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- The Factory That Turned Itself Around
- Unit 8. Human Resource Management
- 2. Read the text.
- Vocabulary Focus
- Comprehension
- 2. Read the text and check your guesses.
SpeakingRead the Case Critique and answer the following questions.
The Factory That Turned Itself AroundIn 1979, Ford Motor Company was about to shut down its stamping plant1 in suburban Cleveland. The plant was at the bottom of the productivity pile among nine plants in the division. Communications between management people and hourly employees was almost nil. Production departments were quarrelling endlessly with the staff support departments. Then a near miracle occurred2. By 1981, the plant improved its productivity dramatically3. It established a reputation for management and employees cooperation. And Ford decided to keep the 3,000-employee plant open. Credit for the progress goes to a process known at Ford as Employee Involvement, or simply EI. Ford does not call it a program, but simply a process. The change in employee attitudes was preceded4, says Ford, by a new attitude on the part of the Ford Motor Company – and of the plant’s management. Three words describe the new management attitude: respect, trust, and confidence. With that attitude in place, the EI operates on the basis of employee participation in identifying and in solving problems associated with their work. The EI process was spearheaded5 by appointing new plant management which met with work groups throughout the factory. The meetings provided factual information about the critical productivity problems. The new managers acknowledged6 the mistakes that had been made ‘by a totally autocratic, production-driven Ford management.’ Under EI, 36 voluntary groups of employees and supervisors were created. They met regularly on company time to uncover and dig into problems of all sorts. There was no game playing. The focus was always on accepting mutual responsibility for a problem and solving it. As one example, the daily rate of rejection for dash panel7 stampings had been 150. An EI suggestion for changes in the stamping tools reduced the rejection rate to 40. Typical employee comments sounded like these: ‘There’s only one thing wrong with EI. It’s 25 years late. It’s had a tremendous impact on attitudes here.’ ‘When guys on the line see something going wrong, they want it fixed right away. Before EI, they let it happen so that they could take an extra rest break.’ ‘Three or four years ago when a boss came down on the floor8, nobody would really talk to him. Now, if we have something to say, we spit it out9. And he’s listening.’
WritingYou are a sales manager. The behaviour of one of your salespeople is upsetting the others in the team. Write an email warning him/her about his/her conduct and indicating where improvements should be made (see Writing File p. 213).Guidelines
Useful language Opening I am writing with reference to… I am writing to... I would like to inform you... Giving the details I have looked into the matter. I have checked with the staff involved. This is the (third) time (this mistake) has occurred and I am far from satisfied with this situation. I note that you have ...
I must ask you to... I would also take the opportunity to remind you that you have ... Could you please let me know why you have...? Suggesting a solution I think the reason is that... I would appreciate your looking into this. The best solution would be for us to... I’d like to suggest that… Closing It is essential that we work as a team. Unless you can... efficiently in the future I will have to consider other... I should warn you that if you don’t... I will have to... If you do not..., I will have no alternative but to... Please ensure that this sort of problem does not arise again. I hope to ... I would be glad if you would... Unit 8. Human Resource ManagementIntroduction1. Does human resource management seem like a challenging career? 2. Do you see any other issues likely to affect this function? 3. What have your experiences been in dealing with people who work in human resource management? 4. Would you enjoy working in such an environment? Reading 11. The text describes a number of sources for assistance human resource managers turn to. Which of the following do you think it will mention?
2. Read the text.Recruitment Recruitment is the set of activities used to legally obtain a sufficient number of the right people at the right time to select those that best meet the needs of the organization. One would think that, with a continuous flow of new persons into the work force, that recruiting would be easy. But the truth is that recruiting has become very difficult for several reasons: Legal restrictions such as the Civil Rights Act make it necessary to consider the proper mix of women, minorities, and other qualified individuals. Often people with the necessary skills are not available and must be hired and trained internally. The emphasis on corporate cultures, teamwork, and participative management make it important to hire skilled people who also fit in with the culture and leadership style of the organization. As we noted previously, firing unsatisfactory employees is getting more difficult to justify legally. This is especially true of discharges involving possible discrimination by age, sex, sexual preference, or race. Therefore, it is necessary to screen and evaluate employees very carefully to be sure they will be effective, long-term members of the organization. Some organizations have unattractive workplaces, have policies that demand promotions from within, operate under union regulations, or have low wages that make recruiting and keeping employees difficult or subject to outside influence and restrictions. Because recruiting is a difficult chore that involves finding, hiring, and training people who are an appropriate technical and social fit, human resource managers turn to many sources for assistance. These include internal promotions, advertisements, public and private employment, agencies, college placement bureaus, management consultants, professional organizations, referrals, and applicants who simply show up at the office. An interesting trend in human resource management has been the increase in the number of temporary workers. Today, temporary, part-time and contract workers make up nearly one third of the U.S. work force. Vocabulary Focus3. Match the words below with correct definitions. Check your guesses with a dictionary.
