Definitions Week 1

Question 1

fWhat is Human Resources Management?

Answer 1

HRM is about leading and managing people in an organization using systems and processes to:
- Hire and select employees
- Motivate and support employees
- Help employees reach goals that benefit the organization.

HRM helps organizations:
- Achieve short and long-term goals in areas like economy, society, and environment.

Question 2

What is strategic human resource management?

Answer 2

Strategic human resources management (SHRM) is the process of aligning an organization’s HR systems and practices with its overall mission, strategies, and performance.

• HR tools are chosen based on the organization’s goals.
• HR activities must support and align with the organization’s strategies.
• Every HR practice should add value to the organization.

Question 3

What is gamification? And which step of Strategic Human Resource Management does it fall under?

Answer 3

The use of rules, competition, and teamwork to encourage engagement by mimicking games.

It falls under step 1 of Strategic Human Resource Management: Organizational Mission, Goals, and Strategy Analysis.

Question 4

What is a mission statement? And which step of Strategic Human Resource Management does it fall under?

Answer 4

A statement outlining the purpose and longterm objectives of the organization.

It falls under step 1 of Strategic Human Resource Management: Organizational Mission, Goals, and Strategy Analysis.

Question 5

What is cost leadership strategy? And which step of Strategic Human Resource Management does it fall under?

Answer 5

Strategy to gain competitive advantage through lower costs of operations and lower prices for products.

It falls under step 1 of Strategic Human Resource Management: Organizational Mission, Goals, and Strategy Analysis.

Question 6

What is differentiation strategy? And which step of Strategic Human Resource Management does it fall under?

Answer 6

Strategy to gain competitive advantage by creating a distinct product or offering a unique service.

It falls under step 1 of Strategic Human Resource Management: Organizational Mission, Goals, and Strategy Analysis.

Question 7

What is focus strategy? And which step of Strategic Human Resource Management does it fall under?

Answer 7

Strategy to gain a competitive advantage by focusing on the needs of a specific segment of the total market.

It falls under step 1 of Strategic Human Resource Management: Organizational Mission, Goals, and Strategy Analysis.

Question 8

What are economic forces? And which step of Strategic Human Resource Management does it fall under?

Answer 8

Economic factors facing Canadian business today, including global trade forces and the force to increase one’s own competitiveness and productivity levels.

It falls under step 2 of Strategic Human Resource Management: Environmental Scan.

Question 9

What is the definition of productivity?

Answer 9

The ratio of a firm’s outputs (goods and services) divided by its inputs (people, capital, materials, energy).

Question 10

What is the definition of demographic changes?

Answer 10

Changes in the demographics of the labour force (e.g., education levels, age levels, participation rates) that occur slowly and are usually known in advance.

Question 11

What is the definition for knowledge workers?

Answer 11

Members of occupations generating, processing, analyzing, or synthesizing ideas and information (such as scientists and management consultants).

Question 12

What is the definition of educational attainment?

Answer 12

The highest educational level attained by an individual worker, employee group, or population

Question 13

What is the definition for cultural forces?

Answer 13

Challenges facing a firm’s decision makers because of cultural differences among employees or changes in core cultural or social values occurring at the larger societal level.

Question 14

What is the definition for cultural mosaic?

Answer 14

The Canadian ideal of encouraging each ethnic, racial, and social group to maintain its own cultural heritage, forming a national mosaic of different cultures.

Question 15

What is the definition for organization goals?

Answer 15

An organization’s short and long-term goals that human resource management aims to support and enable.

Question 16

What is the definition for human resource management?

Answer 16

The leadership and management of people within an organization using systems, methods, process, and procedures that enables employees to optimize their contribution to the organization and its goals.

Question 17

What are employee goals?

Answer 17

Personal goals that will enhance individual’s contribution to the organization.

Question 18

What is strategic human resource management?

Answer 18

Integrating human resource management strategies and systems to support the organization’s overall mission, strategies, and success while meeting needs of employees and other stakeholders.

Question 19

What is proactive human resource management?

Answer 19

Decision makers anticipate problems before they impact the organization.

Question 20

What is reactive human resource management?

Answer 20

Decision makers reacting to problems and challenges rather than anticipating it.

Question 21

What is the definition of organizational culture? What is organization character? How are they different.

Answer 21

Organizational culture is the core beliefs and assumptions that are shared by all organizational members. Organizational character is the product of all of an organization’s features–people, objectives, technology, size, age, unions, policies, successes, and failures. It reflects the past and shapes the future. They sound similar but are vastly different. Pay attention to the difference.

Question 22

What is the definition of cost leadership strategy?

Answer 22

Strategy to gain competitive advantage through lower cost of operations and lower cost of products.

Question 23

What is the definition for differentiation strategy?

Answer 23

Strategy to gain competitive advantage by creating a distinct product or offering a unique service.

Question 24

What is the definition for focus strategy?

Answer 24

Strategy to gain a competitive advantage by focusing on the needs of a specific segment of the total market.

Question 25

Define cultural forces?

Answer 25

Challenges facing a firm’s decision makers because of cultural differences among employees or changes in core cultural or social values occurring at the larger societal level.

Question 26

Define Human Resources Audit?

Answer 26

An examination of the human resource policies, practices, and systems of a firm (or division) to eliminate deficiencies and improve ways to achieve goals. In a human resources audit, there is Human Resource Management Information, and Staffing and Development.

