Chapter 5 Downsizing

Downsizing

Downsizing is the planned elimination of large numbers of personnell with goal engancing the organizations competiveness. The primary reason organizations engage in downsizing is to promote future competiveness. Downsizing is met by 4 objectives:

1) Reducing costs-labor is a large part of a company's total costs, so downsizing helps

2) Replacing labor with technology-often the labor savings outweigh the cost of new technology

3) Mergers and acquisitions

4) Moving to more economical locations

There are definate negative effects of downsizing. Negative effects of downsizing was high among firms that engaged in high-involvment work practices like the use of teams and performance related pay incentives as a result, the more a company tries to compete through its HR, the more layoffs hurt productivity. Downsizing leads to a loss of talent, also many companies end of rehiring anyways. Downsizing often eliminates people who turn out to be irreplacable. In a survey 80% of firms that had downsizing later replaced some of the very people they had laid off. Motivation also drops because any hope of future promotions or any future with the company dies and many employees start looking for other employment opporunities.

Chapter 5 Downsiing

Class reflection 1/27/10

Discrimination and Sexual Harrasment issues
I loved talking about discrimination and race issues in class today, I find it interesting that certain things regarding race are even still an issue today. In my mind we are all the same, and race, ethnicity, sex is not even an issue for me. So when I hear about things that become an issue in the workforce it blows my mind. Then I think to myself because we are even making it an issue at all does that make us racist or have an issue with race? Like the fact that a company would have to hire atleast 1 white or black employee so they don't come across as racist make them racist in itself because that is the only reason they hired them?

Sexual Harrasment issues blow my mind too because anybody can accuse anyone of sexual harrassment on the job for any reason if they make them feel uncomfortable, so what if that person is just out to get the other person and the person they are accusing of harrassing them didnt even do anything but there is no way to prove that? I am glad sexual harrament is is taken so seriously it is just crazy to think about.

Class reflection 1/25/10

Laws and Regulation Acts
I thought learning about the laws and regulations acts. I didn't even know that some acts even existed. Like I had no idea there was even such thing as The Pregnancy Discrimination Act. It makes sense that there is one and its just common sense to me. However, I didnt know there is an actual law regarding it. The Executive Order 11246 Act is also quite interesting and makes perfect sense but didnt know it existed. I am really glad acts like these do exist, and trully can't imagine the workfoce without them. I am glad that now that I am in the workforce that these acts do exist so I have never had to deal with them and or worry about them.

class reflection from 1/20/10

I thought internal and external labor was quite interesting and didnt realize how each can affect a company.

Internal Labor:

- an organizations workers

-employees

-people who have contracts to work there

*internal labro force has been drawn from the external market

External Labor:

-individuals who are seeking employment there

-number and kinds of peopel in the external labor market determine the kinds of uman resource availiable to an organization

I didnt realize how companies I am wanting to work at makes me be part of their external labor.

Chapter 4 Job Analysis

Job Analysis

I had never heard the term job analysis before and was curious to what exactley it is and what it entailed. Job anaysis is the process of getting detailed info about jobs. Analysing jobs and understanding what is required to carry out a job provide needed knowledge for staffing, training, performance and appraisal.

So what does that do for us and why is it important?

Job analysis is important to HR managers, it has been called the building block of everthing personnel does

Info tat is gleaned from job analysis:

-work design

-human resource planning

-selection

-training

-job evaluation

Job analysis is also important from a legal standpoint, the government imposes requirements related to government to equal employment opportunity. It also provides evidence of efforts made to have fair employment practices like enforcing the disabilities acts, and other equal employment acts. Therefore job analysis is pretty important to the workforce and everything pretty much revolves around it.

Chapter 3 Equal Employment Opportunities

Equal Employment Opportunity

I can't imagine the working world today without equal employment opportunities where all individuals have an eqaul chance for employment regardless of their race, sex, color, religion, age, disability, or national orgin. Maybe its because today is Martin Luther King day, but to think that we use to live in a world where people were not accepted in certain work places and not hired because of their race, sex, national orgin, etc makes me really mad. I can't believe that was ever even an issue. In my mind I feel like that its common sense that everyone in the world should have always had equal employment opportunities. Therefore I am very greatful certain acts have been passed in order to make the workforce in America fair and equal. Some of the many acts I am greatful for are:

Civil Rights Acts of 1866:

Was passed for the goal to abolish slavery, granted all people the same property rights was white citizens as well as the right to enter into and enforce contracts, granted all citizens the right to sue in federal court if they feel they have been deprived of some civil right

Equal Pay Act of 1963

If men and women in an organization are doing equal work, the employer must pay them equally. Equal in terms of skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions

There are many other acts that have been passed I am greatful for and can't imagine the workforce without today.

Chapter 2

An Aging Workforce

In the beggining of chapter 2 the section where it talks about an aging workforce really grabbed my attention. It mainly grabbed my attention in the part where it said by 2010 more than half of U.S. workers will be older than 40. This got my attention because here we are in the year 2010 and that is so true, more than half of the U.S. workforce is over 40 years old! This book was published around 2006 I am assuming, so it blows my mind that 4 years ago, they estimated right about the workforce. It was interesting to read why the fact that the current workforce being older is and might be a problem.

Having an older workforce in the U.S. is a problem because alot of them will be nearing retirement, so HR will have to spend alot of time and concern on retirment, retrraining, and rehiring. Organizations will also struggle with ways to control the rising costs of health care and other benefits. It also mentions how many of tommorows managers will supervise employees much older than themselves, that also got my attention because that is also very true right now. atleast 2 or 3 of my good friends my age are currently the managers and supervisors for people 10 or 20 years older than them. It also mentions how organizations will have to find ways to attract, retain and prepare the youth laborforce. Do you feel like this is acurate? Is it a problem?