Archives for the Month of December 2006 on Jen's MGMT 250 Blog
Wrap Up
Everyone gets something out of the classes they take each semester. Therefore, this entry will be dedicated to talking about one of the lessons I learned because I took MGMT 250. Out of the several points I took away from the course, I feel that one of them is extremely important and can be used in the course of my daily life as well as my future career. This point is that there is no set way to do something or achieve a desired result. What works for one person will not necessarily work for another nor will what works under one set of circumstances necessarily work under a different set of circumstances. Just like there was no set formula in the HR Simulation that said doing “A” will cause “B”, reality is not based on a formula. This situation is why there are several ways to motivate people, to appraise their performance, and to train people. It is also why we had several different forms of classes ranging from lectures to small group discussions. In my opinion, the ability to recognize this and act accordingly is a very important part of decision making and problem solving.
The HR Simulation: Evaluating Performance
There are many ways to measure a company’s performance, and many of them are dependant on what one is looking for. For example, investors look at a company’s profitability and how risky the investment would be while creditors look at how capable the company is of paying off its debts. Different departments within a company look at different things; the HR department looks at different ways of measuring the performance of employees whereas the finance department looks at the state of the company’s finances and how to best use the available funds. However, there is one common way of measuring a company’s performance, and all concerned parties look at it. This measure is the bottom line.
Unfortunately, during the course of the HR simulation, we were never given our company’s bottom line or any other measures of how well our company as a whole was doing, such as sales or operating income. Instead we were mainly given HR-related measures with a few other measures mixed in. These measures were how many units were produced at overtime, the quality index, the productivity level, the accident rate, fringe benefits, the turnover rate, the morale level, the number of grievances, the absenteeism rate, and some industry averages. It is conceivable that many, if not all, of these measures affect more than just HR. In fact many of them probably have an impact on the bottom line. It could have been extremely helpful to see how the HR measures affected the overall performance of the company. If the company was able to be extremely competitive despite some low HR results, then some of the pressure to be better than everyone else in terms of the HR measures would be removed. Conversely, if the bottom line was extremely hurt by low HR performance, more pressure would be applied to the HR manager because the company needed to remain competitive in order to survive. I also think it is unrealistic that the HR department would not have access to this information.
Recruiting
The other day in class we discussed recruiting from an employer’s perspective. I could not help but wonder if the discussion could be useful in applying for jobs. In my own personal experiences, I have always found that it is easier to do well when I knew what was expected of me and what to look for. While I realize that every employer is going to be looking for something different, I believe that having a general understanding of how employers view and approach the process of recruitment can be extremely helpful. The knowledge of how many recruitment resources they have at their fingertips could be especially helpful. Keeping this fact in mind should ensure that an applicant works hard to leave the best impression because he or she will realize how easily the employer can just move on to the next applicant. It also gives people a better idea of how to apply for a job. Being able to get a job after college is an extremely important part of career development, and I believe that because we have discussed recruitment from both an employer’s and an applicant’s perspectives, we will be in a better position when that time comes.