Support Slides for Readings 1-6

Risher (2014) Take-Aways

Risher (2014) Take-Aways

Lawler (2011) • Builds on Lawler (2009)• Addresses perennial tension between treating

employees the same/location in org hierarchy or accommodating individual differences

• What individual differences are most important according to Lawler?

• Orgs choose between “employment deals” marked by homogeneity vs. diversity of treatment. What distinguishes these 2 approaches?

Lawler (2011)

• What strategies can be used to implement a diverse-treatment approach?

• What are the 3 approaches to achieving person-org fit that Lawler offers?

• How feasible are Lawler’s ideas for the organizations you are familiar with?

Smith (2013)

• What evidence is cited regarding the role of recognition & incentive programs?

Pfeffer (2010) Article• What does Pfeffer mean by the term “social

sustainability”?• What would be indicators of human sustainability if

he were to publish a scorecard? • What types of employees are disproportionately

affected by these indicators?• Pfeffer contends that firms who treat employees

poorly impose externalities on others? Do you agree? If so, how can the problem be addressed? Should firms subordinate their goal of profit maximization to include sustainability goals?

Rousseau & Barends (2011)

• What is EBHR and what does it entail?

• Does subscribing to EBHR mean you need complete information?

• What suggestions for engaging in EBHR (if any) caught your eye? (My goal for your Management Briefings)

Rynes et al. article• Value of the journal; Abstract

• Studies confirm that HR practices can improve org performance & profits, but a gap exists between what is known and practiced

• Why aren’t managers more knowledgeable about the latest evidence-based advances?

• How did authors determine a gap existed?

1. If a company feels it must downsize employees, the mostprofitable way to do it is through targeted cuts rather than attrition. True False Uncertain

2. Talking about salary issues during performance appraisalstends to hurt morale and future performance. True False Uncertain

3. On average, encouraging employees to participate in decisionmaking is more effective for improving organizational performancethan setting performance goals. True False Uncertain

4. Teams with members from different functional areas are likely toreach better solutions to complex problems than teams from a single area. True False Uncertain

5. Most people over-evaluate how well they perform on the job. True False Uncertain

6. Older adults learn more from training than younger adults. True False Uncertain

7. On average, conscientiousness is a better predictor of job performancethan intelligence. True False Uncertain

8. Most employees prefer to be paid on the basis of individual performancerather than on team or organizational performance. True False Uncertain

9. Merit pay systems cause so many problems that companies without themtend to have higher performance than companies with them. True False Uncertain

10. In order to be evaluated favorably by line managers, the most important competency for HR managers is the ability to manage change. True False Uncertain

Baseline Knowledge on Managing Employee Attitudes & Behaviors

1. If a company feels it must downsize employees, the mostprofitable way to do it is through targeted cuts rather than attrition. True False Uncertain

(17) ( 7 ) ( 7)2. Talking about salary issues during performance appraisalstends to hurt morale and future performance. True False Uncertain

(6) (19) (6)3. On average, encouraging employees to participate in decisionmaking is more effective for improving organizational performance True False Uncertainthan setting performance goals. (26) ( 3) (2)

4. Teams with members from different functional areas are likely to True False Uncertainreach better solutions to complex problems than teams from a single area. (30) (1) (0)(most right)5. Most people over-evaluate how well they perform on the job. True False Uncertain

(15) (14) (2) 6. Older adults learn more from training than younger adults. True False Uncertain

(4) (23) (4)7. On average, conscientiousness is a better predictor of job performance True False Uncertainthan intelligence. (most wrong) (21) (6) (4)

8. Most employees prefer to be paid on the basis of individual performance True False Uncertain rather than on team or organizational performance. (25) (2) (4)

9. Merit pay systems cause so many problems that companies without them True False Uncertaintend to have higher performance than companies with them. (1) (17) (13)

10. In order to be evaluated favorably by line managers, the most important True FalseUncertain

competency for HR managers is the ability to manage change. (20) (5) (6)

Baseline Knowledge on Managing Attitudes & Behaviors: Scientifically Correct Answers

• What do HR professionals read? (Table II)

• Does what you read make a difference? (Table V)

Implications• Practitioners beliefs lag science, especially

in selection. HR practices could be more effective if we just practiced what we know

• Researchers must communicate in more user-friendly ways. Managers need to read academic journals.

• Practitioner outlets pander to fads (graphology)

• Learn to love a meta-analysis (p. 166)

Support Slides for Readings 7-10

Koys article

A traditional “scientific” article

Koys’ Research QuestionMgmt practices HR outcomes Business outcomes (selection) (job perf., retention, (profits, customer sat.)

employee attitudes)

OR

Business outcomes Mgmt practices HR outcomes (profits, customer sat.) (selection) (job perf., retention)

• Few studies use true longitudinal designs. Always a snapshot, never a movie. Feedback loops certainly exist but what is the “prime mover”?

THE RESEARCH PROCESS

Org. Event Desire to Theoretical Operation-Phenomenon Explain Framework alizationProblem(high absenteeism)(low perf.) (curious, (consists of fame, $, concepts & solve a propositions) problem)

Derive Collect Analyze data Report Hypotheses the Data to test hypo- whether (statements of (where theses (where the data relationships sample & statistics support among variables) research enters) the hyp. design enter) or not

Discussion Questions

• What are the independent and dependent variables in this study? How are they operationalized?

• What is OCB and what does it entail?

• This is a traditional study using hypotheses. What are they?

