IOP4863 SUMMARY NOTES 2021.

IOP4863 SUMMARY NOTES 2021. IOP4863 - Personnel And Career Psychology. OPEN-SYSTEM, DECISION THEORETIC VIEW OF THE EMPLOYMENT PROCESS → The systems approach is a perspective that emphasises relationships and interactions. → In the systems approach, the organisation is viewed as operating in continual interaction with multiple environments in an open system. → From an open systems perspective, the organisation is viewed as an input-throughput- output system. → Within the organisation is a number of interacting sub-systems that transform inputs, such as energy and information from the environment into outputs. → The outputs are then exported back into the environment in the form of products and services for consumption → Outputs reactivate the input-throughput- output cycle. Figure 1 below represents this perspective. → The employment process can be viewed as a system of sequential, interdependent decisions → In order to analyse a system, it is necessary to establish the relationship between the system and its environment. A system can be defined as “a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole”, or “a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network”, and its purpose is to “attain one or more objectives”. Systems’ thinking is “the ability to see the big picture and to distinguish patterns instead of conceptualizing change as isolated events”. The organisation is such an open system which is constantly and reciprocally affected by its environment, as depicted in figure 1, and its decisions should be made in the context of this relationship. The external environment is comprised of the broad environment (political and legal forces, economic forces, sociocultural forces, technological forces, the natural environment and the global environment) which is outside of its control, and the task environment (existing and potential new competitors, suppliers, customers, regulating authorities and complementary products and services) which it can influence. Developmental trends in the external environment will directly affect an organisation. Furthermore, organisations are made up of members, groups, teams, units and departments (the internal environment), which are constantly interacting with one another and are also being affected in part and as a whole by the external environment. The employment process can be described as “a network or system of sequential, interdependent decisions” pertaining to the optimisation of the organisation’s human resources through job analysis, workforce planning, recruitment, selection, training and development, and performance management. The employment decisions and processes are linked and highly interdependent; a change in one part of the process will be felt in all other parts of the process. It is a sequential system, where information gathered from one decision is necessary to make the next decision. Foundational to the process is job analysis – virtually all employment decisions rests on this cornerstone. It involves a job description and job specification to ascertain which skills and personal characteristics are necessary for performance, with the principal aim of achieving organisational objectives. Without a job analysis, one cannot start with workforce planning, and recruitment and selection cannot follow, and as such all the other employment processes are hinged on the information derived from a job analysis. Illustrate the link between the various phases in the employment process by means of a fictional case study (Company XYZ) Job analysis and job evaluation → The first step of the employment process would be to conduct a proper job analysis for Company XYZ. → A job analysis is a systematic process of collecting and analysing information about jobs → Job analysis leads to well defined job descriptions, which entails a brief summary of the tasks to be performed, job specifications which includes the characteristics and skills required of the individual to perform the job, and job evaluations, which is a formal assessment of the value of a particular job to the organisation. → Job analysis and job evaluation are also key elements used to set up compensation packages and determine pay differentials in organisations. → It is important to note that South African legislation has made job analysis a mandatory organisational requirement Workforce planning → After all the necessary information has been obtained, Company XYZ can proceed to workforce planning. → Workforce planning is concerned with identifying both current and future skill gaps and possible solutions to fill them → An inventory of all the available knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences of current employees from company XYZ must be compiled. → Knowledge of an organisation's current and future talent is important to decide what types of skills need to be acquired externally, and what types of skills can be found within the organisation. → A forecast of the supply of and demand for labour should then be undertaken. → Based on this information, various plans and procedures can be formulated to meet predicted staffing needs at Company XYZ. This may include training, transfers, promotions, or recruitment. Recruitment → Recruitment is concerned with identifying and attracting a large pool of suitable candidates with the required knowledge, skills, abilities, qualifications, and characteristics as determined by the job analysis → Once a staffing need is identified in one or more departments at Company XYZ, the recruitment planning process can begin. 