Chapter 16 Human Resources Policies and Practices

Recruitment Practices
The first stage in any HR program is recruiting, closely followed by
selection. A selection system can only be as good as the individuals who
apply in the first place. Strategic recruiting has become a cornerstone for
many companies, in which recruiting practices are developed in alignment
with long-term strategic goals.
Companies are increasingly turning away from outside recruiting agencies
and relying on their own executives and HR professionals for talent
searches. The most effective recruiters —internal or external—are well
informed about the job, are efficient in communicating with potential
recruits, and treat recruits with consideration and respect. In addition, it is
very important that internal recruiters use fair and just practices while
recruiting employees because fairness perceptions are related to job offer
acceptance.
Recruiters also use a variety of online tools, including job boards and
social media, to bring in applications. Online recruiting has yielded an
exponentially increased number of applications, even as the means to
identify the best online recruitment sources are still developing. Social-
networking services have facilitated many connections. Some
organizations are pioneering unique methods, such as online programming
contests that masquerade as games, to identify individuals with top skill
sets who may be attracted to apply for positions. These contests have been
successful for recruiting applicants from all over the globe.
Selection Practices
One of the most important HR functions is hiring the right people. When
companies hire the right people, they increase their human capital
resources. Human capital resources are the capacities available to an
organization through its employees. 9 The resources include specialized
skills, collective knowledge, abilities, and other resources available
through an organization’s workforce.
Initial Selection
Initial selection devices are used for preliminary rough cuts to decide
whether the applicant meets the basic qualifications for a job. Application
forms and résumés (including letters of recommendation) are initial
selection devices. Background checks are either an initial selection device
or a contingent selection device, depending on how the organization
handles them.
Substantive and Contingent Selection
If an applicant passes the initial screens, next are substantive selection
methods. These selection methods are at the heart of the selection process
and include written tests, performance-simulation tests, and interviews.
Written Tests
Managers recognize that valid tests can help predict who will be
successful on the job. Applicants, however, tend to view written tests as
less valid and fair than interviews or performance tests. Typical tests
include (1) intelligence or cognitive ability tests, (2) personality tests, and
(3) integrity tests.
Performance-Simulation Tests
What better way to find out whether applicants can do a job successfully
than by having them do it? That’s precisely the logic of performance-
simulation tests. Although they are more complicated to develop and
administer than standardized tests, performance-simulation tests have
higher face validity (the measurement of whether applicants perceive the
measures to be accurate), and their popularity has increased. Predictive
simulations are commonly available through work samples, assessment
centers, situational judgment tests, and realistic job previews.
Interviews
Of all the selection devices that organizations around the globe use to
differentiate candidates, the interview has always been a standard practice.
It also tends to have a disproportionate amount of influence.
Overreliance on interviews is problematic because extensive evidence
shows that impression management techniques such as self-promotion
have a strong effect on interviewer preferences even when the displayed
traits are unrelated to the job.
Conversely, the candidate who performs poorly in the employment
interview is likely to be cut from the applicant pool regardless of
experience, test scores, or letters of recommendation. And unfortunately,
candidates can be rated lower for something as trivial as a blemish on their
faces, one study found.
Contingent Selection Tests
If applicants pass the substantive selection methods, they are ready to be
hired, contingent on final checks. One common contingent check is a drug
test. Publix grocery stores make tentative offers to applicant’s contingent
on their passing such a test as drug-free, as do many other organizations.
Training and Development Programs
Types of Training
Training and development programs are usually in the purview of HR
departments. Training can include everything from teaching employees
basic reading skills, improving executive leadership, helping employees
become more accepting of diversity, and increasing work-life balance.
four general skill categories— basic skills, technical skills, problem-
solving skills, and interpersonal skills—and civility and ethics training.
Training Methods
Job Training. On-the-job training methods include job rotation,
apprenticeships, understudy assignments, and formal mentoring programs.
Computer-Based Training. The fastest-growing training medium is
computer-based training, or e-training or e-learning. E-learning systems
emphasize learner control over the pace and content of instruction, allow
e-learners to interact through online communities, and incorporate other
techniques such as simulations and group discussions.
Evaluating Effectiveness
The effectiveness of a training program can refer to the level of student
satisfaction, the amount students learn, the extent to which they transfer
the learned material to their jobs, and/or the company’s financial return on
investments in training. 83 These results are not always related.
The success of training also depends on the individual. If individuals are
unmotivated or not engaged, they will learn very little. Other personal
factors, such as stereotype threat, may play a role in training performance.
The climate also is important. Finally, after-training support from
supervisors and coworkers has a strong influence on whether employees
transfer their learning into new behavior. For a training program to be
effective, it must not just teach the skills but also change the work
environment to support the trainees.
Performance Evaluation
What Is Performance?
Researchers now recognize three major types of behavior that constitute
performance at work:
1. Task performance. Performance of the duties and responsibilities
that contribute to the production of a good or service, or to
administrative tasks. These include most of the tasks in a
conventional job description.
 2. Citizenship. Performance of actions that contribute to the
psychological environment of the organization, such as helping
others when not required, supporting organizational objectives,
treating coworkers with respect, making constructive suggestions,
and saying positive things about the workplace.
3. Counter-productivity. Behavior that actively damages the
organization, including stealing, damaging company property,
acting aggressively toward coworkers, and taking avoidable
absences.
Purposes of Performance Evaluation
Performance evaluation serves a number of purposes. One is to help
management make general human resources decisions about promotions,
transfers, and terminations. Evaluations also identify training and
development needs. They pinpoint employee skills and competencies for
which remedial programs can be developed. Finally, they provide
feedback to employees on how the organization views their performance
and are often the basis for reward allocations, including merit pay
increases.
