1. Chapter 6 Human Resource Decision Making in Organizations
Prepared by Joseph Mosca
Monmouth University
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

2. Learning Objectives
Discuss the role of ethics in human resource decision making.
Describe the concept of rightsizing and identify organizational strategies for rightsizing.
Describe how to manage termination and retention.
Describe the elements of voluntary turnover.
Discuss the key human resource issues during mergers and acquisitions
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

3. Ethics and Human Resource Management
Ethics refers to an individual’s beliefs about what is right and wrong and what is good and bad. Ethics are formed by the societal context in which people and organizations functions.
Ethical behavior and legal behavior are not always the same because ethics and law do not always coincide precisely, therefore, managers must take steps to ensure their behavior is both ethical and legal.
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

4. Rightsizing the Organization
Rightsizing is the process of monitoring and adjusting the composition of the organization’s workforce to its optimal size.
Organizations face a real challenge in managing the size of their workforces as a way to deal with their current needs and potential future economic realities.
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

5. Temporary Solutions for Increased Demand for Employees
Overtime refers to hours worked above the normal 40.
Employee leasing involves an organization paying a fee to a leasing company that provides employees on a temporary basis. This pool of employees usually constitutes a group or crew intended to handle all or most of the organization’s work needs in a particular area.
Part-Time workers are those who work less than 40 hours a week. They typically do not receive benefits and they afford the organization a great deal of flexibility in staffing.
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

6. Three Types of Justice
Distributive justice refers to perceptions that the outcomes a person faces are fair when compared to the outcomes faced by others.
Procedural justice refers to perceptions that the process used to determine the outcome was fair.
Interactional justice refers to the quality of the interpersonal treatment people receive when a decision is implemented.
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

7. Is Downsizing Effective?
A major study was conducted in the 1990s. It tracked companies from 1980 through 1994.
Stable employers are defined as those firms in which changes in employment throughout these years fell between plus and minus 5%.
Employment downsizers are firms in which the decline in employment was more than 5% and the decline in plant and equipment was less than 5%.
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

8. Progressive Discipline
Punishment refers to following unacceptable behavior with some type of negative consequences.
Discipline refers to the system of rules and procedures for how and when that punishment is administered and how severe the punishment
Disciplinary programs are designed to improve performance.
The goal is to convince the employee to stop the ineffective behavior.
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

9. Progressive Disciplinary Plans
Verbal warnings: the first step in most progressive disciplinary programs. They are cautions conveyed orally to the employee.
Written warning: the second step in most progressive disciplinary programs. They are more formal warnings. They are given to the employee in writing and become part of the employee’s permanent record.
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

10. Progressive Disciplinary Plans (con’t)
Suspension refers to a temporary layoff and is usually the third step in progressive disciplinary plans.
Termination is the final step. The employee is finally fired.
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

11. Employment-at-Will
This is the only real legal perspective on employee termination and is based on a nineteenth-century common law rule.
This view asserts that because an employee can terminate an employment relationship at anytime (i.e. quit a job), the employer should have the same rights.
Therefore, employment-at-will states that an employer can terminate any employee at any time, for any reason (good or bad), or for no reason at all.
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

12. Job Embeddedness
Refers to the fact that some people stay on their jobs, even when they are unhappy and should leave. Other ties in the community or obligations keep the employee on the job.
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

13. The Effects of Job Dissatisfaction
Organizational commitment is the degree to which an employee identifies with an organization and is willing to exert effort on behalf of the organization.
Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) include employee behaviors that are beneficial to the organization but which are not formally required as part of an employee’s job.
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

14. Measuring and Monitoring Job Satisfaction
This monitoring is done primarily through the use of attitude surveys that are distributed to employees.
The responses from these surveys are used to track changes in employees’ attitudes.
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

15. Retention Strategies
Realistic job previews (RJPs) are pre-employment previews that provide the job applicant with accurate and realistic information. They can also be used with new employees as a means of socializing them in their new job roles, and they are effective in reducing turnover.
Copyright ©2012 by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.