Wells Fargo opened thousands of unnecessary fake accounts for customers between years 2011 and 2015 to achieve target goals and to make more money (Egan 2016). I read some articles about the company and for me it shows that there has been very toxic culture, with lot of pressure coming from the upper management. Goals have been unrealistic. It is said in one of the articles that this is a problem in the industry. There is a blurred line between what customer really needs and what is best for the sales. (Egan 2016.) I have worked at a bank and I can recognize the pressure employees have. Of course, in the company I worked for it was not on this scale. But it is important that you are good in sales when you work at bank.

The chief executive of Wells Fargo, John Stumpf apologized the scandal. Wells Fargo fired more than 5000 employees because of the scandal. He also says that no one ever directed teams to sell products customers do not need. He refused to resign after scandal. (BBC News 2016.) This tells that the culture is coming from the top management. They think that they have not done anything wrong. After few weeks John Stumpf decided to step down (BBC News 2016). It also seems that a letter was sent, where these illegal actions were told about. John Stumpf said he has not seen that. (Egan 2016.) The management seems to be avoiding responsibility.

The atmosphere has been very bad at Wells Fargo. I believe it is because of lack of trust and the way to communicate. Employees have been working under too much pressure, and there has been even blackmailing to work over-hours. It is clear, that at some point these things will come to public. To have engaged employees, company should pay more attention to them.

The culture should be open and start from the management. How is it even possible that Stumpf did not know about the fake accounts? Managers should be aware of what is happening. If employees can not trust to their managers, it will make problems.

References

BBC News. 2016. Wells Fargo boss John Stumpf steps down. URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-37639648 Accessed: 4 May 2020

BBC News. 2016. Wells Fargo boss urged to resign over accounts scandal. URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-37419968 Accessed: 4 May 2020

Egan, M. 2016. Letter was ells Fargo of ‘widespread’ fraud in 2007 – exclusive. URL: https://money.cnn.com/2016/10/18/investing/wells-fargo-warned-fake-accounts-2007/index.html Accessed: 4 May 2020

Egan, M. 2016. ’Wells Fargo isn’t the only one’: Other bank workers describe intense sales tactics. CNN Business. URL: https://money.cnn.com/2016/09/22/investing/wells-fargo-fake-accounts-banks/index.html Accessed: 4 May 2020

Egan, M. 2016. Workers tell Wells Fargo horror stories. CNN Business. URL: https://money.cnn.com/2016/09/09/investing/wells-fargo-phony-accounts-culture/index.html Accessed: 4 May 2020

The main challenges for HR today are:

1. Environmental (rapid change, rise of the internet, workforce diversity, economic globalization, legislation, evolving work and family roles, skill shortages and the rise of service sector)
2. Organizational (choosing a competitive position, decentralization, downsizing, organizational restructuring, the rise of self-managed work teams, the increased number of small businesses, organizational culture, advances in technology, and the rise of outsourcing)
3. Individual challenges (matching people with organization, treating employees ethically and engaging in socially responsible behavior, increasing individual productivity, deciding whether to empower employees, taking steps to avoid brain drain, and dealing with issues of job security) (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 30-49.)

HR planning is important because it provides many benefits for a company. These benefits are:

• Encouragement of practice rather than reactive behavior
• Explicit communication of company goals
• Stimulation of critical thinking and ongoing examination of assumptions
• Identification of gaps between current situation and future vision
• Encouragement of line managers’ participation
• Identification of HR constraints and opportunities
• Creation of common bonds

There are also challenges:

• Maintaining a competitive advantage
• Reinforcing overall business strategy
• Avoiding excessive concentration on day-to-day problems
• Developing HR strategies suited to unique organizational features
• Coping with the environment
• Securing management commitment
• Translating the strategic plan into action
• Combining intended and emergent strategies
• Accommodating change

Strategic HR choices are the options a company has available when designing the HR system. They can be mixed or used separately. Many strategic choices needs to be done for example aout work flows, staffing, employee separations, performance appraisal, training and career development, compensation, employee and labor relations, employee rights, and international management. (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 49-55.)

