Independent University

School of Business

MBA 509: Human Resources Management

Section 02
Autumn Semester 2019
Week 1 & 2
 Student consultation
Room: 2012;
Email: nazmul.amin@gmail.com
Consultation Time:
Face-to-face (From Week 2)
Tuesday before or after class/By
appointment;
E-mail
Anytime
 Unit objectives
 Define the purpose and the range of activities associated with the
area of human resource management (HRM);
 Develop an understanding of HRM in the context of environment
including the national and international legal obligations and
globalization;
 Examine the issues related to performance evaluation and
management, and compensation and benefits;
 Develop an understanding of employee training and development
and career planning and development;
 Review labour-management relations and promotion of safety and
health of the employees;
 Analyse and evaluate the strategic contribution that can be made
by the HR function; and
 Broadly understand the HR challenges businesses are facing in the
21st century
 Assessment
Types of Evaluation Nos. Due date Weight
Class attendance & participation 100% 05%
Minor Project and Presentation (Minor 1 The written report is 15%
Assignment: Group): consists of: due in the class on the
Presentation: Part 1 (10%) day of presentation.
3-4 students in a group. (Groups whose
Written Report: Part 2 (5%) presentation is due on
Word limit-3000-3500 words (without the same week as the
major assignment can
references & appendices)
have an extra week)
Major Project (Research Report): 1 19 November 2019 15%
(Major Assignment: Individual) (Tuesday in the lecture
Word limit - 6000 (max). (Executive class)
summary & references are not included in the
word count)
Mid-term examination; 2 hr. closed book 1 Official Examination 30%
exam Period (week 7)
Final Examination; 2 hr. closed book exam 1 Official Examination 35%
Period
 Assessment details
Assignment 1 Evaluation Criteria
Structure
Content
Visual aids
Presentation
Referencing

Plagiarism
Must be your own work
Sources must be acknowledged properly
 Assessment details
Assignment 2: Report (Individual)
Please select one case from the following cases and answer the
questions at the end.
A Paint and Coatings Company in Bangladesh.
A Ceramic and Tiles Company in Bangladesh.
A Steel Company in Bangladesh.
Fashion Retailing Industry in Bangladesh.
Questions
1. What are the HRM problems and issues facing your selected
company/Industry? (This includes a brief introduction to the case analysis)
2. What sort of HRM approaches do you think need to be taken to
ensure ongoing strategic competitive advantage?
3. What HRM challenges will [your chosen company/industry] face in
the 21st century? Critically discuss.
 Today’s Learning Objectives
Define & discuss
Human resource management
Why study HRM
HRM: A Historical perspective
Responsibilities of HR departments
HRM practices & company performance
Line manager vs. HR manager
Changing nature of HRM/ The HR environment
Get a broad overview of the distinctive challenges
of managing HRM
 Two way of Managing
Traditional High performance
Narrow job definitions Flexible jobs
Hire/Fire Teams
Adversarial atmosphere Joint problem solving
Managers think, Employee participation
employees execute in decision-making
No employee role in
High levels of training
governance
 Did you know??
More than half of HR professionals think that
retaining and rewarding best employees and
developing next generation corporate leaders will
be the greatest challenges
New research reveals that the richer your income
becomes, the poorer your work-life balance will
be.
Australian employers have proven slow to act on
improving the representation of women in the
senior executive and board ranks of Australia's top
companies.
 Define Human Resource Management
HRM… is the process of acquiring, training,
appraising, and compensating employees, and of
attending to their labour relations, health and
safety, and fairness concerns. (Dessler, 2011)
… Is concerned with a holistic approach towards the
management of people working in an organization,
who contribute to the achievement of
organizational objectives. (Agarwala, 2007)
… the policies, practices, and systems that influence
employees’ behaviour, attitudes, and performance.
(Noe, et al., 2009)
 HRM: A Historical perspective

