imt 62 strategic hrd m2

7/28/2019 IMT 62 Strategic HRD M2

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IMT-62: STRATEGIC HRD

PART A

Q1. Describe environmental analysis. Enlist the steps involved in the

process of environmental analysis.

Ans. Environmental analysis comprises scanning, monitoring, analyzing, and

forecasting the business situation. Thus, scanning is to get the relevant information

from the information overload, which is to focus on the most relevant information,

while monitoring is to check the nature of the environmental factors. Analyzing, on

the other hand, requires data collection and use of different required tools and

techniques, while forecasting is to find the future possibilities based on the pastresults and present scenario.

Environmental analysis process is not static but a dynamic process, which may

differ depending on the situation. However, a general process with few common

steps can be identified as the process of environmental analysis these are:

a) Monitoring or identifying environmental factorsb) Scanning and selecting the relevant factors and grouping themc) Defining variables for analysisd) Using different methods, tools, and techniques for analysise) Analyzing environmental factors and forecastingf) Designing profilesg) Strategic positioning and writing a report

Selected environmental factors are to be further specified into the variables, such

as instability, reliability, and long-term effect. As such, variables are the basis of

measurement in environmental analysis process, which can be compared, grouped,

correlated, and predicted to find the clearer picture of the broader concept.

Therefore, it is necessary to define the variables first in any kind of analysisincluding the environmental analysis using different methods, techniques, and

tools, and some of the major methods of analysis can be Scenario Building,

Benchmarking, and Network methods.

Analysis tools can be statistical such general descriptive tools as mean, median,

mode, frequency, which can be inferential as ANOVA, correlation, regression,

factor, cluster, and multiple regression analysis.


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Q2. How can OD intervention techniques be implemented in an

organization.

Ans. Organization Development (OD) interventions techniques are the methods

created by OD professionals and others. However, single organization or consultant

cannot use all the interventions, and they use these interventions depending upon

the need or requirement.

The most important interventions are:

1. Survey feedback2. Process Consultation3.

sensitivity Training

4. The Managerial grid5. Goal setting and Planning6. Team Building and management by objectives7. Job enrichment, changes in organizational structure and participative

management and Quality circles, ISO, TQM

Survey feedback is when the intervention provides data and information to the

managers, analyze the data, find out the problem, evaluate the results and develop

the means to correct the problems identified.

While process consultation is meeting the members of the department and work

teams observes the interaction, problem identification skills, solving procedures

etc., feeds back the team with the information collected through observations,

coaches and counsels individuals and groups in molding their behavior.

Goal setting and planning is done in each division in an organization, wherein it sets

the goals or formulates the plans for profitability, which are sent to the top

management which in turn sends them back to the divisions after modification.

Subsequently, managerial grid identifies a range of management behavior based onthe different ways that how production/service oriented and employee oriented

states interact with each other.

These emergent perspectives of OD see the organization as the holistic interplay of

a number of systems that impact the process and outputs of the entire

organization, and assists in planning, strategizing and makes wide effort to increase

organization's effectiveness and viability, as well as bringing in a particular kind of

change process designed to bring about particular kind of end result.


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Q3. List the constraints the organization may come across during

strategic implementation.

Ans. Once strategies have been agreed on, the next step is implementation, and

this is where most failures occur, which is not uncommon for strategic plans to be

drawn up annually, and to have no impact on the organization as a whole.

A common method of strategic implementation is hoopla-a total communication

effort, which can involve slogans, posters, events, memos, videos, Web sites, etc.,

and almost always involves the introduction of change to an organization. And

when a strategic change is poorly introduced, managers may actually spend more

time implementing changes resulting from the new strategy than was spent in

selecting it.

Strategy implementation involves both macro-organizational constraints (e.g.,

technology, reward systems, decision processes, and structure), and micro-

organizational constraints (e.g., organization culture and resistance to change).

Macro-organizational constraints involve large-scale, system-wide issues that affect

many people within the organization, and there are several major internal

subsystems of the organization that must be coordinated to successfully implement

a new organization strategy that include technology, reward systems, decision

processes, and structure. And as with any system, the subsystems are interrelated,and changing one may impact others.

While micro-organizational issues pertain to the behavior of individuals within the

organization and how individual actors in the larger organization will view strategy

implementation, and can be studied by looking at the impact organization culture

and resistance to change has on employee acceptance and motivation to implement

the new strategy.

