Conception of the human factor in companies
Then: People = Cost
Now: People = Resource
Human Resources Strategies
It is the deliberate use by the company of human resources to maintain an advantage over its competitors in the market.
It is about defining the general approach an organization will take to ensure the effective use of its people to achieve its mission.
The human resources strategy must consider a series of internal and external demands on the company.
Key HR requirements
Human Being
Match between the person and the organization
Ethics and social responsibility
Productivity
Power delegation (empowerment)
Brain drain
Job insecurity
Organization
Strategic positioning: cost or differentiation
Decentralization
Downsizing
Restructuring
Self-directed work teams
The growth of small businesses
Organizational culture technology
Outsourcing
Market
Speed of changes
TIC
Workforce diversity
Globalization
Legislation
Work-life balance
Growth of the services sector and lack of qualified employees
HR Strategy Adjustment
coherence or compatibility with other important aspects of the organization, such as corporate strategy
The contribution of the human resources strategy to the results of the company increases when: …
The greater its fit with the overall strategies of the organization.
Greater the harmony with the company’s environment.
Better consider the unique characteristics of the organization.
Take better advantage of the company’s distinctive competencies.
The more coherent the human resources strategies are with each other, that is, the more they reinforce each other.
Improvement of the company’s performance through HR strategies
Advantages of strategic HR planning
Promotion of proactive behaviour versus reactive.
Explicit communication of the company’s objectives.
Stimulation of critical thinking and continuous evolution.
Identification of differences between the current situation and the future.
Promotion of the participation of line managers.
Identification of the opportunities and limitations of HR.
Creation of common links.
Types of HR departments
centralized: It has its own department, at the same level as the departments of other areas of the company (finance, marketing, production, R&D, etc.)
mixed: some HR functions are centralized, and others are not
decentralized: There is no department of HR, middle managers are responsible for HR functions for the employees they manage
Main functions of the HR department
The processes of affection:
recruitment, selection, hiring
subtractive processes, disaffection
The policy of compensation, renumeration or reward
The evaluation or valuation of people
The training policy
Other areas:
Personeel management
Labour relations
Occupational health and safety
Personal competencies
Set of patterns composed of characteristics underlying the person (knowledge, skills, dispositions, conducts, etc.) that allow the individual achieve effective or superior performance in an activity or job.
Types of competencies
Generic or specific
Treshold or differentiatiors
Current or potential
Objectives of management of human resources by competences
Match between the worker and the position
Excellent performance and not merely satisfactory
—> Competencies are individual (intrinsic)
—> Competencies can be developed
—> They serve to establish a common language throughout the company
—> There are dictionaries of competencies in which competencies are defined, the level of acquisition of competence is specified, and specific indicators or associated behaviors are listed to measure their scope.
Main dimensions of competency-based management
acquisition
estimulation
development
HR management systems
General outline of the human resources system
Job organisation —> anaylsis and job description
Onboarding management —> recruitment and selection
Development management —> performance evaluation and carreer design
Analysis and job description
Content of job descriptions
tasks
responsibilities
duties
Content of job specifications
competencies
knowledge
skills
Definition of the analysis of the position (AP)
The analysis of the position (AP) from a systematic collection of the relevant information of each position. Also called Task Analysis or Job Analysis. It’s an objective process because it considers the job, not the employee.
Definition of the job description (JD)
The job description (JD) establishes in a detailed, structured, orderly and systematic way what is the scope and responsibility of each position, defining its tasks, responsibilities and duties. In short, it answers the questions:
What does the worker do? Why?
How and with what?
Where and when?
What does it entail?
Definition of the job specifications (JE)
The job specifications (JE) set out the competences that the person holding the post must have (intellectual and physical requirements, aptitudes, attitudes, qualifications, experience, etc.) and working conditions.
Methods for collecting information needed for AP and JD
Questionnaires
Observation
Interview
Group interview
Meeting of experts
Employee Registration
Work diaries
Combination of the above methods
Process of AP, JD and JE
Establish the objectives of the realization of an AP and its corresponding planning (plan and work schedule)
Determine what data to collect, how to do it, and how the information will be used.
Review important basic information (organizational chart, process charts and job descriptions, etc.)
Select representative positions. It may be necessary to analyze many similar positions, in which case, analyzing a representative sample is sufficient.
Analyze the position by gathering data on work activities, the required behaviours of employees, working conditions, characteristics and human skills necessary for thee position, etc.
Verify AP information with the employee performing the work and the immediate supervisor
Prepare the final document: the job description and specification
Content of AP, JD and JE
What tasks are performed? What is its frequency (daily, periodic, punctual)?
What tools, equipment or materials are used? What is its frequency of use?
What rules or laws must be complied with in this job?
What are the duties and responsibilities of the position?
With whom does the worker relate to carry out his tasks? Who are the senior and subordinate positions?
What information must be handled to get the job done? Are instructions received? How often? How provides the information (information system, superior, colleagues, etc.)?
What are the outputs of the job?
If a mistake is made in the position, who does it affect? What is its severity level?
Under what conditions (environmental, health, psychological) is the work carried out? Occupational hazards.
Are there performance standards? In what tasks? What values should be achieved?
What competencies (knowledge, experience, skills, physical characteristics, personality traits, aptitudes or attritudes) are necessary to perform that work? What level is necessary to have for each of them?
Sections of a typical job description
What is a xy? …
xy duties and responsibilities include: …
What does a xy do? …
Responsibilities
Requirements and skills
HR system process
Recruitment —> set of policies and practices that aim to attract potentially qualified candidates capable of holding positions within an organization.
