HR Competency: Interpersonal Flashcards
Stakeholder concept
Any organization affects and is affected by a variety of forces (stakeholders) who all share in the value of the organization and its activities
Stakeholder (External customers)
Those receiving or purchasing the organization’s products or services and those who seek a return on their investment in the organization.
Customers
Shareholders
Donors
Customers as HR Stakeholders (why do they need HR?)
Define value in terms of their needs, which may include economy, convenience, reliability, responsiveness, or innovation.
HR communicates customer needs to new employees, recruits/trains for customer service
Shareholders as HR Stakeholders (why do they need HR?)
Want results from short-term returns or long-range growth
HR can help unify the organization behind strategic goals and build organizational competencies.
Donors as HR Stakeholders (why do they need HR?)
Interested in the proportion of donations that goes directly to the organization’s mission.
HR can manage executive compensation and support organizational performance.
Types of Internal Customers
SR Management
Board of Directors
Functional Leaders
Employees
Senior Management HR Stakeholder (why do they need HR?)
Rely on HR’s workforce data and costs, expertise in risk management related to human resources
Board of Director HR Stakeholder (why do they need HR?)
Need HR to attract senior management talent, support succession plans, develop compensation plans, and support the organization’s ethical environment and governance system.
Functional Leaders HR Stakeholder (why do they need HR?)
Rely on HR for support in staffing, development, and employee relations.
Employees HR Stakeholders (why do they need HR?)
Fulfill needs such as pay equity, work flexibility, support for diversity, opportunities to affect society and the environment, and so on.
HR can help address these perspectives through its policies and programs.
Suppliers as HR Stakeholders (who are they/why they need HR)
Suppliers include short- and long-term staffing suppliers, vendors providing or managing benefits, or internal functions like IT that provide necessary support.
Suppliers tend to value economic stability, fair treatment, and control over their businesses.
Communities, political groups, religious institutions, and governments as HR Stakeholders
(What does HR do for each of these 4 areas?)
These stakeholders all focus on shared interests
HR develops and maintains relationships with groups within the community
Can partner with political to get support for making changes in laws and regulation
Religious communities can benefit from improved employment opportunities and corporate volunteer programs
HR monitors the expectations of government agencies and fulfills its legal and regulatory obligations
Define Networking
Best way to start?
Networking starts with listening and helping others with their needs.
Conflict Resolution
Accommodate (or smooth)
Pro/Con
Emphasizing agreement and downplaying disagreement.
Useful when there is little time to be lost and movement forward is needed.
Does not address the root conflict.
Conflict Resolution
Assert (or force)
Pro/Con
Leader imposes a solution. One side wins and the other loses
Useful because it resolves the issue quickly, when there is minimal impact to future of the group.
Does not permanently address the problem.
Conflict Resolution
Avoid
Pro/Con
Leader withdraws from the situation
Useful when conflict will resolve soon without any intervention from leader
Can weaken leader’s role in organization/damage the group by leaving problem unsolved
Conflict Resolution
Collaborate (or confront)
Pro/Con
2 parties & leader accept the fact that they disagree and look for a “third way” to solve the problem.
Useful when the stakes are high, relationships are important, and time allows.
Ineffective without adequate time or strong interpersonal skills.
Conflict Resolution
Compromise
Pro/Con
The leader asks those involved to bargain until they agree on solution (Lose/Lose)
Useful for complex issues, when both sides are determined to win, and when short on time. Preserves egos.
Solutions may be temporary/not very effective. Relies on concessions.
Negotiation - definition, what does it involve?
Process in which two or more parties work together to reach agreement on a matter.
Distinguishing between needs and wants. Relies on an understanding of the other side in hopes of reaching win-win agreements.
Soft negotiators
Value the relationship more than the outcome - will quickly back down in order to reach any agreement
Hard negotiators
Will do anything to “win” the outcome, even at the cost of the relationship
Principled negotiators
Negotiators aim for mutual gain. The goal is to come up with a win-win solution.
