Questions & Answers: Management – Hiring and Employment

Discuss recruitment and selection — including interviews, tests, and the hiring decision.
Businesses use recruiting tactics to attract job applicants and manage their personnel needs. Large businesses need to plan hiring long in advance, so they hire special human resources employees to manage applications, interviews, and evaluations. The first step in the hiring process is a preliminary screening, during which candidates may be interviewed over the phone and resumes are reviewed. The next step is likely to be an in-person interview, which may be unstructured, semi-structured, or structured. A semi-structured interview uses some standard questions, while a structured interview uses a standard set of questions for all applicants.
Some businesses also administer aptitude, psychological, or personality tests. Next, a business will likely check the references of the remaining applicants, and may perform drug tests and background checks. Finally, candidates for management positions may be asked to participate in special leadership evaluations before hiring decisions are made.

Discuss workplace benefits.
The United States mandates that companies pay unemployment insurance, Social Security, and workers’ compensation benefits. However, companies may also pay for vacation days, other forms of insurance, child care, and employee pensions. A pension plan is meant to supply retirement income. Some companies opt to contribute to an individual retirement account or 401(k) rather than a pension plan. Also, many companies pledge to match the employee’s contribution to the retirement or pension plan. In a cafeteria or flexible benefit plan, employees agreed to set aside a portion of their wage they will spend on things like insurance or child care. This money is not entered into yearly total wages and is therefore not taxed as income.

Discuss workplace compensation.
Employee compensation is usually thought of in monetary terms, as some compensation is not directly financial. For instance, vacation days, use of company resources, and insurance are all forms of indirect financial compensation. Compensation is handled differently depending on the employee’s position: some employees receive a flat rate for the amount of time they work, while other employees are paid based on what they produce. Some employees receive a combination of a flat rate and an incentive rate. Companies whose employees are members of a union typically receive a high flat rate established through collective bargaining. When employees are paid according to individual incentive, they get a certain amount for each unit produced. A straight piecework wage consists of an hourly rate plus a little more for each unit produced. In a differential piece rate payment, the employer pays one rate for a low level of production, and a higher rate for greater production. In a production bonus system, the employee is given a flat rate payment and a bonus whenever their production is greater than a certain amount. Finally, a gain-sharing incentive plan gives employees a bonus when their group exceeds expectations.

Discuss performance evaluations and errors that can occur in evaluating work performance.
Performance evaluations may use graphic rating scales, ranking methods, or descriptive essays. They detail the strengths and weaknesses of an employee’s work. Performance evaluations are used to determine employee placement, compensation, and training. Many managers use performance evaluations to motivate their employees, and this can be effective so long as the evaluations are perceived as fair. In a graphic rating scale, employee performance is assigned a rating from outstanding to poor. This descriptive method works best with small numbers of employees. Another way of expressing performance evaluations is with descriptive essays, but these are often hard to compare. It is easy for a manager’s prejudice or particular judgments to skew an evaluation. For this reason, managers should be trained in the organization’s particular methods. As much as possible, the performance evaluations should strive for specificity.

Discuss workplace training and development.
Companies receive a number of benefits from continuously training and improving the skills of their employees. Production and efficiency tend to go up, and businesses often discover that some employees are capable of taking on more responsibility, which leads to less money spent on oversight. There’s a slight distinction between training and development: training is learning how to perform a job for the first time, while development is learning how to perform an existing job better. Before training begins, employees are often given a needs assessment, so that their existing knowledge and skills can be assessed. Sometimes, performance on the needs assessment dictates the style of training. Businesses often provide basic orientation for new employees and diversity training so that employees harmoniously cooperate with colleagues from different cultures. For prospective managers, interpersonal training may be necessary. Some businesses have managers lead the training in what is known as coaching.

List the "Big Five" personality traits that appear to influence work behavior, and describe:
The so-called “Big Five” personality traits related to work behavior are

1. Extraversion

2. Emotional stability

3. Openness to new experience

4. Conscientiousness

5. Agreeableness

The extent to which an employee will take responsibility for himself or herself is tied to his or her locus of control, which is his or her perception of personal determination. An “internal” is a person who believes he or she has control, while an “external” is a person who believes he or she has little control. An external tends to need more supervision. Employees can also be classified by whether they are Type A or Type B. A Type A personality feels the need to be superior to others, and tends to be aggressive. A Type B, on the other hand, is more mellow and inclined to wait and see. The Myers-Briggs personality classification system divides people into four cognitive styles: sensation-thinking, intuition-thinking, sensation-feeling, and intuition-feeling. The system also classifies people in terms of extroversion-introversion and a tendency towards judgment or perception.

Discuss managing rewards and punishments, managing mistakes, and providing feedback.
In order to be consistent and effective, managers need to define the behaviors to be reinforced, rewarded, punished, and extinguished. All too often, a manager reinforces bad behavior by failing to identify successful deeds that were accomplished in the wrong way. The reinforcements should be appropriate to the individual employee. Money is not the only reinforcement in the workplace: managers can also use increased autonomy, personal recognition, and benefits to reward employee performance. Of course, managers and employees will inevitably make mistakes. If these mistakes are made in good faith, punishment should not be severe. Nevertheless, managers should implement disincentives and ensure that mistakes are dealt with constructively. The best way to run a reinforcement and punishment program is with consistent, detailed feedback.