HR must fit with the overall organizational strategies, environment, organizational characteristics, and organizational capabilities. HR strategies are more likely to be effective if they support one another. (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 55-62.)

Every manager must deal effectively with HR issues. HR department is there to support manager. Companies should use HR audit, which evaluates how effectively a company uses their human resources. HR departments have increased over the past three decades. (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 63-64.)

References

Gómez-Mejía, R. L., Balkin, B. D., Cardy L. R. 2012. Managing Human Resources. Seventh Edition. Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Employee separations occur when an employee quits to be a member of an organization. The turnover rate tells the rate of employee separations in an organization. Employee separations have costs and benefits. Costs include for example recruitment costs, selection costs, training costs, and separation costs. There are also benefits to the organization, such as reduced labor costs, replacement of poor performers, increased innovation, and the opportunity for greater diversity. (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 227-232.)

There are voluntary and involuntary separations. Voluntary separations include the decision to quit and retirements. Involuntary separations include discharges and layoffs, which need more documentation to prove that the decision is fair. (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 232-235.)

Early retirements can be used as an alternative to layoffs when a company decides to downsize its operation. There can be problems for example if too many employees want to take early retirement, the wrong employees leave, and if employees feel that they are forced to leave. (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 235-236.)

Layoff is usually the last possible way to reduce organizations’ labor costs. Often organizations look for alternative methods before layoffs such as attrition, which is an employment policy which reduces the size of the workforce because departing employees are not replaced. Hiring freeze is designed to reduce workforce by not hiring new employees into the company. Organization can also reduce costs by not renewing contract workers, encouraging employees to take time off, doing changes in job design, enforcing pay freezes and training. (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 236-238.)

Implementing a layoff needs to be careful. It includes:

1. Notifying employees
2. Developing layoff criteria
3. Communicating to laid-off employees
4. Coordinating media relations
5. Maintaining security
6. Reassuring survivors of the layoff

(Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 238-240.)

It is a good idea for an organization to use outplacement services. The most common services are emotional support and job-search assistance. The goals are reducing the morale problems of employees so that they remain productive until they leave the firm, minimizing the amount of litigations, and assisting employees to find jobs as quickly as possible. (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 242.)

References

Gómez-Mejía, R. L., Balkin, B. D., Cardy L. R. 2012. Managing Human Resources. Seventh Edition. Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

In the US there are two workplace safety laws, which affect the most to workers:

1. Worker’s compensation, an employer-funded insurance system that operates at the state level
2. The Occupational Safety and Health act (OSHA), making sure the work environment is free from hazards (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 568.)

Worker’s compensation benefits compensate employees for injuries or illness occurring on the job. Those benefits are:

• Total disability benefits
• Impairment benefits
• Survivor benefits
• Medical expense benefits
• Rehabilitation benefits

Worker’s compensation is designed to ensure medical care to employees, and income for them.  It encourages employers to invest in safety. OSHA forces employers to provide a safe and healthy work environment, to comply with specific occupational safety and health standards and to keep records of all injuries or illnesses (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 568-571.)

AIDS, violence in the workplace, cumulative trauma disorders, fetal protection, hazardous chemicals, and genetic testing are the most significant safety, health and behavioral issues for employers. Line managers have to deal with with many questions and HR professionals are often asked for help in these situations (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 576-583.)

Comprehensive safety programs usually decrease the amount of accidents. Management needs to involve employees, communicate safety rules to them, invest in training, use incentives to encourage safe behaviors and engage in regular self-inspection and accident research to identify and correct potentially dangerous situations. Employee assistance programs help employees to cope with physical, mental, or emotional problems that affects to their performance (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 585-587.)

