2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.Chapter 1 HR Roles, Strategy, and Planning

Chapter Overview

This chapter provides an overview of Human Resource Management by describing twelve

important considerations:

• HR as Organizational Core Competency • HR Management as Organizational Contributor • Organizational Ethics and HR Management • Current and Future HR Management Challenges • Managing HR in Organizations • HR Management Roles • HR Management Competencies and Careers • Strategy and HR • Planning for External Workforce Availability • Forecasting HR Supply and Demand • Measuring Effectiveness of HR and Human Capital • Human Resources Audits

Many organizations today are looking at the management of human capital in their organizations. The importance of measuring the value of human capital and viewing human resources as a core competency for an organization is explored in the beginning of this chapter. A conceptual model is presented that shows that HR management is composed of seven interlinked activities that are significantly impacted by external forces (legal, economic, technological, global, environmental, cultural/geographic, political, and social).

These seven activities are identified and briefly described:

• HR Strategy and Planning • Equal employment opportunity • Staffing • Talent management and development • Rewards • Risk management and worker protection • Employee and labor relations

HR can contribute to organizational results in many ways. Two of the areas of contribution include organizational culture and organizational productivity. HR management’s contributions to each of these areas are explored.

(Human Resource Management Essential Perspectives, 7e Robert Mathis, John Jackson) (Instructor Manual, For Complete File, Download link at the end of this File) 1 / 3

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Chapter 1: HR Roles, Strategy, and Planning

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.Managing HR in organizations is discussed next. All managers engage in HR management but they are not expected to know the details about HR regulations and HR systems that one would expect from an HR professional. Smaller organizations (less than 100) typically do not have an HR department and the owner or another manager usually takes care of HR issues. It is important that there is cooperation between the operating managers and the HR staff for HR efforts to succeed. Some of the common negative and positive views of HR are discussed.

The various roles that HR management may undertake are then described and include the administrative, the operational and employee advocate, and the strategic roles. Next, the HR competencies needed by all HR professionals and senior HR leaders are identified. Some discussion of HR careers and various types of certification within the field of HR are also included.

Current and future HR management challenges are then identified and explored. These include organizational cost pressures; job changes; skill shortages; globalization of organizations and HR; workforce demographics and diversity; HR technology; and measuring HR impact through metrics.

Next, organizational ethics and HR is discussed. The relationship between ethics and organizational culture and HR’s role in organizational ethics are covered.

This is followed by a discussion of organizational strategic planning including strategy formulation, the strategic planning process, strategic competencies for HR professionals, and operationalizing HR management strategies.

Environmental analysis, including both internal and external factors, is presented followed by global competitiveness and strategic HR issues. Then some strategic challenges are presented: managing a talent surplus, legal considerations for workforce reductions, and managing a talent shortage.

The chapter closes with measuring effectiveness of HR initiatives. The development and use of HR metrics is explored and specific strategic HR effectiveness tools such as benchmarking, the balanced scorecard, and HR audits are discussed.

Chapter Outline

• What is Human Resource Management?

Human resource (HR) management is designing formal systems in an organization to manage human talent for accomplishing organizational goals. Whether a big company or a small nonprofit organization, those employees must be paid, which means an appropriate and legal compensation system is needed. Employees also must be recruited, selected, trained, 2 / 3

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Chapter 1: HR Roles, Strategy, and Planning

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.and managed. Each of these activities requires thought and understanding about what may work well and what may not. Research on these issues and the knowledge from successful approaches form the basis for effective HR management.

• Why Organizations Need HR Management

Despite the obvious differences between large and small organizations, the same HR issues must be dealt with in every organization. In a sense every manager in an organization is an HR manager. However, it is unrealistic to expect a nursing supervisor to know about the nuances of equal employment regulations, or how to design a compensation system. For that reason, larger organizations frequently have people who specialize in these activities, which form the HR function or department.

• Managing Human Resources in Organizations

Human Resources/human capital who work in organizations may have valuable contributions they can make to the organization’s mission. But these contributions will occur only if people have a reasonable opportunity to contribute. Employees must be placed into the right job, be trained, and given feedback if they are to do well. It is not just the HR department that does these things, but a team effort between operating managers and the HR Department if one exists.

In the United States and worldwide, small businesses employ more than half of all private- sector employees and generate many new jobs each year. In surveys over several years by the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA), the issues identified as significant concerns in

small organizations were consistent:

• Not having enough qualified workers • The rapidly increasing costs of employee benefits • Payroll taxes • Compliance with government regulations All these concerns have an HR focus, especially when governmental compliance with wage/hour, safety, equal employment, and other regulations are considered.

Other HR positions are added as specialists as the company grows larger. However, for HR to be most useful it must remain firmly attached to the operating management of the organization.

• Human Resources as a Core Competency

The development and implementation of specific strategies must be based on the areas of strength in an organization. Referred to as core competencies, those strengths are the foundation for creating a competitive advantage for an organization. A core competency is a unique capability that creates high value at which an organization excels. Many

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