Reflection

Today we talked about high performing teams and how they are (or should be) the end goal of all HR programs. Though trainning and development, to hiring and firing, the goal should be to make the best teams possible. If we remember that no matter what jobs we have, what positions we take it will make our jobs more meaningful and a lot more fun.

chapter 16 High Performance Teams

CONCEPT:

It takes a lot to create an effective team and even more work to create high performance team. Some of the ways to do just that is: Ethical behavior is encouraged, teams perform the work, employees participate in the selection of team members and team project.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

Jut think what it would be like to have to go to work every day to work with a team that you hated and they did not like you and work on a project that you thought was awful. That does not sound like a fun day to me at all.

KEY POINTS:

The main point is with teams you have to let them work together as a team, and reward them together as a team. Let them use their strengths to create the best team they can be.

FACILITATED QUESTION:

What are your strengths that would add to a high performing team?

CHAPTER 15

FACTORS AFFECTING HRM IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

CONCEPT:

America dose not have the patent on having big or good companies. Business is everywhere, and if you are not preparing for a global market you will be left behind. In HR there are some factors that you need to think about in order to make the business work. Culture, education, economic systems, and political-legal systems.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

Your company was just bought out by a company who's is based out of Germany. This is the first time they have moved into an american market. The now expect new things out of you but you don't know exactly what they want and they just expect you to catch on. This would be so frustrating.

KEY POINTS:

When working in international business you have to be considerate of other people and there culture, because lets face it, even in America, we have several cultures.

FACILITATED QUESTION:

Would you be willing to make you company international? Yes it might be more money, but it would also be a lot more work.

REFLECTION

In class we talked about the 4 benefits required by law, and boy are we glad for them. Can you imagine our lives without them. They are Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, Workers Comp, and Family and Medical leave. It's because of these laws that we are able to plan and being taken care of if we become disabled, unemployed or pregnant.

Ch. 14 Unions

CONCEPT:

Unions have been around for years. The helped change how America treats its employees. The helped protect the working class giving them fair wages and safe working conditions. Today they still have their place, they help negotiate contracts in a lot of areas, like the airlines and automotive industries.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

Back in the day with the industrial revolution when kids were forced to work in factories with their parents in horrible conditions. Thats were unions can step in an help make the place where you work tolerable.

KEY POINTS:

Unions have their place today, but not as much as they did 30+ years ago. With each passing year the need for unions seems to be less and less. Unions are good and bad, they are not perfect and are not for everybody.

FACILITATED QUESTION:

Would you ever join a union?

Chapter 13

OPTIONAL BENEFITS

CONCEPT:

We all don't fit the mold for benefits, we all need different things in our benefits package. There are those employers out there that are willing to give different packages to make our lives better.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

Imagine that you are living with you partner and you have health insurance and they don't. You are not married so the normal benefits package does not apply to you. What do you do?

KEY POINTS:

They are so many things that can be mixed and matched in a benefits package. Paid leave, workers comp, paid holidays, paid vacation, retirement plans.

FACILITATED QUESTION:

What would be your ideal mix and match be for benefits be?

Chapter 12, BONUS

CONCEPT:

The idea behind performance bonuses is to give an incentive for good performances by model employees.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

Can you imagine working your butt off and finding out that someone else got a bonus?

KEY POINTS:

Bonuses is a good incentive without giving them an actual raise. It is usually based on performances.

FACILITATED QUESTION:

If you were the boss and only had so much money to give away in bonuses. Do you give it all away to your best employee, or do you divide it among all of the employees?

REFLECTION

In class we had our guest speaker who is with ancestry.com. We learned all about different benefits packages.

CHAPTER 11, ECONOMIC INFLUENCES ON PAY

CONCEPT:

When trying to find what the company should pay the employees, the company tends to do a few things to try and make sure that they are being competitive. First they look at what the product cost in that area, that way they sell the product high enough to make money but they don't want it too expensive so no one buys it. Next the look at the labor market. The try to find what other companies pay their employees for the same job. Last they look at cost of living in that area, they take all of those into consideration before deciding what is a fare wage to pay employees.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

What would you do if you got hired by a company and years later you find out that the competitor is paying a lot more money, and are looking to hire experienced workers. You bring this up to your boss who is worried about loosing all of their employees. The company decides not to give you competitive raise, but they give you a little raise and give you big bonuses if you promise to stay. What would you do?

KEY POINTS:

Before you start a job you a little research, find out what other companies are paying, find out what the cost of living is in your area, this way you can negotiate pay.

FACILITATED QUESTION:

How much do you think you are worth? Do you get paid competitively? Would you change your job if you got paid more some where else?

REFLECTION

In class we talked about job withdrawal, which is defined as a set of behaviors which employees try to avoid work. This can be done in a few ways, physically, this is when you call in sick or just don't show up at all. But the most common is psychological withdrawal. This is where you sit at your desk and just day dream, or find ways not to do your work while you are at work.