History of labour management

(Late-eighteenth century to late-nineteenth century)

The historical contexts…

The technological
The market
The political & legal contexts
The social context
The business context…..
 HRM: A Historical perspective…
Early-to mid-nineteenth century: Textile companies
Mid-to late-nineteenth century: Railway companies
Mid-twentieth century: Manufacturers (steel,
chemicals, automobiles, electrical)
End of twentieth century: Retailing & financial
services
Ownership
&
governance
Welfare or Human
Personnel
labour resource
managers
managers managers
Human Resource Management Practices

Organisational
performance

Induction
Introduction Employee
Job Analysis Training & Relations
to HRM Development Performance Compensation
And
& Design of Recruiting Selection Management Management
And
work Strategic
Work Life
HR Planning Talent
Balance
Management
 HR’s Role
The job of human resources is NOT primarily to:
 Keep the company out of court
Enforce rules and maintain consistency
Manage administrative processes
Tell people ‘No’.
HR’s job is to:
 Help build and reinforce the company’s values and
culture
Play a leadership role in building capabilities that
ensure the successful execution of business strategy.
 Aims of HRM…
Organizational effectiveness
Human capital management
Knowledge management
Reward management
Employee relations
Meeting diverse needs
Bridging the gap between rhetoric and reality
 Why Study HRM?
You don’t want to make while managing…
 Hire the wrong person for the job
 Experience high turnover
 Have your people not doing their best
 Waste time with useless interviews
 Have your company taken to court because of your
discriminatory actions
 Have some employees think their salaries are unfair
relative to others in the organization
 Allow a lack of training to undermine your department's
effectiveness
 Commit any unfair labour practices
 Why Study HRM…

Staffing the organization

Designing jobs & teams
Developing skillful employees
Identifying approaches for improving
their performance
Rewarding employee successes
 Responsibilities of HR Department
Function Responsibilities
Analysis & design of work Work analysis; job design; job descriptions

Recruitment & selection Recruiting; job postings; interviewing; testing; coordinating use of temporary
labour
Training & development Orientation; skills; training; career development programs

Performance management Performance measures; preparation & administration of performance

appraisals; discipline
Compensation & benefits Wages & salary administration; incentive pay; insurance; vacation leave
administration; retirement plans; profit sharing; stock plans

Employee relations Attitude surveys; labour relations; employee handbooks; company

publications; labour law compliance; relocation & outplacement services

Personnel policies Policy creation; policy communication; record keeping; HR information

systems
Compliance with laws Policies to ensure lawful behaviour; reporting; posting information; safety
inspections; accessibility accommodations

