluate a company’s HRM and create a ranking list

• Methods: create interview guidelines and conduct structured interviews with HR or general managers


3: Pay for PerformanceHannes Günter

• Pay for performance systems: potential for serious unintended negative results, but also for substantial performance improvements

• Task: systematically evaluate an existing pay for performance system

• Methods: interviews with system designers and employees; benchmarking using ProMES


4: Promotion of EmployabilityAnette Wittekind & Daniel Boos

• Employability: an individual’s chance of getting a job in the labor market; advantageous for employees, but also for employers (social responsibility)

• Task: identify employability enhancement activities in Swiss companies

• Methods: send out a questionnaire to Swiss companies and analyze the results


Sign-up sheet


"Benchmarking": Characteristics of HRM in successful

companies (Pfeffer, 1998)

1. Employment security

2. Selective hiring

3. Self-managed teams and decentralization

4. High compensation contingent on organizational performance

5. Extensive training

6. Reduction of status differences

7. Sharing information


Formerly

Fir

m $

t

Em

plo

yee

Legal and psychological contracts

Job security

Hard WorkLoyalty E

mp

loye

e

Fir

m

Today

Em

plo

yee

t + Goal achievement

Fir

m $ + Goals

Hard WorkLoyalty

Employability

Em

plo

yee

Fir

m

Work flexibility, Downsizing

Legal contract

Psychological contract


Flexible working: Change from a traditional to a new contract?

(Raeder & Grote, 2001)

Traditional contract New contract

Job security / Life-long employment

Flexibility / Accepting insecurity

Internal promotion Internal development

Specialization Goal / Performance orientation

Loyalty/ Identification

Employability / Focus on own competencies


Fit between expectations and offers – Employee perspective

Degree of company flexibility Content of psychological contract

low medium high

Learning opportunities -- -- --

Security - -- ---

Company offer - Employee expectation

Professional development - --- --

Flexibility + - --

Performance orientation = = =

Employee offer - Company expectation

Skill spectrum = + =


(Non-)Fit of employer offers and employee expectations

(Wittekind, Raeder & Grote, 2005)

Security and commitment

Learning opportunities in work task

Opportunities for development within the firm

Competence development

Participation in decision-making

Flexibility

-1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5

Unt. A (Sicht Mitarbeitende) Unt. B (Sicht Mitarbeitende)Unt. C (Sicht Mitarbeitende) Unt. D (Sicht Mitarbeitende)Unt. E (Sicht Mitarbeitende) Unt. A (Sicht Führung)Unt. B (Sicht Führung) Unt. C (Sicht Führung)Unt. D (Sicht Führung) Unt. E (Sicht Führung)


(Non-)Fit of employee offers and employer expectations

(Wittekind, Raeder & Grote, 2005)

Performance orientation

Employee flexibility

Loyalty

Employability

-1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0Unt. A (Sicht Mitarbeitende) Unt. B (Sicht Mitarbeitende)Unt. C (Sicht Mitarbeitende) Unt. D (Sicht Mitarbeitende)Unt. E (Sicht Mitarbeitende) Unt. A (Sicht Führung)Unt. B (Sicht Führung) Unt. C (Sicht Führung)Unt. D (Sicht Führung) Unt. E (Sicht Führung)


Career orientations in Switzerland (Swiss HR-Barometer 2006, Grote & Staffelbach)

Versus Looking ahead at your work life, which of the following would you choose?

%

Being employable in a range of jobs 52 48 Having job security

Managing your own career 80 20

Having your organization manage your career for you

A short time in lots of organizations 25 75 A long time with one organisation

A series of jobs at the same kind of level

46 54 Striving for promotion into more senior posts

Living for the present 45 55 Planning for the future

Work as marginal to your life 16 84 Work as central to your life

A career is not important to you 66 34

Career success is very important to you

Commitment to yourself and your career

51 49 Commitment to the organisation

Traditional career Independent career Disengaged career


Psychological contract as leadership instrument

Psychological contracts ...…complement and super-impose

legal contracts.…contain reciprocal, though not

necessarily correspon-ding expectations and offers between employee and employer.

…are derived from verbal agreements as well as from behaviors of contract partners and other members of the organization.

The more corresponding

and the more explicit the

agreement

the sounder the psychological contract.


