Lecture 1

Understanding Human
Resources & Environments

Understanding Human Resources

Why is it important to manage HR?
-to satisfy multiple stakeholders
-stakeholders include: owners and
investors, customers, organization
members, society and other interdependent
organizations
How does understanding the applications of
HR important to you?
-gain and sustain competitive advantage
1. Employees who are sources of added
value
2. Employees who are rare talents
3. A unique culture, one of the kind

Understanding Human Resources

Framework of managing HR consist of:
External environment (local, national,
multinational conditions)
Local conditions: economic globalization,
political landscape
National conditions: industry dynamics,
labor markets
Multinational conditions: country cultures,
legal institutions
The above will be further discussed later
on.

Understanding Human Resources

Activities for Managing HR
1. HR Planning for Alignment and Change
2. Job Analysis and Competency Modeling
3. Recruiting and retaining qualified employees
4. Selecting employees that fit
5. Training and developing competitive workforce
6. Conducting performance management
7. Developing approach to compensation
management
8. Using performance-based pay to achieve
strategic objectives
9. Providing benefits and services
10. Promoting workplace safety and health
11. Unionization and collective bargaining

Understanding Human Resources

What are the key roles of HR Professionals?
-Business partners
-consultants
-innovators
-monitors
-change management

Understanding Human Resources

Managing HR has few themes that
encapsulate most of the HR policies and
functions:
-Managing teams
-Managing multicultural workforce
-Managing globalization
-Managing ethics
-Managing with metrics

Understanding Environments
What are the common elements of an
environment?
+ Economic globalization
-how open is the environment to
imports/exports, whether to compete on
cost vs. competing on knowledge
-how far is the business expansion, globally
-regional trade zones affected
+ Political Landscape
-International labor law/regulations
-Social accountability
-world trade organization

Understanding Environments
+ Industry dynamics
-Industry life cycles, where are the industry
standings in the era/zone/graph
-mergers & acquisitions, who are the
winners and losers, leaders or followers
concept
+ Labor markets
-growth rate, population vs demand
-skills shortage, HR related issues
-competition, who are the rivals
-immigrants, foreign labor markets

Understanding Environments
+ Country cultures
-dimension and consequences of country
cultures, cultural dimension in different
countries affect the HR activities in different
views due to issues such as power distance,
gender differentiation, performance
orientation.
+ Technologies
-process of making and using tools in HR;
mass production, computer technologies,
virtual workforce, HRIM

Understanding Environments
+ Company culture
-patterns of shared assumptions, values
and norms
-consisted of leadership styles, vision,
mission and values
-also consisted of company subcultures,
sub-leveled by benefits and challenges
+ Business Strategies
-planning to encompass total quality,
costing, level of customer service,
innovation