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Solution Manual For
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management 1e Talya Bauer (Author), Berrin Erdogan
(Author), David E. Caughlin (Author), Donald M. Truxillo
Chapter 1-
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Chapter 1: Human Resource Management Exercise 1.1 : Seeking Information as a New Employee You have started work at a small company, Johnson Natural Shoes, which designs and produces children’s shoes. The company has an innovative approach and uses all-natural materials. Its product has been increasing in demand in the few short years since it began. The company was founded by Shannon McKenzie. You found out about the position because you are friends with Shannon’s daughter who is an old friend of yours from high school. You were hired after you met with the founder who remembered you from soccer games and birthday parties. You do not have a job description or formal job title. But you are the only person in the organization with a degree in business, and Shannon mentioned to you that you were hired in the hopes you could help the company manage its rapid growth. At this point, the company is on track to double in size this year compared to last year when it only had 28 employees. You notice from the first days on the job that employees enjoy collaborating and making decisions together, and you felt welcomed right away. You see great things in the company’s future and want to help make Johnson Natural Shoes an international brand. You can’t wait to start making a contribution. Now it is your turn to decide how to help:
- Given that you are still new to the company, how would you approach learning more about the company and its employees?
There are many examples to be learned by referencing back to the Chobani case. While student answers will vary, there should be a discussion about listening to the goals of Shannon McKenzie and other leadership and try to determine the current “pain points” that need to be addressed. A study of other successful firms that experienced rapid growth would also be beneficial.
- What are specific key questions you might want to ask employees about the company?
While student responses will vary, it is important to try to determine what is being done right, in additional to potential problem areas. Ideas about long-term goals should also be considered.
- Based on your knowledge of business, what would you advise Shannon to consider as HR priorities as the organization experiences high growth?
Shannon needs to consider how to attract and retain employees with expertise that will allow her to grow at the predicted pace. Turnover is costly in terms of dollars and error rates, and Shannon needs to make sure the company can meet the needs of customers while maintaining quality.
Exercise 1.2: The Changing Context of HRM Making HRM decisions is often a group activity as seldom does one person have all the required information, context, and expertise to tackle every HR issue. Working in a group, review the six trends we identified as impacting HRM today and into the future (changing demographics, the emerging gig economy, increasing globalization, technology, availability of data, and ethical and corporate social responsibility challenges).
- Form your group.
- Decide if there are additional trends your group believes might be as important or more important than these six. The trends identified as most important by the group will depend on who is in the group and their goals. The trends identified might be subsets of the trends discussed in the text, such as alternative work environments (part of the gig economy trend) or be focused on legal issues such as health insurance and employee protection issues.
- As a group, decide which trend your group collectively feels is the most important factor that will influence HRM. It is as important to justify your answer in terms of your selection of the most important factor as it is to defend why the others are not seen as equally important. Responses will vary by group. Groups might have a difficult time narrowing it down to just one trend, as may realize that HR decisions impact a variety of areas.
Ethical Matters Exercise: SHRM Code of Ethics Ethics is critically important to the effective practice of HRM. Ethical decisions and actions lead to greater trust and engagement within organizations and allow for all types of information to emerge, which is important for effective decision-making. Given the importance of ethics to HRM, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), which is the world’s largest professional society for human resource management, developed a code of ethics. We encourage you to read this code of ethics whether you are an aspiring manager or HRM professional or one who is seasoned. The core principles noted are easily transferable to different organizational roles, and following them can help you avoid serious problems as you are faced with ethical dilemmas and decisions throughout your career. The six core principles described in the code provisions include the idea that professionals should engage
A sustainable HR analytics function requires a number of important considerations. HR analytics should be integrated and embedded into HR and organizational strategies, and this requires taking a systems perspective of the organization and its various subsystems. By gaining manager support and creating a culture that supports evidence-based practices, the HR analytics function will have a better chance of implementing changes. HR analytics must be paired with good change management, where change management refers to the “systematic process of applying knowledge, tools, and resources to transform organization from one state of affairs to another.”