First case is about German intern who was working over hours at a bank in London. One day, he was found dead in her apartment. There was a lot of workload, peer pressure and competition in the bank. He had been suffering from epilepsy but hadn’t told this to his bosses. He seemed to be fine at work (Thomas 2013.) Communication from both sides should be open. The employee, but also employer has to make sure that they are in good condition.

Second case is about companies’ wellness programs. Some companies are having good results with them, but some are not. The key is good communication and focusing on positive sides instead of negative (Morgaine 2018.)

An employee at a manufacturing warehouse in Aurora, Illinois shot five of his coworkers. He was in a termination meeting with the company’s HR, because he was repeatedly refusing to wear safety glasses on the job. His colleague knew that he has a gun but didn’t report it because he didn’t believe he would do anything with the gun. The employee had also told before, that if he is going to be fired, he would kill everyone at the company (NBC News 2019.) This is good example, that what people say, should be taken seriously and not ignored. Company’s policies should be clear to everyone from the beginning.

Aviation has a very strong safety culture, and there is a culture which tries to avoid blaming anyone from mistake. Instead, they are reported openly so everyone can learn from those (Rice 2020.) Especially health care has learned from aviation safety. Many other fields could also learn from that.

References

Gómez-Mejía, R. L., Balkin, B. D., Cardy L. R. 2012. Managing Human Resources. Seventh Edition. Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Morgaine, B. 2018. Do Corporate Wellness Programs Really Work? LivePlan. URL: https://www.liveplan.com/blog/does-corporate-wellness-work-the-surprising-truth-about-employee-wellness-programs/ Accessed 2 April 2020

NBC News. 2019. Aurora, Illinois, gunman who fatally shot 5 vowed to kill all his co-workers if he was fired. URL: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/aurora-illinois-gunman-who-fatally-shot-5-vowed-kill-all-n999571 Accessed: 2 April 2020

Rice, S. 2020. What Can Healthcare Learn From Aviation Safety? Forbes. URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenrice1/2020/02/07/what-can-healthcare-and-other-fields-learn-from-aviation-safety/#3bef66af51ce Accessed: 2 April 2020

Thomas, E. 2013. ‘Exhausted’ Merril Lynch intern died from epileptic fit in shower after he ‘pulled three all-nighters at bank where employees compete to work the longest hours’. Dailymail. URL: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2511911/Moritz-Erhardt-exhausted-Merrill-Lynch-intern-died-epileptic-fit.html#ixzz4RTj2xoP1 Accessed: 2 April 2020

Pay-for-performance systems, also called incentive systems reward employees on the basis of three assumptions:

1. Individual employees and work teams differ in how much they contribute to the firm
2. The firm’s overall performance depends to a large degree on the performance of individuals and groups within the firm
3. To attract, retain, and motivate high performers and to be fair to all employees, the firm needs to reward employees on the basis of their relative performance (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 386.)

These programs can improve productivity, but employees may be tempted to do only what they get paid for. They might ignore those parts of the job that are not rewarded. Teamwork may be damaged if individual merit pay is underlined. Merit pay can cause stress to employees and lead to job dissatisfaction, and finally decrease motivation (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 386-390.)

To avoid these problems, managers should:

1. Link Pay and Performance Appropriately
2. Use Pay for Performance as Part of a Broader HRM System
3. Build Employee Trust
4. Promote the Belief That Performance Makes a Difference
5. Use Multiple Layers of Rewards
6. Increase Employee Involvement
7. Stress the Importance of Acting Ethically
8. Use Motivation and Nonfinancial Incentives (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 391-394.)

There are four types of incentive programs:

• Individual-Based Plans: most widely used plans. Merit pay is the most popular.
• Team-Based Plans: reward the performance of group usually with bonuses and noncash awards
• Plantwide Plans: reward all workers in a business unit based on the performance of the entire unit
• Corporatewide Plans: reward employees based on the entire corporation’s performance, e.g. profit sharing (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 394-402.)