What many managers fail to realize is that the information that may make one

strategic alternative an obvious choice is not readily available to the individualemployees who will be involved in the day-to-day implementation of the chosen

strategy, and these employees are often comfortable with the old way of doing

things and see no need to change.


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Q4. Elucidate how managers can facilitate cultural change in an

organization.

Ans. Most organizations seek to change and adapt new culture and leadership

style according to their business environment with the objective of gaining an

increased competitive advantage.

The study of leadership, culture and employee motivation determining organization

performance has become more complex in recent years as the understanding of the

nature of organizations has advanced towards globalization.

Many organizational corporate cultures are now viewed as being central component

in the organizations, which gives rise to the question as how does one try to defineand apply such a subjective term as culture and leadership and what implications

does it have for management practitioners.

Managers can facilitate cultural change in an organization by adapting to the

challenges that an integrated global communication and information system are

bringing to the international business environment.

Properly initiated cultural change, a manager should have to have a full

understanding of the nature of an organization, and gaining this understanding has

sparked much debate as how an organization actually operates, and without thisknowledge then decisions are made using false assumptions rather than informed

judgment.

Culture can fundamentally be interpreted from two different perspectives; the

objectivist or interpretive perspective. Thus, the former perceives culture as a

variable that can be changed or manipulated to aid organizational performance.

While the interpretive perspective used culture as something that an organization

actually is, as opposed to something that it has.

Culture from this perspective is highly complex and un-quantifiable and thusimpossible to change or manipulate. Therefore, an organizations resistance to

change in the face of environmental pressures and uncertainty is the organizations

culture that causes resistance and needs changing.


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Q5. An organizational design is intimately concerned with the way in

which decision making is centralized, shared or delegated and with

the way the enterprise is governed. What are determinants of

organizational design?

Ans. The determinants of an organizational design according to Mintzberg, follows

two basic approaches to the formation of organizational structure, the contingency

approach and the configuration approach.

According to the contingency approach, the structure of an organization will depend

on factors like the nature of its business and its strategy, its size, the geographical

span of its activities, its age and history and the nature of its environment.

Relatively, as per Mintzberg, rather than adopting a contingency approach, it is

sometimes better to base structure on a configuration approach, and factors like

spans of control, the need for formalization, centralization or decentralization, and

planning systems should be logically configured into internally consistent groupings.

Excellent organizational performance depends on strategy, systems, culture (shared

values), skills, leadership, staff and structure (drawing on what has become known

as the McKinsey 7S framework).

As these organizational features are interdependent, each was thought to play animportant part in determining the others, so that structure will be affected by

strategy, systems, culture, etc.

Equally, structure will help to shape strategy, culture and systems, which is

therefore evident that there are many complex factors shaping the structure of

organizations.

The design that an organization adopts (which may be a domestic or

internationalized business) will depend on several determining factors:

The nature of the business; The environment of the organization; The global strategy of the business; The age and history of the organization; The size of business and limitations of span of control;


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The level of technology in the organization; The geographical span of activities; The culture of the organization; Leadership and leadership style.


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PART B

Q1. Differentiate between Mintzbergs and Mckinseyss framework of

strategy.

Ans. Management expert, Henry Mintzberg, developed his 5 Ps of Strategy five

different definitions of (or approaches to) developing strategy, and each of the 5 Ps

is a different approach to strategy. They are:

1. Plan.2. Ploy.3. Pattern.4.

Position.

5. Perspective.By understanding each P, one can develop a robust business strategy that takes full

advantage of the organization's strengths and capabilities, and planning is

something that many managers are happy with, and it is something that comes

naturally to us.

According to Mintzberg, getting the better of competitors, by plotting to disrupt,

dissuade, discourage, or otherwise influence them, can be part of a strategy, and

this is where strategy can be a ploy, as well as a plan.

On the other hand, the 7S McKinsey model is essentially a Value Based

Management (VBM) model that is intended to provide a company with a framework

with the intent generate value within its overall organization, which is more general

and holistically conceptualized when compared to the previous model and closer to

the generic view of the model of Porter. However, with respect to the P5F model it

takes into account both the internal and external environments.

The model considers the organization of a company as a mix of 6 dimensions, which

are Strategy, Structure, Systems, Style, Staff and Skills, that function around a

seventh one, i.e. the Shared Values of a Company.

