Class Reflection from 3/29/10

I thought the 5 dimensions of Culture was interesting because I didn't know anything about them and what they meant for America's workforce and explaining that is how we function as a country

They are

1) Individualism/collectivism

2) Power distance

3) Uncertainty Avoidance

4) Masulinity/Feminity

5) Long-Term/Short term

I also thought the topic of culture shock was interesting like the honeymoon stage, shock, learning, and adjusting. I thought it was interesting that it is important to choose the right type of person to travel or move for a job for these reasons.

Class reflection 3/22/10

Global Human Resources was interesting in class, not necessarily in the book. I enjoyed the story you told about the oreos in Japan or china or wherever you said, I thought it was so funny how they didn't like the taste of oreos cause they have too much sugar, so oreo had to completley re-make the make-up of oreos but they still called them oreos, weird. It is funny how countries have the same companies like McDonalds but they are so different.

Chapter 16

High Performance Work Systems

What exactley are high performance work systems? High performance work systems is the right combination of people, technology, and organizational structures that makes full use of the organizations resources and opportunities in achieving goals. Creating a high performance work system contrasts with traditional management practices. In the past decisions about technology, organizational structure, and HR were treated as if they were unrelated. An organization might aquire new information system, restructure jobs, or add an office in another country without considering the impact on people. Managers have realized that success depends on how well all of the elements work together.

What are elements of high performance work systems? The right people are a key element of high performance work systems. Reward systems contribute to high performance by encouraging people to strive for objectives that support the organizations overall goals. Another element that contributes to High performance work systems is information systems. Managers make decisions about the types of info to gather and the sources of information along with deciding who should have access to the info and how they will make it availiable.

the outcomes of high perfomance work systems are mostly common sense like satisfied customers, higher sales, greater productivity, low turnover, higher profits, etc. Therefore why wouldn't you want your organization to have high performance systems?

Chapter 15

International Labor Relations

I thought it was interesting to learn about other countries labor relations and what international Human resource is like compared to the United States. Companies that operate across national boundaries often need to work with unions in more than one country. Organizations establish policies and goals for labor relations for overseeing labor agreements and for monitoring labor perfomance.

In comparison with the European organizations U.S. organizations exert where more centralized control over labor relations in the various countries where they operate. Therefore U.S. Management must recognize differences in how various countries understand and regulate labor relations. Like in the U.S. collective bargining usually involves negotiations between a union local and an organizations managment. However in Sweeden and Germany, collective bargining generally involves negotiations between an employers organization and an union representing an entire industry's employees.

International labor relations must also take into accout that negotiations between labor and managment take place in a different social context, not just different economic and legal contexts. Cultural differences come into play in labor negotiations as well. It is crazy to think how the workforce is so different in other countries, but yet the same in alot of ways as well. We all work for money no matter what country we are living in .

Chapter 14

Role of Unions and Labor Relations

I had no idea what unions were and what was meant by labor relations. I have always wanted to know what was meant by a workers union, I have heard the term Union a few times in a workforce setting and not known what it meant. Unions are organizations formed for the purpose of representing their members interests in dealing with employers. In the U.S. most workers act as individuals to select jobs that are unacceptable to them and to negotiate pay, benefits, flexible hours, and other work conditions. Sometimes workers feel their needs and interests do not recieve enough consideration from management. When this happens some workers form and join unions that are formed to resolve conflicts with employers.

Unions are good because some degree of conflict is invetiable between workers and managment. Labor unions also represent interests and a way to manage the conflict. Therefore through systems of hearing complaints and negotiating labor contracts, unions and managers resolve conflicts between employers and employees.

For some reason I have always thought of a union as a group of people that want to stike and fight agaisnt a policy, rule and or situation, but it is really to help solve the conflict. I had no idea. I always thought a union was a negative thing, but now I see it as a positive thing in an organization.

Class reflection from 3/8/10

I liked talking about incentive pay, I don't know why but that sort of thing interests me for some reason. I think it is interesting how we don't like to admit it, but money is definatley an incentive to anything especially in a job, it is the main reason most of us even work in the first place. Therefore it interests me how much organizations try to think of incentives to bribe employees to work harder, so they get more in return.

Chapter 13

Workers Compensation

I had no idea that there was a time when there was no workers comp, where if employees were injured on the job had to pay for the medical bills unless they won a lawsuit against their employer, and those who sued often lost the case because of the defensed availiable to the empoyers. That just seems so unfair to me. I am very greatful that is no longer the case and we have a thing such as workers comp. Workers Compensation are state programs that provide benefits to workers who suffer work-related injuries or illness. These laws operate under a principle of no-fault liability which means that an employee does not need to show that the employers was grossly negligent in order to recieve workers comp, and the employer is protected from potential lawsuits.

About 9 out of 10 U.S. workers are covered by state workers comp laws with the level of coverage varying from state to state. The benefits fall into 4 major categories

1) Disability income

2) medical care

3) death benefits

4) rehabilitative services

The amount of income varies from state to state as well as differ from how they fund workers comp insurance. Organizations can minimize the cost of workers comp by keeping workplaces safe and making employees and their managers conscious of saftey issues. I am we now have a thing such as workers comp, even if the work envionment is safe, I am a clutz and will probably end up using workers comp sometime in my work life.

Chapter 12

Incentive Pay

I wanted to know more about what incentive pay is and entails. Along with wages and salaries many organizations offer incentive pay which is pay specifically desgined to energize, direct, or control employees behavior. It is crazy that pay has that much control over our behavior but it is the whole reason why we work and have a job in the first place. Incentive pay is influential because the amount paid is linked to certain predefined behaviors or outcomes. These payments are in addition to wages and salaries. When people know they can earn extra money for closing sales or meeting department goals, the employees often try harder or get more creative than they might get without the incentive pay. If it motivates employees that much more you would think every company would offer incentive pay!

For incentive pay to motivate employees to contribute to the organizations success the pay plans must be well designed. Effective plans meet the following requirments:

• Performance measures are linked to the organizations goals
• Employees believe they can meet performance standards
• The organization gives employees the resources they need to meet their goals
• Employees values the rewards given
• Employees believe the reward system is fair
• The pay plan takes into account that employees may ignore any goals that are not standard

If I owned a business and or was in management I would offer incentive pay just for the simple fact it helps motivate employees.

Class reflection 3/1/10

I really enjoyed the guest speaker today from ancestry.com, he did a really good job and was funny and made it interesting. I learned alot about compensation and what determines how much employers should pay employers and what employees expect from employers once they are given something and then it gets taken away, like his doughnut example, it was funny but also very true.