Human Resource Management (HRM)

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Human Resource Management

(HRM)

What?

… the functional area of an organization that is responsible for all aspects of

hiring and supporting employees (e.g., providing and administering

employee benefits).

… all the activities related to the recruitment, hiring, training, promotion,

retention, separation, and support of employees.

…

functions within a company that relate to people.

Why?

… is the effective use of human resources in order to enhance

organisational performance.

… the process of evaluating human resource needs, finding people to fill

those needs, and getting the best work from each employee by providing

the right incentives and job environment, all with the goal of meeting the

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HRM: Leading teams – G. Grote ETHZ, Spring Semester 09

Effects of HRM

•

HRM-practices (especially job design and

selection/ appraisal/training) better predict

company performance than R&D, QM, strategy

and technology

(West, 2001)

•

Empowerment better predicts company

perfor-mance than technology-based management

practices

(Patterson et al., 2004)

•

HRM-practices as cause and effect of company

performance

(Guest et al., 2003)

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HRM from a work and organizational

psychology perspective

•

Scientific foundation for HRM tools

•

HRM as a function penetrating the whole

organization

•

Focus on working conditions as influences on

human competence and motivation

•

Systematic linking of "fit human to task" and "fit

task to human"

(4)

Road map for HRM: Work Process Design

(Fall semester)

Motivation

Satisfaction

Performance

Task /

Work process

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Road map for HRM: Leading teams

(Spring Semester)

Motivation

Satisfaction

Performance

Personnel selection

Performance appraisal /

Compensation

Personnel

development

Task /

Work process

(6)

Topics

HRM: Leading teams

16.2 .

Introduction; Core functions of HRM

23.2 .

HRM as strategic and operational leadership task

2.3.

Integrating leadership tasks through Management by Objectives;

Definite assigments to groups for semester projects

9.3.

Introduction to semester project in small grou p s

16.3 .

Personnel selection: Theory and instruments (exercise in small groups)

23.3 .

Performance appraisa l

30.3 .

Compensation; Personnel development and caree r s

6.4.

Requirements for effective leadersh i p

20.4 .

Fundamentals of team working

27.4 .

Group interaction (exercise in small grou p s )

4.5.

Managing diversity in teams

11.5 .

Discussion of student projects in small grou p s

18.5 .

Benchmarking HRM: Guest speaker from industry

25.5 .

Exam preparat i o n

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Organization of course

•

Course provides 3 ETCS points (approx. 75-90 work

hours).

•

Besides the lecture, the prerequisite for credits points

and exam participation is the completion of a semester

project in groups of 4 students.

•

The exam is written (1.5 hours; closed book) and takes

place during the first two weeks in June.

Overall grade: 50% project & 50% exam

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Topic 1: Leadership assessment

Marius Gerber & Michaela Kolbe

•

Assessment Center: Evaluation of personal

characteristics based on behavior in realistic

situations

•

Task: develop and test an assessment method

based on a chosen model of effective leadership

•

Methods: determine relevant personal

characteristics related to good leadership

behavior, create an assessment scenario and

carry out an assessment

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Topic 2: Best Practice in HRM

Sifra Corver & Julia Belting

•

Best practice: finding businesses with an excellent

HRM (Swiss HR-Award), focus on practice, not

results

•

Task: evaluate a company’s HRM and create a

ranking list

•

Methods: create interview guidelines and conduct

structured interviews with HR, general managers

and employees

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Topic 3: Pay for Performance

Cécile Tschopp & Nadine Bienefeld

•

Pay for performance systems: potential for serious

unintended negative results, but also for

substantial performance improvements

•

Task: systematically evaluate an existing pay for

performance system

•

Methods: interviews with system designers and

employees; benchmarking using ProMES

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Topic 4: Cooperation in distributed teams

Daniel Boos & Johann Weichbrodt

•

Distributed teams: necessity in global business,

difficulty of communicating and cooperating mainly

via electronic means

•

Task: Conduct a small exploratory study about a

distributed team and reflect on your findings with

reference to organizational science literature

•

Methods: interviews with the leader and one

member of a distributed team, plus a short

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Semester project

•

Selection of topics/assignment to groups: Please send e-mail

to Jacqueline Hohermuth (

[email protected]