The Strategy is the only dimension that takes into consideration the external

environment like competition and customers, and provides a mix between the

helicopter and battleground views. While the other 5 dimensions focus on the

internal organization of the company and especially how the units are structured

and which systems and processes they adopt.

Q2. How can HR professionals contribute towards making human

resources an organizations competitive advantage?


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Ans. The human resources function is at a crossroads, as new technologies create

opportunities for more strategic leadership in the management of human capitaland corporate culture, while commoditizing some of HRs traditional administrative

functions.

Talent planning and development programs as key strategic leverage points in

gaining competitive advantage for HR, describing an HR-driven program to identify

and develop internal management talent.

Developing a broader leadership pipeline to replace its traditional succession

planning process of using an outside vendor to conduct management assessments,

and of technology-enabling the HR process so leadership development could be

mapped to a database of development activities and competencies within an

organization.

An elaborate, highly technology-enabled HR development processes enables the

company to assess and track talent on both a bottom up and top down basis, and it

is a combination of performance appraisal and individual development plans, as well

as the degree of execution against those plans.

However, HR needs to make sure the resource management tools do not become

the process, and as a prerequisite to building a performance culture, companies

should weed out the weakest performers through so-called opt-out programs so

they do not siphon off management bandwidth.

HR cannot treat [people] all the same because they will wind-up not being able to

target enough of what they can do for the resources that are important. Thus, there

is a need to upgrade the workforce, and HR should have a culture based onaccountability and giving honest feedback.

It is in the discipline of creating incentive programs linked to personal performance

commitments, and auditing on those commitments looking for quality and stretch

which are the results, also added behaviors, those that had the biggest gaps in.

Q3. Briefly explain the steps in organizational development.

Ans. The following is a six-step model (The Weisbord Model) in Organizational

Development (OD) which professionals utilize in understanding organizations:

1. Purposes:


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The organizations members are clear about the organizations mission and

purpose and goal agreements.

2. Structure:This answers the question whether there is an adequate fit between the

purpose and the internal structure.

3. Relationship:Relationship must be defined between individuals, between units or

departments that perform different tasks, and between the people and

requirements of their job.

4.Rewards:The OD professional should diagnose the similarities between what the

organization formally rewards or punishes its members for doing.

5. Leadership:Leadership means watch for blips among the other boxes and maintain

balance among them, and how effective is the organization in providing

leadership for its members.

6. Helpful Mechanism:These are the tools that organizations must attend to in order to survive suchas planning, control, budgeting, and other information systems that help

organization member accomplish the organizations mission.

This six step model enables the OD professional to clearly understand and define

the organization as it truly exists today, before any Action Research or OD

interventions are performed on the organization.

Another process of Organizational Development comprises the following steps:

a) Initial Diagnosisb) Data Collectionc) Data Feedbackd) Selection of Interventionse) Implementation of Interventionsf) Action Planning and Problem Solvingg) Team Buildingh) Inter-group Developmenti) Evaluation and follow up


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Q4. Is there difference between value and culture? How can values be

developed amongst employees?

Ans. Culture is the personality of the organization and can be defined as the core

beliefs, traditions, shared feelings and values, which is a key to achieving

organizational excellence in that it not only shapes managers and employees

behavior, but also determines the manner in which people interpret and respond to

any given organizational situation.

Subsequently, values are important building blocks of culture and are deep-seated

and enduring, which motivate behavior and emotional responses that underpin the

very way people approach their work, make choices and decisions, and deal with

each other.

The leadership of an organization is responsible for the creation and management

of its culture and should aim to achieve alignment between managers and

employees individual values and the organizational values.

Setting an organizational value and culture allows managers and employees to:

Learn more about each other as persons and enable closer and moresuccessful working partnerships;

Understand and respect diversity and individual differences; Hire new staff who fit into the organization; Create and function better in teams; Align their actions towards organizational goals with motivation and

commitment.

The primary reason for an organizations lack of success is a neglect of their

organizational culture.

Implementation of performance management systems in a wide range of

organizations and are highly skilled in undertaking and advising on design,administration, implementation, integration and manager and employee user-

training and feedback.

Understanding and assessing the organizations culture can mean the difference

between success and failure in todays fast changing business environment, and

integrating HRs objective cultural assessment tools can provide measurable data

about real organizational values and norms.


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Q5. Discuss the issues related to performance appraisal methods. How

can they be addressed?