REFLECTION

Today in class we talked about Training vs. Development. Training should be required, mainly because it is teaching you the basics. It's how you do your job, it is setting the minimum standard for the job. Whereas with Development it should be optional, it's more for future planning. It should teach leadership skills, and should be relevant to the employee.

Alternative dispute resolution

CONCEPT:

There are several different ways to resolve conflicts, open-door policy, peer review, mediation, arbitration. Depending on the personalities and the problem going on would help determine which one should be used.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

How would you feel if you were having issues with another employee and you boss didn't have an open door policy, what would you do, who would you talk to?

KEY POINTS:

The best policy is for the HR person to be able to do all of the different ways of resolving conflicts. You do not want to be stuck in a one way thing, and because of that you are unable to help some employees because you way does not work for them

FACILITATED QUESTION:

What conflict resolution works best for you?

Development-related challenges

CONCEPTS:

One of the main things that prevent development in a organization and that is the glass ceiling effect. This is were people (mostly women and minorities) can see the top positions in the company, but are unable to get reach those positions.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

It's hard to sit back and watch as people who work hard for a company only to get to a certain point but never get any higher because you don't "fit" the ideal of what has previously been in that position.

KEY POINTS:

Make sure that when you are interviewing, promoting, or even talking to employees, it's good to remember that just because they are not what you are use to they can still bring new ideas to the plate and just because they are different does not mean they can't do the job.

FACILITATED QUESTION:

How would you feel if you (a white male) walked into an interview knowing that you were qualified for the position. While in the interview you realized that a man has never had the position you were applying for, and because they did not want to change you did not get the job?

Feedback Session

CONCEPT:

When preparing for a feedback session you should always tell the employee ahead of time, giving them time to prepare. You should give them a self evaluation to complete before the session. This evaluation should have the employees thinking about their evaluation and have them set goals for the future.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

Imagine if your boss came to you in the morning of your work day and your boss told you in one hour you would have an evaluation. What would you feel, nervous, excited, mad, worried, ready to show your boss how good you have been working? Just remember that when you tell employees that they have an upcoming evaluation.

KEY POINTS:

When conducting an evaluation session you want the set up as an tell-and-listen session. You want to hear what the employee has to say. What they think they have been doing well, what their strong points are. You just have to remember that employees tend to exaggerate their good points.

FACILITATED QUESTIONS:

Would you rather have an employee over exaggerate or under exaggerate their good points?

ON-THE-JOB-TRAINING

CONCERT:

Most jobs choose to do on the job training, its a great way to teach the new employee how to do their job. There are a couple of different ways of completing the on the job training. First, apprenticeship which is a combination of on the job training and classroom training.

Then, internship is an on the job training sponsored by an educational institutional.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

Its hard to get into the job market, everyone is wanting job experience, which is really hard to get it if you don't already have it.

KEY POINTS:

You have to get job experience, the best way to do that is to do an apprenticeship, or an internship. Both have pros and cons to them, and you have to decide which on is best for you.

FACILITATED QUESTION:

What is the best way for you to get on the job training: to graduate from high school and find a starter job or to go to college graduate and hope to find a company will give you an internship?

REFLECTION

In class we talked about checking references, and I have never thought of stocking someone on facebook to see what they were like. Because as we all know that when calling references they can't give too much information, so that's why we need to become creative.

INTERVIEWING TECHNIQUES

CONCEPTS:

There are 4 different types of interviewing techniques, each with pros and cons. Non-directive allows for wiggle room with the questions, but can get the interviewer in trouble for asking illegal questions. Structured interview is you know exactly what questions you will ask, this eliminates the problem of asking inappropriate questions. Situational interview you get to see how a person would act and get to know them better. Behavior interview is the highest validity.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

Going into a interview is a scary experience already, and now even more now that you don't know in which way you are going to be interviewed. Its hard to prepare what you are going to say when you don't know what they are going to ask you.

KEY POINTS:

When you are the one setting up the interview you need to figure out what type of questions you want to ask and what way you want them answered.

FACILITATED QUESTION:

What would you do if you are in a job interview and they asked an inappropriate question, such as your age, marital status or anything like that. What would you do?

REFLECTION

Today in class we talked about the job characteristics model. During the discussion I looked back on all of my jobs and could see that in different jobs I was placed in different scales of skills variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. It is nice to know that in my current job I am doing well in all of these areas.

CORE COMPETENCY

CONCEPT:

Core competency is a set of knowledge skills that make the organization superior to competitors ad create value for customers. This is the main thing you look for when hiring an employee

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

Not everyone has core competency as soon as they start. Most people in fact don't gain this until they have been with the company for awhile.