Top executives and sales personnel are treated very differently in pay-for-performance plans. Many plans are used to link executives’ pay to firm performance. Sales professionals may be paid in the form of straight salary, straight commission or a combination plan (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 404-410.)

Small firms are less likely to have the necessary support to develop and administer these plans, so they face some challenges.  Pay-for-performance plans in these firms are more likely to be successful if there is active employee participation in the development of the plan, incentives are linked to the achievement of goals, and frequent feedback is provided (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 411-412.)

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals. It means that they really care about their work. It’s not only that an employee is happy, but they work overtime without asking. This leads to better business (Kruse 2012.)

To have engaged employees you need to:

• Arrange onboarding and training
• Set company goals
• Acknowledge employees
• Focus on employee development
• Give freedom to employees in how to do their job (Kappel 2018.)

Employee engagement is changing. The megatrends that affect to this are: Globalization 2.0, Environmental crisis, Demographic change, Individualism, Digitization and Technological convergence. Companies should assess which of these will have the greatest impact on their organization, and what changes should be done. Make clear how employee value proposition needs to change and gather views throughout the employee lifecycle (Hay Group 2014.)

CEO pay is today so much more than average wages that the negative side effects are beginning to outweigh the of-stated reasons for paying top dollar for executives. Management guru Peter Drucker believed the proper ratio between executive’s pay and of the average worker should be around 20-to-1 (Karabell 2018.)

A study revealed that workers who receive performance-based pay, work harder, but they also end up with higher stress levels and lower levels of job satisfaction. More employers think performance-based pay structures are important for motivating employees, but this study finds that these pay schemes are associated with the feeling that work is too demanding. If a company wants performance-based pay to motivate employees it should make sure that team members understand that their success and paycheck are in their own hands (Business News Daily 2020.)

References

Business News Daily. 2020. Performance-Based Pay Won’t Motivate Employees as Much as You Think. URL: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/9712-performance-based-pay.html Accessed: 16 March 2020

Gómez-Mejía, R. L., Balkin, B. D., Cardy L. R. 2012. Managing Human Resources. Seventh Edition. Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Hay Group. 2014. The New Rules of Employee Engagement. URL: http://f.datasrvr.com/fr1/414/25154/Hay_Group_New_Rules_of_Engagement_Report.pdf Accessed: 16 March 2020

Kappel, M. 2018. How To Establish A Culture Of Employee Engagement. Forbes. URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikekappel/2018/01/04/how-to-establish-a-culture-of-employee-engagement/#6aafe59d8dc4 Accessed: 16 March 2020

Karabell, S. 2018. Executive Compensation Is Out Of Control. What Now? Forbes. URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelliekarabell/2018/02/14/executive-compensation-is-out-of-control-what-now/#345ca72c431f Accessed: 16 March 2020

Kruse, K. 2012. What Is Employee Engagement. Forbes. URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/06/22/employee-engagement-what-and-why/#323b626d7f37 Accessed: 16 March 2020

Total compensation has three components:

1. base compensation = the fixed pay an employee receives on a regular basis
2. pay incentives = a program designed to reward employees for good performance
3. Indirect Compensation/Benefits = a wide variety of programs for example health insurance, vacations etc (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 340.)

Compensation system needs to enable the firm to achieve its strategic objectives and needs to be molded to the firm’s characteristics and environment. Managers need to consider pay options when designing a compensation system:

1. Internal Versus External Equity
2. Fixed Versus Variable Pay
3. Performance Versus Membership
4. Job Versus Individual Pay
5. Egalitarianism Versus Elitism
6. Below-Market Versus Above-Market Compensation
7. Monetary Versus Nonmonetary Awards
8. Open Versus Secret Pay
9. Centralization Versus Decentralization of Pay Decisions (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 341-351.)