Ans. Typically, performance appraisal schemes/methods serve multiple objectives,

which is centrally linked to the motivation of employees, and provides some of the

essential components of effective motivational strategies; feedback that permits an

employee to learn how well he or she is performing; goal or objective-setting that

specifies what the person should be doing; team building that allows the employee

to participate along with peers and his superiors in solving problems that impede

his productivity; and monetary incentives that reward good performance.

Performance appraisal leads to the identification of the training and development

needs of the employees, which also has close links with other important areas ofhuman resource management, in particular with selection, motivation, and

succession planning.

Performance data provides relevant information required for validating selection

methods, in assessing whether selection methods are bringing high performers into

the organization, in which the organization must not get trapped into the various

pitfalls that come along with administration of appraisal system.

A necessary condition for the effective management of performance appraisal

system in any organization is the need to clarify and communicate to all concerned,the objectives that the system intends to achieve.

The culture of the organization clearly affects appraisal relationships, and the only

possible way for organizations, to minimize the possible conflict among appraisal

objectives, is to emphasize on climate setting that will facilitate achieving the

objectives that an appraisal system intends to achieve.

Thus what needs to be done is to encourage managerial styles that will lead to

openness and frankness in relationships as a condition for establishing an effective

performance appraisal system.

The companies need to realize that the relationship between organization culture

and performance appraisal system is a two way process implying that they can

successfully use their performance appraisal system to bring about cultural change.


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PART C

Q1. Explain in brief the influence of economic and technological changes

in HR management.

Ans. Organizations are increasingly looking at human resources as a unique asset

that can provide sustained competitive advantage, and the changes in the business

environment with increasing globalization, changing demographics of the workforce,

increased focus on profitability through growth, technological changes, intellectual

capital and the never-ending changes that organizations are undergoing have led to

increased influence and importance of managing human resources.

Recent studies of HR management and business performances have found that HRsadopted high involvement on economic and technological practices have resulted in

significantly positively associated improvement on market value, rate of return on

capital employed, revenue growth, revenue-per-employee rate, productivity,

product/service quality, and even organizational survival.

There is lack of high involvement on technology for businesses which does not

adopt an HR philosophy, and does not understand that todays customers and

clients are used to a technological experience.

Thus, the mission of the HR department ought to synchronize the employmentbrand with the customer brand. However, in order for this to happen, HR should

bring the customers voice to inside an organization, and accomplishing that, upper

management will empower HR to reflect the customers value proposition.

HR is part of the knowledge-based economy of today, and the knowledge

management within an organization, and because of this, it has to play a role in

concurrence with the IT department, and others responsible for generating and

manipulating knowledge.

The demise of post World War II-based assumptions of long-term attachmentbetween employers and employees requires a new model of workforce development

that recognizes employee mobility, competitive pressures, globalization, and the

pace of change in valuable technologies and skills.

Therefore, there is a fundamental need in HR to continue developing a transition to

technology-focused knowledge management, but with a people-centered approach,

which is important because of the intellectual resources of an organization.


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Q2. Explain the role of economic and technological change in HR

management?

Ans. Traditionally HRM has had a people-oriented approach, but when the

competitive demands of the marketplace require a reorientation of strategic human

resource philosophies and practices, an emphasis are being given to a knowledge-

based administration using technology as a tool.

Accordingly, todays HR tasks cover an ample variety of activities requiring very

different skill sets, from compensation and benefit administration (highly

quantitative) to employee relations (highly qualitative).

As a consequence, there are legitimate questions about whether these tasks needto be together on organizational plans in light of new realities and technologies.

Thus, to be considered successful, HR technology must achieve several goals:

a) Strategic alignment, which must support the goals of a business by helpingusers;

b) Business intelligence, which should inspire new insights and learning, byproviding users with relevant information and data, and by answering

questions;

c) Efficiency and effectiveness, which must change the work performed by HRpersonnel, by dramatically improving their level of service, allowing more

time for work of higher value, and reducing their costs.

Technological change in HR management can help organizations meet their

business goals and objectives today and in the future by:

Helping managers deploy their workers more efficiently. Ensuring that workers receive proper training and development. Offering new insights on how to increase productivity. Enabling employees and managers to receive needed information faster. Reducing HR administrative costs. Assisting with better employee assessment and selection.

One can assume that the use of technology by HR has proven to assist on the

improvement of business performances. Thus, the realization that the economic

and technological changes in HR management plays a central role in ensuring

competitiveness of the company rests on the perception that in todays business


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world the only truly unique resource of a company is the intellectual and human

capital.