Discuss U.S. labor laws.
· National Labor Relations Act, otherwise known as the Wagner Act (1935): legalized labor unions, outlawed several employer practices related to labor, and created the National Labor Relations Board. This act basically unionized the country overnight and enabled collective bargaining to begin winning victories for workers, such as minimum wage and maternity leave.
· Labor-Management Relations Act, otherwise known as the Taft-Hartley Act (1947): protected management by outlawing some labor union practices, allowing workers to decertify their union, and reinforcing free speech rights.
· Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, otherwise known as the Landrum-Griffin Act (1959): created a bill of rights for union members, including union reporting requirements and control over union dues.

Describe laws enacted in the United States that affect employment opportunities.

1. Fair Labor Standards Act (1938): divided employees into exempt, who could not receive overtime pay, and non-exempt, who could.

2. Equal Pay Act (1963): outlawed pay discrimination based on gender.

3. Civil Rights Act (1964): outlawed employment discrimination based on race, sex, ethnicity, nationality, or religion; Title VII outlawed discrimination in recruiting, hiring, termination, promotion, compensation, and training.

4. Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967): outlawed employment discrimination against those over 40 and limited mandatory retirement.

5. Vocational Rehabilitation Act (1973): enforced affirmative action for federal employers and contractors with respect to disability.

6. Americans with Disabilities Act (1990): outlawed employment discrimination against the disabled; definition of disability expanded to include cancer patients in remission, those afflicted with AIDS, alcoholics, and drug abusers.

7. Civil Rights Act (1991): strengthened anti-discriminatory legislation and redefined punishments for violators.

8. Family and Medical Leave Act (1991): asserted that employees with medical or family needs should receive twelve weeks unpaid leave without threat of termination.

Discuss laws and legal concerns over health and safety in the workplace.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) asserts rules for workplace safety, as for instance mandatory onsite inspections and record-keeping related to deaths and injuries. Many professions remain dangerous. Coal miners, for instance, still die every year, although the numbers are greatly diminished from the hundreds of casualties suffered during the 1960s. To maintain workplace safety, it is essential for employees to speak up. There is legislation to protect workers who blow the whistle on unsafe working conditions. For instance, it is not legal for these employees to be fired for alerting authorities to conditions that could result in injury or death.

List some legal issues in compensation and benefits.
· Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 1938: categorized exempt and non-exempt employees and established minimum wage, child labor, and maximum hour laws.
· Equal Pay Act (EPA), 1963: outlawed pay discrimination based on gender, but allowed it in relation to merit, incentive systems, market demand, seniority, etc.
· Comparable-worth doctrine: a woman who does work of equal worth to that of a man deserves to be paid as well as the man. There are no statutes requiring comparable-worth compensation, but some laws support this doctrine.
· Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 1974: employees who have earned the right to draw retirement benefits must be given them; bankrupt and defaulting companies will have their employee pensions paid by the government.
· Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978): categorized pregnancy as a disability and entitled pregnant women to the benefits afforded other disabled people.

Discuss job analysis, design, and redesign.
Job analysis precedes job design. The fundamental point of job analysis is to determine how a particular job meshes with the organization as a whole. The job analyst will make a list of all the activities associated with a particular job, as well as the skills required to perform it. From this summary will come an outline of job descriptions and job specifications. Job design is the conscious construction of a professional role, with the aim of increasing employee satisfaction and efficiency. During job design, the designer is focused on specialization, range, and depth. Job redesign is the refinement of an already-existing job. It may involve the use of flex time, rotation, enlargement, or enrichment.

Discuss job enrichment.
When employees feel that they do not have enough responsibility, are not growing professionally, and are not being recognized for their performance, they are more likely to perform below capacity or leave a job entirely. Job enrichment aims to reduce these occurrences by giving employees more autonomy and a broader set of skills. A job enrichment program can be expensive, however, so it is a good idea to determine whether an employee is willing before initiating one. An effective enrichment program will emphasize the following core areas:
- Skill variety: the employee is given a broader range of tasks to accomplish.
- Task identity: the employee is given charge of a task from its inception to its completion.
- Task significance: the employee is given more consequential tasks.
- Autonomy: the employee is given more freedom to pursue alternate methods.
- Feedback: the employee is given more response, both positive and negative, to his or her work.

List the steps of the strategic planning process.
The first step of the strategic planning process is to identify explicitly the purpose, mission, and values of the organization. Next, the planners need to determine goals and objectives for both the short and the long term. In doing this, the planners should identify the organization’s core competencies and available resources, so that it can maximize their potential. Next, the planners should perform a detailed analysis of the business environment. After this, they can create a strategy for all departments and for the organization as a whole. The strategy should include performance expectations and target outcomes. The next step is to implement the plan and review the outcomes, for instance in terms of market share, product quality, and financial performance.

Describe the plan, do, check, act (PDCA) cycle.
One of the most common quality planning cycles used in business is called the plan, do, check, act (PDCA) cycle. As the title indicates, the PDCA cycle has four steps. First, the organization identifies the quality improvement changes that need to be made. Then, the organization tests these changes with a small sample run. Next, the employees determine whether the implemented changes had the desired effect. Finally, if the small sample run indicates that the changes were positive, the changes are implemented across the full range of production. Often, businesses will use the PDCA cycle in one production area to inspire changes in another.

Discuss the SWOT analysis.
One simple tool for assessing the current health of a business is the SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The strengths of a business could be its resources, whether human or material. Experience and excellent training could be the strengths of a business. On the other hand, these same areas can be sources of weakness for a business. A lack of expertise in the production area is a definite weakness. The opportunities of a business are the ways in which it could improve its position. The threats to a business are all of the potential problems, such as malfeasance or a general decline in customer demand.