Selection —> selection and application of the necessary instruments to properly choose candidates
Onboarding and socialization or induction —> policies and practices aimed at properly receiving people and accompanying them in their first steps in the position and their environment
Recruitment process
Detect vacancies or new positions
Describe the position and profile of the person needed
Decide the type of recruitment:
Internal —> the person needed is in the organization
External —> If it is necessary to resort to the outside to find the right person
Mixed —> both are combined
Sources of external recruitment
Internet and social networks
Source increasingly used, both by recruiters and candidates. For example, Linkedin.
Advantages: low cost, speed, ability to offer a large amount of information and possibility of segmentation (if ads are placed on parceled websites)
Disadvantages: massive access to information and difficulty in introducing restrictions
Recruitment specialized companies and headhunting
Generalist recruitment companies —> link between the vacancies of their clients (companies looking for candidates) and the candidates
Management level recruitment companies (headhunters) —> they only hire certain roles, usually important positions of a company, hence the target group are managers, executives and directors
Temporary employment agencies (TEA’s)
“lend” staff to a company that wants to fill a vacancy for a certain period of time. They are the ones who hire the workers and make them available to other companies
Educational institutions
Universities, technical schools or other academic institutions have candidates with a medium-high qualification who can be good candidates to cover certain profiles —> interships in companies
Other associations
For example: trade unions or professional associations
Referrals
Employees recommend potential candidates and in return some companies reward them for providing valid candidates. It is a fasteer way to have candidates, in addition, the candidate usually knows the organization and usually has a profile that adapts well to the profile sought since the employees know the personeel needs of the company.
Selection Process Stages
Preselection: A first screening is carried out among all the candidates for the position.
Selection: Once the company has an adequate and operational number, the candidates are evaluated to know if they have the necessary characteristics for the position.
Final Decision: With the information obtained in the selection phase, the requirements of the position and the characteristics of the candidates to choose one of them are comparatively evaluated.
Test based Selection Process Stages
Define the appropriate tests
Assign an order or sequence of the tests (if the tests are eliminatory, if they are carried out to all the aspirants, etc…)
Gathering the information in a report for each candidate
Decision making —> The candidate
Methodologies for selection processes
Psychotechnical tests
Specific knowledge tests
Group dynamics: psychological assessment technique used in personnel selection that places cadidates in interaction in order to produce observable behaviours conductive to the assessment of attitudinal traits necessary for the position
Professional tests: simulate the real working conditions of a gives position. Not only the resolution of the test is evaluated, but also the time and procedure followed
Business games and management simulations: simplified representation of the business reality or the position in which the qualities of the individual are evaluated to make decisions, information management, face complex situations
Resolution of cases and assumptions: candidates must solve a case (real or fictitious) or at least try. Both the result and the procedure followed are evaluated
Assessment center: test designed to cover highly qualified managerial or professional positions. It evaluates the skills of the candidates that they will have to demonstrate for several days, in several selection tests and ususally in a certain place (a hotel for example). Requires a large investment of time and money
Interview: its objective is to clearly detext the most visible aspects of the candidate and their relationship with the requirements of the position. It is essential that the interviewer knows the position perfectly (JD)
BIASES: Stereotypes, Halo/echo effect, Primacy/recency effect, Projection of the interviewer in the interviewee, Contrast effect
How to avoid mistakes: Analyze very well the position to be filled; standardize, plan and structure the interview; several interviewers are present; take notes and if possible, record
Socialisation
Way in which people learn beliefs, values, orientations, behaviors, skills… of the organization
Evaluation of the employees performance in his position
Methods for evaluating performance
Methods of focused on comparison
Employee ranking
Peer comparisons
Forced distributions
Results-focused methods
Methods focused on job position and behavior
by factors
critical incidents
default behavior descriptions (BARS)
mixed standard scales
Performance evaluation: Methods focused on comparison
Based on the comparison between employees in order to avoid the effect of the central trend:
Performance evaluation: Methods focused on results
Methods based on the indiviualized application of management by objectives (individual objectives are set and it is assessed whether they have been met)
It cannot be applied to all employees in the organization, as only managerial and technical positions can be assigned objectives
Strictly speaking targets should not be confused with performance standards
for example —> an operational level employee may have a performace standard set that is to record 1,000 pieces of data per day, but that is NOT a goal
Performance evaluation: Methods focused on job position and behaviour
Method by factors: previously, the analysis and job description (JD) is carried out and the critical elements or essential factors of the position are defined
Subsequently, the possible evaluations for each of the established factors are defined:
PLATZHALTER
Bars method —> default behaviour descriptions
Part of a detailed job description (JD) and key factor selection
Describes in detail the behavious in a job in all possible situations (when the behavior was effective, medium, ineffective)
As a result, examples of behaviors are obtained for each key factor
What is performance evaluation data used for?
renumeration purposes
promotional purposes
better define jobs
for worker feedback
to develop training programs
to develop career plans
for dismissal or removal from the post
Definition of Career plan
A career plan is an estimate of the possible promotional paths that a person can follow within the organization, based on their potentail, their preferences and the future prospects offered by their organization.
It contains the development actions that must be carried out to travel these promotional routes.
Stages of the Career Plan Design
Identification of potential: determination of the possibilities of development of a person, the determination of what type positions can be achieved within the organization, to, consequently, be directed in the trajectories and type of training more appropriate.
Career plan design: It consists of having the right candidates ready to perform key positions in the organization. Includes the following activities:
Definition of key positions based on strategic criteria
Define the candidate’s potential with the right profile
Candidate’s selection
Development of specific career plans —> training, skills, salary, etc.
Implementation of the plan
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