Q3. Discuss the complexities associated with international HRM.

Ans. The field of international HRM has been characterized by three broad

approaches. As such, early work in this field emphasized a cross-cultural

management approach and examines human behavior within organizations from an

international perspective. A second approach developed from the comparative

industrial relations and HRM seeks to describe, compare and analyze HRM systems

in various countries, while a third approach seeks to focus on aspects of HRM in

multinational firms.

Each approach takes a somewhat different view of IHRM, and it is essential to

identify which approach is taken because it influences what is defined as IHRM.

Thus, one only has to look at the diversity in the program at the various

International HRM conferences to see that there are multiple definitions of what

constitutes international HRM.

The complexities of operating in different countries and employing different national

categories of workers is a key variable that differentiates domestic and international

HRM, rather than any major differences between the HRM activities performed.

Many firms underestimate the complexities involved in international operations, and

there is some evidence to suggest that business failures in the international arena

may often be linked to poor management of human resources.

Increasingly, domestic HRM is taking on some of the flavor of international HRM as

it deals more and more with a multicultural workforce. Thus, some of the current

focus of domestic HRM on issues of managing workforce diversity may prove to be

beneficial to the practice of international HRM. However, it must be remembered

that management of diversity within a single national context may not necessarily

transfer to a multinational context without some modification.

Q4. Explain the relationship between strategic leadership andcompetitive advantage.

Ans. The aspect of Strategic Leadership is that of Strategic Influencing, which is

the formation and nurturing of strategic relationships over the long term, taking the

time to learn what is important to other people, as well as the ability to put oneself

in another persons shoes and see things from their perspective requires that one

has knowledge of that other person. On the other hand, the inability to put oneself


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Q5. For successful implementation of a strategy the history of an

incorporating the thinking of the key stakeholders.

which in this way, they are able to continually improve the strategy by

influence and follow this up with responses that are trustworthy and authentic,Strategic leadership is the need to communicate the organizations openness to

in which the stakeholders have the opportunity to influence the organization.

about ongoing, collaborative learning, which would require creating an environment

others. As such, strategic leadership is not about having the last word, but it is

Just as strategic leaders are influential, so too are they open to influence from

that really touches people both inside and outside the organization.

and strategies using vivid images and stories, then they are able to create a culture

to create a compelling message. Thus, if management learns to share their plans

use language in a powerful way, communicating via stories, metaphors and images

Strategic leadership becomes a competitive advantage because leaders are able to

aspirations in the organizations direction.

position to influence because it can accommodate these needs, hopes and

and desires for the organization of key stakeholders, and should be in a better

Strategic leadership means spending time learning about the needs, perspectives

enough.

in other peoples shoes suggests that one might not know their stakeholders well

organization and the dominant values of the culture that exists must

be taken into account. Describe the critical elements of corporate

culture in light of the above statement.Ans. Establishing a corporate ethical culture has less to do with weeding out

potential bad actors within an organization, rather than with establishing a clear set

of values and promoting a culture to reflect those standards.

The culture of the organization is very important to the employees success, as is

the culture of the industry as a whole.

Corporate culture is important enough to warrant two ways of approaching it, one is

by doing culture matching, which is assessing where one falls along four critical

elements of corporate culture, and to make any relevant observations of things

needed to keep in mind: Cooperation and Harmony


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CASE STUDY I

Vetements Ltee is a chain of mens retail clothing stores located throughout the

province of Quebec, Canada. Two years ago, the company introduced new incentive

systems for both store managers and sales employees. Store managers receive a

salary with annual merit increases based on sales above targeted goals, store

appearance, store inventory management, customer complaints and several other

performance measures. Some of this information (e.g., store appearance) is

gathered during visits by senior management, while other information is based on

company records (e.g., sales volume).

Sales employees are paid a fixed salary plus a commission based on the percentage

of sales credited to that employee over the pay period. The commission represents

about 30 percent of a typical pay cheque and is intended to encourage employees

to actively serve customers and to increase sales volume. Since returned

merchandise is discounted from commission, sales staff is discouraged from selling

products that customers do not really want.

Soon after the new incentive systems were introduced, senior management began

to receive complaints from store mangers regarding the performance of their sales

staff. They observed that sales employees stood near the entrance waiting for

customers and would occasionally argue over ownership of the customer.