OPERATIONALIZATION, DERIVING HYPOTHESES, AND COLLECTING THE DATA: KOYS APPLICATIONAbstract/Conceptual Level

[Concepts & props] x y HR Outcomes Business

Favorable Employee Success Outcomes T2

Attitudes & Behaviors T1

operationalizaton

Employee Org Satisfaction, P1 Profitability as % Sales, Org Citizenship (OCB), Profit,

Turnover measures P2 Customer Sat measuresEmpirical Level[Variables & hypotheses]

T1 actual score employee sat (+), T2 $ profit/sales, profit (H1) org citizenship (+) , turnover (-) customer satisfaction (H2)

among restaurant employees in 28 restaurants working in 28 restaurants

Discussion Questions

• What was the sample?

• Understand descriptive statistics and correlation matrix. Review Table 1.

• Were the hypotheses supported? Review Table 2.

• How did the authors eliminate the possibility of reverse causal ordering? Review Table 3.

Take-Aways

• OCB affects profitability• Employee (organizational) satisfaction

affects customer satisfaction• Turnover results in the right direction

but ns.• Employee attitudes & behaviors appear

to drive business outcomes more than business outcomes determine employee attitudes & behaviors.

Liu et al. (2007)

• Assert HRM (or managing employee attitudes and behaviors) makes a difference on firm performance (e.g., profits, ROA)

• Whole > sum of the parts: HR systems are more effective than specific practices

• Rely on technique known as meta-analysis

• What is a meta-analysis?

Liu et al. (2007)• A meta-analysis is a quantitative review of the literature.

Scientific results can only be important to managers when they are confident that acting in the ways suggested have a high probability of success. One way for managers to gain confidence is by looking at a body of research and not just a single study.

• It estimates more accurately the true relationship between two variables by adjusting for such things as measurement and sampling error

• The “gold standard” in medicine (e.g., statin use and colorectal cancer)

What Did The Researchers Do?

• Examined research associated with 13 HRM practices to see the extent to which each practice enhanced firm performance (e.g., profits, ROA, ↓turnover)

•Included this article to also show what managers need to DO differently in order to use their human resources more effectively.

•What three “channels” or areas of HR practice did they examine?

10 HRM practices affect firm performance via 3 channels

• Increasing employees’ KSAs

• Motivating employees to use their KSAs for the firm’s benefit

• Empowering employees to actually use the KSAs (org structure, job design, politics may block implementation)

Specific HRM practices• Increasing employees’ KSAs:

▲1. Selection: increase POJ fit (structured interviews, testing, recruiting sources) 15 studies

▲2. Compensation level: Higher levels of pay attract & retain 18 studies

▲3. Training: Formal instruction fosters perceptions of career development and POS

29 studies

Specific HRM practicesMotivating employees to use their KSAs for the firm’s benefit:

▲4. Incentive compensation: Most highly studied because it seeks to strengthen link between effort and rewards (e.g., merit pay)

31 studies

▲5. Internal promotion: Provide clear expectations a defined pathway (e.g., needed KSAs) to get there 12 studies

Specific HRM practices Empowering employees to actually use KSAs (org structure, job design, politics may block use)

▲6. Participation: Employees can influence decisions. More potent if highly skilled 15 studies ▲7. Flextime: Allow employees grater control over their schedules, work-life balance 8 studies

▲8. Grievance procedures: Provide voice and conflict resolution options short of quitting 8 studies

▲9. Employment security: Security foster org commitment 6 studies

Liu et al. (2007)

• What HRM practices did not relate to firm performance?

• What other factors affect the connection between HRM practices & org performance?

▲Vertical alignment

▲Horizontal alignment

▲Work context

• What are the top practices?

Harter et al. (2002) Article

• Have asserted that scientific evidence supports that employee attitudes and behaviors make a difference– Though individual sat.-perf. correlation may only be .3

– Time to “back it up”!

• Assesses true relations between business level outcomes (e.g., profitability, customer satisfaction) and (a) org. satisfaction and (b) employee engagement (job satisfaction)

• Another meta-analysis.

Harter et al. (2002) Article

• Quantitative review of the literature (e.g., Liu et al.)

• It estimates more accurately the true relationship between two variables by adjusting for:

Sampling error

Measure unreliability

Stat. sig. relationships trivial in magnitude

Restriction-in-range (recall central tendency

& leniency effects)

• What is the first hypothesis?

OPERATIONALIZATION, DERIVING HYPOTHESES, AND COLLECTING THE DATA: HARTER APPLICATION

Abstract/Conceptual Level

[Concepts & props] x y

1. Overall Org Satisfaction (OS) Business Unit Outcomes2. Employee Engagement (EE, Job Sat) Business Unit Outcomes

operationalizaton Gallup Workplace Audit (GWA) Customer satisfaction-loyalty, Profitability, Productivity, Turnover, & Safety

(and summed to form a composite)

Empirical Level[Variables & hypotheses] actual GWA scores, customer ratings, profit as % sales, revenue figures, ↓ turnover, ↓ accidents,

composite

Harter et al. (2002) Article

• What is the second hypothesis and why is it important?

• How were org. satisfaction and employee engagement measured? Table 1, DOT data

• What was the sample in this study? Tables 2 & 3

• Review dependent variables and findings. Table 4 & 5

Tables 4 and 5 Summarized

Table 4 Overall org sat. Employee engagement• Customer satisfaction .32 .33• Profitability .15 .17• Productivity .20 .25• Turnover -.36 -.30• Safety -.20 -.32

Table 5 • Composite performance .37 .38 (all but safety)

Should and can managers be held accountable for engagement levels of their direct reports?