Compensation tools are grouped into two categories: job-based approaches and skill-based approaches. Job-based compensation plan has three components: achieving internal equity, achieving external equity, and achieving individual equity. Skill-based compensation plans use skills as the base of pay. It rewards employees for acquiring depth skills, horizontal or breadth skills, and vertical skills (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 352-365.)

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 is compensation law that affects most pay structures in US. The Equal Pay Act prohibits pay discrimination based on gender, and the Internal Revenue Code specifies how various forms of employee pay are subjective to taxation. (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 367-370.)

Job-based compensation is more common. It is said that it’s outdated, so what are the advantages of it and why it is so common? Job-based compensation underlines job specialization and seniority. This assumes that an employee becomes more valuable with time. Job-based compensation motivates employees to perform better and move up through organizational ranks over time. It is also easy to administer because it focuses on allocating pay systematically and ensuring that the most important jobs are paid more. The system is stable and predictable (Gilani 2017.)

Competency-based pay structures in the other hand serve as a motivational tool. It reinforces a culture of self- improvement when it offers a reward for employees who are dedicated to growing their skills and improving themselves. Employees may be more motivated to stay with a company that rewards them for self-improvement and skill development, rather than seniority at the company. It improves employee engagement and employees know exactly what is expected of them to get a promotion (Liebegott 2015.)

I watched a video about motivation. The main message was that there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does. Rewards often destroy creativity, carrots and sticks are old-fashioned (Pink 2009.)

References

Gilani, N. 2017. What Are the Advantages of a Jon-Based Compensation Structure? BizFluent. URL: https://bizfluent.com/list-5997745-differences-pay-job-base-pay.html Accessed: 13 March 2020

Gómez-Mejía, R. L., Balkin, B. D., Cardy L. R. 2012. Managing Human Resources. Seventh Edition. Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Liebegott, K. 2015. 4 Advantages of Cometency-Based Pay Structures. KnowledgeWave. URL: https://www.knowledgewave.com/blog/competency-based-pay-structure-advantages Accessed: 13 March 2020

Pink, D. 2009. The Puzzle of Motivation. TED. URL: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_the_puzzle_of_motivation?language=en Accessed: 16 March 2020

Human resource information systems (HRIS) are collecting, recording, storing and analysing data about organization’s human resources. They help managers to do HR decisions. Data can be e.g. basic employee information, skills and time management. It’s important to have limited access to these systems (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 111.)

Executive order is a policy which has the force of law and organizations must comply. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits discrimination against people who are 40 or older. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) forbids employment discrimination against people with disabilities. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the federal agency responsible for enforcing EEO laws (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 133-136.)

A right is the ability to engage in conduct that is protected by law or social sanction. Employees have:
– saturatory rights: protected by specific laws
– contractual rights: based on the law of contracts
– other rights which are not required by law but will lead to more satisfied workers: e.g. right to ethical treatment, limited right to privacy, limited right to free speech

Employers have the right to run their business and make a profit. The right to manage the workforce and to hire, promote, assign, discipline, and discharge employees are included in management rights. Employment at will is a common-law rule where employers have a right to end an employment relationship with an employee at any time for any cause. Sometimes these rights are in conflict e.g. in situations like random drug testing, electronic monitoring, whistle-blowing, moonlighting, and office romance. (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 495-501.)

Employee discipline help managers to communicate to employee that they need to change a behaviour. Progressive discipline is a series of management interventions, that has a possibility for employee to correct behaviour. Positive discipline is a procedure that encourages employees to monitor their own behaviour. Managers must ensure that their action is fair and consistent (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 509-514.)

A union is an organization that represents employees’ interests to management e.g. wages, work hours, and working conditions. Labor relations specialist is a person usually from HR, who represents management’s interest to a union. Labor relations systems vary from country to country. Company’s labor relations strategy defines how a company deals with labor unions, they can have a union acceptance strategy or union avoidance strategy. Labor relations process includes three phases: union organizing, collective bargaining and contract administration. Unions will affect every major area of HRM (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, chapter 15.)