People have a natural tendency to resist change, and thus in addition to creating a culture supportive of data-driven decision-making, a culture of continuous change should be cultivated as well. The HR analytics team must comprise the right people with the right mix of competencies.
- Which organization culture type will be least likely to accept HR analytics as a viable part of the organization’s strategy? Why?
Many executives make major decisions based on their gut instincts, or intuition. As such, developing an HR analytics function in some organizations may be difficult, especially if the culture does not ostensibly value data and data-driven decisions.
Exercise 2.2: Building Your HR Analytics Team
- Form your group.
- As a group, create a series of jobs for which you will ultimately recruit and select new employees. A given job may cover more than one area of expertise, and multiple jobs may overlap in terms of some areas of expertise. Jobs selected by students will most likely be based on their majors, experiences, and areas of interest.
- For each job created in Step 2, identify the competencies and educational or professional experiences that are necessary for success on the job. Students should develop a list of knowledge, skills, and abilities for each job they have identified. Are the competencies identified a “wish list” or are they really the competiencies needed to perform the job? This could be an important area of discussion as students begin to learn the difference between the two, and why it is important to understand those differences when working on job design.
- Develop a brief recruitment and selection strategy for each job. In other words, where will you recruit individuals for these positions? Why? How and why will you select and hire individuals for these positions? The recruitment strategies will often be those familiar to students, such as campus job placement sources, job fairs, referrals, and social media. Students should be able to identify why a specific recruitng source might be the best choice based on the job, and
identify the potential drawbacks to each source. KSAs should be considered when selecting and hiring.
Ethical Matters Exercise: The Case of The Body Shop Case Discussion Question:
- How might The Body Shop’s ethical values influence its HRM policies?
The Body Shop must look both internally and externally to bring their mission and commitment to ethical values to life. While the choice of suppliers, vendors, and corporate mergers are not decided by HR, HRM will help train all employees of the goals of the organization, including its commitment to ethical values. HR can develop training programs that reinforce these ethical values. These values influence the idea of competitive pay programs and using benefit suppliers who support ethical values of employees. These values might also influence other HR policies such as paid and unpaid time off, and choice of insurance carriers, for example.
- If you were a manager for a competitor of The Body Shop, how would you seek data about the implications of corporate social responsibility for the company’s success? Surveys can be used to determine the levels of commitment to ethical values employees experience in the workplace. A competitor can use social media tools to determine why consumers choose their products and whether consumers are committed to the values supported by The Body Shop. Interview questions can be designed to help determine commitment to values, and behavioral questions can be used to present hypothetical scenarios. Exit interviews might be used to see why employees are leaving and where they are going to work, and a study can be conducted based on those responses. These might be online, anonymous surveys that don’t tie to a specific individual, perhaps increasing the chances of good, honest feedback.
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Chapter 3: Data Management and Human Resource Information Systems
Exercise 3.1: Determining Whether to Continue HRIS Consulting Share your approach to how the team might best respond to this request from the VP of HR. What specifically would you tell John to say to justify the continued investment in understanding the organization’s HRIS needs? Be specific and outline your recommendations for John being sure to include key points from this chapter.
Ethical Matters Exercise: Fitness Trackers and Data Privacy Questions:
- How does the use of a third-party vendor like Virgin Pulse make it more ethical to have employees wear monitoring devices than it would be if the employer did so directly?
If an organization decided to provide employees with wearable devices instead of working through a third-party vendor like Virgin Pulse, this could pose an ethical dilemma under certain circumstances. Without proper data privacy and compliance restrictions in place, the data could be used in ways that would compromise individuals’ privacy and other personal rights. Although perhaps not illegal, HR professionals may run dangerously close to committing discrimination under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) if they use these data to make employment decisions. Further, even if deemed to be legal, using employee health data in this manner could be construed as unethical, particularly if the data are used in a way that deviates from their intended use. Using a third-party vendor like Virgin Pulse would allow for the collection of data without compromising the employee’s or the employer’s rights and responsibilities.