Uses concepts from Roger Fisher and William Ury - Interest-based relational negotiating or integrative bargaining
Roger Fisher and William Ury
Interest-based relational negotiating or integrative bargaining
Focuses are problem instead of personal differences, mutually beneficial outcomes rather than hard positions
Separate people from positions.
They identify common interests and make them a goal of the negotiation
What are the 6 phrases to the principled negotiation process?
Preparation Relationship building Information exchange Persuasion Concessions Agreement
Principled Negotiation Process: Preparation
Negotiator identifies critical needs, important wants, potential demands.
Define your BATNA, AND that of the opposite side: best alternative to negotiated agreement
Principled Negotiation Process: Relationship Building
Reveal personal info that builds character, creates trusting and open space
Principled Negotiation Process: Information Exchange
Positions and needs are explained by both sides.
Negotiator takes other perspective to see the issue from the other side and anticipate reactions to proposals
Principled Negotiation Process: Persuasion
What do Fisher and Ury suggest?
Negotiators seek mutually beneficial options rather than trying to win the other side to their own position. Possible because they’ve understood each other’s sides.
Fisher and Ury recommend that negotiators focus on discovering interests rather than staking out—and clinging to—distinct positions.
Principled Negotiation Process: Concession
Both sides find wants that are not essential to agreement.
Some negotiators plan to make small concessions, while others never make concessions.
Principled Negotiation Process: Agreement
May be legal instruments or verbally expressed understandings.
Negotiators must also be alert to agreement that is only apparent and may result from a desire to avoid conflict.
Communication Model and it’s Critical Message
Communication flows from communicator, message, medium, receiver, feedback, back to communicator.
There can be “noise” (interferences) between each of the components of the model. Effective communicators do their best to minimize noise.
What does impactful communication integrate?
An understanding of the audience’s needs and perspectives.
A clear message.
Effective delivery.
Communicator–>Message–>Delivery–>Understanding
Framing
The process of getting an audience to see facts in a certain way so that they take a certain action.
Reframing
Changing the way an audience already sees or feels.
Ex. When an HR professional manages an employee’s discouragement by pointing out benefits and opportunities created by the change
Global mindset & how to develop
Ability to take international, multidimensional perspective that is inclusive of other cultures, perspectives and views.
Study and understand your culture
Study and understand global business trends
Promote global mindset throughout your organization
What are 4 T’s of global mindset?
Travel
Teams
Training
Transfers
Culture
a shared set of beliefs, attitudes, values, and perspectives on how the world works.
Hofstede - what can complicate culture?
Personality, human nature
Explicit vs. Implicit aspects of culture
Explicit: dress, religion, manner - easy to notice
Implicit: world views, cognitive habits - take time to notice
Schein - what are the 3 layers of culture?
Artifacts and products (explicit)
Norms and values
Basic assumptions (implicit)
Climate (& how it compares to culture)
Developed by actions of a subsection of individuals within a culture.
Ex. if managers are selfish/only attentive to their own goals in a company that has a generally positive, selfless culture.
Cultural intelligence
Capacity to recognize, interpret, and behaviorally adapt to multicultural situations and contexts.
Adler - what are the 3 aspects of cultural intelligence?
Cognitive
Motivational
Behavioral
Cultural Intelligence - Cognitive Aspect
Developing knowledge of cultural differences and similarities and using that to handle cross-cultural situations
Cultural Intelligence - Motivational Aspect
Enables one to genuinely enjoy cultural differences rather than feeling threatened or intimidated by them.
Cultural Intelligence - Behavioral Aspect
Includes range of possible actions and responses to intercultural encounters - enables flexibility in multicultural contexts
Reacting/responding differently based on the context of the culture
Hall’s Theory of High- and Low-Context Cultures
Organization’s different levels of context can affect communication and relationships.
High context: complex, implicit rules, applied flexibly. What you say is not necessarily what you mean.
Low context: communication is very explicit, not much longstanding history in relationships, what you say is what you mean.
What are Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture?
