COMM 203: Ch 1- Ch 5 Flashcards
What is HRM?
practices, policies and systems that influence employees behavior, attitudes and performance
What are the 8 parts of strategic HRM?
Analysis + design of work, workforce planning, recruiting, selection, training + development, performance management, compensation + rewards, employee + labour relations
Why is HRM so valuable?
people are crucial to organizational success, human capital provides opportunity for substantial competitive advantage
What is human capital?
employees - described in terms of their training, experience, judgement, intelligence, relationships and insight
How does human capital contribute to sustainable competitive advantage?
valuable, rare, cannot be imitated and no good substitutes
What is a high performance work system?
an organization in which technology, organizational structure, people and processes all work together to create an advantage in a competitive environment
- customers = HQ + customized products
- employees = flexible work arrangements
- employers = get employee creativity and interpersonal skills
What are the general categories of tasks that the HR department does? (4)
- administrative services + transactions 2. business partner services 3. strategic partner 4. other - establishing + administering HR policies, ensuring compliance with legal requirements
What are administrative services + transactions?
Handle administrative services and transactions with efficiency and quality e.g. processing tuition reimbursement, answering questions about benefits, etc
What are business partner services?
Develop effective HR systems that help organizations meet goals for attracting, keeping and developing employees with necessary skills. Requires a high understanding of the business
What are strategic partners?
HR professionals that contribute to a company’s strategy through understanding existing and needed HR, gives companies a way to gain a competitive advantage thru HR practices
What are the 9 responsibilities of the HR department?
- analysis and design of work 2. recruitment and selection 3. training and development 4. performance management 5. compensation and rewards 6. employee and labour relations 7. strategy 8. HR policies 9. compliance with legislation
What are the roles of Supervisors and Managers in HRM?
- provide safe and motivational environments
- communicate policies + comply with legal requirements
- recommend pay increases and promotions
- set goals, give feedback and analyze performanced
- interview and select candidates
- train, coach and develop employees
- forecast HR needs
What is the employee experience?
Set of perceptions that employees have about their experiences at work in response to interactions with the organization
Why focus on strategic HRM?
strategic HRM gaining more company support over traditional HRM functions
What are areas of strategic HRM that companies focus on?
- workforce planning
- evidence-based HR
- ESG incorporation
- Mergers and acquisitions
- outsourcing
- productivity improvement
- non-traditional employment and gig economy
- global expansion
- high-performance work systems
What is workforce planning?
identifying the types of employees that organization requires to meet objectives
- hiring/training/reassigning employees
What is evidence-based HR?
collecting/using data to show that HR has a positive influence on profits/stakeholders
- justifies money invested into HR
- corporate social responsibility: boost company image
What is corporate social responsibility?
an organization’s commitment to meeting needs of stakeholders
- minimizing environmental impact
- return on capital
- reliable/safe products
- good compensation + working conditions
What are stakeholders?
parties with an interest in company success
- stockholders, customers, employees, community
Explain productivity improvement
productivity is the relationship between outputs and inputs
- enhanced productivity is necessary to compete in the global economy
Explain global expansion
to keep up with foreign companies in Canada, companies need to compete in foreign markets
- HR needs to consider different cultures and business practices
- expatriates =employees who take assignments in other countries
Explain outsourcing
practice of having another company provide services/goods
(offshoring = setting up a business enterprise in another country)
Explain mergers and acquisitions
merging companies together
- conflicts can arise from differences in company culture, etc
- HR needs to sort out the differences and bring employees together
What core competencies are required to be an HR expert?
- credible activists: well respected
- cultural steward: understand organizations culture; strengthen its values
- talent manager/organizational designer: know how to entice people to join the company
- strategy architect: awareness of business trends
- business allies: know how business achieves success
- operational executors: carry out HR functions
What ethics code do HR professionals in Canada follow?
Canadian Council of Human Resources Association (CCHRA)
What are the fundamental duties of CPHR? (4)
- duties to the public
- duties to the profession
- duties to clients and employers
- duties to individuals
What careers are available in HRM?
- specialists and generalists
- CPHR/CHRP designation
What is the labour force?
all people willing and able to work
- internal labour force: organizations employees
- external labour force: individuals actively seeking employment
What are traits of the Canadian workforce?
- aging workforce overall = multi-generational workforce
- very diverse workforce
- increasing levels of education
- increase in knowledge work + workers
What are knowledge workers?
employees who contribute mainly through specialized knowledge
- in positions of power
- shift towards general cognitive skills > technical skills
- e.g. knowledge of customers, a process, a profession
What is employee engagement?
extent that employees are satisfied, committed to, and prepared to support what is important to the company
- work design, training/development, performance management, career management, employee relations all aid in creating employee engagement
How is technology changing HRM?