2 Initial screening and selection → The next step in the recruitment process is the initial screening, which entails reviewing information about job applicants in order to reduce the number of applicants to those who are most suitably qualified for the vacant position at Company XYZ. → Company XYZ may use the skills inventory created during the workforce planning phase to identify current employees for the available positions. → As previously mentioned, job analysis is a crucial element in the employment process, and as far as selection is concerned, the selection process relies heavily on competent job analysis information. → Selection involves matching the individual with the job. Hence, to identify the best person for the job, it is crucial to understand the nature of the job and its inherent requirements. → Judgements based on collected information through various methods such as interviews, background and reference checks will provide the basis for hiring or rejecting applicants. Training & development → Company XYZ must consider the calibre of employees they are going to select because this will impact on training strategies such that, individuals who are less skilled will require further training to develop their competencies → Furthermore, internal talent may be identified and provided training and development opportunities to increase the internal supply of key talent. Performance management → All previous phases in the employment process affects and is affected by the performance-management process → If for example, it is found that individuals at Company XYZ lack certain skills and competencies, then job analysis may need to be revised, along with recruitment and selection strategies. → Furthermore, performance management systems at Company XYZ may help identify developmental needs of employees and provide information on who should be trained and in what areas. → Performance management systems also assist in compensation decisions such as pay increases. Implementing a successful performance management system is a requirement for the successful implementation of other employment functions including training, workforce planning, recruitment and selection, and compensation. Organisational exit → Organisational exit is when an employee leaves an organisation. Organisational exit influences and is influenced by prior phases in the employment process → If Company XYZ foresees the exit, then the company must plan for it. However, if it is unforeseen, Company XYZ's strategic plan must change to take into account the new situation. WORKFORCE PLANNING Discuss the need for and importance of strategic workforce planning in identifying current and future employment needs → Workforce planning is an effort to anticipate future business and environmental demands on an organisation, and to meet the HR requirements dictated by these conditions → Organisations undertake WP for the following reasons: o Ensure that a strategic plan is achieved o Cope with future staff needs o Ensure an adequate supply and mix of highly qualified staff o Provide HR information to other organisational functions o Ensure a fair representation of the population mix o Determine HR policies and planning practices that will attract and retain the appropriate people → Sound workforce planning is linked to the larger business planning → WP is meant to support and enable the company to attain its business goals → A key goal of WP is therefore to get the right number of people with the right skills (qualifications, competencies, knowledge, experience) in the right jobs at the right time at the right cost Explain how strategic workforce planning influences all other employment processes, such as recruitment, selection, training and development → Workforce planning provides a strategic basis for making human resource decisions and is defined as the systematic identification and analysis of an organisation's workforce so that the organisation can meet its objectives → Workforce planning ensures that the right number of people with the right skills are in the right place at the right time to deliver short- and long- term organisational objectives → The recruitment, selection and employment of personnel are informed by the organisation's approach to workforce planning → An organisation not only needs to know that it has people with the right skills to achieve its existing goals, but also that it has human capital resources for future growth 3 → An initial workforce analysis is needed to establish whether or not a particular post needs to be filled internally on a permanent or temporary basis, or externally through an agency → To do workforce planning adequately, 4 conditions to be met: o Talent inventory o Workforce forecast o Action plans o Control and evaluation Talent Inventory → The organisation must devise an inventory of available talent (knowledge, skills, abilities, experiences and qualifications) → A talent inventory helps the organisation make decisions relating to promotion, training, succession planning, compensation planning and career planning → Talent management, which refers to the design and implementation of an integrated talent-driven organisational strategy, is directed to attracting, developing, retaining and optimising appropriate talent requirements. → The strategy should build a talent culture which defines the organisations philosophy and principles, identifies critical positions and leadership roles and capabilities in the organisation, attract a sustainable pool of talent for current objective and future organisational needs, manage retention and reward, plan for succession to key roles, and achieve employment equity in light of the legislation to achieve transformation. Forecast workforce supply and demand → A forecast of the internal and external HR supply and demand must be undertaken → Knowledge of the internal state of the organisation, in terms of the state of its human resources (e.g. staff turnover, number of employees, skills and talents available, and retirements) allow organisations to predict future needs → This will allow them to adjust recruitment, training and development, and succession plans to meet these needs → It is also important to assess employment equity distribution and ensure that the organisation is meeting affirmative action targets. This will provide a base from which to project the future supply of workers → By having an understanding of the company's workforce, practitioners