Power distance Individualism/collectivism Uncertainty avoidance Masculine/feminine Long term/short term Indulgence/restraint
Hofstede - Power distance
Extent to which unequal distribution of power is accepted
High power distance: countries w/ more rigid hierarchy - management quick to blame subordinates, remain aloof
Low power distance: share assignments and credit for work, less valuation on hierarchy of power
Hofstede - Individualism/collectivism
Degree to which cultures value personal achievement vs. group achievement
Individualism: ties are loose, self reliance valued
Collectivism: loyalty to group gives you protection, group membership is more important than personal identity
Hofstede - Uncertainty avoidance
Extent to which individuals feel comfortable in unstructured, new, or unexpected situations
High tolerance for uncertainty
Low tolerance for uncertainty
Hofstede - Masculine/feminine
Extent to which cultures embody stereotypical gender distinctions
Masculine culture: Competitive, polarizing, emphasize work and achievement
Feminine culture: Nurturing, collaborative, focus on quality of life
Hofstede - Longterm/short term
Looks at how organizations value their past & future
Long term (normative): uses traditions and past as a guide, values loyalty to history/past ideas
Short term (pragmatic): believes that actions today can shape our future
Hofstede - Indulgence/restraint
Refers to how gratification of desires is viewed
Indulgence: Enjoyment of life and freedom in gratifying desires
Restraint: Suppression of desires in order to meet social norms
Networking
Developing mutually beneficial contacts
Key (SHRM) not to go in to networking expecting to get something
Ways to establish credibility
Reputation for expertise (don’t own up to not knowing something)
Reliability
Integrity
Trompenaar’s and Hampden-Turner’s Dilemmas
Universal vs. particular
Universal: same concept applies to all. Looking for more structure so that it concept would be universally accepted
Particular: can adjust concept to person/group; more lax based on cultural setting (would accept handshake agreement)
Trompenaar’s and Hampden-Turner’s Dilemmas
Invididual vs. Communitarian
Individual: Considering your own needs first
Communitarian: Thinking first how your actions will affect entire group
Trompenaar’s and Hampden-Turner’s Dilemmas
Specific vs. diffuse
Specific: private life kept separate from work life
Diffuse: allow degree of blurring work/life
Trompenaar’s and Hampden-Turner’s Dilemmas
Achieved vs. ascribed
Similar to power distance
Achieved culture: individual’s value is defined by their accomplishments
Ascribed culture: value may be derived from social factors, like position, wealth, family, or gender (who they are).
Trompenaar’s and Hampden-Turner’s Dilemmas
Sequential vs. Synchronic
Sequential - more linear
Sychronic - more agile
Trompenaar’s and Hampden-Turner’s Dilemmas
Internal vs. External
internal: individuals can decide and follow their own paths. One can dominate nature.
External world: human beings are part of a larger scheme that directs the course of events. Individuals can only adapt, not create. They must submit to nature. Zeynep Aycan (2005) refers to this dimension as “fatalism.”
Internal - do you control your own destiny?
External - letting things happen as they’ve been pre-scribed
Dilemma Reconciliation (4 R’s)
Recognize
Respect
Reconcile
Realize and root
Ethnocentrism
Parochialism
Ethnocentrism: Our way is the best way
Parochialism: This is the rule that will stay
Cultural relativism
“Everything varies with the situation”
Cultural determinism
“The culture made me do it”
Culture: Malicious compliance
Agreeing to programs from headquarters and then sabotaging their success
Rule of Law
No one is beyond the reach of laws
Authority exercised in accordance with laws
Government restrained from abusing power
Jurisdiction
Right of a legal body to exercise authority
Host country vs. Home country may apply to corporate activities
Conflict of laws
Two municipalities may have different laws - need to be sensitive to which may take precedent
Extraterritorial laws
Extend power of country’s laws outside sovereign national boundaries.
High vs. Low context cultures
Low context: more blunt, allow to ask questions, be inquisitive (US)
High context: need to be more careful what you say, be mindful of power distinctions, etc
