Preface for Fundamentals of Human Resource Management , 2nd edition

The "good, the bad, and the ugly" appropriately describes how human resource management practices have recently appeared in the media. If you have watched television or read any newspapers or magazines in the last several months you have undoubtedly come across reports dealing with ethics and legal challenges to business practices (such as the discrimination lawsuits against Wal-Mart), and offshoring and outsourcing of jobs (such as IBM plans to send 5000 jobs to India). On the bright side, companies such as Wegmans Food Markets (the supermarket chain), J.M. Smucker (the jam and jelly company), Container Store (the storage and organization store), and A.G. Edwards (financial services firm) give employees a chance to make a difference at work and as a result have received positive media attention for being included on Fortune magazine's list of "The 100 Best Companies to Work For". These media reports highlight how choices that companies have made about human resource management practices influence employees, managers, shareholders, the community, and ultimately, the success of the company.

Focus and Approach of Fundamentals of Human Resource Management

Following graduation most students will find themselves working in businesses or not-for-profit organizations. Regardless of their position or career aspirations, their role in either directly managing other employees or understanding human resource management practices is critical for insuring both company and personal success. As a result, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management focuses on human resource issues and how HR is used at work. Fundamentals of Human Resource Management is applicable to both HR majors and students from other majors or colleges who are taking a human resource course as an elective or a requirement. An important feature of Fundamentals of Human Resource Management is that the book is rich with examples and engages the student with applications. Students not only learn about best human resource practices but they are actively engaged in learning about human resource issues through cases and decision-making. This is critical for helping students learn how to find, develop, and nurture talent, one of the most important tasks in organizations but one which according to a recent Fast Company article titled "Why we hate HR", is woefully performed in most companies. For example, as described in detail in the guided tour of book, each chapter includes "Thinking Ethically" which confronts students with ethical issues regarding managing human resources and asks them to make and justify their decisions, and several different cases (BusinessWeek Cases and additional end of chapter cases) which look at events of real companies and encourage students to critically evaluate each situation and apply the chapter concepts. "Did you know" boxes are included in each chapter. The information provided in these boxes shows students how the issues raised in the chapter play out in companies. Some examples include the top ten causes of workplace injuries, the importance of first impressions in the interview, and the effects of the glass ceiling on the number of women CEOs. Adopters of Fundamentals have access to Manager's Hot Seat exercises which include video segments showing scenarios that are critical for HR success including ethics, diversity, working in teams, and the virtual workplace. Students assume the role of manager as they watch the video and answer questions that appear during the segment – forcing them to make on-the-spot decisions. Fundamentals of Human Resource Management also provides students with "how to" perform HR activities such as interviewing that they are likely to have to perform in their jobs. Finally, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management shows how the internet can be useful for managing human resources.

While other books may have similar coverage of HR topics, the author team believes that three features distinguish this book from the rest: timely coverage of important HR issues, easy to read, and features that grab student's attention and get them actively involved in learning. For those of you who adopted the first edition of Fundamentals we thank you and hope you will continue to use the second edition! For those of you considering Fundamentals for adoption we hope you agree that the book's features make Fundamentals your text of choice for human resource management!

Organization

Fundamentals of Human Resource Management includes an introductory chapter (chapter 1) and five parts.

Chapter 1 discusses why human resource management is an essential element for organization's success. The chapter introduces human resource management practices and human resource professionals and managers' roles and responsibilities in managing human resources. Also, ethics in human resource management is emphasized.

Part 1 discusses the environmental forces that companies face in trying to effectively utilize their human resources. These forces include economic, technological, social trends, employment laws, and work design. Employers typically have more control over work design than development of equal employment law or economic, technological, or social trends but all affect how employers attract, retain, and motivate human resources. Some of the major trends discussed include greater availability of new and inexpensive technology for human resource management, the growth of the use of human resources on a global scale, changes in the labor force and the types of skills needed in today's jobs, and a focus on aligning human resource management with the company's strategy. The chapter on equal employment opportunity and providing a safe workplace provides an overview of the major laws affecting employers in these areas and ways that organizations can develop human resource practices that are in compliance with the laws. The chapter on analyzing work and designing jobs shows how jobs and work systems determine the knowledge, skills, and abilities that employees need to provide services or produce products and influence employees motivation, satisfaction, and safety at work. The process of analyzing and designing jobs is discussed.

Part 2 deals with identifying the types of employees needed, recruiting and choosing them, and training them to perform their jobs. The planning and recruiting chapter discusses how to develop a human resource plan. The strengths and weaknesses of different employment options for dealing with shortage or excesses of human resources including outsourcing, use of contract workers and downsizing are emphasized. Strategies for recruiting talented employees including use of electronic recruiting sources such as job boards and blogs are emphasized. The selection chapter emphasizes that selection is a process starting with screening application and resumes and concluding with a job offer. The chapter takes a look at the most widely used methods for minimizing errors in choosing employees including applications and resumes, employment tests, and interviews. Selection method standards such as reliability and validity are discussed in understandable terms. The chapter on training employees covers the features of effective training systems. Effective training includes not only creating a good learning environment but managers who encourage employees to use training content in their jobs and employees who are motivated to learn. The advantages and disadvantages of different training methods, including e-learning are discussed.

Part 3 discusses how to assess employee performance and capitalize on their talents through retention and development. In Managing Employee Performance we examine the strengths and weaknesses of different performance management system including controversial forced distribution or ranking systems. The development chapter shows the student how assessment, job experiences, formal courses, and mentoring relationships can be used to develop employees for future success. The chapter on separating and retaining employees discusses how to maximize employee satisfaction and productivity and retain valuable employees as well as how to fairly and humanely separate employees if the need arises because of poor performance or economic conditions.

Part 4 covers rewarding and compensating human resources, including how to design pay structures, recognize good performers, and providing benefits. Here we discuss the how managers weigh the importance and costs of pay to develop a compensation structure and levels of pay for each job given the worth of the jobs, legal requirements, and employee's judgments about the fairness of pay levels. The advantages and disadvantages of different types of incentive pay including merit pay, gainsharing, and stock ownership are discussed. The benefits chapter highlights the contents of employee benefit packages, the ways that organizations administer benefits, and what companies can do to help employees understand the value of benefits and control benefits costs.

Part 5 covers other HR goals including collective bargaining and labor relations, managing human resource globally, and creating and maintaining high-performance organizations. The collective bargaining and labor relations chapter explores human resource activities where employees belong to unions or are seeking to join unions. Traditional issues in labor-management relations such as union structure and membership, the labor organizing process, and contract negotiations are discussed as well as new ways unions and management are working together in less adversarial and more cooperative relationships. In "Managing Human Resource Globally", HR planning, selection, training, and compensating in international settings are discussed. We show how global differences among countries affect decisions about human resources. The role of human resources in creating an organization that achieves a high level of performance for employees, customers, community, shareholders, and managers is the focus of the creating and maintaining high performance work organizations chapter. The chapter describes high-performance work systems, the conditions that contribute to high performance, and introduces students to the ways to measure the effectiveness of human resource management.