Student: Human Resources

Hitek 1 Title: JOB DESCRIPTIONS AT HITEK & DOWNSIZING: ANATHEMA TO CORPORATE LOYALTY Institution: Grantham University Instructor: Barbara Davis Student: Franessa Wilson Date: March 26, 2013 Hitek 2 Case Study: Job Descriptions at Hitek Based on what you know about high-tech companies, what are some likely strategic objectives for HITEK? Given these what should be the objectives of HITEK’s HR department? Do you think these are the objectives that guide the behaviors of Rains? Explain. A strategic objective is one that an organization must achieve to make its strategy succeed.Strategic objectives for Hitek are continued industry issues and supply chain challenges of prices, short product lifestyles, mass customization, globalization and strategic market planning. Strategic objectives provide direction for an organization, and strategic objectives provide a way to measure the organization’s progress toward realizing the ideas listed in the mission statement. For instance, if an organization has the idea that it will provide perfect customer service, then a strategic objective for the organization would be to score at the top level on customer service satisfaction.Strategic human resource objectives are goals aligned with the organizations goals. It’s the managerial process requiring human resource policies and practices to be linked with the strategic objectives of the organization. The human resources objectives at Hitek, supports organizational goals; such as profitabilities, business regulations, ethics and principles. Yes, I believe these are the objectives that guide the behaviors of Rains. Isabel Rains is the vice president of human resources and she rules the department with iron fist.Iron fist according to Wikipedia means with strict authority. Hitek 3 Jobs change frequently at HITEK. What approach to job analysis makes the most sense in such a fast changing environment? Customized? Standardized? Task-focused? Competency modeling? Eval uate the strengths and weaknesses of the alternative approaches and make recommendations to Hill about how to proceed. A job analysis sits at the heart of all human resource practices making it a critical component of management activity in every organization.Emphasis should be placed on a strategic approach to job analysis, present a strategic job analysis framework and discuss implications for the organization. A job analysis is necessary for the successful functioning of an organization. Job analysis is focused on the collection of work related information for the job as it currently exists or existed in the past. The need for change often is unpredictable, thus tends to be reactive. The successful management of change is crucial to an organization in order to survive, and succeed in the present highly competitive, and continuously evolving business environment.The environment of an organization consists of the conditions circumstances and influences that affect the organizationà ¢â‚¬â„¢s ability to achieve its objectives. The external and internal environment of an organization are both composed of five elements; which are physical, technological, social, political, and economical. The external environment influences how human resource functions will be performed. The internal environment influences both of human resource policies and procedures, as well as the individuals who make up the workforce of the organization or business.External environment has a significant impact on HR policies and practices. It helps to determine the values, attitudes, and behavior that employees bring to the job. Internal environment is also Hitek 4 known as organizational climate. The elements of the internal environment technological, physical, social, political, and economical effect and are affected by the policies, procedures, and employment conditions that managers oversee. The human resource department plays a more active role in influencing change in an organization or business.Organizational effectiveness is critical to success in any economy. Change management is defined as the process of continually renewing an organizations direction, structure, and capabilities to serve the ever changing needs of the internal and external customers or consumers. According to Burnes 2005, change is an ever present feature of organizational life, both at an operational and a strategic level. In order to achieve increased and sustainable business results, organizations need to execute strategy and engage employees.To create organizational effectiveness, business leaders need to focus on aligning and engaging their people, the people management systems, and the structure and capabilities (including organizational culture) to the strategy it results in higher financial performance, higher customer satisfaction, and higher employee retention. An organization that can sustain such alignment will achieve increased business results. Effective implementation of strate gy is a key driver of financial performance. Organizations that fail to fully engage their workforce in the business strategy will fail to produce reliable, sustainable business results.The link between employee engagement factors and successful strategy execution is vital (Burnes, 2005). Hill could use a SWOT analysis for the strengths and weaknesses of an alternative approach. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A SWOT analysis can offer helpful perspectives at any stage of an effort. Explore possibilities for new efforts or solutions to problems. Make decisions about the best path for the firm’s initiative. Identifying the opportunities for success in context of threats to success can clarify directions and Hitek 5 choices.Determine where change is possible. If the organization is at a juncture or turning point, an inventory of their strengths and weaknesses can reveal priorities as well as possibilities. Adjust and refine plans mid-course. A new opportunity might open wider avenues, while a new threat could close a path that once existed. The purpose of performing a SWOT is to reveal positive forces that work together and potential problems that need to be addressed or at least recognized. Before conducting a SWOT analysis, Hill should decide what format or layout he will use to communicate the issues.Strengths are resources that an organization possesses and the capabilities that an organization has developed. Weaknesses are resources and capabilities that are lacking or deficient in an organization; thus preventing an organization or business from developing a sustainable competitive advantage. Is the new job description (case exhibit 4) better than the old one (case exhibit 3)? Why or why not? Consider