Managers were concerned that this aggressive behavior intimidated some

customers. It also left some parts of the store unattended by staff.

Many managers are also concerned about inventory duties. Previously, sales staff

would share responsibility for restocking inventory and completing inventory

recorder forms. Under the new compensation system, however few employees were

willing to do these essential tasks. On several occasions, stores experienced stock

shortages because merchandise was not stocked or recorder forms were not

completed in a timely manner. Potential sales suffered from empty shelves when

plenty of merchandise was available in the back storeroom or at the warehouse.

The companys new automatic inventory system could reduce some of these

problems, but employees must still stock shelves and assist in other aspects of

inventory management.

Store managers tried to correct the inventory problem by assigning employees to

inventory duty but this created resentment among the employees selected. Other

managers threatened sales staff with dismissals if they did not do their share of

inventory management. This strategy has been somewhat effective when the

manager is in the store, but staff members sneak back onto the floor when the


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manager is away. It has also hurt staff morale, particularly relations with the store

manager.

To reduce the tendency of sales staff to hoard customers at the store entrance,

some managers assigned employees to specific areas of the store. This also created

some resentment among employees stationed in areas with less traffic or lower

priced merchandise. Some staff openly complained of lower pay cheques because

they were assigned to a slow area of the store or were given more than their share

of inventory duties.

Questions:

1.

What symptom(s) exist at Vetements Ltee which suggests thatsomething has gone wrong?

Ans. The symptoms, which suggests that something has gone wrong in Vetements

Ltee is the fact that when these new incentive systems were introduced, senior

management began to receive complaints from store managers regarding the

performance of their sales staff.

Consequently, sales staff would argue over "ownership" of the customer, which got

managers concerned that this aggressive behavior intimidated some customers that

also tended to leave some parts of the store unattended by staff.

Store managers have begun to threaten sales staff with dismissal in order to make

staff perform their duties correctly. Thus, the trust between employees and

managers has also suffered in which employees do not correctly do their jobs once

the manager leaves.

Accordingly, many managers were also alarmed about inventory duties, since

previously, sales staff would share responsibility for restocking inventory and

completing inventory reorder forms. However, under the new compensation

system, however, few employees were willing to do these essential tasks. Thus, onseveral occasions, stores have faced stock shortages because merchandise was not

stocked or reorder forms were not completed in a timely manner. As a result,

potential sales have suffered from empty shelves when plenty of merchandise was

available in the back storeroom or at the warehouse.

The company's new automatic inventory system could have reduced some of these

problems, but employees must still stock shelves and assist in other aspects of

inventory management. However, this has created resentment among the


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employees selected, and other managers have threatened sales staff with

dismissals if they do not do their share ofinventory management.2. What are the causes that led to these symptoms?Ans. Causes that led to these symptoms are when sales employees were paid a

fixed salary plus a commission based on the percentage of sales credited to that

employee over the pay period, wherein the commission represents about 30percent

of a typical paycheck and is intended to encourage employees to actively serve

customers and to increase sales volume.

Thus, because returned merchandise is discounted from commissions, sales

employees are discouraged from selling products that customers do not really want.

Store managers have tried to correct the inventory problem by assigning

employees to inventory duty, and this strategy has been somewhat effective when

the manager is in the store, but staff members sneak back onto the floor when the

manager is away, which has also hurt staff morale, particularly relations with the

store manager.

To reduce the tendency of sales staff to hoard customers at the store entrance,

some managers have assigned employees to specific areas of the store, which has

also created some resentment among employees stationed in areas with less traffic

or lower-priced merchandise.

Subsequently, some staff has openly complained of lower paychecks because they

have been placed in a slow area of the store or have been given more than their

share of inventory duties.

In this case Vetements Ltee was using money as a motivator for the managers and

staff, and the employees altered their behavior in order to maximize positive

consequences or minimize adverse consequences.

The staff was being positively reinforced with money when they made sales. Thus,the employees continued to try to make sales (at the cost of not fulfilling other

duties) in order to continue making money.

3. Suggest actions the organization should take to correct theseproblems.

Ans. An important prerequisite to recommending a solution to the problems in this

case is to understand the organization's goals with respect to sales employee

performance, which appears that the performance criteria assigned to store


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managers , such as sales volume, inventory management, store appearance, etc.,

should be applied to all of these employees.