can plan for projected shortages and surpluses in specific occupations and skills sets Workforce demand → Demand forecasting is the process of estimating the number and quality of candidates required to meet future needs of the organisation. → Demand forecasts provide useful information. For example, to quantify the jobs necessary for producing a given number of goods or services, determine what staff-mix is desirable in the future, assess appropriate staffing levels in various areas of the organisation, prevent skill shortages, and monitor compliance with legal requirements → Thus if the demand for labour exceeds supply at an organisation, the organisation may become involved in recruitment and selection activities for acquiring the necessary skills and competencies. Control and evaluation → Control and evaluation procedures are necessary in order to provide feedback on the adequacy of the WP effort → Monitoring, evaluating and reporting performance results enhances the organisation's capacity to measure performance, set targets and integrate results information into decision-making processes and determine future priorities Case Study - Monomotapa (2013/6) What would you regard as central HR management problems or challenges in this organisation? Explain your answer. Propose a more systematic approach that will enable Monomotapa Mining to face the HR challenges that confront it → Workforce planning provides a strategic basis for making human resource decisions and is defined as the systematic identification and analysis of an organisation's workforce so that the organisation can meet its objectives → Workforce planning ensures that the right number of people with the right skills are in the right place at the right time to deliver short- and long- term organisational objectives → There are several issues that have been identified at Monomotapa Mining that may be hindering their endeavour to reach their vision → The workforce is not representative of the South African population and therefore does not adhere to the requirements set out by the Employment Equity Act (1998). → The productivity and morale of employees in the organisation is extremely low as a result of incompetent and unfair HR practices and procedures. → Various transformation issues in the HR department require attention and career-development opportunities need to be considered so that talented people at the organisation can be motivated, and retained. Systematic approach → Monomotapa needs to assess the current position of the organisation in order to develop a strategy to address the problems. 4 → The external environment, including political, economic, social and technological factors needs to be evaluated, resources available to the must be identified, the organisation's strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities must be examined, and appropriate strategies for achieving the organisation's objectives must be developed. Talent inventory → Monomotapa must devise an inventory of available skills, abilities, career interests, qualifications and experiences of the current workforce → A talent inventory will help the organisation make decisions relating to promotion, training, succession planning, compensation planning and career planning → Talent management refers to the design and implementation of an integrated talent-driven organisational strategy that is directed to attracting, developing, retaining and optimising appropriate talent requirements. → The strategy must build a talent culture which defines the organisations philosophy and principles, identifies critical positions and leadership roles and capabilities in the organisation, attract a sustainable pool of talent for current objective and future organisational needs, manage retention and reward, plan for succession to key roles, and achieve employment equity in light of the legislation to achieve transformation. → A strong BEE platform may also be considered to align Monomotapa with the Broad-Base Black Economic Act. Forecast workforce supply and demand → Monomotapa needs to forecast workforce supply and demand. That is, anticipating the future supply of human resources both inside and outside the organisation, as well as anticipating organisational demand for various types of employees → Monomotapa may begin forecasting the internal supply by assessing factors such as age distribution within the workforce, average rates of turnover, retirement, transfer, and new hires within job classes → Based on the results of a survey previously done at Monomotapa, over a quarter of its employees are eligible for retirement within the next 24 months. This means that Monomotapa will have to take action to ensure that deficits do not materialise. → Monomotapa should assess employees' current performance and readiness for promotion, identify potential replacement candidates, and identify career development needs. → Monomotapa needs to assess their employment equity distribution and ensure that they are meeting affirmative action targets. This will provide a base from which to project the future supply of workers Workforce demand → Demand forecasting is the process of estimating the number and quality of candidates required to meet future needs of the organisation. → Demand forecasts provide useful information. For example, to quantify the jobs necessary for producing a given number of goods or services, determine what staff-mix is desirable in the future, assess appropriate staffing levels in various areas of the organisation, prevent skill shortages, and monitor compliance with legal requirements → Thus if the demand for labour exceeds supply at Monomotapa, the organisation may become involved in recruitment and selection activities for acquiring the necessary skills and competencies. Control and evaluation → Finally, Monomotapa needs to control and evaluate the system with the aim of guiding the workforce planning activities, identifying deviations from the plan and their causes. → Monitoring, evaluating and