Student content
Chapter 1
Stop and reflect – Trade Union Associations
See for example: (ETUC)
National Trade Union Confederations (members of ETUC):
Student content
Chapter 2
Case Study easyJet
Company information:
Careers:
Stop and Reflect – SOX Act 2002 information
The HR strategy scan approach
First step: general description of the organization
■What is the core business of the organization in terms of products, services and markets?
■What are the most important developments of the last 5–10 years, both inside and outside the organization?
■Find out more about the history of the organization, for example through studying annual reports, searching for documents and books in the library, and/or searching for information on the Internet.
■What are the key characteristics of the organization in terms of size (number of employees), yearly sales and yearly profits?
Second step: description of the general environment
■What are the most important developments in the general market environment over the last couple of years in terms of macroeconomics (e.g. increased globalization) and the labour market (e.g. labour market shortages and the ageing population)?
■What are the most important developments in the general institutional environment over the last couple of years in terms of societal norms and values (e.g., attitudes towards part-time work, work–life balance, labour market participation of women and diversity) and legislation (e.g. related to employee protection)?
Third step: description of the population environment:
■What is the nature of the business and, related to that, the nature of the customers (e.g. regular consumers versus industrial customers)?
■Find out more about the nature of the competition within the population; for example, whether there are many competitors or not.
■What kind of products or services are delivered and, linked to that, what are the latest developments with respect to these products and services?
■What kind of technology is used?
■Find out more about the CBAs relevant to the organization. What is the scope of the CBAs, who is involved in the negotiation and what is the impact of them on the organization?
■What is the influence of trade unions on the organization?
■What is the influence of works councils on the organization?
■What other (external) stakeholders are involved that influence the organization, and the HR strategy in particular?
■What specific laws are operational for the population of the organization; for example, related to working conditions, work procedures, health and safety?
Fourth step: description of the business strategy and the HR strategy:
■What is the overall business strategy? (If available, include president’s letters, annual reports and newspaper articles on the organization’s strategy.)
■Describe the HRM in the organization in terms of its recruitment and selection, employee development, appraisal and PM, compensation and benefits and employee involvement.
Fifth step: analysis:
1Determine the linkage between the business strategy and the HR strategy.
2Determine the degree of fit between the four external components on the one hand and the HR strategy on the other hand (strategic fit and institutional fit).
3Determine the degree of fit between the configuration and the HR strategy (organizational fit).
4Determine the degree of fit between the five HR practices within the organization (internal fit).
5Determine the overall alignment between the HR strategy and the (internal and external) context of the organization. The basic idea behind the overall analysis is ‘the more fits, the better it is’ in terms of performance (see Boon, 2008).
Student content
Chapter 3
A reversed approach to creating an HR value chain (Figure 3.1)
The VRIO framework (Table 3.1) – adapted version of Barney & Wright (1998)
Is a resource . . .Valuable? / Rare? / Difficult to imitate? / Supported by organization? / Competitive implications / Performance
No / – / – / / Competitive Disadvantage / Below average
Yes / No / – / Competitive Parity / Normal
Yes / Yes / No / Temporary Competitive Advantage / Above average
Yes / Yes / Yes / Sustained Competitive Advantage / Above average
Dissertation research on the added value of HRM with weblinks (free/open access):
•Voorde, F.C. van de (2010, Cum Laude). HRM, employee well-being and organizational performance: A balanced perspective. Ridderkerk: Ridderprint.
•Kooij, D. (2010). Motivating older workers: A lifespan perspective on the role of perceived HR practices.Ridderkerk: Ridderprint.
•Bos-Nehles, A. (2010). The line makes the difference: Line managers as effective HR partners. Enschede: Twente University. CPI Wöhrmann Print Service.
•Pas, B. (2011). Care+ER = Career? The effects of gendered individual and organizational characteristics on (women) physicians' career motivation and career investment. Nijmegen: Radboud University.
•Veld, M. (2012) HRM, strategic climate and employee outcomes in hospitals: HRM care for cure?Erasmus University Rotterdam.
•Knies, E. (2012, Cum Laude). Balanced value creation: a longitudinal study of the antecedents and effects of people management. Utrecht: Utrecht University.
HR Strategy scan in combination with HR value chain (Boselie, 2014):
Student content
Chapter 4
Team task
Build your own HR scorecard
Step 1:Choose an organization (e.g. the one that you are working for) – between 100–5000 employees preferably (if an MNC, focus on one of the organization units or subsidiaries).
Step 2:Determine the organization’s ultimate business goals (UBGs) – see Chapter 3 for an explanation of UBGs.
Step 3:Translate these UBGs into concrete targets (e.g. a 10 per cent yearly profit increase or a market growth of 100 per cent within the next five years).