Using the psychological contract to handle employment uncertainties

• Communicate and match reciprocal expectations and offers

• Early, comprehensive information also on uncertain developments (individual and organizational)

• Support employability through training, job design, and systematic career management

Distribute risks between organization and employee according to individual coping capabilities

Further organizational commitment which allows for flexibility and "thinking in options"





2. Selective hiring







Fundamentals of organizational design (Kieser & Kubicek, 1983)

• Specialization: Distribution of labor, resulting in different kinds of work tasks

• Coordination: management of dependencies among subtasks, resources, and people

• Configuration: Structure of line of command

• Delegation of decision authority: Distribution of decision authority regarding actions and decision rules

• Formalization: Determination of rules and procedures, e.g. structures, flow of information, performance measurement/assessment


Organization as socio-technical system

H U M A N T A S K

M o t i v a t i o n t h r o u g h t a s k o r i e n t a t i o n

T a s k c o m p l e t e n e s s

P l a n n i n g a n d d e c i s i o n m a k i n g r e q u i r e m e n t

T a s k v a r i e t y

C o m m u n i c a t i o n r e q u i r e m e n t s

O r g a n i z a t i o n a l t r a n s p a r e n c y

C o n t r o l o v e r w o r k i n g c o n d i t i o n s

O p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r l e a r n i n g a n d d e v e l o p m e n t

T e m p o r a l f l e x i b i l i t y

W O R K S Y S T E M

S e l f - r e g u l a t i o n i n

s m a l l c o n t r o l l o o p s

T a s k c o m p l e t e n e s s

R e l a t i v e i n d e p e n d e n c e

F i t o f r e g u l a t i o n n e e d s a n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s

P o l y v a l e n c e o f o p e r a t o r s

A u t o n o m y o f p r o d u c t i o n g r o u p s

B o u n d a r y r e g u l a t i o n b y s u p e r i o r s

H U M A N - M A C H I N E S Y S T E M

C o n t r o l l a b i l i t y

b y h u m a n o p e r a t o r

P r o c e s s t r a n s p a r e n c y

D y n a m i c c o u p l i n g

F i t o f d e c i s i o n a u t h o r i t y a n d r e s p o n s i b i l i t y

F l e x i b l e f u n c t i o n a l l o c a t i o n

C o m p e t e n c e f o r

c o p i n g w i t h v a r i a n c e s

a t t h e i r s o u r c e

C r i t e r i a f o r c o m p l e m e n t a r y s y s t e m d e s i g n


Prerequsites for good team work

• Adequate common task – Complexity higher than individual competencies– Clear performance criteria– Collective decision competence

• Shared goal orientation – Positive goal coupling– Goal transparency and feedback

• Adequate group composition– Different perspectives on the task– Shared language

• Development of group rules– Adequate group size– Support for team development (form, storm, norm, perform)– Explicit handling of conflicts between individual and collective autonomy





2. Selective hiring







Integration of "fit human to task" and "fit task to human"

Strive for dynamic relationship between people and work to keep people and organization moving

Select people that want to and can develop = learning ability and willingness as important selection criterion

Personnel development via training and via work assignments that further learning

Support for lateral und vertical careers in systematic processes of selection and development


Fit task to human (focus in HRM A)

• Job design

• Job crafting

supports dynamic relationship between person and work if tasks are created that include autonomy and learning requirements


Job design as crucial measure for personnel development

• Design of humane work tasks in order to further– health– competencies– personality

• based on the psychosocial functions of work


The product of work is people• Relationship between work and leisure activities

– no relationship - empirical finding only for subjective assessment by people themselves, especially for "identity threating work" (Hoff, 1986)

– work changes leisure - most frequent empirical finding (e.g. Meissner, 1971; Leitner, 1993)

– leisure compensates for work - empirical finding especially regarding compensation of strain (e.g. Bamberg, 1986)

• Reciprocal relationship between intellectual job demands and development of intelligence (Schallberger, 1987)

– selection effect (more intelligent people get more demanding jobs) and – socialization effect (demanding jobs further intelligence) result in– widening gap (for more intelligent people intelligence increases, for

less intelligent people intelligence stays the same/decreases)


Fit human to task (focus in HRM B)

• Personnel selection

• Training

supports dynamic relationship if people are chosen/trained for motivation and capability to learn


Topics HRM B: Leading teams

19.3. Introduction; Core functions of HRM – Benchmarking HRM

26.3. HRM as strategic and operative leadership task; Personnel selection: Theory

2.4. Personnel selection: Instruments (exercise in small groups)

16.4. Performance appraisal: Instruments for employee (and leader) appraisal

23.4. Compensation: Job evaluation, salary systems; Personnel development

30.4. Management by Objectives: Integrating appraisal/compensation/development in leadership

7.5. Leadership

14.5. Guest speaker from industry

21.5. Teams

4.6. Teams (exercise in small groups)

11.6. Discussion of student projects in small groups

18.6. Managing diversity; Exam preparation

vl hrm b – g. grote ethz, ss07 human resource management (hrm) what? …the functional area of an...

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