What Do We Evaluate?
The criteria that management chooses to evaluate has a major influence on
what employees do. The three most popular sets of criteria are individual
task outcomes, behaviors, and traits.
Who Should Do the Evaluating?
Who should evaluate an employee’s performance? By tradition, the task
has fallen to managers because they are held responsible for their
employees’ performance. But others may do the job better, particularly
with the help of HR departments.
Methods of Performance Evaluation
Written Essays Probably the simplest method is to write a narrative
describing an employee’s strengths, weaknesses, past performance,
potential, and suggestions for improvement.
Critical Incidents Critical incidents focus the evaluator’s attention on the
difference between executing a job effectively and executing it
ineffectively.
Graphic Rating Scales One of the oldest and most popular methods of
evaluation is the graphic rating scale. The evaluator goes through a set of
performance factors—such as quantity and quality of work, depth of
knowledge, cooperation, attendance, and initiative— and rates each on
 incremental scales. The scales may specify, say, five points, where job
knowledge might be rated 1 (“is poorly informed about work duties”) to 5
(“has complete mastery of all phases of the job”).
Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales Behaviorally anchored rating scales
(BARS) combine major elements from the critical incident and graphic
rating scale approaches.
Forced Comparisons Forced comparisons evaluate one individual’s
performance against the performance of another or others. It is a relative
rather than an absolute measuring device. The two most popular
comparisons are group order ranking and individual ranking.
Improving Performance Evaluations
The performance evaluation process is a potential minefield. Evaluators
can unconsciously inflate evaluations (positive leniency), understate
performance (negative leniency), or allow the assessment of one
characteristic to unduly influence the assessment of others (the halo error).
Some appraisers bias their evaluations by unconsciously favoring people
who have qualities and traits similar to their own (the similarity error).
Although no protections guarantee accurate performance evaluations, the
following suggestions can make the process more objective and fair.
 Use Multiple Evaluators
 Evaluate Selectively
 Train Evaluators
 Provide Employees with Due Process
Providing Performance Feedback
Few activities are more unpleasant for many managers than providing
performance feedback to employees. In fact, unless pressured by
organizational policies and controls, managers are likely to ignore this
responsibility. Why?
First, even though almost every employee could stand to improve in some
areas, managers fear confrontation when presenting negative feedback.
Second, many employees do tend to become defensive when their
weaknesses are pointed out. Instead of accepting the feedback as
constructive and a basis for improving performance, some criticize the
manager or redirect blame to someone else.
Finally, employees tend to have an inflated assessment of their own
performance.
 International Variations in Performance Appraisal
Individual-oriented cultures such as the United States emphasize formal
performance evaluation systems more than informal systems. They
advocate written evaluations performed at regular intervals, the results of
which managers share with employees and use in the determination of
rewards. On the other hand, the collectivist cultures that dominate Asia
and much of Latin America are characterized by more informal systems—
downplaying formal feedback and disconnecting reward allocations from
performance ratings.
One study focused on the banking industry and found significant
differences across countries in performance appraisal practices. Formal
performance appraisals were used more frequently in countries that were
high in assertiveness, high in uncertainty avoidance, and low in in group
collectivism.
In other words, assertive countries that see performance as an individual
responsibility and that desire certainty about where people stand were
more likely to use formal performance appraisals.
On the other hand, in high uncertainty-avoidance cultures, performance
appraisals were also used more frequently for communication and
development purposes (as opposed to being used for rewards and
promotion).
The Leadership Role of Human Resources (HR)
Communicating HR Practices
Leadership by HR begins with informing employees about HR practices
and explaining the implications of decisions that might be made around
these practices. It is not enough simply to have a practice in place; HR
needs to let employees know about it.
When a company successfully communicates how the whole system of
HR practices has been developed and what function this system serves,
employees feel they can control and manage what they get out of work.
Designing and Administering Benefits Programs
Ideally, a benefits program should be uniquely suited to the organizational
culture, reflect the values of the organization, demonstrate economic
feasibility, and be sustainable in the long term. Such benefits will likely
improve employees’ psychological well-being and therefore increase
organizational performance.
 Drafting and Enforcing Employment Policies
Along with benefits come responsibilities, and employees need to know
what the organization expects from them. Employment policies that are
informed by current laws but go beyond minimum requirements will help
define a positive organizational culture. Policies differ from benefits in
that they provide the guidelines for behavior, not just the working
conditions.
Managing Work–Life Conflicts
Not surprisingly, people differ in their preference for scheduling options
and benefits. Some prefer organizational initiatives that better segment
work from their personal lives, as flextime, job sharing, and part-time
hours do by allowing employees to schedule work hours less likely to
conflict with personal responsibilities. Others prefer initiatives to integrate
work and personal life, such as gym facilities and company-sponsored
family picnics.
On average, most people prefer an organization that provides support for
work-life balance. A study found that potential employees, particularly
women, are more attracted to organizations that have a reputation for
supporting employee work-life balance.
Mediations, Terminations, and Layoffs
HR departments often take center stage when unpleasant events such as
disputes, substandard performance, and downsizing occur. Employees
need to be able to trust their HR professionals to maintain appropriate
confidentiality and a balanced perspective.
Managers need to be able to trust HR, too, to know the laws and represent
the company’s perspective. The HR professional should be well trained in
mediation techniques and rely on company policies to seek positive
resolutions.
Sometimes, HR managers are integral to the termination process, when
employees are not able to resolve issues with management. Termination
processes are subject to union labor contracts and laws, which can
confound the situation.

Question : Employee benefits programs should be able benefit all employees, if there is a
conflict between employee’s opinion what should we do as HR Manager?