RUNNING HEAD Dynamic OrganizationsDynamic Organizations15.docx

RUNNING HEAD: Dynamic Organizations
Dynamic Organizations 15
Partners of Dynamic Organizations
Debra Johnson
BUS 303 Human Resources Management
Instructor: Jeffrey Lindeman
October 20, 2013
Human Resources Development: Partner of Dynamic
Organizations
Imagine having to replace employees two and three times a
year. The lack of sufficient leadership can contribute to
insurmountable employee turnover to the detriment and/or
failure of organizational strategies and goals. The challenges
faced by organizations are important dimensions of HRM–the
policies, practices, and systems that influence employees'
behavior, attitudes, and performance. Key HRM competencies
that drive results today are integrated talent management,
workforce planning with social networking, and HRM strategic
planning. HRM is a two-fisted fundamental of successful
organizations.
Human Resources Planning, Recruitment, and Selection
Employees are the most valuable assets of an organization.
HRM planning facilitates the success of an organization's
strategic objectives. It forecasts and evaluates internal and
external personnel needs and balances the organization's

personnel demand. Another HRM function is to forecast future
labor supply and demand to guarantee a vigorous business
incentive. HRM ensures access to talent, knowledge, skills, and
abilities consistent with the needs of the organization. HRM
implements recruiting efforts to attract, hire, and retain
personnel consistent with organizational needs. (Lorette, 2012).
Developing an HRM strategy to preserve the goals and
strategies of an organization requires that HRM planning be
recognized as a primary part of the business planning process.
HRM's broad principles affecting the perception and behavior of
the entire organization are the underpinning concepts that
people tend to do things well. (Briggs, Keogh, 2001).
Integrating HRM strategy and strategic planning is fundamental
to organizational excellence. HRM strategic planning is the
most important factor for achieving vision, mission, and goals.
The integration of HR strategic planning and HR and planning
achieve business excellence. HRM's principles affecting the
perception and behavior of the entire are the underpinning
concepts that people tend to do things well. (Briggs, Keogh,
2001).
Recruiting
Being distinguished as an employer of choice contributes to the
organization's overall reputation and in turn attracts a wider
pool of applicants. HRM implements the recruiting, selection,
and personnel policies affecting the current employees and the
overall allure of the organization in the job market. (Youssef,
2012).
When considering which recruitment and selection methods to
use, a primary question is whether to adopt a low-involvement
or high-involvement strategy, depending on the familiarity of
the employer’s brand or a low-involvement strategy is best
suited when there is little awareness of the organization,
whereas a high-involvement strategy builds upon the knowledge
already known about the organization. (Collins & Han, 2004).
Linking recruitment to the strategic HRM process is critical to
the success of the organization. It ensures that the recruitment

process is aligned with organizational strategies. Recruitment
should be informed by HR planning, job analysis, and job
design. Recruitment serves as the foundation for effective
selection, compensation and benefits, training and development,
and performance appraisal. (Youssef, 2012).
Today, most prospective employees apply for jobs on an
organization's website. They have a great deal of important
information about the company available in front of them before
they apply. Website aesthetics can play a role in getting an
applicant to spend time on the site and learn about the
organization and its culture. The traditional channels of
recruiting include agencies, public job websites, advertising,
and direct recruiting; these channels still have a small place in
the recruiting process, but online recruiting is now the norm.
(Youssef, 2012).
Social recruiting is also gaining momentum; it is a process
where both online and offline social and professional networks
of individuals and organizations connect and communicate to
match jobs with the right candidates. Social recruiting has
taken many forms, such as the sourcing of candidates on social
networks. As employers search globally to infuse their
organizations with talent, many recruiters will increasingly rely
on social relationships through online communities.
Social recruiting has become the preferred method of recruiting
for Realtors© and real estate brokerages. The recent downturn
in the economy left the real estate profession frantically seeking
more economical and efficient ways to do business. Realtors©
have increased the ways in which they manage their businesses
and to keep superior relationships with their clients. HRM will
be a welcome and friendly face to the real estate business.
In attracting potential candidates, employers must carefully
construct the message they will communicate. The message has
to be credible, consistent and realistic in order to meet
applicants’ expectations. It is also important to consider
whom, how and when the message is conveyed. The importance
of attraction is even more important than selection. Other

