Imagine you are the HR manager at a company, and a female employee came to you upset because she felt a male coworker was creating a hostile work

23 Apr Imagine you are the HR manager at a company, and a female employee came to you upset because she felt a male coworker was creating a hostile work

Posted at 15:02h in Business & Finance /Management by

Imagine you are the HR manager at a company, and a female employee came to you upset because she felt a male coworker was creating a hostile work environment by repeatedly asking her out on dates even after she said "no." What would you do? Write a plan for how you would approach your conversation with each employee, including the most essential topics to cover. As you write your plan, think about what your goals are for this situation and how each conversation will help you achieve those goals. Write a 2–3 page paper in which you:

Write a plan for the conversation you would have with the employee, based on the concepts found in your textbook. What are the most important points you would need to cover in this conversation, and why?
Write a plan for the conversation you would have with the employee's male co-worker, based on the concepts found in your textbook. What are the most important points you would need to cover in this conversation, and why?
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
- This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards. For assistance and information, please refer to the Strayer Writing Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course.
- Include at least one reference to support your paper.

The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:

Create a plan for approaching tough conversations with employees, including a rationale for the most essential topics to cover.

Ch04.pptx

Chapter 4: The Competitive Environment

Chapter 4

The Competitive Environment

Learning Outcomes

Describe the competitive environment of human resource management

Identify three types of strategies and relate each to human resource management

Discuss human resource strategy formulation and relevant organizational factors

Discuss the processes through which human resource strategy is implemented

Discuss how the human resource function in organizations can be evaluated

LEARNING OUTCOMES

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Competitive Environment

Firms can gain competitive advantages through their management of human resources (HR)

HR managers:

Adopt strategic perspectives

Recognize the critical links between organizational and HR strategies

Add value by providing expertise on how to use a firm’s existing human resources to accomplish its objectives and gain competitive advantage

LO 1

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Strategic Perspective in the Competitive Environment

Employees are important sources of competitive advantage

Steps to gain a sustained competitive advantage

Hire the right people

Train them to be effective

Place them in the right jobs

Motivate them to work hard

Strive to retain them

Organizations must develop strategies to use their human resources in the most effective manner

LO 1

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Influence of Organizational Purpose and Mission

Fundamental contextual forces that define the strategic context of HRM include an organization’s purpose and mission

Purpose: Basic reason for an organization’s existence

Mission: Statement of how an organization intends to fulfill its purpose

Provides subtle cues about the importance an organization places on its human resources

Both its purpose and its mission affect an organization’s HR practices in some ways

LO 1

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Influence of the Top Management Team

Top management team: Group of senior executives responsible for the overall strategic operation of an organization

Sets the tone for the organization and plays a major role in shaping its culture

Abilities of top management teams to influence their organizations and success depend on the nature of the industry, organization, and individual

Described using the term managerial discretion

LO 1

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Corporate Governance

Determinant of managerial discretion

Role: To deal with agency problems

Agency problems: Mismatch in the interests of the managers and owners of a firm

Solved by a board of directors who monitor actions of the top management team to ensure the protection of stockholders’ interests

LO 1

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Types of Strategies

Corporate strategy

Deals with determining what businesses the corporation will operate

Business strategy

Deals with how a firm will compete in each market where it conducts business

Functional strategy

Deals with how a firm will manage each of its major functions such as marketing, finance, and human resources

LO 2

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Corporate Strategies

Growth strategy

Focuses on growing and expanding the business

Pursued internally by opening additional locations

Pursued externally through mergers, joint ventures, or acquisitions

Retrenchment or turnaround strategy

Occurs when an organization finds that its current operations are not effective

LO 2

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Corporate Strategies (Continued 1)

Major changes are needed to rectify the problem

Involves rightsizing the organization by closing operations, shutting down factories, and terminating employees to get back on the right track

Stability strategy

Used after a period of retrenchment or rapid growth when a company plans to stay in its current businesses and intends to retain the way they are managed

LO 2

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Corporate Strategies (Continued 2)

Diversification strategy

Used by firms that are adding new products, product lines, or businesses to their existing core products, product lines, or businesses

Related diversification: Used when a firm believes it can achieve synergy among its various businesses

Unrelated diversification: Used when a firm attempts to operate several unique businesses in different, unrelated markets

LO 2

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Business Strategy

Adaptation model: Popular approach to business strategy where a business seeks ways to adapt to its environment

Strategic alternatives include:

Defender strategy

Prospector strategy

Analyzer strategy

Reactor strategy: Seen as a strategic failure

LO 2

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Defender Strategy

Identifies a relatively narrow niche in the market and then directs a limited set of products or services at that niche

Guards and secures a position in existing markets

Appropriate in an environment with low uncertainty and risk and high stability

HR managers recruit and seek to retain stable employees who exhibit high levels of commitment and loyalty to a firm

