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international human resource management
Human Resource Management In Public Service Paradoxes Processes And Problems 5th Edition Evan M. Berman, James S. Bowman, Jonathan P. West, Montgomery R. Van Wart - Solutions
Will the total number of work hours change during the program?
Will salary, job responsibilities, or benefits be changed because of employee participation in the program?
If an employee’s performance deteriorates, will he or she be asked to return to the office work location?
If the program is terminated, can employees return to their office work location?
If telecommuting is not to their liking, can employees return to their office work location?
Who is eligible to telecommute?
What are the results of the pilot program?
Has a pilot program been conducted?
10. Review the questions for telecommuters in Appendix A and then do one of the following assignments:a. Develop a written telecommuter agreement for a particular public organization to be signed by both the employer and the employee. Make sure the agreement adequately addresses each of the
9. Select one of the programs discussed in this chapter and conduct an online search for additional information on this subject. Share the information you find with the class.
8. Identify each of the paradoxes mentioned in this chapter and consider various ways to resolve each paradox. Can you identify additional paradoxes related to these topics?
7. Choose any one of the employee-friendly policies mentioned in this chapter and outline the implementation steps that are most important at each of the six stages from the point of view of the individual public manager or supervisor. Develop your response in a four-page paper.
which policies appeal most to particular types of employees.
6. Have each team member create a hypothetical employee profile by identifying that individual’s personal characteristics on each of the following dimensions: age, gender, dependent children, marital status, sexual orientation, distance from work, health status, emotional health, stress level,
5. Separate into four or five different groups. Within each group, select three to five of the workerfriendly programs covered in this chapter, and have each group member interview someone who is currently using one of these programs regarding its pros and cons from the user’s perspective. Write
4. Identify other not-so-employee-friendly policies that are not addressed in this chapter.
3. Review examples of employee-friendly policies discussed in this chapter. Identify as many paradoxes related to those policies as you can and discuss ways to resolve them.
2. Form groups and let each group select one of the family-friendly policies discussed in this chapter.Discuss the following: (a) the advantages, (b) the disadvantages, (c) the outcome indicators you would use to judge program success, (d) the obstacles that you would expect to encounter in
1. Create two columns on a whiteboard or chalkboard headed “Buzzwords of Government Success”and “Ideal Friendship and Family Life.” Brainstorm and write down words for each topic, one column at a time. Compare and discuss the words in the two columns. Discuss the reasons that none or only a
“We apply rigorous discipline to learn how to earn a living, but not how to live.”
“How do leaders serve their people? They pay good wages and treat employees with respect.”
20. In the context of the importance of distributive and procedural justice in pay determination, consider these observations:
19. Reformers advocate performance pay to replace longevity systems. Ironically, the federal General Schedule longevity system is performance based. It has never been properly implemented because its performance incentives (within-grade increases, quality step increases, cash awards) have been
18. Comparable worth is an important issue in rank-in-job classification systems. Why is it irrelevant in rank-in-person systems (Chapter 5)?
17. Examine this paradox: One of the most robust findings in social science research is one of the most ignored—managers use rewards hoping to get the benefit from motivated employee behavior, but they often get the unintentional cost of destroying individuals’ intrinsic motivation in their
16. Discuss the following paradox: American employees work longer hours than they did a generation ago and work longer hours than employees in most other advanced nations, yet they are among the least protected and often the worst paid. The wages earned by the “working poor,” in business and in
15. Your division has been selected as a demonstration project that will establish a pilot program to ensure individual equity. Top management has created an employee advisory committee to recommend how this can best be established, and you are the committee chair. Which strategy would you
14. There are many paradoxes in the human resource management compensation function. Identify at least three and discuss ways to resolve them. To what extent do they relate to the fundamental paradoxes discussed in this book’s introduction?
13. Because managers typically lack flexibility to increase employee pay (except to a limited extent in performance appraisal; Chapter 10), they may resort to finding ways to upgrade jobs (Chapter 5) instead.Discuss the ethics of this tactic and whether or not pay banding is a genuine solution to
12. Analyze the importance of and controversies surrounding benefits from the perspective of the employee (one team) and the employer (another team). If some governments use benefit programs to attract and retain employees, is this ethical?
11. Resolved: “If recruitment and placement functions of human resource management are done well, then incentive pay plans are irrelevant—even harmful.” One team should argue the affirmative position, one the negative.
10. This chapter claims that pay is important because it is vital, visible, and vicious in organizations.Divide into groups and analyze, from the perspective of the paradox of needs, at least three strategies to ensure (a) external, (b) internal, and (c) individual equity for employees.
9. The head of a public interest group observed in 2011 that “a lengthy pay freeze, increased employee pension contributions, limited bonuses for outstanding employees, and a hiring freeze will inevitably result in a demoralized, depleted, and ultimately less talented and less effective
8. In 2011, Transocean, whose drilling rig exploded in the 2010 Gulf oil disaster, awarded employee bonuses in recognition of the company’s “best year in safety performance.” Comment.