the perspective of employees as well as the perspective of the person supervising this job, Does your answer change depending on the way the job description is being used?The new job description is better than the old job description because it is more detailed. The skills needed are listed, how much education the applicant should have, and how much relevant experience is required. The supervision received is listed, therefore the applicant knows that he or she will be working under close supervision of a technical superior or manager, but no supervisory duties or experience is required. No, my answer does not change. Hitek 6 Case Study: Downsizing- Anathema to Corporate Loyalty Why is Daniels sensitive to DSI’s recruitment efforts?At Defense Systems Incorporated, Daniels feels that DSI’s layoffs or terminations are poor alternatives to dealing with a turbulent environment. The major problem as Daniels sees it is to preserve as many jobs as possible until business picks up. To terminate the new hires would irreparably harm DSI’s future recruitment efforts. Although terminations would improve the balance sheet in the short run, Daniels worried about the impact of such a move on corporate loyalty, a fragile and rare commodity at other major firms that have had to cut their white collar workforce ( Jackson et al; 2009, p. 226).A great possibility for downsizing to be an unsuccessful firm's strategy and therefore to decrease the corporate reputation, it is important before making the decision about downsizing to reconsider the necessity of such a decision. Downsizing has become a critical issue around the world. Downsizing and mass lay-offs are happening not only on US companies but also organizations in the entire industrial world. The number of organizations and jobs affected by downsizing has been staggering. In theory, downsizing is presumed to have positive outcome for an organization. In many situations, downsizing did accomplish what management had intended.However, there are many critiques on the manager views where unintended and negative consequences of downsizing resulted. It is important to point out that downsizing can be approached from at le ast three different perspectives: a global or industry level, a micro or individual level, and an organization or strategy level (Burnes, 2005). From a global or industrial point of view, discussions of downsizing, including mergers and acquisitions, ventures, and market strategies. From a micro or individual point of view, discussions of downsizing focus on individual stress levels associated.Hitek 7 What are some potential problems for the current class of engineers recruited at DSI? DSI does not rely on subcontractors to produce parts needed in its assembly operation, and the new employees will only receive ten hours per year of training, and most of the training will be obtained during orientation. Underutilizing these talented recruits for a long time would certainly lead to major dissatisfaction (Jackson et al; 2009, p. 226). How could the use of temporaries, student interns, or subcontractors potentially help DSI? They could bring a fresh perspective to the company.Interns of ten come in to jobs unafraid to question how things work or why jobs are performed a certain way which can help bosses discover smarter ways to do those tasks. Their perspective as newbies is valuable, especially when it comes to identifying and even solving problems that go unnoticed by full-time employees. They are at ease with the social media. Interns tend to understand social media in a way many business owners and bosses cannot, simply because young people live and breathe networks like Facebook. To them, networking on online channels is not another time-consuming task, but rather part of the day.They are productive in nature. While many full-time workers toil in jobs that lack benchmarks, most interns have a start and end date. Because of that, interns tend to be more productive. Unless you count the rare promotion or job change, some employees work in what feels like an endless cycle, which can lead to career burnout. They are courteous. New employees can be shy, but since i nterns are trying to make a good impression in a short period of time, they’re often more friendly than their paid counterparts. Interns recognize that every hallway passing could be a future opportunity.They are trying to impress. An internship Hitek 8 serves as a trial period for both sides. The intern may also be looking to set the groundwork for a recommendation or a full-time position down the road. That means they’re likely to put in a significant amount of effort to make sure you’re happy with their work. They provide free advertising via word of mouth. These young workers are excited, and if you impress them, they’ll want to tell the world about their experience with your company. They’ll spread the good word to their peers about the job, which can help recruitment efforts. They are fast learners.Young minds are like sponges, absorbing information quickly. Young workers also tend to be good at multi-tasking. The time it takes to train an in tern to perform a task is often a fraction of what it takes to train a full-time employee. Evaluate Daniels’s alternatives for reducing DSI’s labor surplus. What do you recommend? Why? Several older employees have accumulated several weeks of unused vacation time. Daniels wondered if employees could be encouraged to take unpaid leaves of absence. He also thought that early retirement incentives could be offered to make room for some of the bright young engineers (Jackson et al; 2009, p. 27). Unpaid leave is time off from work which is provided without pay. When an employee takes or is given unpaid leave, he or she retains a position in a company, and many retain benefits as well, but the employee receives no salary or wages. There are a number of reasons to take or institute this type of leave, and it is an option which is available from many companies. A company may require employees to take unpaid leave, or a furlough. This is done as a cost cutting measure, with the company preferring to force employees to take time off instead of eliminating positions at the company.This tactic is designed to retain Hitek 9 employees during periods of economic hardship, and while it may be onerous to employees, many people prefer unpaid leave to uncertain layoffs. Hitek 10 Works Cited 1. Burnes, R. (2005). Organizational Change Management: A Critical Review. Journal of Change Management Vol. 5(4): 369-380. Retrieved on March 24, 2013 from http://www. ncbi. nlm. org 2. Jackson, S. , Schuler, R. ; Werner, S. (2009). Managing Human Resources, 10th edition, pgs. 184-187, and 226-227.