Step 4:Determine the critical HR goals (in terms of cost-effectiveness, flexibility and legitimacy) that positively affect the UBGs in this organization – see Chapter 3 for an explanation of the critical HR goals.
Step 5:Determine the HR outcomes – attitudinal, behavioural and cognitive – that positively affect the critical HR goals in the organization.
Step 6:Translate the HR outcomes and practices in concrete targets:
■concepts– indicators – measurements;
■presence– coverage – intensity – satisfaction – importance.
Step 7:Determine the actors involved in the measurement, monitoring and evaluation (e.g. line managers, HR professionals and employees); describe the responsibilities of those involved.
Human capital / Socialcapital / Organizationcapital / HR outcome / Organizationoutcome / Financial outcomeConcept
Indicator
Measure
Target
Responsible
Start
Finish
Student content
Chapter 5
Team task
Discuss your personal scores as (a) a student or (b) a practitioner on the following HR outcomes:
(1 = extremely low and 10 = extremely high)
■student or job satisfaction ___
■trust in the teachers or trust in the managers of your organization ___
■student or job stress ___*
■student or employee motivation ___
■willingness to walk the extra mile for the school or the
organization (organizational citizenship behaviour) ___
■willingness to walk the extra mile for your fellow students or
your colleagues at work (group citizenship behaviour) ___
■commitment to the school or the organization ___
■intention to quit or intention to leave the organization ___*
■student presence or employee presence (opposite to absenteeism) ___
■being proud of your school or your organization ___
Total score ___
*Reversed item
For the ‘reversed’ items, you need to recalculate the score by applying this simple formula: 11 your score (e.g. a score of 8 on ‘student or job stress’ will equal 3; that is, 11 8 = 3).
Discuss your total score with the others and think of practices that can increase and practices that can decrease your personal scores.
Student content
Chapter 6
Control HR Systems / Commitment HR Systemscentralization / Decentralization
no participation / Participation
no general training / general training
no skills training / skills training
no social activities / social activities
no due process / due process
low wages / high wages
no employee benefits / employee benefits
direct supervision / No direct supervision
individual bonus or incentive payments / group bonus or incentive payments
Individual task
Select an organization and summarize the best practices or HPWPs of that organization using the following checklist.
To what extent does the organization use or apply:
(1 = very little; 2 = little; 3 = neutral; 4 = intensive; 5 = very intensive)
Abilities
1Selective recruitment and selection
(e.g. assessment and psychological tests) 12345
2General training (e.g. language training) 12345
3Skills training
(e.g. presentation and negotiation) 12345
4Job rotation (e.g. every two years) 12345
5Coaching (e.g. coaching newcomers) 12345
Motivation
6High wages 12345
7Performance-related pay 12345
8Internal promotion opportunities 12345
9Job security 12345
10Information and communication 12345
Opportunity to participate
11Participation in decision making 12345
12Employee autonomy 12345
13Teamwork 12345
14Employee survey research 12345
15Regular employee/supervisor meetings 12345
Calculate the total score by adding all the item scores.
Minimum score = 15
Maximum score = 75
Scores above 60 might indicate the existence of an HPWS in an organization. Scores between 50–60 might indicate a good HRM system and scores below 50 might indicate a mediocre HR system in the organization.
Student content
Chapter 7
Personal development:
What are the most important HRM aspects for you if you apply for a new job?
-personal development (PD)
-promotion opportunities
-autonomy
-flexibility
-high wages
-leisure time
-responsibilities
-cooperationwith others
-a good social atmosphere among colleagues
-coaching
-challenging projects
Rank you top-5 priorities and discuss it with your fellow students and/or colleagues.
Team task:
Search for four different job advertisements in the newspapers. Keep in mind that the bigger the differencesbetween the four vacancies the better this team task. The differences can be related to the following aspects:
-level of education required for the job (low versus high);
-number of years of working experience required (no experience versus extensive working experience);
-salary (low versus high);
-different professions (e.g. a specialist or a manager).
Perform an analysis of all four vacancies and make a decision as to which selection technique is best forfinding the right person for the job. You can make use of all selection techniques presented in this chapter.You are allowed to make combinations of the different techniques, but you have to justify your choices onthe basis of the following criteria for technique selection:
Comments:Validity
Costs
Sensitivity
Reliability
Practicality
Fairness/acceptability
Student content
Chapter 8
Personal development
Determine the three most important goals in your career for the next two to five years. Think of thepersonal actions you need to take to achieve these three goals (actions taken next week; actions takenwithin the next three months; and actions taken within the next year).
Determine the way you are going to measure your own progress on your goal achievement.
Discuss your personal goals, actions and evaluation approach with somebody else.
