Ch. 10 Reflection & Ch. 11

Ch. 10 Reflection
Having had to miss class for my little girls emergency run to the pediatrician, I did some reading up on my teammates blogs to see what discussion and lecture I missed in class Monday. Here is what I have gathered. In class we broke into groups (as usual) to discuss the reading. They also talked about progressive discipline and the process that happens when an employee continues to not work the way they should. They also talked about job with drawl and how there are many ways that this can occur. Casey thought this was an interesting topic because she has experienced it first hand when one of her coworkers was going through a divorce, and she saw the toll it took on all the other workers as well as the company as a whole.

Chapter 11
Establishing a Pay Structure
This chapter discussed how much to pay employees based on their skills, experience, and the job type. It discussed the factors of equality and fairness, and how to determine real skills. It also describes what and how pay grades, pay ranges, and pay differentials work. Equal pay for equal work was an interesting topic.
Pay structure, how they decide how much to pay each employee, benchmarking, comparing other companies in the same industry, pay policy line, mathematical relationship between job evaluation points and pay rate were some of the key topics.
How do companies deal with employees that are upset about the pay scales and raises, and what are the most common complaints and solutions?

Ch. 10

Separating and Retaining Employees
This chapter talked about such topics as determining whether or not the organization is treating employees fairly, voluntary and involuntary turnover, legal requirements for employee discipline, and how to fairly discipline employees. The idea of outplacement counseling was new to me but rather interesting. The key points were about dispute resolution, having and using methods like open door policy, peer review, mediation and arbitration, employee assistance programs, job withdrawal,and job satisfaction. What are some examples of barriers through real-life examples when using these methods? What are major challenges and are there better methods yet to be discovered?

Ch 7 Reflection

I might have missed class this day because I don't recall discussing Chapter 7 in class. I only missed class one day and I think that was chapter 9. We did have the Tahitian Noni HR guy come talk to us and that was relating to Chapter 7 and training. I have lots of experience with trainings and found his methods pretty standard. Training can come across as "you aren't doing well enough so now we are forced to train you better and correct your shortcomings" which can really upset and offend employees. I suggest making training something that everyone does regardless of performance tests and also make trainings fun and interactive-not like an exam.

Ch. 9

Developing Employees for Future Success
This chapter focuses on helping employees grow and develop, especially so that they will be successful in the positions they are in. It also focused on the methods used to fit employees to successful positions through assessments. These can be done by themselves, their supervisors, co workers, or others. The chapter talked about trying new things to learn new abilities and how experience can govern how diverse workers talents can be. It is important to have a broad range of skills for many jobs now days. Many people move around in a company and need to understand various functions.
Working is a never ending process of learning. It is also coming to terms with your strengths and weaknesses as an employee. There are many ways you can do this, the chapter talked about having coaches or bosses that help you and mentor you. They can also help you achieve your goals, which are important for growth.

Ch 8 Reflection

Process management is important on all levels of the company. These processes, like using regular feedback, helps to measure growth and assure that the employees and their respective roles are contributing to the company's success. TQM (Total Quality Management) refers to these different techniques and could be a variety of tests and sources. It was commonly agreed that feedback must be more regular than annually. A challenge is that you need to treat employees fairly and equally.

Ch. 8

Concept and Brief Description: Developing Employees for Future Success
Emotional Hook: I wonder what kind of problems come up with face to face feedback and constructive criticism.
Key points to elicit for discussion:Strategic purpose, Administrative purpose and Developmental purpose. Performance measures should fit with the organization’s strategy by supporting its goals and culture. Performance feedback should be a regular, scheduled management activity, so that employees can correct problems as soon as they occur.
Facilitative Questions: Where does goal setting end? Especially for those employees who are content doing the same job for years and years, how much can you expect them to improve continually and especially how do yo measure that growth?

Ch. 6 Reflections Part I

Today in class we discussed the guidelines for successful and accurate selection processes. We also discussed references and the validity and value of them, and how they are typically not a good indicated. We discussed typical questions you can't ask during interviews because of different Acts. We brainstormed ways to ask the same questions in "legal" terms.

Ch. 6

Concept and Brief Description - Selection Process, the process through which organizations make decisions about who will or will not be allowed to join the organization.
Emotional Hook - What challenges do HR Managers face with the selection process and how do they address those issues? Are legal issues common?
Key Points to Elicit in Discussion - Must provide reliable and valid information. It is generalized to apply to all candidates. Also must offer high utility and be legal. Facilitative Questions - Why do company's still use methods they know to be inaccurate or poor predictors?

Ch. 7

Concept & Brief Description: Instructional Design; A process of systematically developing training to meet specific needs.
Emotional Hook: Are employees ready for training? I never would have thought that before. I have assumed that if they don't know it then they are ready to be trained on it. If you can judge the employee's cognitive ability you will be able to better gauge what they are capable of learning and accomplishing.
Key Points: Organization's need good training programs, there are several steps that help an employer accomplish this. Organization, person, and task analysis are a few of those steps. There are several different types of training methods, you should constantly measure how effective your trainings are being through work evaluations.
Question: What companies don't have training and why?

Ch. 5 Reflections I

Today we discussed some basic principles in hiring. We considered the importance of keeping records to identity trends so a company can better adapt to changes in the market. We talked about the impact of high and low employment rates and how that effects the hiring process. I was a little let down after class because I realized that now is not the best time to be approaching graduation and looking to start a career.

Ch. 5

I found it interesting that the focus of hiring is placed in some strange areas, such as job boards. I always thought career fairs would rank as a higher route to find a job/employees. Setting Goals is important and even in the stages of HRM that you might not think they would apply, such as hiring an employee. Many positions are filled internally which I see so often. I like that idea, and I think it stressed the importance of working at a place you feel comfortable and confident.