HR management chapitre 1

Question 1

Describe the traditional model of HRM.

Answer 1

• Labour is abundant, and employees are interchangeable.
• Labour is nothing but a cost or expense.
• Labour consists of a homogeneous group.

Question 2

What are the consequences of a traditional HRM model?

Answer 2

The system is more bureaucratic and less focused on the employees as humans. The employees are only viewed as an expense and not as human beings.

Question 3

What is the new or renewed model of HRM?

Answer 3

• Employees are an asset.
• Employees are a critical resource.
• Employees are a difficult resource to manage. They are NOT interchangeable.

Question 4

What are the consequences of a renewed HRM model?

Answer 4

The selection of the employees is more strategic (we take their skills and availability into consideration). The system is more contingent and less bureaucratic.

Question 5

What are the different parts of the HRM process?

Answer 5

Conflict management, staffing, compensation, employee performance, work competencies, mobilization, health and safety, and discipline.

Question 6

What are the objectives of an effective HRM?

Answer 6

• It is to attract potentially qualified job applicants.
• To retain the desirable employees.
• To motivate and help employees grow, develop and realize their potential in the organization.
• To improve productivity, improve quality of work life, ensure legal compliance, make profits, and be competitive.

Question 7

What is a player in HRM?

Answer 7

This is a person or entity that is part of the employment relationship that affects human resources management.

Question 8

What is an influencer in HRM?

Answer 8

This is an individual, company, or external interest group that can influence the organization’s human resources management.

Question 9

What is the 5 main role of the manager?

Answer 9

• Communications (act as a conduit between management and employees).
• Management (plan, implement and oversee) and also hiring new employees, evaluating their performance, recommending a salary increase, or being mindful to update their skills.
• Mobilizing (leadership to direct the effort of everyone toward achieving a common objective.
• Administrative tasks (completing forms, updating data, managing the employees’ vacation or absences.
• Problem-solving role (be the person to whom the employees turn when they have a problem/situation).

Question 10

What are HR practices?

Answer 10

It is the approach put into action by a manager when he/she has mastered employee management.

Question 11

What are the 5 primary keys of senior management?

Answer 11

• The mission (raison d’être)
• The vision (the ideal to reach as a company) (the vision is a source of motivation for the employees)
• The company’s values (principles or guidelines that the company is based on will give meaning and coherence to the company’s decisions.)
• Organization’s objective (they are objectives required to complete the vision of the company)
• The objectives will have consequences on HR management.

Question 12

What are HR policies?

Answer 12

They are rules or regulations that an organization sets up to oversee human resources management.

Question 13

What is the HR department?

Answer 13

It is an administrative unit composed of human resource professionals.

Question 14

What is a union of the workforce?

Answer 14

It is the representative of the employees. They will negotiate with management the work conditions of the employees it represents.

Question 15

How can customers influence HR management?

Answer 15

Because they can choose or not remain loyal to an organization. They could boycott a company that has a bad reputation for the way it manages its, employees.

Question 16

Give an example of customers changing HR management.

Answer 16

At Starbucks, the CEO changed and he then put more pressure on employees to perform better, but they abandoned the older customer experience. Customers began to abandon Starbucks. The company decided to take back its old CEO because the situation was a big concern for Starbucks.

Question 17

How can the government impact HR management? Give an example.

Answer 17

They try to legislate in response to social changes. They try to give what the workforce needs. For example, when workers were injured on the job, they had no rights or compensation so the government created laws that give them help when they are injured on the job.

Question 18

What is the role of external HR consultants?

Answer 18

• They can conduct a diagnosis of the organization’s human resources.
• They develop and facilitate the implementation of HR practices.
• They design new salary structures.
• They search for candidates for hard-to-fill positions.
• They conduct a psychological harassment investigation.
• They offer training and coaching.

Question 19

What do advocacy groups do? Give a few examples of advocacy groups.

Answer 19

They seek to influence the government to ensure that the laws it enacts are consistent with their views. They basically influence the way of thinking. For example, we have the Conseil du Patronat du Québec, political parties, environmental and citizens’ groups, and large labor unions.

Question 20

What are the 2 ways that employee produces value in an organization?

Answer 20

• Through their skills.
• Through the development of a particular combination of HR activities that incite them to give their best.

Question 21

Describe the staircase model (stairway model) for the success of a company.

Answer 21

HR activities –> HR results –> organizational results –> Long-term success :)

Question 22

Is the HR management structure the same for every company?

Answer 22

NO! It depends on a lot of factors like the size, the sector of activity, the qualifications necessary, etc.

Question 23

Give some examples for each category of the operation structure. Give a brief summary of what the operation structure should be.

Answer 23

• Enforcement of laws, internal policies, and personnel regulations.
• HR process management: recruitment and staffing, training and skills development, compensation, career management, etc.
• It should be efficient and effective.

Question 24

What is the functional role of HR?

Answer 24

It goes beyond the simple application of laws and regulations. It is composed of HR activities that actively contribute to the development of HR policies and go beyond the technical.

Question 25

What is the strategic structure?

Answer 25

This is when the HR activities are perfectly aligned with the company strategy. It is doing the right things.

Question 26

What are the objectives of a good manager?

Answer 26

• To explain the challenges you will face in managing your employees.
• To show that the way in which these challenges are addressed can contribute to the achievement of your organization’s objectives.
• To propose tools that will help you make the decisions best suited to your situation.

Question 27

Give an example of the staircase model.

Answer 27

If we take Google.
- The HR policy is “find them, grow them, keep them”
- The HR program is based on the retention of employees.
For example, they have compensation packages that are very competitive. The design of the office emphasizes fun and creativity. They have coaching and mentoring to help their employee to evolve in the company.
- Finally, the HR practice implements new things on a daily basis.

Question 28

What is an HR program?

Answer 28

It is activities aimed at producing a concrete result in order to achieve the objectives of the policy.