The first case is about police inspector in New York, who was charged with sexually abusing a female officer he supervised (Mele & Baker 2016). According to our book, this was hostile work environment sexual harassment. It occurs when someone in work is sexual in nature and the employee perceives the behaviour as offensive (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 129.) This can affect to people opinions of how reliable police is.

The second case is about food industry and how there has been increasing rude talk. Customers have left rude comments to receipts, or the other way around, employees have used bad words. Experts say the rise of social media and lack of training play a large role to causing this situation. (McCarthy 2015.) In this case managers should communicate company’s rules better to employees and have clear discipline for this kind of behaviour.

There is lot of critique about progressive discipline. Traditionally progressive discipline has various steps: verbal warnings, written warnings, suspension and termination. It is said that it often fails to understand the root cause (Fielkow 2018.) Doing mistakes should be a place to learn. Progressive discipline maybe fit in the mechanical workplace but nowadays we are working in Human Workplace together (Ryan 2016.)

References

Fielkow, B. 2018. Why It’s Time To Kill Progressive Discipline. Chief Executive. URL: https://chiefexecutive.net/why-its-time-to-kill-progressive-discipline/ Accessed 26 February 2020

Gómez-Mejía, R. L., Balkin, B. D., Cardy L. R. 2012. Managing Human Resources. Seventh Edition. Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

McCarthy, S. 2015. Receipt rage: Why food is being served with a side of hate? Fox News. URL: https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/receipt-rage-why-food-is-being-served-with-a-side-of-hate Accessed: 25 February 2020

Mele, C & Baker, A. 2016. New York Police Inspector Is Charged With Sexually Abusing Female Officer. The New York Times. URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/nyregion/new-york-police-sexual-abuse-of-officer.html?_r=0 Accessed: 25 February 2020

Ryan, L. 2016. The Truth About Progressive Discipline. Forbes. URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2016/01/03/the-truth-about-progressive-discipline/#56ed62647a5d Accessed: 26 February 2020

Performance appraisal includes:

– identification: determining the areas of work the manager should be examining

– measurement: judging how “good” or “bad” employee performance was

– management: managing and improving employees’ performance, the main goal of any appraisal system (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 251.)

One popular approach to identify performance dimensions is focusing on competencies, characteristics people bring with them in order to succeed. There are lot of appraisal formats to choose from. They can be classified in two ways: by the type of judgement (relative or absolute) and by the focus of the measure (trait, behaviour). Relative judgement requires supervisor to compare an employee’s performance to others. Absolute judgment asks supervisor to make judgements about an employee’s performance based on performance standards. There are challenges that needs to be considered when doing measurement, e.g. rater errors and bias, the influence of liking, organizational politics, legal issues. Effective performance management needs team work and communication (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, Chapter 7.)

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a measurement tool, which tells how well an organization is achieving its goals and objectives. KPIs can be applied to any area of performance, but it should align with the organization’s critical success factors. SMART KPIs are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound. It’s important that KPIs and how they relate to employees’ work, are clearly informed for everyone in the company (MindTools.)

Our Case is about a bad experience in performance appraisal. The message is that there should be specific goals to employee and so appraisals would be easier to supervisors and employees. An employee had a bad experience, because he was doing lot of extra work and thought it is going well. In the performance appraisal supervisor gave negative feedback instead. The HR Director realized this unfair situation, and they made specific goals to be completed in six months.  Then the employee knew better where to pay attention and he was happy afterwards because he knew what to expect from the appraisal (Bumgarner, 2011.)

In one of my previous job, NPS (Net Promoter Score) was very important and we were discussing about it if not every day, at least every week. NPS is one Key Performance Indicator so I take it here as an example. In my opinion as an employee it is not very fair indicator. There are questions how satisfied the customer was and would he or she recommend the company for someone. It is very popular among companies nowadays, but there are problems too. For example, it doesn’t explain why a customer would recommend the firm (Shevlin 2019). Shevlin (2019) says NPS measures intention, not behaviour.