- Do you think the use of monitoring devices should be optional for employees? As an HR professional, how would you ensure that employees who opted out of using the device would not be penalized for nonparticipation?
Responses will vary by students, but one way to avoid penalizing an employee for nonparticipation would be to have the vendor provide a code for each employee instead of using their name, and to have the third-party vendor track all data. A discussion also must be held as to the purpose and goal of this type of collection data. If the data are not a direct aspect of the KSAs needed to do the job, there should not be any requirement as to the use of these devices.
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Chapter 4: Diversity, Inclusion, and Equal Employment Laws
Exercise 4.1: Workplace Diversity Dilemmas Imagine that you are working at a medium-size business as an HR professional. You are faced with the following dilemmas. Decide how you would handle each issue in the short term and long term. What additional information would help you decide? What changes seem necessary to the company given these dilemmas, if any?
- An African American job applicant has just been offered a position as a customer service representative in the company’s call center. The job does not have any face-to-face customer contact and only involves phone interactions. The manager who conducted the interview just told the applicant that her hair, which is in dreadlocks, violates the company’s dress code, which requires “professional” hairstyles. The manager asked the employee to cut her hair. The applicant refused. The manager is considering revoking the job offer to the employee. What would you do? Answer will vary by students. The discussion should include the employer’s right to institute a dress code, with a discussion about fair and reasonable accommodation. A discussion regarding legal compliance should be included, and potential outcomes of this dress code issue should be discussed.
- An applicant for your janitorial services is hearing impaired and is unable to speak. He was invited for a job interview. However, when contacted, the applicant informed management that he would need a sign language interpreter for the interview, and he can bring his sister as an interpreter. The hiring manager canceled the job interview. What would you do? Answers will vary by student. The discussion should be based on the Americans With Disabilities Act and the need for reasonable accommodation. There may also be discussion regarding the need for training for those making hiring decisions.
- An employee in your department sent you an e-mail stating that he examined the salaries of over 100 employees working in the call center and found that male employees seemed to be paid more than female employees. What would you do? Answers will vary by students. There are several issues here, including the potential for violating the privacy of other employees. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act should be part of the discussion along with the potential outcome for underpaying female employees. There should be a study of the roles of each of these employees to ensure that similar positions and lengths of service are being considered. Knowledge, skills, and abilities of all employees in the call center need to be compared to determine what has caused this pay issue. Statistical analysis is needed here to understand the cause of the pay discrepancy before an appropriate solution can be determined.
Exercise 4.2: Assessing Disparate Impact Recently, your organization advertised openings for sales associates. The selection process includes gathering and evaluating information on a personality test and in-person interview.
Here is a breakdown of who applied and who was hired:
Applied Hired Men 150 15 Women 90 15
value to the workforce. Some might include the governments hiring of ex-convicts in
the areas of forgery. Corporations might hire who have committed white-collar
crimes for their expertise in fraud prevention. Smaller companies, such as the baker
in this example, can hire ex-convicts to create a loyal and hardworking workforce in
an industry that typically pays low wages and has high employee turnover.
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Chapter 5: The Analysis and Design of Work
Exercise 5.1: Job Analysis and KSAO Ratings Questions:
- Based on your initial review of the mean criticality ratings for each KSAO, which KSAOs would you consider dropping from the job analysis? Explain why.
Most of the ratings are relatively high so if one had to be dropped, it appears the logical choice would be F--the ability to supervise a crew. Others that might be dropped include D--map reading, and G--fire suppression principles related to residential buildings.
- You know that a key role of this job is driving fire equipment (e.g., fire trucks) to the fire scene. But KSAO D has a fairly low mean and a high standard deviation. Why might this be? Rather than tossing out this KSAO, do you see any issue with the way that the KSAO is currently written and how it might be edited?
One reason KSAO D has a low mean but high standard deviation might be because of the actual wording. Some respondents might have focused on the need to memorize where city streets are and others on the need to read a map. With advances in GPS technology, some may consider the aspect of map reading to be obsolete and unimportant but still find it important to know where the street is, if it is a one-way street, what might the traffic pattern typically look like, if it is residential or a street with several lanes.