factors influencing applicants’ view of an organization are
employer branding and corporate image. The key is to build on
any aspect that is distinct from that offered by competing
organizations in the same broad applicant pool. (Collins &
Han, 2004).
Global recruiting involves making recruiting and selection
decisions for the purpose of hiring individuals for assignments
in other countries. Global recruiting is extremely challenging,
and the associated costs are usually very high. Accurate
selection decisions have to be carefully considered and
validated. Global recruiting also involves a variety of factors
that HR managers have to adapt and prepare for, such as
different tax laws for different countries as well as various
customs, cultures, and traditions. For example, for a successful
global employee selection process to occur, HR managers must
exert themselves to depict the lifestyle, work environment,
culture, and habits to selected employees. Only then will
employees be able to deal with such issues as acceptable codes
of ethics and moral and religious values. (Collins & Han,
2004).
It is important to recognize the two-way nature of the
recruitment and selection process. Organizations want to find
out about candidates’ skills, needs and experience in order to
determine suitability. Applicants use the selection process as a
way of gathering information about the job and company in
order to self-assess their fit with the role or organization. Both
parties use this opportunity to sell themselves to the other party.
(Collins & Han, 2004).
Noticeable trends in recruitment and selection have emerged.
Traditionally, the objective of recruitment was to attract a high
quantity of applicants. Today, there has been an increase in the
diversity of recruitment objectives including future work,
mobility in and out of the organization, interaction with a wide
range of potential colleagues, fit with the current social
environment of customers, suppliers, culture and the physical
environment, particularly technology. Person-organization fit

is of growing importance. (Torrington, Hall & Taylor, 2008).
The Selection Process
The goal of the selection process is to predict future job
performance through assessing a predetermined set of factors
that related to applicants' ability or motivation to perform the
job. For example, organizations often hire applicants with the
highest scores on a particular test, or those who received the
most favourable ratings on an interview. The underlying
assumption and rationale for this common approach is that test
scores or interview ratings are accurate and consistent
predictors of subsequent job performance. Linking the
selection process to HRM, which includes planning, work
design, and selection will ensure that all processes mesh
effectively and have a unified goal. (Youssef, 2012).
Selecting candidates for employment entails the use of valid and
reliable methodologies. There are several methodologies used as
a means of ensuring that applicants to be selected will be a fit
for the job and the general organizational culture. Many
organizations continually look for ways to improve their
methodologies, including creating and using more valid and
reliable methods, instituting better training, and linking the
selection to the HRM process. (Youssef, 2012).
Enhancing the selection process can facilitate other HR
functions. Employees are more predictable when they are
selected using valid and reliable procedures. Their performance
level is more likely to be adequate and consistent. When
organizational and job fit are carefully considered in the
selection process, the process is likely to yield employees who
stay longer, have better attitudes, and are more satisfied with
their jobs. Planning for, training, and assessing this type of
workforce is significantly easier than would be the case in an
organization with high turnover and dissatisfied, low-
performing employees. (Youssef, 2012).
Legal Issues in the Selection Process
By their very nature, employee selection methods attempt to
differentiate between candidates who possess requisite job skills

