HR Midterm Study Guide - BU354: Key Concepts in Human Resources Management
CHAPTER 1, WEEK 1
Human Resources Management:
• The process of managing human talent to achieve an organization's objectives
• Involves a wide range of activities:
o Recruiting, selecting, training, motivating, appraising people who are there to
facilitate an organizations goals and aspirations
• "Human Resources, Human Capital, Intellectual Assets, Talent Management" imply that
people drive the performance of their organizations among other resources
Human Capital and HR:
Human Capital: the intangible knowledge, skills, and capabilities of individuals that have
economic value to an organizations
• Cannot be managed the way organizations manage jobs, products and technologies
• Ex: Amazon
o Career Choice, covering tuition for employees desiring to learn new things
o Machine Learning University
o AWS Training and Certification
Business Strategies: SRPOCRP (All Require CHANGE MANAGEMENT)
• Six Sigma: core ideas include understanding customer needs, doing things right the first
time, and striving for continuous improvement
o There should not be more than 3.4 defects per every million opportunities
• Reengineering: radical rethinking and redesigning of business processes to achieve
dramatic improvements in cost, quality, service and speed
• Downsizing: planned elimination of jobs or reducing "head count" within the
organization
• Outsourcing: contracting out work to an external vendor that was formally done by
employees (if cost is cheaper, better to outsource)
o Ex: TD Canada outsourcing their IT operations
• Change Management: bringing about and managing both organizational and individual
chances
• Reactive Changes: Changes that occur after external forces have already affected
performance
• Proactive Changes: Changes initiated to take advantage of targeted opportunities, not
waiting for an external change (IE: COVID 19)
Social, Sustainable Goals & HR:
• Corporate Social Responsibility: the responsibility of the firm to act in the best interest of
the people and communities affected by its activities
• Sustainability: Doing business in a way that does little harm to the environment and
depletes as few natural resources as possible
, • Green HRM
Technology & HR:
• Computer Networks and "Cloud Computing": Unlimited amounts of data
can be stored, retrieved and used in a wide variety or ways
• Collaborative Software: allows workers anywhere, anytime, to interface and
share information with one another electronically and has chanced how and
where people and companies do business
• Knowledge Workers: Workers whose responsibilities extend beyond the
physical execution of work to include planning, decision making, and
problem solving
• Human Resources Information System (HRIS)
o A computerized system that provides current and accurate data for
purposes of control and decision making
o Impacts of HRIS:
• Operational: Automating routine activities, alleviating
administrative burdens, reducing costs, and improving
productivity; "self-service" access to information
• Relational: Using software to recruit, screen and pretest
applicants online
• Transformational: Changing the way HR processes are
designed and executed; setting development goals
o Workforce (HR) analytics:
• Process of gathering and analyzing data to improve a firm's HRM
• Big data (large amt of data( is useful for recruitment and selection and
a variety of other reasons such as performance appraisal and
management, training and development and assessment of
organizational climate and culture
▪ "when you have large amt of data and info, you clean and
organize it to identify patterns in your organization"
• Types of Analytics:
▪ Descriptive: turnover, attrition rate during a certain time period
; Engagement, satisfaction,
▪ Predictive: demographics, tenure, previous promotion,
organizational performance
, Dual Goals: Containing Costs while Retaining Top Talent and Maximizing
Productivity:
• Organizations take many approaches to lowering labour-related costs
• DFOOENH
o Downsizing: planned elimination of jobs
• Hidden costs:
▪ Severance and rehiring costs
▪ Accrued vacation and sick day payouts
▪ Pension plans
▪ Benefits
▪ Potential lawsuits from aggrieved workers
▪ Loss of trust in management
▪ Lack of staffers when the economy rebounds
▪ Survivors who are risk averse, paranoid, political
• Ex: Microsoft, found employees were risk averse because of the fear of
being victims of layoffs
• Zero Layoff Policy: commitment to not terminating employees for
business-related reasons due to economic downturns or other factors beyond
their control
▪ Benefits:
• Loyalty, more productive workforce
• Higher customer satisfaction
• Readiness to snap back with the economy
• Recruiting edge
• Workers who are not afraid to innovate, knowing their jobs are
safe
▪ Ex: Boeing and United Airlines implemented this policy
o Furloughing: requires and asks employees to take time off with either
little/no pay
• Accenture instituted a voluntary sabbatical program known as
"Flexleave"
o Outsourcing: contracting out work that was formerly done by employees
o Offshoring/Global Sourcing: sending jobs to other countries, from one
expensive economy to a cheaper one where the tax/cost of labour are