Question 27

What is the definition for Human Resource planning? What are the 3 levels companies can be on based on the sophistication of their human resource planning.

Answer 27

A process used to determine future human resource requirements and the business processes that will be needed to support and enable those resources by anticipating future business demands, analyzing the impacts of these demands on the organization, determining the current availability of human resources and the applicable business processes, and making decisions on how to effectively adapt and utilize firms’ human resources. Level 1: Not engaging in planning. Recruitment and training are an afterthought. Level 2: Some long term business planning is done. But not human resources planning. The planning isn't given much importance in the organization. Level 3: Companies forecast 3-5 years ahead. But still, these people planning efforts are not integrated into the long-term business plan. Level 4 and 5: They are advanced in terms of their planning sophistication, spanning from 3-6 years. the plan is formal, flexible, and dynamic. If circumstances change, they will be able to adapt. Robust evaluation tools are used.

Question 28

What is the definition for forecasts?

Answer 28

Estimates of future resource needs and changes.

Question 29

What is the definition of a staffing table?

Answer 29

A list of anticipated employment openings for each type of job.

Question 30

What is the definition of skills inventories?

Answer 30

Summaries of each worker’s knowledge, skills, abilities, experiences, and other attributes.

Question 31

What is the definition of management or leadership inventory?

Answer 31

Comprehensive reports of available management capabilities in the organization.

Question 32

What is the definition of replacement charts? What determines an individual's replacement status.

Answer 32

Visual representations of who will replace whom when a job opening occurs. An individual's replacement status is determined by their present performance, as well as their promotability and potential.

Question 33

What is the definition of replacement summaries?

Answer 33

Lists of likely replacements for each job and their relative strengths and weaknesses.

Question 34

What is the definition of Markov analysis?

Answer 34

Markov analysis forecasts future human resource needs by using probability matrices to predict the likelihood that an individual within one role moves into another role within the same company, or the likelihood that they leave the organization.

Question 35

What is the definition for transition matrices?

Answer 35

Transition matrices show the likelihood of a job position turning over and what an employee might do during a forecast period, such as staying in their current role, moving to another position within the company, or leaving for a job elsewhere.

Question 36

What is the definition of labour market analysis?

Answer 36

The study of a firm’s labour market to evaluate the present or future availability of different types of workers.

Question 37

What is the definition for Canadian Occupational Projection System?

Answer 37

designed by Employment and Social Development Canada. Provides up to 10-year projection of Canadian economy and Human Resources needs.

Question 38

What is the definition of attrition?

Answer 38

Loss of employees due to their voluntary departures from the firm through resignation, retirement, or death.

Question 39

What is the difference between a layoff and termination?

Answer 39

A layoff has to do with business direction, while termination has to do with employee performance. Both result in the employee being removed from the company.

Question 40

What is the definition of labour shortage?

Answer 40

Insufficient supply of qualified talent to fill the demand for labour.

Question 41

What is the definition for contract or contingent workers?

Answer 41

A contract or contingent worker is a freelancer (self-employed, temporary, or leased employee) who is not part of the regular workforce and provides goods or services to another entity under a specific contract.

Question 42

Define enterprise wide systems?

Answer 42

Systems that link an organization’s entire software application environment into a single enterprise solution.

Question 43

Define intranet?

Answer 43

An organization- specific internal computer network.

Question 44

What is the difference between employee self service(ESS) and manager self service(MSS)?

Answer 44

Employee Self-Service (ESS) is an HRIS feature that lets employees access and update their own records. Manager Self-Service (MSS) is a feature that allows managers to view their employees' records and add relevant information.

Question 45

Define talent management?

Answer 45

Talent management is the systematic process of attracting, identifying, developing, engaging, retaining, and deploying individuals with high potential who are especially valuable to the organization.

Question 46

Define outplacement?

Answer 46

Assisting employees to find jobs with other employers.

Question 47

Define phased retirement?

Answer 47

Gradual phase in to retirement with loss or reduction of pension benefits. It's used to create more opportunities for promotion and more jobs for internal employees.

Question 48

Define job sharing?

Answer 48

A plan whereby available work is spread among all workers in a group to reduce the extent of layoffs when production requirements cause a substantial decline in available work.

Question 49

Define outsourcing?

Answer 49

Contracting tasks to outside agencies or persons.

Question 50

Define crowdsourcing?

Answer 50

The act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call.

Question 51

Define flexible retirement?

Answer 51

Programs that provide retirees with the opportunity to work after they have retired and provide them with significant flexibility in terms of how they work, what they work on, when they work, and where.

Question 52

What is a human resource information system?

Answer 52

A Human Resources Information System gathers, analyzes, summarizes, and reports important data for formulating and implementing strategies by HR specialists and line managers. Any changes that an individual makes to their personal information will be reflected in the HRIS. When deciding on a Human Resource Information System, organizations should consider the following: The size of the organization. What information needs to be captured. The volume of information transmitted. The firm’s objectives. Managerial decision needs. The importance of reporting capability. Technical capabilities. Available resources.

Question 53

Define human resources accounting?

Answer 53

A process to measure the present cost and value of human resources as well as their future worth to the organization.

Question 54

What are technological forces?

Answer 54

Technology brings about flexible work design. Increased connectivity can lead to data analytics which enables companies to assess employee performance. Connectivity allows individuals to get quick answers to questions from one another; however, more time spent on email leads to fragmented attention spans of individual employees. Automation helps companies cut costs, and helps to deliver a more consistent product to customers.