What is the ultimate function of executive management?

Which is an advantage of having job descriptions in a global environment?

A young learning and development specialist, having recently completed graduate studies in adult education and training, is hired into an HR department that has a strong history of management and employee training programs. For now, the specialist's assignment is to undertake scheduled revisions of specific elements in the learning and development system.

The programs have been well-attended and well-received by the organization, so there has been little need to change the learning approach. The specialist soon realizes that, while the course content is well-designed, built on sound practices, and engaging for participants, it offers little support or direction for transferring learning to the job environment. It is missing a major opportunity for improving job performance. She also notes a lack of competency-based learning that can be used by participants and their managers as performance standards to make it easier to implement and assess learning and performance levels.

The specialist would like to propose changes, but she is new to the company and the HR function. Her colleagues are older than she is and much more experienced. They have created or directed the curriculum that she wants to change. She notices that they smile condescendingly when she speaks at department meetings about her ideas. They seldom talk to her and have been rather harsh in their reviews of her initial projects. It is difficult for her to argue for change using actual data because the evaluation tools the department uses focus primarily on Kirkpatrick's Levels 1 and 2.

How can the specialist improve her relationship with her colleagues?

An HR manager is the liaison for the sales department at an organization with roughly 600 employees. Recently the organization had a slight downturn in revenue and profit. To save money, over the past year, the sales department's senior management has laid off several administrative assistants and assigned their work tasks, such as photocopying and processing sales orders, to the sales staff. Additionally, the department has modified its compensation system by reducing base pay but increasing sales commissions. The HR manager believes that the additional work duties and new compensation system have put substantial stress on employees. It's been observed that employees seem dissatisfied with their jobs and are leaving the organization or thinking of leaving. One recently departed employee told the HR manager that he had looked for a new job because the increased workload caused him to make fewer sales, thereby significantly reducing his salary.

The HR manager brings their concerns to the vice president (VP) of sales. The manager tells the VP that he is worried about the effects of these changes on the department, such as high turnover and the loss of institutional knowledge. The VP disagrees with the manager; he believes that turnover is good for the department because poorly performing employees are leaving. The VP notes that one employee comes in late, leaves early, and takes a long lunch break every day. The VP believes that the recent changes to compensation save the company money by not employing administrative assistants and motivate sales employees to work harder by focusing on sales commissions. The VP tells the HR manager to ignore employees' complaints and focus on hiring new employees who are willing to take on the additional tasks and work harder.

Which approach is most effective for the HR manager to use to resolve his disagreement with the vice president of sales?

A company with a specialty product that has gained rapid popularity with hospitals has grown quickly from 15 employees to 300 in a one-year period. The organization expects to continue to grow by several hundred employees per year for the foreseeable future.

The president's secretary has been handling all human resources matters, and the accounting department has been handling payroll. The supervisors have been making their own human resources decisions regarding recruitment, employee relations, discipline, and rewards, with various levels of success.

The president pays little attention to the day-to-day operations of the business and focuses his attention on marketing and publicity. He decides that it is now necessary to hire an HR director to lead and manage the HR function. The supervisors are resistant to having a formal HR function in the company, believing that it will create unnecessary work and affect their ability to effectively manage the organization.

During the interview process, the president indicates that there are a number of areas in need of focused attention, as the organization does not have job descriptions or a formal compensation structure and benefits are the same as when the company started.

On the HR director's first day, there is no formal onboarding process. The president suggests that a good starting point for the HR director is to create a plan and catch up on the recruiting requests for the growing company. He then walks the HR director to her new office, offers to help with any questions, and walks away.

In order for the HR director to effectively develop relationships, which action should she take first?