and those who do not. When selection methods treat applicants
differently based on other factors such as race, age, or sex, they
are said to be discriminatory. It is the imperative for HR
professionals to understand the rights and obligations of both
the company and the job candidate in this sensitive area.
(Youssef, 2012).
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) means freedom from
discrimination on the basis of sex, color, religion, national
origin, disability and age. EEO rights are guaranteed by federal
and state fair employment laws and are enforced by the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and its state
counterparts. (SHRM, 2012).
Affirmative action plans (AAPs) define an employer’s standard
for proactively recruiting, hiring and promoting women,
minorities, disabled individuals and veterans. Affirmative
action is deemed a moral and social obligation to amend
historical wrongs and eliminate the present effects of past
discrimination. AAPs include numerical measures with the
intent of increasing the representation of minorities. (SHRM,
2012).
Diversity initiatives are goals devised to measure acceptance of
minorities by embracing cultural differences within the
workplace. Diversity initiatives are twofold: valuing diversity
and managing diversity. The value of diversity is achieved
through awareness, education and positive recognition of
cultural differences within the workplace. The management of
diversity expounds upon the experience and establishes the
business case for diversity that is closely aligned with an
employer’s organizational goals. (SHRM, 2012).
The combination of required or voluntary AAPs and diversity
initiatives create opportunities for cultural inclusion, respect for
differences, acceptance and respect for all workers. (SHRM,
2012).
Employee and Labor Relations
HRM is also bombarded with legal aspects of employment such
as new legislation, managerial and executive orders, and court

decisions. Maintaining nondiscriminatory practices while
determining employee eligibility and predicting performance are
serious challenges that HR managers face on a daily basis. HR
managers must exercise extreme caution to ensure that selection
procedures are appropriately and purposefully designed to
address only information that pertains to a job. (Youssef,
2012).
On the other hand, organizations that successfully promote
diversity in their workforces have the tremendous opportunity
to leverage unique talent and build a competitive advantage.
Many successful organizations pride themselves in having
cultures that embrace and celebrate diversity, which attracts
many talented employees from a wide range of backgrounds.
(Youssef, 2012).
Union activities directly affect HR practices. For example,
unions can impose pressure on management to give priority in
job selection to union members rather than outside applicants
when a position opens. Unions also influence the job selection
process through negotiating shorter probationary periods and a
quicker determination of employees' suitability for positions.
These activities can sometimes result in premature and poor
judgment of individuals, which may ultimately lead to
inaccurate selection decisions and unsatisfactory job
performance. Other areas where unions influence HR decisions
include testing, promotions, layoffs, and merit-based systems.
Organizations often seek favorable relations with unions, but
such relations can be challenging, as they can compromise the
validity and reliability of the selection process. (Youssef,
2012).
Human Resources Development
Employee expectations have changed. Employees everywhere
and of every generation expect more—more involvement, more
accountability, and more transparency. When it comes to
managing their performance, employees have shifted from being
passive recipients to active agents. Not satisfied with a one-
way download of performance feedback, employees want to

participate in the performance data collection process.
Training needs assessment is the first stage of the training
process. Training needs are assessed through evaluating
performance at the organizational and individual levels,
identifying any gaps between the current and the required
competencies that might hinder the organization's progress. If
training is indeed necessary, then the next step is to determine
the type of training that will most effectively strengthen the
specific areas where employees are struggling (O'Connor,
2006).
Performance appraisals differ from organization to organization.
Performance appraisals evaluate an employees' work
performance while the organization applies the results to assess
the efficacy of achieving its goals and objectives. An effective
performance appraisal system requires strategic HR
Management that aids to promote a spirit of mutuality.
Performance appraisals impart a better perception to employees
about their jobs, skills and limitations, and it identifies an
employee's developmental needs. (Youssef, 2012).
Several aspects of performance appraisals reveal an employee's
personality, malleability and flexibility to the work
environment. Employees' efficiency, growth potential,
communication skills, leadership skills, and other strengths and
weaknesses provide Human Resources Managers (HRM) with
important criteria to identify certain employees for promotions,
lateral transfers, or termination. Other advantages consequent
to employees and the organization of performance appraisals are
the long and short-term goals. (Youssef, 2012).
Training and development constitute one of the eight
critical practices in the HRM process. This is because the
purpose of strategic HRM is to help an organization achieve its
goals and objectives through people. Therefore, training and
development should help improve organizational competencies
and performance. This improvement can be realized by viewing
training needs in association with strategic organizational plans
and prioritizing them accordingly. Training and development