reporting performance results enhances the organisation's capacity to measure performance, set targets and integrate results information into decision-making processes and determine future priorities RECRUITMENT CRITERIA Identify and explain the concepts, measurement, evaluation and steps involved in the use of criteria - Criteria is an operational statement of goals or desired outcomes of the program under study - It is an evaluative standard that can be used to measure a person's performance, attitude, motivation, etc. Challenges in criterion development - Intrinsic unreliability: due to personal inconsistency in performance - Extrinsic unreliability: due to sources of variability that are external to job demands or individual behaviour (e.g. weather conditions, unreliability due to machine downtime) One way of dealing with unreliability is to average behaviour over situation, thereby cancelling out the effects of incidental, uncontrollable factors - Firstly, an adequate sample size is necessary to generalise for your specific population 5 - Secondly, although you may average scores within a single study or over a sample of studies, certain systematic effects may still prejudice an entire group of studies Another challenge in criterion development is the reliability of the observed job performance scores - Little is known about how the reliability of judging performance can be improved - It is therefore difficult to study the reliability of performance measurement Lastly, the question can be posed whether the ratings that were made of the various aspects of job performance can be combined into a single global score - This indicates the dimensionality of job performance Steps in criterion development 1. Conducting an analysis of the job and/or organisational needs 2. Develop measures of actual behaviour relative to expected behaviour as identified in job and need analysis 3. Identify criterion dimensions underlying such measures 4. Develop reliable measures, each with high construct validity of the elements identified 5. Determine the predictive validity of each independent variable (predictor) for each one of the criterion measures EVALUATING CRITERIA Relevance → The usefulness of criteria is evaluated in terms of its judged relevance (i.e. whether the criteria are logically related to the performance domain being measured) → A relevant criterion is one that reflects the relative standing of employees with respect to important work behaviours or outcome measures Sensitivity or discriminability Criterions must also be able to discriminate reasonably accurately between employees who will be effective in future and those who will be ineffective Practicality These criteria must also be practical in that it should be possible to apply them without significantly interfering with ongoing operations Criterion contamination - Criterion contamination occurs when an actual or operational criterion includes information (variance) unrelated to the behaviour one is trying to measure - Criterion contamination can result from extraneous factors that contribute to a worker's apparent success or failure in a job - Gathering criteria measures with no checks on their relevance often leads to contamination - Criterion contamination can be subdivided into two distinct parts, error and bias o Error is random variations (e.g. due to non-standardised procedures) and cannot correlate with anything except by chance alone o Bias on the other hand represents systematic criterion contamination, and it can correlate with predictor measures Reasons for bias - One of the most important contaminants of criterion data is prior knowledge of or exposure to predictor scores o For example, if an employee's supervisor has access to the prediction of the individual's future potential, and if at a later date the supervisor is asked to rate the individual's performance, the supervisor's prior exposure to the assessment prediction is likely to bias this rating o The best way to guard against this type of bias is to keep predictor information away from those who must provide criterion data - Criterion bias may also result from the fact that individuals belong to certain groups (group membership) - Supervisory ratings are susceptible to various sources of bias. Bias in ratings may be due to o inadequate observation by the rater, o unequal opportunity on the part of the subordinates to demonstrate proficiency, and o personal biases on the part of the rater 6 JOB ANALYSIS PROCESS Discuss job analysis in the context of the systems perspective of personnel psychology → Job analysis provides a deeper understanding of individual jobs and their behavioural requirements, and therefore creates a basis on which to make employment decisions → Job analysis is entails a systematic process of collecting information about jobs → Job analysis leads to the development of job descriptions, job specifications and job evaluations o A job description is a detailed description of the job tasks and requirements of a job, o person/job specifications provides information about the human characteristics required to perform the job, such as traits, work experience and education, and o job evaluation is the relative value or worth of a job to an organisation → Job analysis are particularly useful in recruitment and selection in clarifying the nature and scope of responsibilities attached to specific jobs → Before an employee can be hired or trained, and before an employee's performance can be evaluated, it is crucial to understand exactly what the job entails → Also, when one knows the attributes most likely to predict success, one can identify and choose appropriate assessment tools (e.g. personality and ability tests) → Job analysis also assists in identifying areas of performance that create challenges for incumbents which can help to identify training and learning opportunities → They are also useful in performance appraisal → By determining the value or worth of a job to an organisation, appropriate compensation