ASSIGNMENTS MU 0004 HUMAN RESOURCES AUDIT Set I 1. Discuss the Key HR Elements and Resource . Key HR Elements And Resources This section will discuss key HR elements which affect businesses today. A different topic will be featured monthly. Additionally, resources in HR will be shared to help you solve business issues within your organization. How to Retain Good Employees? Did you know that it costs approximately 1.5 times an employee’s base salary to re-hire and re-train for that position? Did you know it’s an even higher expense for managerial positions? Many companies and managers fail to remember that it costs more to re-hire for an open position verses investing in retention programs for the employee long term. Too many organizations are not pro-active in creating retention programs that will help keep good employees. Employees primarily quit their job for these reasons: They had a poor manager or their position was not challenging enough. With management coaching and advice on how to develop employees for the long term your retention rate will increase. Many companies today are finding that the key to an effective retention program is found in a strategy that includes an employee’s personal ambition (i.e. recognition, career development) and the aspirations they possess for their organizations. How do you hire the best candidate for the job? Here are a few questions to help determine if you have found the best candidate for the job:
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1. When answering interview questions did they provide work related experience and exhibit skills that were directly applicable to the role? 2.
If there were job gaps, do you know why?
3.
Why did they leave their previous organizations?
4. Does the candidate fit into your company culture, team and exhibit the same work values? 5. Interview for interpersonal and behavioral skills by asking open ended questions such as: – Tell me about a time when you worked on a team project and what role you played. – Give me an example of when you worked with a difficult person and what you did to overcome the situation. – Tell me about a time when you found a problem that wasn’t obvious to the parties involved and how you handled the politics in trying to solve the issue. – Tell me about a time when you dealt with a conflict and what you did to resolve it. What you should focus on… We focus on seven critical areas of human resource management: • • • • • • •
Management/Leadership Coaching Employee Training and Development\ Performance Management Organizational Development Recruiting and Retention Programs Employee Handbooks and Compensation Employee Relations Counsel
Organizations that focus on these critical factors will create a positive and productive environment for their employees in turn driving financial performance and long-term success.
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2. Write a note on steps involved in competency mapping. Competency Mapping is a process of identifying key competencies for an organization and/or a job, and incorporating those competencies throughout the various processes (i.e. job evaluation, training, recruitment) of the organization. To ensure we are both on the same page, we would define a competency as a behavior (i.e. communication, leadership) rather than a skill or ability. The steps involved in competency mapping with an end result of job evaluation include the following: 1) Conduct a job analysis by asking incumbents to complete a position information questionnaire (PIQ). This can be provided for incumbents to complete, or you can conduct one-on-one interviews using the PIQ as a guide. The primary goal is to gather from incumbents what they feel are the key behaviors necessary to perform their respective jobs. 2) Using the results of the job analysis, you are ready to develop a competency based job description. A sample of a competency based job description generated from the PIQ was provided to this client. This was developed after carefully analyzing the input from the represented group of incumbents and converting it to standard competencies. 3) With a competency based job description, you are on your way to begin mapping the competencies throughout your human resources processes. The competencies of the respective job description become your factors for assessment on the performance evaluation. Using competencies will help guide you to perform more objective evaluations based on displayed or not displayed behaviors. 4) Taking the competency mapping one step further, you can use the results of your evaluation to identify in what competencies individuals need additional development or training. This will help you focus your training needs on the goals of the position and company and help your employees develop toward the ultimate success of the organization. To help you with the implementation of these steps and attached tools, we would recommend you to consider reading the following materials. In MU0004
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addition, you may wish to email one of our clients that just went through this process (contact information for this client was provided). 3. Write a note on the Performance management audit . The Performance Management Audit: How to manage and continuously improve performance in your organization Performance Management is an HR issue and responsibility, for it lies with the HR department (even if it seems to be the job of individual line managers, team leaders or a business improvement initiative. For the first time, this audit brings together all the issues involved in performance management and sets out a clear system for analyzing, reviewing and improving them. •
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If your organization does not already use performance management formally, you will find a simple framework for introducing appropriate performance management systems and making them work. If it does use performance management techniques, you will find the tools to review and evaluate existing procedures – and make them work better.
At each step there are suggested questions, draft questionnaires, policy checklists and project planning guidelines to help you review: • • • • • •
General principles and practices The way you define and agree your expectations of teams and individual staff Methods of planning performance Methods of measuring and reviewing performance (performance reviews and feedback, performance measures and documentation) The way you relate pay to performance (including analysis of the techniques available) Training and development in relation to performance management
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Run this audit and get a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of performance management in your organization. Then identify and implement improvements, and measure the results.
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ASSIGNMENTS MU 0004 HUMAN RESOURCES AUDIT Set II 1. Explain in detail the audit process. Conducting Human Resources Audit: Employment law is an ever-changing field. Your policies and procedures must change with the laws if you hope to avoid litigation. Employers are aware that one of the best ways to avoid employee lawsuits is to have a comprehensive policy manual. That’s good advice, but it’s not enough. You must regularly conduct an employment law / human resources audit to make sure that your policies reflect changes in employment laws. Preliminary Steps : There are two issues that must be considered before implementing an employment law audit: • •
When should the audit take place? By whom should it be conducted?