- You learn that the city of Jasper collected most of the data for this job analysis from SMEs who are located in urban areas of the city rather than in the more suburban areas. Knowing this, would it affect any of your decisions about which KSAOs to remove from the job analysis? How might the city approach future data collections like this differently?
Where the respondents live could influence the value of the KSAOs. For example, those who live in urban areas might find less value in knowing how to handle fires in residential buildings. Those in suburban areas might find this more important.
Exercise 5.2: Using O*NET
- Search for a job with which you are familiar. Were you able to find the job quickly, with the same job title you were using or did O*NET use a slightly different job title? Or did it suggest multiple possible job titles? If so, why do you think this is?
Responses will vary by student based on the type of job they researched. Each field might have several titles and variations of work within the field.
- Now look at the Tasks, Knowledge, Skills, Abilities that ONET notes as associated with that job. Do these match your impression of the job? Why might there be some differences between the job title you used and the job title in the ONET database?
Students should be able to find some KSAs that they had not considered on a practical level. Perhaps they are currently the manager of a retail store, but they had not considered how that might be different that being a manager in a larger organization where the skill set moves beyond scheduling shifts and maybe ordering inventory.
- Sometimes no single ONET job title captures the job for which you are searching. In your case, did it require piecing together the information from two or more jobs listed in the ONET database to adequately describe the job you’re looking for? If so, can you explain why this may have happened?
Responses will vary by student depending on the job title they searched for. This might lead to a discussion as to why the job titles are different and what that might mean in their job search or when working with customers, clients, or suppliers in an organization.
- For most jobs you will search for, the ONET job titles will not be a perfect fit for a particular job in a particular organization. More important, the content listed in the ONET may not be a perfect match either. Given these challenges, what do you see at the value to HR professionals using the O*NET when conducting job analyses?
Responses will vary by students, but students should find value in using ONET as a starting point when gathering data about the job market. They should also recognize that ONET is a starting point, and will not be the solution to a job analysis.
Ethical Matters Exercise: Designing Ethics and Integrity Into Work Questions:
- How would you define ethics and integrity? Do you see them as personal qualities, or can they also be characteristics of an organization?
considered, and so should issues such as the work itself, pay and benefits, leadership practices, and commitment to ethics.
- Are there experiments you might do to test potential causes and to identify different solutions?
Several issues certainly need to be studied, but students may not consider them “experiments.” Labor market conditions and work conditions, for example, should be studied. A task analysis should be performed in areas where turnover is extremely high, and perhaps in areas where turnover is lower than average. The recruitment process and a realistic job preview should be studied, along with the onboarding process.
Exercise 6.2: Recruitment and Beyond
- Should your company hire locally, hire expatriate employees, use a search firm, start developing a college recruiting program in Japan, or use a different recruiting approach? Explain the advantages and disadvantages of each of these approaches. There is a need for a variety of approaches here. Using an expat might be a good way to introduce Japanese leadership to how the U.S.-based company is organized and run. Using a search firm might help you identify local leaders who can manage a workforce. Using a college recruiting program in Japan can help you identify candidates who will be able to work with the customer base and who are more tuned in to what the local population wants out of a retail experience.
- What additional information would help your team decide? The team might want to look at how the firm expanded in to other countries and what went well, and what didn’t. If the company has not experienced international expansion before, perhaps look at competitors who did and study their outcomes. Local labor laws and compensation information needs to be considered, and realistic expectations about performance criteria and evaluation must be considered. Leadership skills and styles will be different and, of course, there will be differences in languages, cost of living, and product usage.
- Where will your team begin its recruitment efforts? The team has a few options. If this has been done in the past, perhaps it would be good to start with the group that led that project. If this has never been done before, perhaps the place to start would be with a host-country national who can be a strategic business partner and help lead this process.
Ethical Matters Exercise: Applicant Information Privacy Questions:
- How would you discuss these ethical issues with the decision makers in your organization? Are there specific policies or practices you would recommend?