Support for strategy Human resource planning & forecasting; change management
 The Trends Shaping HRM
Globalization & competition trends
Deregulation
Technological trends
Trends in the nature of work [High-tech Jobs, Service
Jobs, Knowledge Work & Human Capital]
Demographic & workforce trends [An aging
workforce]
Economic challenges & trends [Dramatic economic
downturn starting in 2007/2008, Slowdown in deregulation and
globalization]
 The Trends Shaping HRM
The new human resource managers
Focus more on big picture issues
Find new ways to provide transactional
services
Strategic HRM
Evidence-based HRM
Managing ethics
HR certification
 Competitive challenges & HRM
Going global
Embracing new technology
Managing change
Developing human capital
Responding to the market
Tensions on the trade front [Protectionism;
Ongoing Sino-American “trade war” ]
Fiscal and financial risk [Cyber-attacks and data
integrity concerns cripple large parts of the internet]
 Presentation Case: Week 4
Case for presentation: ‘Google’, page 738 (Human Resource Management,
13th ed. Gary Dessler, 2012);
Presentation Questions:
1. Provide an in-depth explanation of the trait theory. What do you think of the
idea of Google correlating personal traits from the employee's answers on
the survey to their performance, and then using that as the basis for
screening job candidate?
2. To support its growth and expansion strategy, Google wants (among other
traits) people who are super-bright and who work hard, often round-the-
clock, and who are flexible and maintain a decent work-life balance. List five
specific HR policies or practices that you think Google has implemented or
should implement to support its strategy, and explain your answer.
3. What sorts of factors do you think Google will have to take into
consideration as it tries transferring its culture and way of doing business to
its operations abroad?
4. Given the sorts of values and cultures Google cherishes, briefly describe four
specific activities you suggest they pursue during new-employee
orientation?
 Presentation Case: Week 5
Case for presentation: ‘Job analysis and hiring decisions
at Ovania Chemical’, page 732-737 (Managing Human
Resources, 13th ed. Bohlander & Snell, 2005)
Presentation questions:
1. How would you go about conducting a job analysis for
a job that does not yet exist?
2. What reasons did the selection committee have for
selecting only those factors that could not be acquired
in a two-year training program?
3. should the concern for women getting down into the
dirty treatment tanks have been a selection issue?
 Presentation Case: Week 6
Case for presentation: ‘Angelo’s Pizza’, page 735 (Human
Resource Management, 13th ed. Gary Dessler, 2012)
Presentation questions:
1. Identify and briefly discuss five specific human
resource management error using the case Angelo’s
Pizza.
2. Develop a structured interview form that can be used
for hiring (1) store managers, (2) waiters and
waitresses, and (3) counter people/ pizza makers.
3. Based on what you know about Angelo’s, write a one-
page outline showing specifically how you think
Angelo’s should go about selecting employees.
 Presentation Case: Week 8
Case for presentation: ‘Continental Airlines: One Company’s
Flight to Success’, page 748-750, (Managing Human
Resources, 13th edition, Bohlander & Snell, 2005);
Presentation Questions:
1.Discuss the competitive challenges of the airline industry in the
21st century.
2.If you were the manager of a distressed organization, what
specific steps would you take to turn the organization around
[use Continental Airlines as an example]?
3.What are the primary causes for the sudden change in employee
morale at Continental Airlines? Explain.
4.List five specific HR policies or practices that you think that
Continental [now UNITED] should implement to improve
performance over the next decade?
 Presentation Case: Week 9
Case for presentation: ‘Denny’s: A Grand Slam Success
Story’, page 730-732, (Managing Human Resources, Bohlander &
Snell, 2005);
Presentation Questions
1.Identify the main characteristics of the industry in
which Denny’s operates.
2.What are the key points to Denny’s turnaround with
regard to diversity?
3.What lessons can other companies learn from
Denny’s experience?
4.What is the likely impact of diversity on the
companies performance?
 Presentation Case: Week 10

Case for presentation: ‘McDonald’s’, page

425-432, (Strategic Human Resources, Tanuja
Agarwala, Oxford University Press, 2007);
Presentation Questions
Answer question 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 from the case.
 Presentation Case: Week 11
Case for presentation: ‘Mentoring at Coca-Cola
Foods’, page 701-705 (Strategic Human Resource
Management, Tanuja Agarwala, Oxford University Press, 2007)
Presentation questions
1. Discuss the differences between mentoring and coaching
based on the information in the case.
2. What goals does the does the mentoring programme of
Coca-Cola Foods help the protégé achieve?
3. Evaluate the ten part mentoring process used by Coca-Cola
Foods.
4. What conditions are important for the success of
mentoring program? Explain.
 Presentation Case: Week 12
Case for presentation: ‘ABC Learning: Collapse of an
Entrepreneurial Venture’, page 1-13 (Cases in Business
and Management, 2nd edition, Alam & Majumdar, 2011),
(Case book).
Presentation Questions
1.Identify and discuss the main business features of the
childcare industry [Generate a list of competencies].
2.Critically evaluate the main reasons for ABC Learning’s
collapse. What are the lessons learned from ABC’s
mistakes?
3.What HR policy regime do you recommend for a viable
childcare industry? Explain.