LO 2

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Prospector Strategy

Focuses on new products and markets

Avoids long-term commitment

Business environment is dynamic and grows with considerable uncertainty and risk

HR managers prefer to recruit and retain entrepreneurial employees who are highly flexible and more dedicated to their craft or profession than to the organization itself

LO 2

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Analyzer Strategy

Identifies and exploits new markets and products

Simultaneously maintains a nucleus of traditional core products and customers

Appropriate in relatively stable conditions with moderate uncertainty and risk

HR managers may seek to recruit and retain employees who might be moderately entrepreneurial and flexible but who will also be quite dedicated and loyal to a firm

LO 2

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Specific Competitive Strategies

Differentiation strategy

Firms attempt to develop an image or reputation for their products or services that set the firms apart from their competitors

Cost leadership strategy

Focuses on minimizing the costs as much as possible

Focus strategy

Undertaken when an organization tries to target a specific segment of the marketplace for its products or services

LO 2

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Functional Strategies

Address how an organization will manage its basic functional activities, such as marketing, finance, operations, research and development, and HR

HR strategy formulation formally begins to take shape at the functional level

HR strategy should be closely integrated and coordinated with corporate, business, and other functional strategies

LO 2

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Human Resource Strategy Formulation

Staffing strategy

HR planning

Recruiting

Selection

Placement

Development strategy

Performance management

Training

Development

Career planning

LO 3

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Human Resource Strategy Formulation (Continued)

Compensation strategy

Wage/salary structure

Employee benefits

Incentives

LO 3

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Basic Components of HR Strategy

Organization design

Corporate culture

Unionization

LO 3

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Forms of Organization Design

Functional design (U-form organization)

Organizations group members into basic functional departments

Has a single HR department for an organization

Conglomerate (H-form) design

Used when an organization has implemented a strategy of unrelated diversification

HRM is a common staff function, but each of the unrelated businesses has its own HR department that functions with relative autonomy within that business

LO 3

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Forms of Organization Design (Continued)

Divisional (M-form) design

Facilitates synergy across businesses

HR function is likely to be diffused so that operating managers take on more of the responsibility for HR activities

Somewhat smaller HR staff provides basic services and plays more of a consultative role

LO 3

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Corporate Culture

An organization’s culture refers to the set of values that help members understand:

What the organization stands for

How it accomplishes what it desires

What it considers important

Plays a major role in shaping managerial behavior

Strong element in how an organization manages its human resources

LO 3

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Corporate Culture (Continued)

Firms must have a strong and well-articulated culture

Communicated through training, consistent behavior, and other organizational activities

May either facilitate or impede the work of HR managers

Crucial for the success of corporate mergers and acquisitions

LO 3

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Impact of Unionization and Collective Bargaining

Labor relations

Process of dealing with employees who are represented by a union

Unionized firms tend to have more rules and formal procedures that may limit a firm’s ability to formulate an ideal strategy

Strong unions facilitate strategic change if their leaders and the firm’s management work together productively

LO 3

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Interpersonal Processes

Psychological contract

Overall set of expectations held by an individual with respect to what he or she will contribute to an organization and what the individual receives in return

Personality

Relatively stable set of psychological attributes or traits that distinguish one person from another

LO 4

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Interpersonal Processes (Continued)

Motivation

Set of forces that causes people to behave in certain ways

Stress

A person’s adaptive response to a stimulus that places excessive psychological or physical demands on that person

LO 4

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Strategy Implementation

HR managers are responsible for:

Identifying potential leadership qualities among existing employees and to help structure procedures for developing and enhancing those qualities

Improving behavioral processes

Directly related to communication

Written, oral, and nonverbal communication are all pervasive in organizations

LO 4

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Evaluating the HR Function in Organizations

The costs and benefits of HRM functions are examined to see which ones contribute to competitive advantage and which should be outsourced

Line managers may choose between the corporation’s HR department or an outsider vendor when they need HRM help

Recent trend is to evaluate entire systems of HR activities

LO 5

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Human Resource Management Practices That May Lead to Improved Firm Performance

Self-directed work teams

Total quality management (TQM)

Contingent pay

Attitude surveys

Formal performance appraisals

Continuous training

LO 5

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Key Terms

Purpose

Mission

Top management team

Corporate strategy

Business strategy

Functional strategy

Growth strategy

Retrenchment or turnaround strategy

Stability strategy

Diversification strategy

Related diversification

Unrelated diversification

Adaptation model

Differentiation strategy

Cost leadership strategy

KEY TERMS

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Key Terms (Continued)

Focus strategy

Organization design

Culture

Psychological contract

Personality

Motivation

Stress

KEY TERMS

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Summary

Firms gain competitive advantages through the management of human resources

Key to strategic operations is developing and implementing effective strategies

HR strategy can be developed using a firm’s corporate and business strategies as context

Interpersonal processes play a major role in the implementation of HR strategies

Evaluating the effectiveness of the HR function has become a trend in recent years

SUMMARY

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23 Apr Imagine you are the HR manager at a company, and a female employee came to you upset because she felt a male coworker was creating a hostile work

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