should help improve organizational competencies and
performance. This improvement can be realized by viewing
training needs in association with strategic organizational plans
and prioritizing them accordingly. (Lingham, 2007).
HR raises awareness among employees to improve
competitiveness and to boost their morale. Developing an HRM
role in training is important for an organization. For training
to contribute to an organization's strategic goals, it should be
based on those goals and should be evaluated against those
goals. Trainee reactions, learning, behavioral change, and
individual and organizational performance outcomes should all
be considered. HR enables the organization to contribute to the
development of a company's human capital, through its
influence on education policies and systems and training by
various training institutions, to better serve business needs.
(Lingham, 2007).
Training and development can lead to higher employee
productivity, talent retention, and the creation of a sustainable
human-based competitive advantage. These benefits often
outweigh the costs of training and justify training investments,
even during difficult economic times. HR’s role enables it to
influence organizations in regard to the need for them to invest
more in training and development, which employers should
recognize as one key to their competitiveness in the future.
(Youssef, 2012).
Leadership development can be obtained in-house
programs, professional programs, executive coaching, and
mentoring. Action learning is a method in which employees
focus on true business challenges and discussing progress and
lessons learned. Leadership development can also be
accomplished through a form of job rotation or management
training. A management-training program is structured where
high-potential trainees are trained for management positions
through a sequence of short-term job transfers and rotations.
These employees gain knowledge and skills within different
parts of the organization, gaining increased levels of challenge

and responsibility. Upon graduation, the employee i ready to
assume a leadership position. (Youssef, 2012).
Training can also encourage employee retention. Candidates
seek employers who offer and support training and career
advancement. Training and career development are more
treasured than high salaries, and they add to job satisfaction.
HRM designs, implements, and assesses training programs to
ensure quantifiable improvements that add to the organizations
core competencies. Training can identify employees with
exceptional skills and abilities who can contribute more
significant knowledge and skills to the organizations objectives.
HRM can impact an employee's career development with
opportunities such as formal education, full or partial tuition
reimbursement, and professional certifications for specialized
training in their areas of specialization. (Youssef, 2012).
The primary purpose of training is to enhance employees' skills
and enable them to perform their job more efficiently and
effectively; training usually therefore has a positive effect on
employee motivation, performance quality, productivity, and
engagement. In addition, creating an environment that promotes
training and offers career development opportunities will likely
boost employee motivation, morale, and retention. HR
planning, job analysis and design, recruitment, selection, and
performance appraisal should inform and be informed by the
organization's goals and strategies. HR planning, job analysis
and design, recruitment, selection, and performance appraisal
should inform and be informed by the organization's goals and
strategies.
Training and development in real estate is different yet
essential. It is one thing to get through a transaction or even a
day feeling ambivalent because of new practices to be learned
and where the time will come from to participate in the training.
HRM practices will one day alleviate the woes of people whose
time is not always their own. The concepts can be used to
prioritize areas of personal lives as well.
Safety and Health

