商务英语 Unit 3.docx

1、商务英语 Unit 3Unit 3 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENTTHEORIES RELATED TO HR MANAGEMENTHierarchy of Needs A need is a lack of something essential, desirable, or useful. The needs theory states that people act to satisfy their needs. Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs consisting of five levels.Physiological N

2、eeds-needs for food, shelter, and clothing. These needs are the most basic and therefore at the bottom of the hierarchy, but they are the ones that motivate a person to find a job and earn money to provide food, shelter, and clothing for themselves and their families.Safety/ security Needs-needs to

3、feel secure, to be protected, and to avoid the unexpected. They are generally for job security and protection from work hazards. Some of the means for satisfying these needs are seniority provisions in labor agreements, health and safety legislation, and insurance.Social Needs-needs for belonging (a

4、ccepted by others) and for giving and receiving friendship and love. Informal social groups on the job / off the job help people satisfy these needs. Even formal work groups can help meet workers social needs. Esteem Needs-needs for the respect from others and for a sense of accomplishment and achie

5、vement. Satisfaction of these needs is reflected in feelings of self-worth. Having a job is often very important in satisfying esteem needs. Praise and recognition from managers and others in the firm contribute to the sense of self-worth.Self-Actualization Needs-needs for fulfillment, for living up

6、 to ones potential, and for using ones abilities to the utmost. The Army recruiting slogan “Be All That You Can Be” is aimed at these needs. In other cases, a manager who develops and maintains an effective department might also feel self-actualized.Theory XDouglas McGregor, one of Maslows students,

7、 assumed that in general people do not like to work-and that work is a natural activity. From these assumptions, he devised two theories of what motivates workers and what management styles are appropriate. Theory X assumes the following:The average person dislikes work and will avoid it if possible

8、.Because people dont like to work, they must be controlled, directed, or threatened with punishment to get them work better.The average person prefers to be directed, avoids responsibility, is relatively not ambitious, and wants security above all.This view of people suggests that managers must cons

9、tantly prod workers to perform and must closely control their on-the-job behavior. By assuming that employees are lazy, unmotivated, and in need of strict control, managers reinforce the conditions that make the employees that way in the first place. But managers who think workers are lazy and irres

10、ponsible may lose or frustrate the best ones.Theory YIn contrast, Theory Y is based on the following assumptions:Work is as natural as play or rest.The threat of punishment is not the only way to get people to work.Workers can be positively motivated. They will try to accomplish organizational goals

11、 if they believe they will be rewarded for doing so.Under proper conditions, the average person learns not only to accept responsibility but also to seek it.Most workers have a relatively high degree of imagination and creativity and are willing to help solve problems.Theory ZTheory Z is offered / d

12、eveloped / devised / proposed by William Ouchi, a management scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles. This theory combines the US and Japanese business practices and emphasizes:Long-term employmentSlow career developmentModerate specialization Group decision makingIndividual responsibil

13、ityRelatively informal control over the employees Concern for workersTheory Z has been well received, but there is not yet much evidence to support it. However, many U.S. firms-among them Delta Airlines, IBM, and P&G-do use element(s) of Theory Z.Assumption presumption SupposeCorporate / business /

14、organization CultureBasically, organizational culture is the personality of the organization. Culture is comprised of the assumptions, values, norms and intangible signs of organization members and their behaviors. Corporate culture can be looked at as a system and is greatly influenced by top manag

15、ement and can change when a new CEO takes command.Corporate culture differs just as types of personality do. Researcher Jeffrey Sonnenfield identified four types of cultures. They are academy, baseball team, club, and fortress. In an academy culture, employees are highly skilled and tend to stay in

16、the organization and work their way up the ranks. This culture stresses long-term career development and provides a stable environment in which employees can develop and exercise their skills. New employees attracted by this culture are typically college graduates. The organization examples are univ

17、ersities, hospitals, large corporations like IBM, etc.Baseball team culture seeks out talents of all ages and experiences. The emphasis of the culture is on short-term results rather than long-term commitment. Employees working in this culture are usually free agents, much like professional athletes

18、. They have highly prized skills and are rewarded on the basis of what they produce. They are in high demand and can rather easily get jobs elsewhere. This type of culture exists in fast-paced, high-risk organizations, such as investment banking, advertising, accounting, law firms, and software deve

19、lopment companies, etc.To fit into the group is the most important requirement for employees in a club culture. Commitment to the company, doing things for the good of the group, is emphasized over personal achievement. Usually employees start at the bottom and stay with the organization. The organi

20、zation promotes from within and highly valued seniority. Examples are the military, some law firms, etc.Commit suicide.Palace / castle / fortressCompanies with fortress culture are those that are struggling to keep afloat. Many are academies, clubs, or baseball teams that have failed and are trying

21、to come back. Others, including retailing and natural-resource companies, are always in a boom-or-bust cycle. Fortresses cannot promise job security or reward employees on the basis of how well they perform. Employees dont know if theyll be laid off or not. These organizations often undergo massive

22、reorganization. Examples are savings and loans, large car companies, etc.Of course, many companies cant be neatly classified in any one way. Many have a blend of corporate cultures. GEs aerospace division operates more like a club; the electronics division is an academy; the home-appliance unit is f

23、ortress. Before you take your first job after graduation, carefully consider the culture of potential employers. If you are a risk taker, you will probably thrive at a baseball team company but not perform as well at an academy. On the other hand, if you are a team player who loves security, you won

24、t be happy with a baseball-team company. THE HUMAN RESOURCE FUNCTIONHuman-resource management is the process of planning, hiring, developing, motivating, and evaluating people in order to achieve organizational goals. HR PlanningHuman-resource managers are the ones who must determine future human-re

25、source needs. Then they assess the skills of the firms existing employees to see if new people must be hired or existing ones must be retrained. Creating a strategy for meeting future human-resource needs is called human-resource planning.Job Analysis and DesignJob analysis and design is one of the

26、essential parts of human resource planning. Human-resource planners must know what different jobs require. This information is typically assembled through a job analysis, a study of the tasks required to do a job well. This information is used to specify the essential skills, knowledge, and abilitie

27、s. The tasks and responsibilities of a job are listed in a job description. The skills, knowledge, and abilities a person must have to fill a job are spelled out in a job specification. These two documents help human-resource planners find the right people for specific jobs. When General Motors buil

28、t its Saturn assembly plant, it decided not to do things in the same old way. GM human-resource specialists spent thousands of hours rethinking old job designs. Job design means specifying the content of a job, the materials and equipment to be used in doing it, and its connection to other jobs. Job

29、 design helps ensure that all necessary tasks are performed by someone and that they are performed efficiently.EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT AND SELECTIONWhen a firm creates a new position or an existing one becomes vacant, the firm starts looking for people with the needed qualifications. The two sources of

30、 job applicants are the internal and external labor markets. The internal labor market is made up of current employees; the external labor market is the pool of potential applicants outside the firm.Most companies try to fill positions beyond entry level from within the company. The internal search

31、for job applicants usually results in some kind of reassignment. People can be promoted (upward movement), transferred (movement at the same level), or demoted (downward movement). If qualified candidates cannot be found inside the company, the external labor market must be tapped. The external sear

32、ch process involves finding potential applicants, providing information about job openings, and trying to attract qualified prospects to the firm.The Employee Selection Process After people have been attracted to the firm and applied for a job, employment specialists begin the selection process. The first two stages in the selection processthe preliminary interview and the employment application form-make up the initial screening. The preliminary interview tends to be rather short, often less than fifteen minutes