4. Think of situations where you could use the phrases below. Make six sentences.
5. Complete the chart.
6. Complete these sentences with as many examples as you can.
Comprehension7. Explain and expand on the following
8. Answer the questions 1. What is human resource management? 2. What factors make it difficult to recruit qualified employees? Reading 2 1. There are several steps you must take to obtain a job. First, you fill out an application blank. Then you must go through an interviewing process. Predict other steps you must take to a job that is satisfying to you and to your employer. 2. Read the text and check your guesses.Selecting Employees Selection is the process of gathering information to decide who should be hired, under legal guidelines, for the best interests of the individual and the organization. Because of high turnover, the cost of selecting and training employees has become prohibitively high in some firms. Think of the costs involved–interview time, medical exams, training costs, unproductive time spent learning the job, moving expenses, and so on. It's easy to see how such expenses can run over $50,000 for a manager. Even entry-level workers can cost thousands of dollars to recruit, process, and train. Thus, the selection process is an important element in any human resource programme. A typical selection process would involve six steps. 1. Completion of an application form. Once this was a simple procedure with few complications. Today, legal guidelines limit the kind of questions one can ask. Nonetheless, such forms help discover educational background, past work experience, career objectives, and other information directly related to the requirements of the job. 2. Initial and follow-up interviews. Applicants are often screened in a first interview by a member of the human resource department staff. If the interviewer considers the applicant a potential employee, the manager who will supervise the new employee interviews the applicant as well. Many managers and even some human resource managers are not highly skilled in conducting job interviews. However, such interviews are helpful in testing an applicant's ability to communicate clearly, to adapt to a stressful situation, and to clarify his or her goals, career objective, and background. It's important that managers prepare adequately for the interview process to avoid election errors they may regret. 3. Employment tests. Employment tests have been severely criticized because of charges of discrimination. Nonetheless, organizations continue to use them to measure basic competencies, to test specific job skills (for example, welding, typing), and to help evaluate applicants' personalities and interests. In using employment tests, it's important that the test be directly job related. This will make the selection process more efficient and often satisfy legal requirements. 4. Background investigations. Most organizations are becoming more careful about investigating a candidate's work record, school record, and recommendations. It is simply too costly to hire, train, motivate, and lose people and then have to start the process over. Background checks help weed out candidates least likely to succeed and identify those most likely to succeed. It is not always easy to obtain this information, however. Many companies no longer provide references for fear of liability suits. 5. Physical exams. A complete medical background and check-up helps screen candidates. There are obvious benefits in hiring physically and mentally healthy people. However, medical tests cannot be given just to screen out specific applicants. If such tests are given, they must be given everyone applying for the same position. 6. Trial periods. Often an organization will hire an employee conditionally. This enables the person to prove his or her worth on the job. After a period of perhaps six months or a year, the firm has the right to discharge that employee based on evaluations from supervisors. Such systems make it easier to fire inefficient or problem employees, but do not eliminate the high cost of turnover. The selection process is often long and difficult, but worth the effort because of the high costs of replacing workers. The process helps assure that the people an organization hires are competent in all relevant areas, including communications skills, education, technical skills, experience, social fit, and health. Most firms recruit people who have the potential to be productive employees. They realize that potential involves effective training programs and proper managerial incentives. Carefully orienting individuals to their new environment can be an important step for the human resource manager. Vocabulary Focus3. Listed here are important terms found in this text. Choose the correct term for each definition below.
4. Which words do the following explanations define?
5. Insert the following words in the gaps in the text below.
Many people looking for work read the (1) ...... advertised in newspapers by companies and (2) ...... . To reply to an advertisement is to (3) ....... for a job. (You become a (4)...... or an (5) ....... .) You write an (6) ......., or fill in the company's (7)........, and send it, along with your (8) ...... and a covering letter. You often have to give the names of two people who are prepared to write (9) ........ for you. If your qualifications and abilities match the (10) ........, you might be (11) ...... . Comprehension6. Answer the questions
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