KEY POINTS:

Everyone wants to work and hire people that have core competency, they are the easiest to train, they work hard making your life easier, they get projects done faster and better; but most people don't always fully committed to the company to have core competency.

FACILITATED QUESTION:

Who would you hire: the person that all ready knows how to do the job very well, is cocky, rude, and not a team player; or the person that would need a lot training, is nice, willing to learn, full of team spirit? Who would you rather work with?

REFLECTION

I never knew how important it was to know what your job description entails. This way you know what exactly what the company and your boss expect of you. But you don't want it too detailed, because you don't want your boss to micromanage what you do.

EARLY-RETIREMENT

CONCEPT:

Another alternative to downsizing that companies are choosing to do is early-retirement. Companies are offering incentives to older workers to retirement so younger lower paid workers can work there way up the company ladder. One of the many problem with this is that some times more then they want to decides to accept the incentives and go into early-retirement.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

I don't think I would like it as an employee that I would be expected to move up in the company do somebody else's work for less pay.

KEY POINTS:

Companies need to cut down on cost. People who have worked for companies the longest get paid the most. When long term employees leave they take a lifetime of knowledge.

FACILITATED QUESTION:

It's true that companies need to do something to lower cost, but what is the true cost of having the older generation out of the work force?

ARTICLE

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/your-money/28interns.html?pagewanted=2&emc=eta1

CONCEPT:

In this article it talks about how companies are turning to hiring interns rather then new employees. These interns are willing to work for little or no pay to get work experience. This ads new problems for the H.R. department.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

What do you do if you are fresh out of college and trying to get a job, but no one will hire you cause you don't have work experience, you have a family to feed. Do you take a no pay internship to get work experience and hopefully after you find a job, or do you keep looking.

KEY POINTS:

In order for companies to continue to make profits and to keep the work load low for existing employees, they choose to hirer interns.

FACILITATED QUESTION:

Do you find it okay to have people work for you for free just to get work experience?

REFLECTION

Today we talked about employee empowerment and employee engagement. I work for a company that not say these lines but also puts them into practice. Its nice to know that I work for a company is looking to help its employees better themselves as well as the actual company.

CHAPTER 3 DISCRIMINATING AGAINST PREGNANT WORKERS

CONCEPT:

In this chapter we learned about the different ways not to discriminate. Age, gender, race are all things you should not discuss in a job interview, as well as on the job. Disabilities is another big thing that you can't discriminate, if you can easily change things at the job to accommodate their disability. Another one is pregnancy, this is another no-no question during interviews, and you should never fire anyone because of the pregnancy.

EMOTIONAL HOOK:

When my mom was first married she had been at her job for about 1 year. As soon as they found out that she was engaged they fired her, why you might ask: because you are going to get pregnant. Yes, that was the reason they gave, now back in the 70's that might be a reasonable thing to say, but if that were to happen now that company would be looking at a lawsuit. What happened in the time period for that action to once be okay and now its not?

KEY POINTS:

We now have laws protecting women from getting fired for becoming pregnant. Things like the FMLA, and Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 are there for this very reason. So now women not only get to keep their job if they become pregnant, but they also get to take time off once they have the baby.

FACILITATED QUESTION:

What would you do if you just hired a new girl. The job requires lots of traveling and being on your feet a lot. She starts training and the next day she informs you that she is pregnant. When she is further along in the pregnancy airlines will not allow her to fly, and she will not be able to stand for long periods of time. Do you keep the girl or try to hire a new person?

REFLECTION

Today in class we watched a movie about Pike Place Fish market. I have seen this before but I forget how inspirational it is. I gives me hope that when I am running things I can make a difference. The main thing I took away from the movie today was "people aren't numbers". I think if we all live by this we would treat people differently.

A DIVERSE WORK FORCE

CONCEPT:


We are all living in a new day, when we all come from different backgrounds. We all have different nationalities, different types and amounts of work expirence, and to stir up the mix even more you throw in age and gender to complete the ultimite working force.


EMOTIONAL HOOK:


So I started at my job at 19, I was by far the youngest person at my job, I was new and inexperince and this caused no problems. Now I am still the youngest person at my job, but I am one of the most experince person there; there are times when co-workers, doctors, and even patients that have a hard time with me because of my age, they feel I am too young and do not take into account the experince.


KEY POINTS:

We live in a large and yet small world. Its large because there are so many of us, and yet small for the fact that we interact with all sorts of people. Because of this we need to learn how to work together.



FACILITATED QUESTION:

How would you handle the situation if you were promoted over someone older then you?

ALL ABOUT ME

I am a smiple but happy person. I grew up in Orem, Ut. I have 3 brothers and 2 sisters; I am the second to the youngest in my family. Right now I live and work in Provo. I work in a dialysis center, and I have been there for almost 4 years. I hoping to graduate in 2 years in community health. I love to work hard and play hard, I love warm weather and being around family and friends.