Workplace settings vary in size, design, location, work
processes, and resources. Workers differ in age, gender,
training, education, culture, and health practices. Industry-
related accidents adversely impact the organization. Some of
the techniques used by HRM to avoid health and safety issues
include matching employee personalities with their job
description, conducting job safety awareness and training
programs, rewarding safe behavior, and distributing guidelines
and handbooks that detail safety and regulatory policies of the
organization. (Youssef, 2012).
Safety and health is probably one of the most obscure issues in
the workplace. There are many ramifications legally, in terms
of avoidable injuries, and to the organization. Often the
organizational policies and procedures are ignored. Safety and
health are also critical to HRM. As organizations evolve, so
will the hazards.
Compensation and Benefits
An aggressive business environment is forcing organizations to
re-examine the ways they attract and retain top talent without
compromising organizational goals. Compensation and benefits
are an organization's crucial tools for attracting and retaining
human resources, but they are scrutinized now more than ever.
Organizations look for methods of motivating employees, and
compensation and benefits play a vital role in motivation. HRM
administers the organizational pay structure. HRM monitors
market conditions to ensure that the organization is competitive.
HRM also collects and analyzes information on wages and
salaries and evaluates the organization’s pay structure in
comparison to other companies. The information is then
utilized by HRM for future recruiting efforts. (Youssef, 2012).
Jobs within an organization do not necessarily have the same
pay structure. Jobs should be evaluated through the HRM
planning, job analysis, and job design processes. Through job
analysis, an employer can identify a number of factors for
specific jobs that can facilitate the establishment of appropriate
compensation levels. For example, responsibilities and

activities, skill sets, environment and compensable factors can
be considered when establishing compensation levels. Each job
is given a value and weighted in relation to others creating a
compensation hierarchy that is crucial to creating consistent
compensation systems. Some organizations have established
internal equity for most of their jobs and use a market pricing
structure for positions where unique, rare skills are needed.
(Youssef, 2012).
Compensation can also be based on employee performance.
Perceptions of equity and justice are associated with employees'
compensation, their performance, and their contributions to the
organization in turn motivating employees to be more
productive and effective. (Youssef, 2012).
HRM is a two-fisted fundamental of successful organizations.
References:
ACAS. (n.d.) Promoting employment relations and HRM
excellence. Recruitment and Selection. Retrieved from:
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=746Briggs, S. and
Keogh, W. (2001). Integrating human resource strategy and
strategic planning to achieve business excellence. : Human
Resource Management. Human Resources.com/UA. Retrieved
from: http://www.management.com.ua/hrm/hrm017.html
Collins, C. & Han, J. (2007). Exploring Applicant Pool
Quantity and Quality: The Effects of Early Recruitment Practice
Strategies, Corporate Advertising, and Firm Reputation.
Retrieved from:
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/articles/44/
Lingham, L. (2007). Human Resources’ Role of HRM in Career
Training and Organizational Development. AllExperts.
Retrieved from: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Human-Resources-
2866/role-HRM-career-training.htm
TheSociety for Human Resource Management. (2013). The
New Recruiting Paradigm. Retrieved from:
http://www.shrm.org/Pages/login.aspx?

ReturnUrl=%2fmultimedia%2fwebcasts%2fpages%2f0213d
ouglas.aspx%3fhomepage%3dmarquee&homepage=marqueeLore
tte, K. (2012). The Three Key Elements of the Human
Resources Planning Model. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved
from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/three-key-elements-
human-resources-planning-model-4751.htmlParry, E. & Tyson,
S. (2008). An analysis of the use and success of online
recruitment methods in the UK. Retrieved from:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-
8583.2008.00070.xTorrington, D., Hall, L., Taylor, S. (2008)
Human Resource Management and Development. Center for
Financial and Management Studies. SOAS. University of
London. Retrieved from:
www.cefims.ac.uk/documents/sample-31.pdf
US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2012). EEOC
Policy Guidance. Retrieved from:
http://www.eeoc.gov/employers/index.cfm
Youssef, C. (2012). Human resource management. San Diego,
CA: Bridgepoint Education.
RUNNING HEAD: Oligopolies 1
RUNNING HEAD: OLIGOPOLY 3
Oligopolies
Debra Johnson
Principles of Microeconomics
Instructor: Greg Kropkowski