and rewards can be determined. The wages paid for a particular job should be related to the KSAOs it requires Discuss the job analysis process, methods and characteristics → Job analysis is the process of determining tasks, duties and responsibilities of a job, and the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to perform it → Job analysis provides a deeper understanding of individual jobs and their behavioural requirements → Job analysis leads to the development of a job description, job specification, job evaluation and performance criteria → A job description is a detailed description of the job tasks and requirements of a job → A job specification provides information about the human characteristics required to perform the job (such as traits, work experience and education) → Job specifications are determined by deciding what type of KSAOs are needed to perform the tasks identified in the job analysis 1. Identifying tasks performed → The first step in the process is to identify the major job dimensions and the tasks performed for each dimension, the tools used to perform the tasks, and the conditions under which the tasks are performed → This step involves gathering existing information, interviewing SMEs, incumbent observations and job participation 2. Writing task statements → Writing task statements involves using the identified tasks to develop a task inventory that will be reflected in the job description → Written task statements should include a thorough description of what is done as well as when, where and how it is done 3. Rating task statements A group of SMEs are then used to rate each task statement on the frequency and importance of the task being performed 4. Determining essential KSAOs → KSAOs are identified once the task analysis is completed and the job analyst has a list of tasks essential for proper performance of a job → To link KSAOs to tasks, a group of SMEs brainstorm the KSAOs needed to perform each task → Once the list of KSAOs has been developed, another group of SMEs are given the list and required to rate the extent to which each of the KSAOs is essential for performing the job → KSAOs can also be identified using structured techniques such as the CIT 5. Selecting tests to measure KSAOs Once the KSAOs have been identified, the next step is to determine the best methods (e.g. interviews, assessment centres, ability tests etc.) to measure the KSAOs METHODS OF OBTAINING JOB INFORMATION Direct observation → A job analyst observes employees on the job and takes detailed notes on the tasks and duties performed 7 → Observations are later translated into knowledge, skills and abilities → Functional job analysis (FJA) is a technique used to record observed tasks → FJA attempts to identify what the worker does in the job as well as the results of the worker's behaviour, i.e. what gets done → Observations should include a representative sample of job behaviours → Observational techniques are suitable for jobs involving manual operations, repetitive activities or easily seen activities Interviews → With the aid of structured interview questions, HR managers conduct face-to-face visits with employees and asks about the KSA needed to do the job → The worker can report activities and behaviours that would not often be observed, as well as activities that occur over longer periods of time → Also, because of his/her thorough knowledge of the job, the worker can report information that might not be available from other sources → In order to ensure the reliability of information obtained from interviews, job analysts may interview several incumbents as well as immediate supervisors who know the jobs well Critical incident technique (CIT) → The CIT asks SMEs (who have detailed knowledge about a job) to identify critical aspects of behaviour or performance in a particular job that leads to success or failure → The value of the CIT is in helping to determine the particular KSAOs that a worker needs to perform a job successfully Questionnaires → Questionnaires are usually standardised and require respondents either to check items that apply to a job, or to rate items in terms of their relevance to the job in question → They are cheap and quick to administer and respondents can complete them in their own time → Questionnaires are also considered reliable since they are anonymous and respondents are less inclined to withhold information The Fleishman Job Analysis Survey (F-JAS) → The F-JAS requires incumbents or job analysts to describe jobs in terms of abilities required to perform the job → The list of abilities can be used to analyse the most important abilities in various occupations → The F-JAS is commercially available and easy to use The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) → The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) is a structured job analysis questionnaire that measures job characteristics and relates them to human characteristics → The PAQ is inexpensive and takes relatively little time to use RECRUITMENT CONCEPTS Yield ratios: are the ratios of leads to invitations, invitations to interviews, interviews to offers, and offers to hires obtained over a certain period of time ( L I I O H ) Time-lapse data: time-lapse data provides the average intervals between events, such as between the extension of an offer to a candidate and acceptance, or between acceptance and addition to payroll Labour market: labour market is a geographical area within which people looking for work interact with employees looking for people. If the supply of suitable workers in a particular market is high relative to available jobs, then the price of labour will be cheaper Cost-per-hire: includes salaries, benefits and overtime Source yield: Source yield is the ratio of the number of candidates generated from a particular source to hires from that source Apply and critically evaluate the principles of recruitment planning, operations and measurement, evaluation and control in the SA workplace and legislative context.