reduced
CHAPTER 1, WEEK 1
Human Resources Management:
• The process of managing human talent to achieve an organization's objectives
• Involves a wide range of activities:
o Recruiting, selecting, training, motivating, appraising people who are there to
facilitate an organizations goals and aspirations
• "Human Resources, Human Capital, Intellectual Assets, Talent Management" imply that
people drive the performance of their organizations among other resources
Human Capital and HR:
Human Capital: the intangible knowledge, skills, and capabilities of individuals that have
economic value to an organizations
• Cannot be managed the way organizations manage jobs, products and technologies
• Ex: Amazon
o Career Choice, covering tuition for employees desiring to learn new things
o Machine Learning University
o AWS Training and Certification
Business Strategies: SRPOCRP (All Require CHANGE MANAGEMENT)
• Six Sigma: core ideas include understanding customer needs, doing things right the first
time, and striving for continuous improvement
o There should not be more than 3.4 defects per every million opportunities
• Reengineering: radical rethinking and redesigning of business processes to achieve
dramatic improvements in cost, quality, service and speed
• Downsizing: planned elimination of jobs or reducing "head count" within the
organization
• Outsourcing: contracting out work to an external vendor that was formally done by
employees (if cost is cheaper, better to outsource)
o Ex: TD Canada outsourcing their IT operations
• Change Management: bringing about and managing both organizational and individual
chances
• Reactive Changes: Changes that occur after external forces have already affected
performance
• Proactive Changes: Changes initiated to take advantage of targeted opportunities, not
waiting for an external change (IE: COVID 19)
Social, Sustainable Goals & HR:
• Corporate Social Responsibility: the responsibility of the firm to act in the best interest of
the people and communities affected by its activities
• Sustainability: Doing business in a way that does little harm to the environment and
depletes as few natural resources as possible
, • Green HRM
Technology & HR:
• Computer Networks and "Cloud Computing": Unlimited amounts of data
can be stored, retrieved and used in a wide variety or ways
• Collaborative Software: allows workers anywhere, anytime, to interface and
share information with one another electronically and has chanced how and
where people and companies do business
• Knowledge Workers: Workers whose responsibilities extend beyond the
physical execution of work to include planning, decision making, and
problem solving
• Human Resources Information System (HRIS)
o A computerized system that provides current and accurate data for
purposes of control and decision making
o Impacts of HRIS:
• Operational: Automating routine activities, alleviating
administrative burdens, reducing costs, and improving
productivity; "self-service" access to information
• Relational: Using software to recruit, screen and pretest
applicants online
• Transformational: Changing the way HR processes are
designed and executed; setting development goals
o Workforce (HR) analytics:
• Process of gathering and analyzing data to improve a firm's HRM
• Big data (large amt of data( is useful for recruitment and selection and
a variety of other reasons such as performance appraisal and
management, training and development and assessment of
organizational climate and culture
▪ "when you have large amt of data and info, you clean and
organize it to identify patterns in your organization"
• Types of Analytics:
▪ Descriptive: turnover, attrition rate during a certain time period
; Engagement, satisfaction,
▪ Predictive: demographics, tenure, previous promotion,
organizational performance
, Dual Goals: Containing Costs while Retaining Top Talent and Maximizing
Productivity:
• Organizations take many approaches to lowering labour-related costs
• DFOOENH
o Downsizing: planned elimination of jobs
• Hidden costs:
▪ Severance and rehiring costs
▪ Accrued vacation and sick day payouts
▪ Pension plans
▪ Benefits
▪ Potential lawsuits from aggrieved workers
▪ Loss of trust in management
▪ Lack of staffers when the economy rebounds
▪ Survivors who are risk averse, paranoid, political
• Ex: Microsoft, found employees were risk averse because of the fear of
being victims of layoffs
• Zero Layoff Policy: commitment to not terminating employees for
business-related reasons due to economic downturns or other factors beyond
their control
▪ Benefits:
• Loyalty, more productive workforce
• Higher customer satisfaction
• Readiness to snap back with the economy
• Recruiting edge
• Workers who are not afraid to innovate, knowing their jobs are
safe
▪ Ex: Boeing and United Airlines implemented this policy
o Furloughing: requires and asks employees to take time off with either
little/no pay
• Accenture instituted a voluntary sabbatical program known as
"Flexleave"
o Outsourcing: contracting out work that was formerly done by employees
o Offshoring/Global Sourcing: sending jobs to other countries, from one
expensive economy to a cheaper one where the tax/cost of labour are
reduced
