Deck 16: Strategically Managing the Hrm Function

Question 1

Xerox's HR function focuses on three initiatives: (a) employee value proposition (what can employees expect from the company, and what can the company expect from employees ), (b) performance culture (how can the company develop a culture that encourages continuous improvement and high performance from all employees ), and (c) "three exceptional candidates" (how can HR deliver a pipeline of three-deep bench talent for every position within the organization ). From everything you have learned, how might Xerox address each of these issues

Answer 1

People are the tartest resource for an organization. In order to make sure that the business will succeed, it is essential to look after the employees. They should be treated fair, managed well and provided with opportunities to ace the overall business plan. Hence, a company should take an ongoing effort in managing its human force to be successful in the market.
• Employee value proposition: Company X should focus on improving employee value proposition. It is a crucial way for employers to ensure that appropriate people are reached and interested to work in the organization. The company must invest resources and time to improvise employee value proposition. It can be done by offering career opportunities, focusing on employee engagement, designing a generous reward package, creating a supportive organizational culture and taking the full spectrum of employees into consideration.
• Performance culture: To create a performance culture, company X need to pay attention on the characteristics of a high-performance culture. Company X needs to clarify and communicate the organizational values to make the organization a better place to work. Organizational values drive everyday behavior of people working in it. Reinforcing a positive attitude in the team members is a tool to motivate them to work more productively. An open line of communication with unbiased and fluid conversations results in a vibrant environment. Employees expect to feel empowered to take initiatives and utilizing their full potential. The company can foster growth in employees by showing them trust, communicating the vision, allowing freedom and arranging required training. The company should make sure that it won't miss on any of these characteristics of high performance culture.
• Three exceptional candidates: Hiring people is the most important decision of an HR manager. In a competitive job market, it is really challenging to make the right hire, but the three exceptional candidates' strategy can help HR managers to feel prepared about filling a job position. The company needs to identify its high potential employees who are skilled and passionate about moving into different roles. After that, the high potential employees should be developed to perform their next role through development plans and learning paths. In addition, the company must review its talent pool time to time to build strong talent pipeline.

Question 2

How would an effective strategic HRM function contribute to keeping Starbucks on track

Answer 2

Strategic human resource management establishes a connection between the human resource of an organization and its strategic objectives. Human resource plays the most vital role in making a strategic human resource management effective and successful. It is basically about looking at the ways to make the impact of human resource on business growth. SB adopted a strategic approach in developing and retaining their employees to meet the needs of the coffee store in a long run.
Case background:
The case analyses about the largest coffee house chain in the world, SB. Over the years, SB has expanded rapidly and has provided an ultimate coffee experience to million of people across world. Chairman of SB, HS is on a mission to take the coffee shop giant back to its root with an aim to triple sales in five year. He is asking is human force to redouble their efforts to return back to roots.
An effective strategic HRM function will keep the company on track by following way:
• The success of strategic HR is based on how well an organization aligns the business goals with human resource by gaining a thorough understanding of aims and objectives. It will enable the company to articulate its growth plans to the relevant man force.
• Evaluation of human resource capability will enable SB to understand the employees it has and their capability in contributing to fulfill the goals. The assessment of their capacity will help SB to recognize the hurdles and implement appropriate plan of action in order to capitalize the opportunities.
• The process will allow SB to make an analysis future HR requirement as a tool to forecast the HR needs. An effective strategic human resource function will take the business to a new level, by integrating the HR workflow, defining new goals, aligning the human force with business flourishing.

Question 3

How ethical are you Read each of the following descriptions. For each, circle whether you believe the behavior described is ethical or unethical.
To increase profits, a general manager used a production process that exceeded legal limits for environmental pollution.
Now score your results. How many actions did you judge to be unethical
All of these actions are unethical. The more of the actions you judged to be unethical, the better your understanding of ethical business behavior.

Answer 3

Ethics refers to the concept of set of principles that govern an individual's or an entity's moral conduct in the society. Ethics defines if a certain activity is morally good or bad for the people it will affect. It also defines the moral duty and obligations of the individual or entity. Ethics guides an individual's or entity's personal choices and behaviors so that their actions are aligned with the moral code defined by the society they exist in.
To increase profits, a general manager used a production process that exceeded legal limits for environmental pollution. - Unethical
The government has set in place some regulations for companies to minimize their impact on environment and reduce pollution caused by them. The companies have to comply with the policies and regulations or they would be penalized and legal action would be taken against them. As the production process exceeds legal limits for environmental pollution, it is both unethical and illegal.