July 18, 2012
Oligopoly and monopolistic competition have some similarities,
but also have a few important differences. Both are examples of
imperfect competition on the market structure continuum
between ideals of perfect competition and monopoly. The
dividing line between oligopoly and monopolistic competition
can be blurred due to the number of firms in the industry. The
primary difference between oligopoly and monopolistic
competition is the relative size and the market control of each
firm based on the number of competitors in the market. There
is no clear-cut dividing line between these two market
structures, for example, the women's and girl's cut and sew
apparel manufacturing and fluid milk manufacturing industries.
Characteristics of an Oligopoly
An industry is a group of firms that produce goods or services
that are close substitutes in consumption. The similarity of the
products makes it possible to analyze the production in a market
structure. An industry can be broadly defined, such as the
manufacturing industry, or narrowly specified, such as the fluid
milk industry. For most economic analysis the term industry is
used interchangeably with the term market.
Oligopoly is a market structure characterized by a small number
of relatively large firms that dominates an industry. The market
can be dominated by as few as two firms or as many as twenty,
and still be considered oligopoly. With fewer than two firms,
the industry is monopoly. As the number of firms increase, with
no exact number, oligopoly becomes monopolistic competition.
(Case, Fair, Oster, 2009) p.284.
An oligopolistic firm is relatively large compared to the overall
market, and has a substantial degree of market control. An
oligopoly does not have the total control over the supply side as
exhibited by a monopoly, but its capital is significantly greater
than that of a monopolistically competitive firm. (Case, Fair,
Oster, 2009) p.296.
Relative size and extent of market control means that

interdependence among firms in an industry is a key feature of
oligopoly. The actions of one firm depend on and influence the
actions of another. Such interdependence creates a number of
interesting economic issues. One is the tendency for competing
oligopolistic firms to turn into cooperating oligopolistic firms.
When they do, inefficiency worsens, and they tend to come
under the scrutiny of government. (Case, Fair, Oster, 2009)
p.296.
THE ROLE OF CONCENTRATION RATIOS
The four-firm concentration is commonly used to indicate the
degree to which an industry is oligopolistic and the extent of
market control held by the four largest firms in the industry.
For example, the NAICS 31-33 Statistics Report (2007) shows
that the four largest Fluid Milk Manufacturing(311511) reported
51.5 percent concentration ratio. The Women's and Girls' Cut
and Sew Apparel Manufacturing (31523) reported at 18.2
percent. (Concentration Ratios NAICS, 2007).
Concentration ratios, especially the four-firm concentration
ratio, are designed to measure industry concentration, and by
inference the degree of market control. Concentration ratios
range from a low of 0 percent to a high of 100 percent. At the
low end, a 0 percent concentration ratio indicates an extremely
competitive market. At the high end, a 100 percent
concentration ratio means an extremely concentrated oligopoly
or even monopoly if the one-firm concentration ratio is 100
percent. Fluid Milk Manufacturing (51.5) and the Women's and
Girls' Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing (18.2) qualify as
oligopolies. (Concentration Ratios NAICS, 2007).
Certainly, there is much to guard against in the behavior of
large, concentrated industries. Barriers to entry, large size, and
product differentiation all lead to market power and to potential
inefficiency. Barriers to entry and collusive behavior stop the
market from working toward an efficient allocation of
resources. For several reasons, however, economists no longer
attack industry concentration with the same fervor they once
did. (Case, Fair, Oster, 2009) p.301.

First, even firms in highly concentrated industries can be
pushed to produce efficiently under certain market
circumstances. Second, the benefits of product differentiation
and product competition are real. After all, a constant stream of
new products and new variations of old products comes to the
market almost daily. Third, the effects of concentration on the
rate of R&D spending are, at worst, mixed. It is true that large
firms do a substantial amount of the total research in the United
States. (Case, Fair, Oster, 2009) p.301.
In some industries, substantial economies of scale simply
preclude a completely competitive structure.
References
Case, K.E., Fair, R.C., and Oster, S.E. (2009). Principles of
Macroeconomics. (9th ed). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
Pearson Prentice Hall.
United States Department of Commerce, US Census Bureau,
Concentration Ratios NAICS (2007). Retrieved from:
http://www.census.gov/econ/concentration.html

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