Based on both expectancy theory and behavior modification, the organizationshould redesign its incentive system for sales employees so that they also receive

financial compensation for these organizational goals.

As an example, in addition to a sales commission, sales employees could share a

quarterly reward for the store with the best appearance, in which this goal would

receive more positive valence (or be positively reinforced) for employees in the

winning store. Thus, a similar arrangement could be implemented to reward

inventory management duties.

By redesigning the commission system to motivate group rather than individualperformance, the problems of customer ownership and intimidation would be

reduced, and this redesigned incentive would motivate team performance (i.e.,

performance of employees together at a particular time) by dividing the work

teams reward equally among its members.

Team incentives tend to have somewhat lower motivation effect because some

employees could slack off and still receive the reward, but group pressures tend to

correct some of this problem and the trade off may be worth the slightly lower

motivational effect.

The use of punishment in organizations is difficult, but sometimes necessary, but in

this case, punishment dealt mainly with the symptoms rather than the underlying

root causes of the inappropriate behavior. Therefore, with the new reward system,

punishment should not be required very often, therefore reducing its negative

consequences in this case.

Hence, punishment should be used sparingly and should follow other managerial

actions, including extinction and clarifying role requirements, and managers should

be advised as well to follow the features of applying punishment effectively.


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CASE STUDY II

Visit the website of two organizations representing different sectors (e.g. insurance,

medical, software, manufacturing, automotive, telecom, information technologyetc.). Examine these sites and identify their family friendly programs. Visit/Contact

these organizations and compare their work-life balance practices. Conduct

interview with HR manager and some employees of the firms to obtain the following

information and enlist:

The firms work-life programs and the reason for their adoption theseprograms

Ans. A number of changes in workforce demographics have brought work-lifebalance issues to the attention of some firms. And although the trend toward work-

life balance practices began with demands from mothers in the workforce, the push

now is coming from all employees, in which fathers and mothers, single parents,

and employees with responsibilities for caring for aged relatives, and even

employees who just want more flexibility in their daily lives.

Nine out of ten workers live in households with family members, and nearly half of

all employees have care-giving responsibilities. Thus, by recognizing these changes,

companies are creating work environments that make it possible for employees to

be both good workers and good caregivers. However, the corporate motive forwork-life balance policies is more than altruism and a desire to help and support

employees.

Firms have realized that it makes good business sense to provide such benefits,

which helps with recruitment and retention of employees by creating an

atmosphere of loyalty to the corporation.

Firms adopt such programs and benefits because it directly address work-life

balance issues that include:

o dependent care (child-care and elder-care programs)o flexible or alternative work schedules (flex-time, compressed work weeks,

telecommuting, job sharing, and part time employment)

o leaves (paid and unpaid family care leaves, maternity phase-back, and soon)

Flexible work programs accommodate employees by allowing variations on when

and where they do their work, which consist of flextime, compressed work-weeks,

telecommuting, job sharing, paid time off, and other leave programs. Thus, this is


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one of the most frequently provided work/life balance benefit, and is well-liked by

many different employees.

The reasons for adoption of the work-life programsAns. Adopting work-life practices and programs may serve as a source of

competitive advantage in a context in which their provision is limited, and offering

voluntary reduced hours has been associated with increased recruitment and

retention.

The provision of work-life programs has been associated with lower turnover

intentions among employees, and predicted retention among employed new

mothers, as well as reduced turnover among working mothers, and turnoverintentions are raised.

Levels of work-life conflict and family responsibilities had no impact on the link

between work-life practices and attraction to the organization, but this relationship

was fully mediated by perceptions of anticipated organizational support, wherein

job candidates expects that an organization would provide them with support were

they to become employed by the organization.

During the recruitment process, job candidates may therefore use the presence of

work-life balance practices as signals for work-related supports that are importantto them in choosing an organization (e.g., fair treatment, understanding

supervision, and adequate provision of resources).

On the other hand, there is also empirical support for the notion that work-life

balance practices are attractive only to individuals in need of assistance with

balancing their work and non-work responsibilities.

Studies have shown that users of the work-life programs had been with the

organization longer and held more positive attitudes regarding the centres

influence on recruitment and retention than did employees who were on the waitinglist. While in some studies, work-life programs indicated that it had a positive effect

on job-related attitudes only for current users, past users, and future users of the

childcare centre.