- HRIS and HR dashboards have become increasingly important
What is HRIS?
Human resources information system - computer system used to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze, retrieve and distribute info related to an org’s HR
What are HR dashboards?
display of a series of HR measures; shows HR goals/objectives and the progression towards meeting them
What is e-HRM?
electronic HRM - processing + transmission of digitized HR info
How does e-HRM affect HR practices?
analysis and work design: geographical differences can work together
recruiting: post job openings online, applications online
selection: can measure job candidates ability to deal with real-life business challenges
training: bring training to employees anywhere, anytime
total rewards: employees can review salary and incentives, seek info about benefits
Explain employee and management self service
system where employees and managers have online access to info about HR issues
- enrol themselves in online programs
- provide feedback thru surveys
What is a psychological contract?
description of what employee expects to contribute to an employment relationship + what employer will provide employee in exchange
What are some flexible work arrangements?
- independent contractors
- on-call workers
- temporary workers
- contract company workers
Why does HRM value diversity and inclusion?
a diverse workplace can grant competitive advantage
- more talent + insight into behaviors of diverse customers
What HR functions are affected by health and safety?
- H&S
- recruitment
- compensation
- diversity
- leadership
- relationship management
- well-being
labour relations
What are strategic approaches to organizational health and safety?
adopting values-based commitment to safe operations
- cost saving benefits (reduced injuries, etc)
- improvement in employee/employer relationships
- both sides share responsibilities
What types of organizations are federally regulated?
- banks
- marine shipping, ferry and port services
- air transportation
- railway and road transportation (crossing provincial/international borders)
- canals, pipelines, tunnels and bridges (crossing provincial borders)
- telephone and cable systems
- radio and television broadcasting
- grain elevators, feed and seed mills
- uranium mining and processing
- business dealings with the protection of fisheries
- many first nations activities
- federal departments, agencies, and federal crown corps.
What types of organizations are provincially regulated?
all other businesses not listed
- retailers and hospitality business
- hospitals and healthcare providers
- schools, colleges, and universities
- most manufacturers
What are the 2 types of discrimination?
direct and indirect discrimination
What is direct discrimination?
policies that clearly make a distinction on the basis of a prohibited group
What is indirect discrimination?
policies that appear neutral but have an adverse effect based on prohibited grounds
What are the 9 most common prohibited grounds?
-race
-age
-disability
-national and ethnic origin
-sex and sexual orientation
-pardoned conviction
-religion or creed
-colour
-marital and family status
How do you know if you’re being discriminated against?
- differential treatment
- BFOR
Explain differential treatment
differing treatment of people where differences are based on prohibited grounds
Explain Bona fide occupational requirements (BFOR)
necessary requirement for performing a job
- provides legal grounds for certain types of discrimination
What is the employers duty to accommodate?
employers duty to consider how an employees characteristic can be accommodated + take action so employee can perform the job
What is harassment?
any behavior that demeans/humiliates/embarrasses a person
What is sexual harassment?
unwelcome behavior of sexual nature/related to a persons sex
- quid pro quo harassment: punishment for rejection
- hostile work environment: behavior creates an environment difficult for people of a certain sex
What do organizations do about (sexual) harassment?
- develop anti-harassment policy + train employees
- also possibly develop methods to report harassment + discplinary actions
What are the 4 employment equity groups?
-women
-visible minorities
-aboriginal peoples
-persons w/ disabilities
What is Protection of Privacy? (PIPEDA)
federal law that sets ground rules for how private sector orgs. may collect/use/disclose personal info
- also gives individuals the right to access/request correction of personal info
What are employment/labour standards?
provides a minimum standard for employees
- e.g. minimum wage, overtime pay, hours of work, vacation time, parental leave
What is pay equity?
equal pay for work of equal value
- nondiscrimation for men vs women
- based on skill, effort and responsibility + working conditions
How are human rights laws enforced?
- Human rights commissions and tribunals
- privacy commissions
- employment/labour standards office
Who regulated employee health and safety?
government - Occupational health and safety act
What are the responsibilities of employers, managers and supervisors (regarding OH&S)
- establish and maintain H&S committee
- take reasonable precaution to ensure safe workplace
- train employees on hazards
- supply PPE, train workers to use them
- report critical injuries
- appoint supervisors to sent standards for performance
How are OH&S regulations enforced?
-OH&S officers/inspectors
-Bill C-45