There are many ethical issues here. Cybercrime is a reality and is not always preventable. Even the government gets hacked. However, an organization is responsible for the information it collects on all employees and on candidates. Any corporate system must be protected with continuously updated technology. One potential practice might be to store various pieces of information in various levels of encryption. There should also be limited access to information; not every member of leadership needs to be able to access all files on an employee. Organizations should also have a policy of not selling employee information. The bottom line is that an organization has an ethical obligation to all of its employees to maintain the highest level of security and protection for all personal information.
- Beyond the issues described here, what other ethical questions might you ask about online job boards? Think of them from the perspective of the job applicant, the recruiting organization, the tech company that operates the board, and any other stakeholders.
Job applicants, and not just those who are recent college grads, provide a tremendous amount of personal information on the Internet without really thinking about it. A vacation photo, accessing medical records online, even posting a picture of your child’s first birthday with their name and birthday; all of these provide a cybercriminal an opportunity to steal data. Employers can easily search a candidate by name and access nonjob-related information; the tech company can sell information to clients. Online job boards and other Internet recruiting tools are tremendous assets to an organization, allowing key term searches or eliminating candidates who are not qualified. However, all stakeholders have an ethical obligation to minimize the personal information available online and protect the information that is there.
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Chapter 7: Selection Processes and Procedures
Exercise 7.1: Selection Systems for Hiring You have been asked to propose a new selection system for hiring baristas. Consider the following questions:
- Which selection procedures would make the most sense for hiring baristas? Weigh each of your suggested selection procedures in terms of (a) validity, (b) enhancing workforce diversity, (c) utility, and (d) applicant reactions.
Answers will vary by student but based on the skills set required of a barista, a variety of selection tools can be used. Work sampling would indicate the candidate’s ability to make the
Construct validity can be thought of as overarching the entire concept of validity--which is the idea of establishing that a test measures what it is supposed to measure. Given that construct validity is demonstrated by showing a pattern of accumulated evidence of a test’s validity, we would also expect that the test would sample the content domain of conscientiousness (see content validity) and would correlate with supervisor ratings of an employee’s willingness to help their coworkers.
- What is the evidence for the criterion-related validity of the new conscientiousness test?
Students must assess whether there is a correlation between the outcomes of the test and job performance, using current employees. If this can be shown, the test might be used to assess job candidates. The gold standard in selection research is to show that there is an empirical relationship (usually a statistically significant correlation) between a test and measures of job performance--using either a sample of current employees (concurrent validity) or job applicants (predictive validity). Showing this empirical relationship is called criterion-related validity, and this correlation between the test score and job performance is referred to as the validity coefficient.
- What do you think about the content validity of the new conscientiousness test? (Hint: Is the information needed to answer this question available in Table 7.9?) Explain.
Content validity is actually an approach to test development, focused on sampling the domain such as the job. This is typically done via a job analysis and SME input. If you wanted to demonstrate that a selection procedure had good content validity, you would develop the test based on a job analysis and review by subject matter experts (SMEs, generally job incumbents and supervisors).
- Would you recommend using the new test or the old test of conscientiousness for hiring workers? Why or why not?
Responses will vary by student but should be based on the idea that the conscientiousness test is really measuring what we need employees to be able to do in order to succeed at the job. If the test is measuring things not related to job success, then the test should be reconsidered.
Ethical Matters Exercise: Keeping Applicant and Employee Data Secure
- What practices and cautions are you familiar with that would help to keep personal data secure, for yourself or for others such as job applicants, at your workplace or university?
Responses will vary by student.
- Look up the McDonald’s or Coca-Cola data breach and read the details of what happened, how, and why. What could have been done differently? How did the employer respond once the breach happened?
Responses will vary.
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Chapter 8: Training, Development, and Careers
Exercise 8.1: Evaluating Training Programs
- Overall, based on these numbers, how effective would you say that the training program is?
Based on the numbers, it appears the training was successful. The scores of those in Atlanta who received training increased by .8, while the scores of those in Houston who did not receive training only increased by .2.