Concrete personal actions:actions taken next week
actions taken within the next three months
actions taken within the next year
Team task
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of applying 360-degree feedback systems as part of a PM systemapplied to:
1 unskilled workers (e.g. in retail);
2 highly educated knowledge workers in a high-tech environment (e.g. in the IT sector);
3 higher level managers in a MNC.
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages in terms of the employer’s interests (e.g. with regard to trainingcosts, increased productivity and employee motivation) and in terms of employees’ interests (e.g. withregard to satisfaction, perceived justice and employee involvement).
Advantages: / Disadvantages:Unskilled workers:
Knowledge workers:
Higher level managers:
Student content
Chapter 9
Team task
Discuss your personal preferences with regard to the amount of fixed pay and variable pay in your currentjob or in a potential future job. In other words, would you be willing to get paid on the basis of your jobperformance (variable pay)? And what are the conditions for PRP?
Find out more about jobs where variable pay is quite common. What are the reasons for the applicationof variable pay in these jobs? What are the advantages and disadvantages of pay for performance inthese jobs?
Find concrete jobs (for example in newspapers) / Advantages PRP: / Disadvantages PRP:Job 1:
Job 2:
Job 3:
Job 4:
Student content
Chapter 10
Team task
Identify at least five famous talents in different areas. Discuss the key characteristics (positive and negative)of these talents within your team. And debate whether their talents are mainly based on ‘nature’ orthat the talent was ‘nurtured’. The nurture–nature debate in TM refers to whether talent is a gift (e.g. intelligenceor physical strengths) or talent is something that can be grown (nurtured).
PositiveCharacteristics: / Negative
Characteristics: / Nature
(yes/no): / Nurtured
(yes/no):
Talent 1
Talent 2
Talent 3
Talent 4
Talent 5
For example talents in:
-sports
-entertainment industry
-music
-politics
-business
Student content
Chapter 11
Trade union information:
The European Industrial Relations Observatory On-line: Trade Union Membership 2003–2008
Individual task
To what extent would you like to be involved (employee involvement/employee participation) in the followingpractices:
(1 = very little; 2 = little; 3 = neutral; 4 = intensive; 5 = very intensive)
1 The design of a new training and developmentprogramme1 2 3 4 5
2 The development of a new appraisal system 1 2 3 4 5
3 The recruitment and selection of a new colleague 1 2 3 4 5
4 The decision making on who gets an extra bonus 1 2 3 4 5
5 Decisions on internal promotions 1 2 3 4 5
6 The design of your own job (job design) 1 2 3 4 5
7 The content and design of the yearly employee survey 1 2 3 4 5
8 Discussing the outcomes of the yearly employee survey 1 2 3 4 5
9 Works council membership 1 2 3 4 5
10 Organizing social events 1 2 3 4 5
Calculate your total score by adding up the item scores (minimum score = 10; maximum score = 50).
-What are the most important practices to you in this list?
-What are the least important practices to you in this list?
-Overall, do you want to be involved to a high or low extent?
-Think of the advantages and disadvantages of your involvement.
Student content
Chapter 12
Team task
Collect between 10–20 advertisements in newspapers and on the Internet for vacancies in HR-related jobs(e.g. personnel manager, HR development specialist, recruiter, HR manager and compensation expert).
-Analyse the requirements for these vacancies using the Ulrich (1997) model with the four HR roles.
-Put the specific requirements in the four quadrants of Ulrich’s model and compare the vacancies.
-Discuss the implications of this analysis for the potential candidate and for the organization.
-What lessons can be learned from it for applicants?
-What can organizations learn from it?
Advertisements: / Employee Champ / Strat Partner / Change Agent / Admin Expert1
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Student content
Chapter 13
Individual task
Find out more about the international career opportunities within one of the following organizations:
Shell
UN
Medicins Sans Frontiers
Shell is a private company, the UN an IGO and Medicins Sans Frontiers an NGO. Private companies, IGOsand NGOs operate in developing countries, for example on the African continent.Think of the challenges for the transition of employees (expatriates) from Western countries to thesedeveloping countries and the role of the HR function in it; for example, in terms of recruitment and selection,training and development, compensation and information sharing.
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Chapter 14
Find out more about a specific organization in particular related to the three main factors described by Boselie (2014) in Chapter 14:
(1)map the best principles within an organization;
(2)show leadership at all levels to make things happen;
(3)create connections, for example through platforms (internal networks for exchange).
You can use an interview for collecting data within an organization.
Interview questions:
-what are the best principles related to HRM within your organization that can be used by other departments/units in your organization?
-can you give concrete illustrations of these best principles?
-what kind of (internal) connections and platforms already exist that can help sharing best principles within the organization?
-can you give concrete illustrations of these connections?
-what role can leadership play or already plays in making things happen, for example sharing best principles?
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