Organizational Knowledge - HR Structure & OD Flashcards
What are some of the many elements in the HR business function?
- Recruiting
- Organizational culture
- Employee relations (evaluations, performance management, and grievances)
- Compensation and payroll
- Benefits
- Policy creation, communication, and distribution
- Legal compliance
- Training and development
- Health and safety
- Change management
What are the different approaches to HR function/service models?
Centralized vs. decentralized decision making
- Centralized (aka corporate HR) = narrow and control decision-making at the top executive levels. Can be too rigid and not account for the nuances of individual company locations
- Decentralized = HR function housed at local level; each site is able to create policies and standards that work best for them; but may have inconsistency among locations. Inefficient for company as a whole but enables each site to be responsive to its own needs
**Many large organizations use a blend of these two approaches
What are the different approaches to HR structural models?
Center of excellence (COE) HR model = internal group of consultants that have expertise in the different HR functional areas, like payroll and benefits. Main role is to provide each firm location with best practice-driven guidance and assistance with problem solving
Shared services HR model (ie. finance, IT, HR) = merging and streamlining of business operations that are used by multiple units of the same organization. Helps business units retain more control and identifies ways to work more efficiently, improving service quality and credibility of each function
What are important HR metrics to consider?
- HR staff per full time employee (FTE)
- HR customer satisfaction
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (measure specific HR activities that contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of a company)
- balanced scorecards (reflects the vision and strategy for company success from the financial outlook, customer perspectives, and internal business processes)
What are leading and lagging indicators?
Leading indicators anticipate, precede, and predict future performance. (ie. foreseeing the amount of time to fill key role vacancies to ensure a qualified and efficient workforce)
Lagging indicators measure the result of a process or change and often gain more consideration because they analyze revenues that executives use to measure success.
What perspectives should be considered when designing HR dashboards and scorecards?
They should be in a simplified, useful format and reflect these perspectives:
- STRATEGIC - to measure initiative progress or achievement
- OPERATIONAL - to measure process effectiveness
- FINANCIAL - to measure contributions and sustainability
- STAKEHOLDER - to measure internal and external customers
What are the different theories behind group formation?
- propinquity or proximity theory (based on geography)
- exchange or benefit theory (based on rewards)
- balance theory (based on similar attitudes or interests)
- activity theory (based on occupational task)
What are the three main forms of formal groups?
- command groups (ie. departments on an organization chart)
- task groups - working collaboratively toward a common task
- functional groups (created to accomplish specific goals and objectives for an unspecified period of time)
What are the 5 stages of group formation developed by Bruce Tuckman?
- Forming - entails superficial intros and determining boundaries of acceptable behavior
- Storming* (most difficult) - team must work through conflicts related to authority, vision and values, personality, and cultural differences.
- Norming - entails greater cooperation and more cohesion as the team establishes norms for assignment completion, decision-making, and conflict resolution.
- Performing - effective and united team performance as the team addresses its objectives. Conflicts are mostly resolved and the team has a clear purpose and structure
- Adjourning
What are the three parts of “norming” (Tuckman)?
- Reducing conflicts as the team becomes more relaxed
- Developing a routine through scheduled events, such as meetings
- Facilitating cooperation through team-building events
What are the types of cohesion? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Cohesion may be influenced by similar traits or interests, attraction, shared commitment, and ability to trust. Task cohesion defines how well a group works together to accomplish goals, whereas social cohesion defines a sense of belonging.
Advantages = better quality and quantity of work, increased effectiveness, and increased engagement Disadvantages = greater likelihood of group think, ignoring opposing ideas, chance of counterproductive ideas spreading
What is functional conflict vs dysfunctional conflict?
Functional conflicts may produce enhanced organizational performance as. result of alternative solutions.
Dysfunctional conflicts often have a negative impact on organizational performance. Mediation techniques of communicating and channeling energies, expertise, or resources of the conflicting groups may help negotiate solutions and attainment of organizational goals.
What is a customer organizational structure? What are the pros/cons?
Structure utilized by firms that provide a service (ie. health care). Organizes departments to provide specialized solutions to different customer segments.
Pros: Exemplary customer care
Cons: each customer division will have its own rules/processes that can lead to duplication of efforts or conflicting systems
What is a functional organizational structure? What are the pros/cons?
Structure organizes firm departments based on their function or what they do for the company (ie. manufacturing, customer service, HR, etc. are functional departments)
Pros: works best when decision-making is centralized; promotes the development of experts in their fields, employees work in their area of expertise, and easy to understand
Cons: little in the way of cross-department collaboration and enacting change may be difficult
What is a divisional organizational structure? What are the pros/cons?
Structure organizes business based on the firm’s different product lines, services, brands, or markets. Vertical (~functional) and promotes specialization and expertise
Pros: more collaboration within each division, less siloed; faster decision-making since each division has a leadership team
Cons: each division is alone and chiefly concerned with its own operations -> duplication of efforts, hoarding of resources, potential competition