), indicating

–

your name,

–

your preferred topics (1st and 2nd priority), German/English

preference,

–

people you want to form a group with

(group size is 4, if needed people will be assigned to groups by us)

•

Deadlines

–

send e-mail by Feb. 23

–

information about group composition by Feb. 25

–

changes possible until Feb. 27 (e-mail to Jacqueline again)

– Final assignment to groups March 2 (no changes or additions of new

students possible after that date)

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Required reading

Noe, R.A. et al. (2005). Human Resource Management: Gaining a competitive advantage. Chapter 2 Strategic Human Resource Management (pp.56-91). New York: McGraw-Hill. (Lecture on Feb. 23)

Anderson, N. & Cunningham-Snell, N. (2000). Personnel selection. In N. Chmiel (Ed.), Introduction to work and organizational psychology - A European perspective (pp. 69-99). Oxford: Blackwell. (Lecture on March 16) Fletcher, C. (2000). Performance appraisal: Assessing and developing performance and potential. In N. Chmiel (Ed.),

Introduction to work and organizational psychology - A European perspective (pp. 125-147). Oxford: Blackwell. (Lecture on March 23)

Landy, F.J. & Conte, J.M. (2006). Work in the 21st century. Chapter 4/Module 4.5 Job Evaluation, Comparable Worth, and the Law (pp. 204-210). Boston: McGraw Hill. (Lecture on March 30)

Pfeffer, J. (1998). Six dangerous myths about pay. Harvard Business Review, No. 3 May/June. (Lecture on March 30)

Noe, R.A. et al. (2005). Human Resource Management: Gaining a competitive advantage. Chapter 9 Employee Development (pp.380-423). New York: McGraw-Hill. (Lecture on March 30)

Shackleton, V. & Wale, P. (2000). Leadership and management. In N. Chmiel (Ed.), Introduction to work and organizational psychology - A European perspective (pp. 277-301). Oxford: Blackwell. (Lecture on April 6)

Landy, F.J. & Conte, J.M. (2006). Work in the 21st century. Chapter 13 Teams in Organizations (pp. 540-569). Boston: McGraw Hill. (Lecture on April 20)

Noe, R.A. et al. (2005). Human Resource Management: Gaining a competitive advantage. Subchapter on Managing Workforce Diversity (pp.306-313). New York: McGraw-Hill. (Lecture on May 4)

Pfeffer, J. & Veiga, J.F. (1999). Putting people first for organizational success. Academy of Management Executive, 13/2, 37-48. (Lecture on May 18)

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Topics

HRM: Leading teams

16.2 .

Introduction; Core functions of HRM

23.2 .

HRM as strategic and operational leadership task

2.3.

Integrating leadership tasks through Management by Objectives;

Definite assigments to groups for semester projects

9.3.

Introduction to semester project in small grou p s

16.3 .

Personnel selection: Theory and instruments (exercise in small groups)

23.3 .

Performance appraisa l

30.3 .

Compensation; Personnel development and caree r s

6.4.

Requirements for effective leadersh i p

20.4 .

Fundamentals of team working

27.4 .

Group interaction (exercise in small grou p s )

4.5.

Managing diversity in teams

11.5 .

Discussion of student projects in small grou p s

18.5 .

Benchmarking HRM: Guest speaker from industry

25.5 .

Exam preparat i o n

(15)

Core functions of HRM

•

Job analysis and design

•

Recruitment and selection

•

Training and development

•

Performance management and

compensation

(16)

Examples in the news –

HR implications?

•

Bonus payments in banks

•

Swiss Re: CEO Aigrain quits after major

losses

•

SR Technics closes Dublin plant with more

than 1000 employees

•

Hitzfeld on managing a national football

team as a distributed team of club players

(17)

Examples in the news –

HR implications

x

Short time

work

x

National

football

x

SR Technics

x

Swiss Re

x

Bank boni

employee

relations

performance

mgt

develop-ment

selection

job design