How well these programs are being utilized in each of these firmsAns. Work-life programs are being utilized in firms because these will assist

employees in balancing their work and family demands, which can in turn lead to

enhanced employee productivity and significant business improvements. Thus, by


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enabling employees to schedule their time in order to better balance competing

demands from work and from home, and by helping employees to procure third-

party assistance with caregiving responsibilities, such practices are intended to

reduce or eliminate levels of work-life conflict, and thereby augment employee

performance and organizational effectiveness.

Providing work-life practices does not necessarily entail a reduction in levels of staff

work-life conflict, then, and even where this is the case, there is a dearth of

research investigating the mediating role of work-life conflict in the link between

work-life practice provision and organizational effectiveness.

Furthermore, a number of work-life programs together when relating provision or

use to attitudinal or behavioral outcomes, which only clouds the issue of whether

such a variety of work-life practices can be expected to produce similar effects.

Since employees have different preferences for integration versus segmentation of

work and family roles, certain work-life practices may be ineffective in reducing

inter-role conflict if they do not cater to a workers particular values, needs, or

preferences for managing multiple roles.

The availability of work-life practices is often measured, as opposed to actual use of

such practices, and this, however, brings another potential explanation for the link

between work-life practices and organizational performance. Yet, even when thepractices are not used and therefore no reduction in work-life conflict is achieved,

the mere presence of such practices can affect the number of beneficial outcomes

to the organization in the form of positive job-related attitudes.

Is there a gap between the design of work-life programs in theseorganizations, their actual implementation and utilization?

Ans. Provision of work-life balance programs in organizations, independent of

actual use, appears to produce similarly positive results in terms of work-related

attitudes, in which the availability of organizational resources, including flexiblework hours, has been linked to job satisfaction and organizational commitment for

women and for all employees with family responsibilities, regardless of whether or

not these resources are being used.

Actual implementation and utilization of work-life programs has also been related to

increased affective commitment and decreased turnover intentions, which both

increased affective commitment to the organization and decreased turnover

intentions among all employees, not just users of the practices.


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The impact of work-life programs on organizational commitment was moderated by

gender and by practice use, and had a positive relationship with commitment,

mediated by perceived organizational support.

Utilization of work-life programs was also associated with higher organizational

commitment only when perceived organizational support was high, and there was a

positive link between practices and commitment regardless of levels of perceived

organizational support.

When treated favorably by the organization, employees will feel obliged to respond

in kind, through positive attitudes or behaviors toward the source of the treatment,

and using the provision of work-life programs as an indicator of favorable

treatment, employees will reciprocate in ways beneficial to the organization, suchas increased commitment, satisfaction with ones job, and citizenship behaviors.

The implementation of work-life programs designed to assist employees with

managing their responsibilities at home may also increase employee perceptions of

organizational support, particularly if these work-life balance practices are seen as

being useful.

Are the employees satisfied with organizational support for theirpersonal needs?

Ans. The perception that using work-life programs will have a negative impact on

an employees career prospects appears to be a powerful demotivator, reinforced

by organizational cultures unsupportive of work-life balance issues.

Accordingly, implementation attributes including supervisor support for use and

universality of practice availability will affect the degree to which work-life

programs are seen by employees as fulfilling their work-life needs and signaling

support from the organization.

Organizations featuring an entrenched long-hours culture and unaccommodatingattitudes among managers and co-workers tend to discourage employees from

making use of the work-life programs ostensibly available to them.

Putting in time, like being visibly at work, often for long hours, is seen as a sign of

commitment, of loyalty, of competence and high potential, and of productive

output.


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Relatively, employees who do not give the maximum amount of time possible to the

organization are often defined as less productive and less committed, thus less

valued than employees working longer hours.

Employees are often demonstrably concerned that using work-life programs will

damage their promotion prospects and perhaps their relationships with co-workers

and managers, and these concerns are not always unfounded.

Some work-life programs, such as voluntary reduced hours, are frequently

unavailable in upper-level professional and managerial work. However, when they

are available to professionals and managers, their use is often associated with

career derailment.

Time spent at the workplace is often used as an indicator of employees

contributions and commitment to the organization, participation in work-life

practices that make employees less visible has been associated with lower

performance evaluations, smaller salary increases, and fewer promotions.

Moreover, it is also possible that employees may not feel obliged to repay their

organizations provision of work-life programs with an increase in positive, work-

related behaviors or attitudes, and they may perceive that access to such practices

is an entitlement, rather than favorable treatment.

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