All in all, I find it very interesting that according to a survey, 25% of workers say their company’s performance appraisal process is not effective in improving their performance. At the same time 89% of HR managers say their company’s performance appraisal process is effective in improving employee performance. Why is there such a difference and what could be done? Most of the companies hold performance appraisals at least once a year (Half 2015.)

References

Bumgarner, J. 2011. A Performance Appraisal Horror Story (With A Happy Ending). Cascade Employers Association. URL: http://www.cascadeemployersblog.com/salarytrends/a-performance-appraisal-horror-story-with-a-happy-ending Accessed: 24 February 2020

Gómez-Mejía, R. L., Balkin, B. D., Cardy L. R. 2012. Managing Human Resources. Seventh Edition. Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Half, R. 2015. How Effective Are Performance Appraisals? Rober Half Business. URL: https://www.roberthalf.com/blog/management-tips/how-effective-are-performance-appraisals#accordianBody Accessed: 24 February 2020

MindTools. Performance Management and KPIs. URL: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_87.htm Accessed: 24 February 2020

Shevlin, R. 2019. It’s Time to Retire The Net Promoter Score (And Here’s What To Replace It With). Forbes. URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ronshevlin/2019/05/21/its-time-to-retire-the-net-promoter-score/#319e58726bbb Accessed: 24 February 2020

Training and development may sound synonymous, but they are not. Training focuses more on providing employees with specific skills or helping them correct deficiencies in their performance. Development is an effort to provide employees with the abilities the organization will need in the future (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 286.)

There are many challenges managers must think in the training process. It includes three phases: assessment, development and conduct of training. Training can be done on the job or off the job, and there are many techniques to do it. Socializing employees is very important, it includes orientation and informing new employees (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 306.)

Career development must be a key business strategy if a company wants to survive in nowadays competitive and global business environment. Management needs to decide who will be responsible for development, how much emphasis is appropriate and how the development needs of a diverse workforce will be met. Career development includes three phases: an assessment phase, a direction phase and a development phase. Employees need to be active too in this process. (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, Chapter 9.)

McDonald’s is using 3D virtual reality to train their managers. McDonald’s started five years ago with gamification, when they developed a game to train front-line staff. They noticed, it saved training costs. When using gamification as a learning method, there are three main things that need to be considered when motivating people to learn: autonomy, mastery and purpose. They’ve also used a board game as a learning method. McDonald’s thinks learning has to be fun and in gamification there is no need for a hard push (Milne 2016.)

Nando has succeed with their training programme. Their management coaching aims to that people would take more responsibility for their own development, the development of others and the growth of the business. All their new employees go through ten days of on-site training. They have arranged a course to managers, where they wanted to improve management teams’ communication skills. Also, they have a “buddy” system, where there are two “buddies” at every restaurant responsible for training (Pollitt 2006.)

Fortune’s 2019 Best Companies to Work For top three companies had all the same in common: an organizational culture that values its people, core values and impact on the world. Learning and development plays a significant role in cultivating a strong organizational culture. First on the list is Hilton, which has “Hospitality for All” approach to treating employees with the same respect that they give to customers. Hilton’s vice president thinks it’s important that employees don’t only think they have a job, but that they have a career with Hilton. The second on the list is Salesforce, which has built a culture that focuses on valuing and empowering not only its people but other communities as well. And the third, Wegman Food Markets, Inc.’s employees still rate it as a great place to work, even though salaries are relatively low. Learning and development has played a major role in cultivating their organizational culture, and this highlight the power of culture (Gallo 2019.)