7. Discuss the following statement: “From Enron to Global Crossing, from BP to Mining and Minerals Service (in the Interior Department) from the Veterans Administration bonus issue to the latest scandal, it is evident that money corrupts the workplace.”
6. Explain why it is so difficult for “the great pay debate” to be resolved. Hint: Pay systems receive criticism from both those who think employees are paid too much and those who think they are paid to little.
5. According to U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes, “As much as it is a disservice not to support the federal workforce, at the end of the day it’s a disservice to the public.” Explain.
4. At the end of the chapter, it was suggested that the number of work hours be decreased in the name of employee fairness. Actually, European economists have long claimed that organizational productivity increases as hours decrease. Discuss how “less can be more.”
3. To what extent do flexible benefit programs resolve individual–organization compensation dilemmas? Would it be better to abolish benefits altogether (Exhibit 7.8)? Identify the conditions necessary for that to occur.
2. If teamwork, process improvement, and citizen service are hallmarks of quality management, then discuss the most appropriate pay system for an agency pursuing quality.
1. Discuss the following statement, employing “Leonardo’s parachute” (see the book’s introduction):“We need to pay people based on their value-added contributions to their organization as well as to the nation.”
12. Job seekers usually do not have good information about the climate for engagement in the organizations of prospective employers. What questions might you ask during a job interview to better gauge this important aspect? How can you trust the answers that are given to you?
11. Think of a specific situation in which you gave feedback. What impact did it have? How can you improve the effectiveness of your feedback?
what that person is willing to give, as well as what that person expects to get from you and what you are willing to give. Then make the contract and put it in place for a few weeks. What are the results? Was there improvement in any sense? What might you do differently next time?
10. Make a psychological contract with someone, preferably a work colleague or someone working under you. To ensure that the understanding works out, discuss what you want from that person and
9. Identify ways in which your immediate supervisor has knowingly and unknowingly affected your motivation. Which of these increased your motivation? Which decreased your motivation? How would you like to be motivated?
8. Give three examples of how Vroom’s expectancy theory applies to situations you have experienced.
Do you agree that permanent higher salaries are not associated with permanent higher motivation? If so, how would you deal with motivating workers who already make a good amount of money?
What are the less important needs? How important is money?
7. Indicate the needs that your team members have at work. What are the most important needs for them?
6. Identify and discuss in your team the characteristics of supervisors that motivate and increase employee engagement. How would you recruit and select for these elements? How would you interview for these and be confident in the responses of job candidates?
5. Assume that the members of your group are responsible for a group project, such as a group presentation for your class. Make a psychological contract for the group. Discuss what people need to give and what they expect to receive. Discuss how you would implement the agreement so that it shapes
4. Consider the statement that “difficult employees may seek to avoid being disciplined by corrupting, compromising, or blackmailing their supervisors through social, sexual, or ethical embarrassment.” Can you provide any examples of this? Can you identify any movies that show this theme? What
3. Examine the list of items that promote a “climate for engagement” and develop a list of specific activities that could affect engagement. Identify those HRM activities that might do the most to increase engagement.
2. Discuss what motivates people the most in their jobs in order to verify the claims that “people are motivated to pursue and satisfy their needs,” and “people vary in their needs.” How can a manager motivate employees when their needs differ? Is motivation too difficult to accomplish? Is
1. Based on your experience, what levels of engagement do you see in the organizations with which you are familiar? Do you agree that the 25–50–25 rule is accurate? What are the characteristics of workplaces in which employees are actively engaged or disengaged? Do you agree with the assertion
Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship as a Pesticide Applicator.Employees must respond to emergency conditions, and so must live within a fifteenmile distance or be able to report within a 30-minute period of time to their assigned facility.
Certain designated positions require the employee to be certified by the U.S.
After accepting an offer of employment, all persons are required to have a physical examination by a doctor of choice verifying the applicant’s physical ability to perform the duties described.Employees must be available to travel and may be required to stay away from home overnight during
11. If you were the analyst looking at the position reclassification request in this chapter’s appendix (for the Equipment Operator 2), what would you view as its positive and negative points? Would you grant the request?
10. What are the similarities and dissimilarities between broadbanding and rank-in-person systems?
9. The reform of civil service will be an important topic of discussion and debate for the next several decades. What are the implications of the civil service reform initiative in Georgia? Do you think that the movement to replace independent civil service commissions with executive branch
8. You are a manager whose best worker has “topped out”; that is, the employee is at the top step of her pay grade. Furthermore, her job is properly classified. Unfortunately, the government jurisdiction for which you both work is 20% to 30% below the market in its pay rates for most positions.
7. As a class, determine which members are currently employed in the public sector and then select some of them to be interviewed about their jobs in small groups. After the interviews, each small group must write a job description. The person interviewed should not do any of the writing, nor
6. A large, growing county decides to place a new service center in another city. None of the current employees is interested in relocating. Furthermore, there is some concern that many of the county offices are using outdated technology and old-fashioned methods of customer delivery. For example,
5. Analyze a public sector organization’s classification system. Determine the number of positions, classes, and pay plans. How many of the positions are elected, appointed, and merit appointees? Does the system “work,” and does the checkerboard make sense to those using the system?