Question 4

Why do you think that few companies take the time to determine the effectiveness of HRM practices Should a company be concerned about evaluating HRM practices Why What might people working in the HRM function gain by evaluating the function

Question 5

How ethical are you Read each of the following descriptions. For each, circle whether you believe the behavior described is ethical or unethical.
Because of pressure from her brokerage firm, a stockbroker recommended a type of bond that she did not consider to be a good investment.
Now score your results. How many actions did you judge to be unethical
All of these actions are unethical. The more of the actions you judged to be unethical, the better your understanding of ethical business behavior.

Question 6

How might imaging technology be useful for recruitment For training For benefits administration For performance management

Question 7

How ethical are you Read each of the following descriptions. For each, circle whether you believe the behavior described is ethical or unethical.
A small business received one-fourth of its revenues in the form of cash. On the company's income tax forms, the owner reported only one-half of the cash receipts.
Now score your results. How many actions did you judge to be unethical
All of these actions are unethical. The more of the actions you judged to be unethical, the better your understanding of ethical business behavior.

Question 8

Employees in your company currently choose and enroll in benefits programs after reading communications brochures, completing enrollment forms, and sending them to their HR rep. A temporary staff has to be hired to process the large amount of paperwork that is generated. Enrollment forms need to be checked, sorted, batched, sent to data entry, keypunched, returned, and filed. The process is slow and prone to errors. How could you use process reengineering to make benefits enrollment more efficient and effective

Question 9

Some argue that outsourcing an activity is bad because the activity is no longer a means of distinguishing the firm from competitors. (All competitors can buy the same service from the same provider, so it cannot be a source of competitive advantage.) Is this true If so, why would a firm outsource any activity

Question 10

What do you think of IBM's decision to be laying off employees when they are making strong profits

Question 11

How ethical are you Read each of the following descriptions. For each, circle whether you believe the behavior described is ethical or unethical.
An employer received applications for a supervisor's position from two equally qualified applicants. The employer hired the male applicant because he thought some employees might resent being supervised by a female.
Now score your results. How many actions did you judge to be unethical
All of these actions are unethical. The more of the actions you judged to be unethical, the better your understanding of ethical business behavior.

Question 12

Why have the roles and activities of the HRM function changed over the past 20 to 30 years What has been driving this change How effectively do you think HRM has responded

Question 13

How ethical are you Read each of the following descriptions. For each, circle whether you believe the behavior described is ethical or unethical.
An engineer discovered what he perceived to be a product design flaw that constituted a safety hazard. His company declined to correct the flaw. The engineer decided to keep quiet, rather than taking his complaint outside the company.
Now score your results. How many actions did you judge to be unethical
All of these actions are unethical. The more of the actions you judged to be unethical, the better your understanding of ethical business behavior.

Question 14

After having gone through the massive downsizing, morale obviously has presented challenges. While Xerox employees seem to understand the need for change (minds), they may not emotionally embrace it (hearts). How can Xerox gain both "hearts" and "minds".

Question 15

How ethical are you Read each of the following descriptions. For each, circle whether you believe the behavior described is ethical or unethical.
A comptroller selected a legal method of financial reporting that concealed some embarrassing financial facts. Otherwise, those facts would have been public knowledge.
Now score your results. How many actions did you judge to be unethical
All of these actions are unethical. The more of the actions you judged to be unethical, the better your understanding of ethical business behavior.

Question 16

What are some of the HRM issues inherent in Howard Schultz's concerns

Question 17

How ethical are you Read each of the following descriptions. For each, circle whether you believe the behavior described is ethical or unethical.
A company paid a $350,000 "consulting" fee to an official of a foreign country. In return, the official promised to help the company obtain a contract that should produce a $10 million profit for the company.
Now score your results. How many actions did you judge to be unethical
All of these actions are unethical. The more of the actions you judged to be unethical, the better your understanding of ethical business behavior.

Question 18

How ethical are you Read each of the following descriptions. For each, circle whether you believe the behavior described is ethical or unethical.
A company president found that a competitor had made an important scientific discovery that would sharply reduce the profits of his own company. The president hired a key employee of the competitor in an attempt to learn the details of the discovery.
Now score your results. How many actions did you judge to be unethical
All of these actions are unethical. The more of the actions you judged to be unethical, the better your understanding of ethical business behavior.

Question 19

How ethical are you Read each of the following descriptions. For each, circle whether you believe the behavior described is ethical or unethical.
A member of a corporation's board of directors learned that his company intended to announce a stock split and increase its dividend. On the basis of this favorable information, the director bought additional shares of the company's stock. Following the announcement of the information, he sold the stock at a gain.
Now score your results. How many actions did you judge to be unethical
All of these actions are unethical. The more of the actions you judged to be unethical, the better your understanding of ethical business behavior.

Question 20

If you were sitting in MacDonald's chair, what do you think you would have done differently

Question 21

How can the processes for strategic management discussed in Chapter 2 be transplanted to manage the HRM function