References

Gallo, S. 2019. Fortune’s 2019 Best Companies to Work For: An Inside Look at the Role of Learning and Development. Training Industry. URL: https://trainingindustry.com/articles/strategy-alignment-and-planning/fortunes-2019-best-companies-to-work-for-an-inside-look-at-the-role-of-learning-and-development/ Accessed: 10 February 2020

Gómez-Mejía, R. L., Balkin, B. D., Cardy L. R. 2012. Managing Human Resources. Seventh Edition. Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Milne, J. 2016. Super-sized gamification for training – McDonald’s is lovin’ it. Diginomica. URL: https://diginomica.com/super-sized-gamification-for-training-mcdonalds-is-lovin-it Accessed: 10 February 2020

Pollitt, D. 2006. Nando’s tastes success through training. Human Resource Management International Digest. URL: https://www-emerald-com.ezproxy.haaga-helia.fi/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09670730610656879/full/pdf?title=nandos-tastes-success-through-training-expanding-restaurant-firm-retains-a-family-feel Accessed: 10 February 2020

This is our first theme of the course Basics of Human Resource Management. It’s about recruitment and selection process in organizations. I will share the key concepts, theories and models from my readings here. At the end I will also share two of my findings from the recruitment process. There are lot of examples of different kind of recruitment processes, and it is very interesting to read about them.

Human resource planning (HRP) is a process, which takes care that there are enough right kind of employees in a company now and in the future. There are many qualitative and quantitative methods that can be used to ensure this (Gómez-Mejía, Balkin & Cardy 2012, 194.)

The hiring process includes recruitment, selection and socialization. Recruitment is the first step in the hiring process, where the job is announced to the markets. In a selection process applicants are measured and it is decided whether to hire someone or not. Socialization includes orienting new employees to the organization. There are many challenges in the whole process, and it is very important to manage the process carefully. Otherwise it can affect to customer satisfaction and add costs to the company (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 199-202.)

There are internal and external sources to find the right employees. There are many ways to arrange the selection process e.g. letters of recommendation, application forms, ability tests, personality tests, honesty test and interviews. Legal issues affect to selection process too, which companies need to take into account. Discrimination is not allowed and there are many laws nowadays. Organizations are also required to allow disabled employees to work for them. (Gómez-Mejía & al. 2012, 202-218 & 135.)

I read the Case 1 which is about Abercrombie’s hiring process in some years ago. Their sales staff titles were “Model”, and the recruitment process concentrated a lot to how people look. There were strict rules about that, and they thought everyone has to be the same (Cook 2015.) For me, this sounds horrible and I’m happy that time has changed, even though there are still lot to do. Abercrombie’s challenge might now be to hire new employees and get customers because of the image they’ve given before.

Google says that it is able to employ the very best because a group of people have to agree on each person that’s hired. A hiring manager can say no to an applicant whenever but hiring manager can’t decide alone if the applicant is hired. After applicants are interviewed by hiring manager, they will meet independent committees. It has slowed down the process, but it is good for the company in a long run (Umoh 2018.)

Tesla’s recruitment process includes or at least included before, that every employee was accepted by the CEO himself on a last step on the process. For a single role it usually took about two months to fill. After initial conversations, hiring manager went into deeper conversations. And after on-site interview it was time to impress the CEO (Cain 2017.)

References

Cain, A. 2017. A former Tesla recruiter explain why all candidates had to go through Elon Musk at the end of the hiring process. Business Insider. URL: https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-how-to-get-hired-2017-12?r=US&IR=T Accessed: 30 January 2020

Cook, A. 2015. What It Was REALLY Like Working As an Abercrombie ‘Model’. Huffington Post. URL: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-it-was-really-like-working-as-an-abercrombie-model_b_7154042?guccounter=1 Accessed: 30 January 2020

Gómez-Mejía, R. L., Balkin, B. D., Cardy L. R. 2012. Managing Human Resources. Seventh Edition. Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Umoh, R. 2018. Top Google recruiter: Google uses this ‘shocking’ strategy to hire the best employees. CNBC. URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/10/google-uses-this-shocking-strategy-to-hire-the-best-employees.html Accessed: 30 January 2020