KAPLAN MT203 ALL UNITS DISCUSSIONS[ ALL 10 UNITS ]

Topics

Discussion

Discussion

Throughout this course, many discussion opportunities come up where you need to respond to other people's opinions and comments. Address the Discussion topic after you have completed your reading.

What is Human Resource Management?

Many students come into this class believing that human resource management is only about hiring and firing employees. After reading the first chapter of your textbook:

1. Define what you think it means for an organization to manage its human resources.
2. How does effective human resource management contribute to a company’s success? Support your response with information from the textbook or other peer reviewed or scholarly resources.

Throughout this course, many discussion opportunities come up where you need to respond to other people's opinions and comments. Respond to your Discussion topic after you have completed your reading.

Topics

Record-Breaking Discrimination Charges

Record-Breaking Discrimination Charges

In recent years, as businesses and individuals have struggled with a slow economic recovery, a growing number of workers have said that they have faced discrimination by employers. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported in January 2011 that charges broke the 2010 record, hitting an all-time high of 99,947 in 2011. Charges of race and sex discrimination remained the top complaints, although their numbers actually declined. Charges of disability and age discrimination rose, however.

Discussion Questions

1. Define sexual harassment, including the two main types. Identify at least two ways that employers can eliminate or minimize sexual harassment.
2. Identify at least two ways employers can provide reasonable accommodations to employees. Provide examples.

Throughout this course, many discussion opportunities come up where you need to respond to other people's opinions and comments. Respond to your Discussion topic after you have completed your reading.

Topics

Labor relations goals of management, labor unions, and society

Labor relations goals of management, labor unions, and society

The opening vignette in Chapter 14 of your text described the negotiation of a three-year labor contract of the Kansas City, Missouri, firefighter’s union Local 42 of the International Association of Fire Fighters. The city manager, whose goal was to reduce the budget, proposed eliminating 107 firefighter jobs. Local 42 objected to the layoffs, and helped to come up with a revised plan in which 33 positions would be eliminated through attrition and early retirement incentives. The negotiators additionally, identified management, civilian, and other positions that could be eliminated. Parties on both sides of the negotiation stated that they were pleased to arrive at a contract that saved money while avoiding layoffs of firefighters.

Discussion Questions

1. Identify the overlapping interests of the city manager and the Local 42 of the International Association of Fire Fighters. Identify their competing interests. Identify the interests of the community (or society).
2. State the importance of understanding these sets of interests when learning about labor unions.

Topics

Advantages and Disadvantages of Hiring Insiders

Advantages and Disadvantages of Hiring Insiders

Did You Know? Four in Ten Positions Are Filled with Insiders. In a survey of large, well-known businesses, respondents said over one-fourth of positions are filled with people who already work for the company and accept a promotion or transfer. As companies have begun to grow again, the greater demand for talent requires more external recruiting.

• Discuss how filling positions internally might impact the organization. Explain the benefits of filling a position with an internal source. Explain the limitations.

Topics

Hiring Practices Create Success

Hiring Practices Create Success

Video:Working for the Best: The Container Store

The Discussion topics are based on the video. Watch the video and read the video document provided. Answer the questions below in this unit’s Discussion.

Discussion Topics

1. Describe the Container Store’s selection process and how it helped to create their success.
2. Describe how the Container store uses Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs to create its foundation of HR practices.

Support your response with information from the textbook or other academic source.

Video: Working for the Best: The Container Store: McGraw Hill. Retrieved from
http://bevideos.mhhe.com/business/video_library/0077437187/mp4/Clip_09.mp4

• Unit 6: Unit 6: Managing Employees' Performance - Discussion

  Topics

  Performance Measurement Fairness

  Performance Measurement Fairness

  Thinking Ethically: Are Forced Rankings Fair?

  Case Summary:

  The forced ranking approach to performance management is the practice of using forced rankings to identify the top performers to retain and the bottom performers to let go. Jack Welch of General Electric introduced and later championed this method, called by critics “rank and yank,” and other companies such as Lending Tree and American International Group (AIG) use it. Review the “Thinking Ethically: Are Forced Rankings Fair?” essay at the end of Chapter 8 and answer the following questions.

  Questions:

1. Describe the activities involved in the performance management process.
2. The forced ranking approach is one of several methods of managing performance described in the textbook. Compare and contrast the fairness of forced rankings relative to two other methods of measuring performance described in this chapter.

Topics

Pay for Performance Systems

Pay for Performance Systems

Video: Sulphur Springs Teachers

The Discussion questions are based on the video. Watch the video and read the video document provided. Answer the questions below in this unit’s Discussion.

Discussion Questions

1. Describe some of the most significant benefits of Pay for Performance System?
2. Pay for Performance also has its list of challenges. Discuss the main areas of concern with the implementation of a Pay for Performance System.

Support your response with information from the textbook or other academic source.

Video: Sulphur Springs Teachers: McGraw Hill. Retrieved from

http://bevideos.mhhe.com/business/video_library/0077437187/mp4/Clip_14.mp4

Topics

Linking Training Programs to Organizational Needs

Linking Training Programs to Organizational Needs

How Barnes-Jewish Hospital Trains Nurses to Cope

This vignette in Chapter 7 explores Barnes-Jewish Hospital, which has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the best hospitals in the United States and as its top-rated hospital for St. Louis, Missouri. The 1,258-bed not-for-profit hospital is part of the BJC HealthCare chain, which serves patients in the St. Louis metropolitan area. A big part of the Barnes-Jewish staff is its more than 2,500 full-time and 800 part-time registered nurses. A registered nurse comes to Barnes-Jewish (or any other) hospital after extensive training in human health and patient care. But one of the major challenges facing a nurse is not a matter of deploying technical skills; it is how to cope with the day-in, day-out experience of witnessing patients’ suffering and sometimes death. Especially during periods when several of their patients have poor outcomes, nurses can feel worn down by the stress. They can suffer “compassion fatigue,” experienced as sadness, despair, and reduced empathy. At worst, nurses’ health suffers, and they find themselves avoiding certain patients and perhaps failing to deliver quality care when they fail to notice or correctly interpret patient’s needs. A commitment to high-quality care and concern for its nurses’ well-being has led Barnes-Jewish to offer training in how to cope with stress and avoid or recover from compassion fatigue. Read the vignette at the end of Chapter 7 in your text and then answer the following questions.

Questions

1. Identify the training method used at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Identify any other appropriate training methods that could have been used to address the needs of the nurses.
2. State how the approach to training at Barnes-Jewish aligns with the organization’s needs.

Topics

Development Methods

Development Methods

What are the four broad categories of development methods?

In an organization that wants to use work experience as a method of employee development, what basic options are available?

What are the three roles of a coach? How is coaching different from mentoring? What are some advantages of using someone outside the organization as a coach? Some disadvantages?

Topics

Global Networking

Global Networking

Growth in global business activity affects how employees and associates from different organizations and within the same organization network with each other. Use the internet to research how you might successfully network with peers in other countries. One networking site that may prove useful is LinkedIn. Another site that has career information is Monster. Monster has links to job sites in other countries. One site that offers information on the differences between cultures is ITIM International.

For this discussion, look at a specific country of your choice. Develop two brief introductions, one for a U.S. peer, and one for a peer in another country of your choosing. How would you introduce yourself, what would you say in two sentences? How, or why, are the introductions different?

Be specific about how your approach to networking might be different based on a specific culture. Pay special attention to any advice you find on what not to do when networking with people from different cultures.

Make a note of two to three of the best ideas you find on the question, and report them here. How might you use them in your own networking?