4. Discuss how the position management function can help or hinder in the resolution of the twin paradoxes introduced at the outset of this book.
3. There is perhaps no better example of the grand paradox of needs (see the book’s introduction) than position management. Discuss and seek pathways through the paradox as well as subparadoxes found in various position management techniques.
2. Ask those in the class who now work or have ever worked in the public sector to describe any position management challenges they have experienced.
1. Canvass the class to determine if any members have been a part of a reclassification effort or an organization-wide job evaluation. What happened? Was it successful or not?
17. Take an “imagination break“ (Exhibit 0.2) and speculate about alternative futures for personnel appraisal.
16. Evaluate the following assertion: “Regardless of the reason, when an employee is terminated the employer should assist the person to find other employment.“
15. Consider the tips presented in this chapter for conducting a performance appraisal interview.Would they have helped you—as either manager or employee—the last time you were involved in this situation?
14. Use the last examination you took in any class to discuss the reasons for using performance appraisals—and the limitations of appraisals.
13. Whenever a rating is less than the best, or less than what the employee perceives his or her contribution to be, the manager is seen as punitive. Use examples to support your agreement or disagreement with this claim.
12. Discuss the following statement: “Most people, including supervisors, like to be liked.“
11. Identify three of the most difficult rater errors. How can they be dealt with?
10. Does traditional performance appraisal help or hinder other personnel functions and their paradoxes?
9. David is a star performer who frequently irritates his coworkers and managers. His agency’s appraisal includes an interpersonal relations category, and David’s supervisor rates him low in this category as well as in other categories. Discuss this situation in the context of the paradoxes of
8. Using the “25 in 10“ technique (see Exhibit 0.2 in the book’s introduction), discuss this statement:“The root problem in performance rating is not technical in nature.“
7. Personnel evaluations have been called a kind of bureaucratic Kabuki: elaborate, stylized, baffling—and yet predictably ineffectual. Debate this observation, with one team taking the affirmative and one team the negative position.
6. The problematic nature of evaluation reviews can be illustrated by this story showing the difference between a German and an Austrian: The German says that a situation is serious, but not hopeless; the Austrian calls the same situation hopeless, but not serious. Is the appraisal function in a
5. In theory, personnel appraisal can provide feedback on management processes such as selection, position management, training, and compensation. Given the many problems with appraisal, however, it often does not supply this information. Accordingly, appraisal has been called the “missing
4. Visit a local agency to determine why, how, and by whom appraisals are done there. Analyze the rating form used. Is it legally defensible? Report the findings to the class.
3. What would be the most appropriate rating instrument for a middle manager? Staff assistant?Telecommuter? Intern? Why?
2. “You were hired to make our organization succeed and to make your boss look successful.“ Do you agree with this claim? Why or why not?
1. Organizational appraisal systems typically focus on functional rationality; supervisors, however, tend to emphasize substantive rationality by filing false—but effective—evaluations. Under what circumstances can inaccurate reviews be examples of sound management?
13. Develop a skills acquisition plan for yourself. Identify specific skills that you would like to acquire and when you will be acquiring them over the next 24 months. Try to identify at least one additional skill to be acquired every 6 months.
12. You have been appointed the training director in a large state agency to develop and implement programs for staff personnel. Paradoxically, insufficient monies are budgeted for this training. Can you resolve this dilemma? How?
11. Develop some ideas for improving performance in your workplace. How might you go about getting these accepted and implemented? Should you be disappointed if not all of your ideas find acceptance?
10. Identify job-related skills and knowledge that you think your employer should provide. How likely is it that your employer will actually help you acquire these skills? How will not acquiring these skills or knowledge affect your job performance and career? What can you do to acquire these KSAs?
9. Consider the following statement in the context of the paradox of needs: “Never let your professional development be governed by your organization.“
8. Many employees complain about a lack of positive reinforcement. Design a training program to increase its use, and link it to performance appraisal.
7. Analyze a training program for first-time supervisors. Identify some competencies for which overlearning is relevant.
6. Identify three objectives of a training program for new police officers. Focus on what participants should be able to do on completion. What should be the relative emphasis of OJT, in-house seminars, cross-training, simulation, and formal education? Why?
5. Explore the paradoxes in the following statement: “We don’t want to invest money in training because it is lost when employees leave.“
4. Discuss the following statement made by Polish writer Stanisław Lec: “You will always find some Eskimos ready to instruct the Congolese on how to cope with heat waves.“
3. Examine how the paradoxes and trends discussed in the introduction to this book are present in the agencies where students in the class are employed.
2. To what extent is your organization a “learning organization“? In what ways is it such an organization? In what ways is it not? Make a list on the board of things that make up a learning organization.
1. Discuss how the principles of learning apply to a training program to improve the effectiveness of (a)agency trainers, (b) frontline customer service personnel, and (c) supervisors.
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