Lecture 3 - HR policies Flashcards
HR policy domains
Recruitment = organizatioal practices and decisions that affect either number, or types of individuals that are willing to apply for a job
Employer branding = the promotion of a clear distinctive and attractive image of the organization as an employer
Assessment and selection
Training and development
Reward system
Motivations to recruit for diversity
- The legal case: avoiding discrimination claims
- The moral case: fairness principles
- The business case: to reach broader markets
- The innovation and learning: diversity as source of diverse perspectives, ideas, knowledge
Who should recruit for diversity?
Recruitment demographics matter - they influence applicants’ first impressions of a company
- Male applicants interviewed by male recruiters were more attracted to the firm than female applicants
- Applicants from a racio-ethnic minority group are more attracted to and likely to work for a company when recruited by someone from a racio-ethnic minority background
Where to recruit for diversity?
Formal: websites, job fairs, employment agencies (better for minorities)
Informal: employee referrals, referrals by friends, personal contacts
Informal vs formal recruitment
Informal: considered more effective (similarity attraction) BUT has detrimental effects for diversity staffing and inclusion
Formal: better to target specific minority influences
When do organizations recruit for diversity?
The more challenging it is for organizations to find, recruit, and select personnel, the more likely it is to employ higher proportions of members of minority groups
BUT: this also communicates that diversity staffing is a “last resort” when unable to meet labor needs via traditional means of recruitment
When may it be counterproductive to recruit for diversity?
When the demographic composition of its available labor pool is exhausted
BUT: it may also be used as an excuse (“we try to recuit for women but they are just not there”)
Tactics to convey diverse and inclusive treatment
**Assertive tactics:
**
- Ingratiation
- Promotion
- Exemplification
- Supplication
**Defensive tactics:
**
- Disclaimers
- Apologies
- Prosocial behavior
Ingratiation
- Psychological technique in which an individual attempts to influence another person by becoming more likeable to their target
- Aim: signaling congruence in values to convince minority groups that the organization is likeable
- Targeted ads (messaging that reflects shared cultural values)
- Minority networks (employee resource groups (ERGs))
- Pictorial diversity in ads (employees of diverse ethnicities in ads)
- Work-life balance offers
- Talent development programs (Highlighting mentorship opportunities)
Promotion
Organizations that have received recognition for successful management of diversity promote these facts in their advertisement
* Diversity awards
* Publishing improved minority leadership representation
* Highlighting successful mentoring programs
Exemplification
Organizatioal attempts to portray themselves favorable by performing acts of CSR
Aim: to project integrity and moral worthiness resulting from diversity-related accomplishments
* Sponsoring
* Donation to charities
* Voluntary action
* Philanthropy programs
Supplication
When companies cannot portray themselves as diverse because they are demographically homogeneous
Instead, they admit they need help and encourage minorities to apply
- Communication of dependecy
- Aspirational messages
Defensive tactics
A reactive response in order to restore an organization’s negative diversity image in relation to potentially damaging events in the past
- Disclaimers: while we want to be diverse, it is not yet reflected in the organziation’s workplace reality
- Apologies: reaction to something bad that has happened
- Pro-social behaviors: a promise to do better in response to ill-handling of discrimination
When do these tactics work best?
Diversity reputation
- Alignment is key
- Poor reputation: defensive tactics are more appropriate
- Favorable reputation: assertive tactics are more fitting
Attribution
- When the motive is to avoid legal trouble, defensive tactics may be better
- When the motive is to reap the benefits of diversity, assertive tactics may be better
Identity salience
- When identity saliece/threat is high among minority members, targeted recruitment is important
How imporant is minority identity in the organizational context?
When identity salience is high among minority members targeted recruitment is important
Signaling theory
Because job seekers often have little information they draw inferences on what a company is like by relying on signals (websites, job fairs, job ads)
Signals = artifacts of culture
Corporate social performance signals about…
Community involvemet
Pro-environmental behaviors
CSR tactics gone wrong: greenwashing
When a compay says their motive for investing in pro-environmental energy is for environmental reasons it was more perceived as greenwashing than the economic motive
They believed they were doing it for strategic purposes
Selection and assessment
- Attraction: looking for a company where you see yourself in
- Selection: recruiter tends to favor those who are similar to them
- Attrition: people that do not feel that they fit in are most likely to leave
Affirmative action policies
Efforts by the organization aimed at ensuring that individuals from traditionally excluded groups are proportionally represented in the workforce and managerial positions
History of AAPs
Become widespread in organizations, largely due to legal requirements.
In the 1960s, U.S. laws were introduced to prevent discrimination, and similarly, in the Netherlands, large companies are required to have at least 30% women on their boards.
This legal pressure has led to the widespread installation of such policies, alongside diversity training.
Circumstances under which people would resist AAPs
- Structual features of AAP
- Perceiver characteristics
- Communication about AAP
Types of AAPs
- Opportunity Enhancement: Actively encourage minorities to apply, expanding the pool of qualified candidates.
- Equal Opportunity: No discrimination allowed—just fairness in decision-making.
- Tiebreak: If two candidates are equally qualified, the minority candidate gets preference.
- Strong Preferential Treatment: Minority status is heavily weighted, significantly influencing decisions
Factors influencing support for AA-plans
Increased support:
* belief that target groups experience discrimination
* personal or collective self-interest
* personal experiences of discrimination
Decreased support:
* among those with strong racist beliefs or opposing political ideologies
* higher prescriptiveness
Recommendations
- Ensure what people perceive AAPs as fair
- Show how AAPs can eliminate barriers for underutilized human capital among minority griups
- Use transparent selection procedures
- Use less prescriptive AAPs
- Clarify goals
Two types of integrity tests
- Overt (Do you believe there is some dishonesty in everyone?”)
- Personality-based (“I am more sensible than adventurous”)
Training and development
Diversity training
Ethics training
Diversity training
Meetings in which a tained instructor educates employees about workplace diversity
- Awareness of diversity issues
- Skills and attitudes needed to work with people who are different from themselves
Ingredients for successful diversity training
- Task interdependence: you work together in a group and actively engage
- Both and active forms of instruction (teaching but also doing)
- Human instructor instead of computer
- Multiple sessions instead of a single session
- Voluntary
Ethics training
Designed to enhance employee knowledge, skills and decision making in ethics area
- Games
- Behavioral stimulation
Rewards systems
- How rewards affect teammwork and behavior
- Team-level rewards, not just individual salaries: higher levels of social integration
Rewards recipies for disaster
- Unequal outcomes
- Competition between coworkers
- Variable pay incentives