Since your organization already utilizes a variety of employment-related practices and procedures, the audit should be conducted as soon as possible, if you have never audited such procedures before. After the initial audit, follow-up audits should be conducted yearly. When putting together an audit team, include either in-house or outside legal counsel, a representative from Human Resources, and any other individuals needed to represent a crosssection of staff functions. All team members should be warned ahead of time regarding the handling of confidential information. Goals of the Audit : The review process should provide answers to several important questions regarding the application of your company’s policies. The audit’s goals are to determine whether your policies are being applied consistently, whether
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they are the norm for your industry and geographic location, and whether they are consistently communicated to all employees. The audit should also provide insight as to which individuals are responsible for the implementation and enforcement of policies. Finally, it should distinguish between policies that are applicable to nonunion employees, and the terms and conditions of employment for employees who are represented by a labour organization. Areas to Audit : Most lawsuits can be traced to four distinct stages of the employment relationship: hiring, employee evaluation, employee discipline or termination, and post-employment. Therefore, your self-audit should target these areas. Sample audit questions from each of these four areas appear on the following pages. In addition to these four areas, your employment audit should also target state regulations. Here are a few examples. 1. Review all your labour contract provisions for their impact on employees with disabilities. 2.
Review all job specifications for hiring and placement of employees.
3. Review all employment applications for illegal questions dealing with employees. 4. Review and prepare all current job descriptions setting forth essential job elements. 5. Review current facilities to ensure accessibility for individuals with disabilities. 6.
Review all pre-employment tests. 2. Discuss the key elements of HR Scorecard.
The HR Scorecard is built around a series of examples and a process that helps managers to do this work in their own firms – designing an HR architecture that relentlessly emphasizes and reinforces the implementation of the firm’s strategy. MU0004
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The HR Scorecard has five key elements: •
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The first element is what we called Workforce Success. It asks: Has the workforce accomplished the key strategic objectives for the business? The second element is called Right HR Costs. It asks: Is our total investment in the workforce (not just the HR function) appropriate (not just minimized)? The third element we describe as Right Types of HR Alignment. It asks: Are our HR practices aligned with the business strategy and differentiated across positions, where appropriate? The fourth element is Right HR Practices. It asks: Have we designed and implemented world class HR management policies and practices throughout the business? The fifth element is Right HR Professionals. It asks: Do our HR professionals have the skills they need to design and implement a world-class HR management system?
3. Explain the five types of traits/factors. A personality trait is assumed to be some enduring characteristic that is relatively constant. This is opposed to the present temperament of that person which is not necessarily a stable characteristic. Consequently, trait theories are specifically focused on explaining the more permanent personality characteristics that differentiate one individual from another. For example, things like being; dependable, trustworthy, friendly, cheerful, etc. Modern personality theory is a relatively new field and really began in the 1920s. There have been many attempts to define personality traits and some psychologists have developed models with hundreds of traits. Whilst others believe that there are as few as three. In 1990, the psychologists Costa & McCrae published details of a ‘5 trait’ model. This has received significant support from other research and is now widely accepted among psychologists. These 5 aspects of personality are referred to as the 5-factors or sometimes just ‘the Big 5′.
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Each of these 5 personality traits describes, relative to other people, the frequency or intensity of a person’s feelings, thoughts, or behaviors. Everyone possesses all 5 of these traits to a greater or lesser degree. For example, two individuals could be described as ‘agreeable’ (agreeable people value getting along with others). But there could be significant variation in the degree to which they are both agreeable. These 5 traits/factors are: •
Extraversion – How “energetic” one is:
People who score high on this factor like to work in cooperation with others, are talkative, enthusiastic and seek excitement. People who score low on this factor prefer to work alone, and can be perceived as cold, difficult to understand, even a bit eccentric. •
Agreeableness – One’s level of orientation towards other people:
Those who score high on this factor are usually co-operative, can be submissive, and are concerned with the well-being of others. People who score low on this factor may be challenging, competitive, sometimes even argumentative. •
Conscientiousness – How “structured” one is:
People who score high on this factor are usually productive and disciplined and “single tasking”. People who score low on this factor are often less structured, less productive, but can be more flexible, inventive, and capable of multitasking. •
Neuroticism – Tendency to worry:
People who score low on this factor are usually calm, relaxed and rational. They may sometimes be perceived as lazy and incapable of taking things seriously. People who score high on this factor are alert, anxious, sometimes worried.
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Openness to Experience – Tendency to be speculative and imaginative: MU0004
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People who score high on this factor are neophile and curious and sometimes unrealistic. People who score low on this factor are down-toearth and practical and sometimes obstructive of change.
All 5 personality traits exist on a continuum rather than as attributes that a person does or does not have. Each of these 5 traits is made up 6 facets, which can be measured independently. Personality Factor
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Facets Friendliness Gregariousness Assertiveness Activity Level Excitement-Seeking Cheerfulness Trust Morality Altruism Cooperation Modesty Sympathy Self-Efficacy Orderliness Dutifulness Achievement-Striving Self-Discipline Cautiousness
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Anxiety Anger Depression Self-Consciousness Immoderation Vulnerability Imagination Artistic Interests
Neuroticism
Openness to experience
Emotionality Adventurousness Intellect Liberalism
When thinking about personality traits it is important to ignore the positive or negative associations that these words have in everyday language. For example, Agreeableness is obviously advantageous for achieving and maintaining popularity. Agreeable people are better liked than disagreeable people. On the other hand, agreeableness is not useful in situations that require tough or totally objective decisions. Disagreeable people can make excellent scientists, critics, or soldiers. It is quite possible to come up with slightly different definitions of the big 5 traits and to attach more importance to some of the facets than to others. This is an area that lends itself to endless debate and keeps many academic psychologists in work. As well as providing lively academic argument, it also enables companies in the personality testing field to differentiate their products from those of their competitors.
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