- Based on these numbers, what would you say is the effectiveness of the training program with regard to each of the training outcomes?
With regard to sales performance, the training seems to be very effective. With regard to product knowledge, the training seems to be much less effective.
- If the company wanted to adjust the training program, what would you recommend to them?
Responses will vary by student, but most likely would include limiting training to increase product knowledge and continue training to increase performance. There should also be training offered to the Houston branch to increase their sales performance as well. Another option would be to compare two other locations and see if the results are similar. If they are, this might indicate a valid testing response. If they don’t support the results between Houston and Atlanta, further study might need to be done.
- A colleague argues that sales numbers seem to be up as a result of the training program, so it doesn’t matter whether employees showed an increase in product knowledge. What would be your response to that argument?
This might be true based on the Hawthorne effect, and more study might need to be done. I would also make the argument that there was not a significant relationship between product knowledge pre- and posttest, and that the difference is in training for performance instead.
Exercise 8.2: Interpreting Training and Safety Knowledge Analytics Questions:
- Find an example in the news or in the HR literature of an organization charged with ethics violations.
There are many instances in the news and in HR literature where potentially unethical acts have occurred. This might be in politics, in buying from a supplier with the lowest price even though the quality of a product is substandard and may lead to injury or death, or a company that sells personal data collected on people.
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Chapter 9: Performance Management
Exercise 9.1: Unfair Performance Reviews
- What would you advise Orlando to do in this meeting? Orlando needs to be able to document these contributions. If Orlando cannot prove these things (others took credit for his ideas, etc.), then a “he said–she said” scenario will develop and nothing will be accomplished. I would encourage Orlando to find documentation to prove dates and ideas, collect data from customers and clients, and perhaps even include the employees he worked with in the performance appraisal process.
- What would you tell his manager, if anything? Students will have a variety of opinions here. While many might suggest not telling the manager about the conversation with Orlando for fear of retaliation, most will agree something needs to be done. This might be an opportunity to train the manager on avoiding recency issues, collecting examples and data that supports the ratings, and getting feedback from customers. HR and the manager must also consider if a shy and quiet personality is an issue on this job by looking at the KSAs. Other ideas might include training for Orlando to improve in areas where his skill set falls short, setting mutually agreed upon goals.
- Are there any systemic changes you could think of that may help prevent instances like these from happening in the future? Many. There needs to be an understanding of KSAs for this position, and there needs to be goal setting. Objective measure of performance must be considered, and documentation should be included.
Exercise 9.2: Designing a Performance Management System If you were designing a performance management system for this company, what would it look like? Assuming that the company is interested in providing feedback to employees on a regular basis, but
also tie pay to performance, propose a performance management system for the company. Please make sure that your answer includes specific details such as the forms to be used and the criteria with which performance will be measured.
Responses will vary by student. There are several different types of performance managememt systems to consider. Students should consider KSAs, rating systems, options for generating the information used on the review, and the ability to set specific employee goals. Students should also consider how often these reviews should be done, and the potential outcome of review ratings.
Ethical Matters Exercise: A Goal-Setting Scandal at Wells Fargo Questions:
- How would you advise your organization if top management proposed an aggressive goal-setting policy for employee performance? How might the organization reap the benefits of goal setting while avoiding negative consequences?
Goals should be specific, measurable, relevant, time bound, and reasonable and attainable and must conform to the highest standards of ethics. Perhaps examples that include fines and prison time might inspire some managers to avoid unreasonable goals. Key performance indicators should be defined for various jobs, and the setting of goals should be a joint process. Many organizations use goal setting very successfully by using SMART goal processes.
- In your own work, how do you set goals for yourself and measure your progress in attaining them? What have you learned that might help you to gain more benefits from goal setting?
Responses will vary by students and their work experience. Some students might talk about personal goals if they have limited experience on the job. Students should talk about their goal- setting process and how they determine when a goal has been successfully achieved. Student should also consider how goals change over time.
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Chapter 10: Managing Employee Separations and Retention
Exercise 10.1: Dismissing an Employee Questions:
