Consequences of OFCC to government contractors.
Federal contractors are required to comply with the government OFCC requirements before and after the commencement of an agreement contract. Contractors are required to prepare a written affirmative action program 120 days prior to the commencement of the government contract. The contractors must through the affirmative action tract any signs of under representation of minorities as well as women in their employees or the workforce. They should then give a report of their findings to the OFCCP where the government body enforces the executive order 11246 through the compliance reviews and any complaint investigations.
If in any case the OFCCP finds any violation of the compliance, the office gives a petition to the contractor through conciliation and persuasion. If the contractor agrees to the contract, it should be corrected within a given time frame and if there is no compliance, the OFCC can choose to impose sanctions which include termination or disbarment of the contract. (Paul 31).
The compliance varies depending on the size of the business as well as its nature. Contractor firms who have complied with the code of ethics and the business conduct receives an award and are required to give a written code of conduct and a business conduct within 30 days after the award is given. Consequently, the contractor is required to establish an ethics and training program for employees as well as an internal control system which is in proportion to the contractor size and the extent of its business with the government. In case the contractor is funded with disaster assistance funds, the business is therefore required by the OFCC to display any event and also put a specific fraud hotline which should be applicable to the specifics of the contractor business. (Paul 31).
2. Examples of how different motivation theories give different orientations to different Human Resources programs.
There are various motivation theories which have been studied, they include Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, dual factor theory by Hertzberg, need for achievement by McClelland, expectancy theory by Vroom among others. These theories have different impacts to different Human Resources programs.
The Hierarchy of needs theory specifies on psychological needs (food, water, shelter, sleep), safety needs, belongingness, esteem needs and self actualization. All these needs of a person give a different approach on human resources programs. For example the compensation program is affected by this theory due to the psychological needs factor of the theory managers need to look into the needs of people and ensure that the compensation is sufficient for their needs. The labor relation program is also affected due to the belongingness need in employees. The managers have to take a different approach during its implementation to ensure that there are good relations between employees so that they feel loved and have a sense of belongingness. Expectancy theory states that employees should put more effort to work if they are good reward; they must also believe excellent performance is of great value to employers therefore they will give good rewards for good work done. (Mathis & Jackson 313).
As a result, human resources program such as compensation is given different approach where managers use the pay–for–performance strategy. This will make employees perform better so as to get a good compensation package and on the other hand managers should use the theory to give motivation to the employees by ensuring that they are well paid for their work well. The dual factor theory reveals that job characteristics are related to job satisfaction, and dissatisfaction. Satisfaction factors are achievement, recognition, work itself, advancement, growth and responsibility while dissatisfaction factor are company policies, supervision, work conditions, salary, status and security. Human Resources programs related to these need to be given a different approach so as to ensure that the satisfaction outwit the dissatisfactions.
Taking position on, affirmative action and managing employed diversity.
Affirmative action plans, supports and measure diversity, equal opportunity and have several goals. An effective affirmative action plan increases a chance of acquiring qualified candidates for vacant positions in a firm. It emphasizes on legal necessity and social responsibility.
Managing diversity involves planning, implementing organizational systems and practices so as to manage people and ensure that the advantages derived from diversity are maximized while the disadvantage at a time when flexibility and creativity are key factors to competitiveness. An organization therefore, needs to be flexible so as to meet the needs of customers. It acknowledges people’s differences and enhances good management. Affirmative action is different from managing employee diversity, this is because while managing diversity focuses on maximizing employees ability to contribute to organizational goals, affirmative action focuses on the other side focuses on specific groups due to historical discrimination in terms of race and sex or gender. (Mathis & Jackson 313).
Further, managing diversity puts emphasis on necessity of business while affirmative action is concerned with under presentation of black people and women in workforce. However, the two are some what similar to each other, diversity has aspects such as gender, race, age physical ability and personal background which is closed looked at in affirmative action and equal employment opportunity. The two are compatible therefore, have similar basis.
We may therefore say that although the two aspects (affirmative action and managing employees’ diversity) are compatible as they are not identical because issue of diversity has no similarity with the mandated quotas, preferential treatment of particular groups or lowering of standards of people.
Recruiting: You have recruited an application pool of ten, for a foreman’s position what are your next steps
The recruitment process and selection of employees is the major function of department of human resources. It is the first step in creating a competitive advantage for an organization.
After the recruitment has been done, an organization should conduct an interview so as to determine who to choose for the job.
First, a preliminary is conducted which helps to screen out the unsuitable candidates for the position. This gives the employer a chance to be familiar with the chosen candidates. Questions related to knowledge and education person’s reaction to various situations, past behavior and experience and who the person really is asked. From the information gathered the employer selects those who qualify for the second interview so as to newly understand the person’s experience, over all response to questions and the ‘feel’ for a person to know whether he qualifies for the position and whether he fits in the company’s philosophies and goals. The interviews can be conducted on the phone, use questionnaires, one on one meeting panel interviews or ‘let’s do lunch’ interviews, usually depends on the nature of the position being interviewed for. (Mathis & Jackson 313).
After the second interview, the employer should be able to select the right candidate for the job and carry out the orientation/training process which will help the new employee to be familiar with the company, its processes and the knowledge and skills required for the job. Once the employee has gotten used to the requirements of the company then he carries on his duties well and is fully employed.
Separation: Market pressure forcing a (rift) reduction in force for your department, what possibilities will you look at.
There are various possibilities that can be looked at by a manager who wants to reduce work force in a department due to market pressure.
One is to look at those people who have a particular kind of training or experience in the department. Once these people have been identified the manager should then retain such people because they will be more effective in the department and distribute others in other departments which need more employees or terminate those who have poor skills in the work.
Another possibility to look at is the age of the people in the department there may be existence of old people who although have experience are old enough to retire and allow other younger people to run the department. Such employees in the organization should be made to understand the situation at hand and therefore volunteer to leave the department. Such persons can therefore be given retirements or be taken to a less demanding area so as to reduce the work force in the department. (Mathis & Jackson 313).
The possibility of cutting costs should also be looked at. A manager should consider the costs that are associated with reducing the force, whether reducing the force will reduce the costs being encountered in the department and if there will be a positive change then the labor force can be reduced so as to improve the market and reduce the pressure involved during the marketing process or pressure which may be forcing the head of the department to deploy people in the specific areas.
The most challenging aspect of performance appraisal.
Performance appraisal involves evaluation of an employee’s job performance in terms of quality, quantity, time and cost, in other words it is regular review of employee performance in a firm to provide information to managers which help in allocation of pay rises and promotions of the employees who deserve it.
One of the most challenging aspects of performance appraisal process is speaking with employees about areas that they need to improve their skills and performance. The attitude of the supervisor is very important because if he confronts an employee bluntly then the employee will be defensive and ignore the existence of the problem. Supervisors should therefore create discussions with employees and give factual evidence and instances and encourage employees to realize the problem and try to improve on it. (Cardy 132-162).
Another challenging aspect is deciding on what to assess in an employee aspects; they are such as competences (in terms of knowledge, skills, performance and abilities), Behavior (specific actions or tasks performed), outcomes output quantifiable results, objective attainment, achievement) and organizational citizenship behavior (actions over and above job responsibilities). These aspects may become a challenge because the manager may not be sure what aspects to base the appraisal on. A person may be having good skills and outcomes but lack good behavior (Cardy 132-162).
An organization can overcome these challenges by encouraging regular communication, learn to conduct status meetings and document an on going meeting, learn to handle a defensive employee and solve appraisal conflicts during discussions.
7. Training: A new procedure is being introduced to residential department of your university, b/c of security concerns curfews are being enforced, revise a training program to help RA’s adapt to this change.
A Group Social Skills Training Program with adolescents is a program which can be adapted in a university residential area to help the students adapt to changes that may have rose due to introduction of a curfew in the area. These skills help the student live in peace with fellow residents and the officers carrying out the curfew. There are some social skills that can be adapted by the students to ensure peace in the area despite the security problems.
One of the skills to be trained should be the ability to remain relaxed and at a tolerable level despite the security situation in the area so as to avoid problems with officers. The students can learn how to stay calm and keep away from trouble which may victimize them and cause more security problems.
Another skill is the ability to keep informed and listen to information on what is going on in the area. The students should then inform others in any developments so that they can know whether the situation is better or it is getting worse.
Another is to empathize with other residents who may have problems and be interested in others situations. There may be some students who may have been affected more by the security problem; others should therefore be of help to them.
Another skill is to learn how to keep rapport or an understanding of the situations. The students should understand the security status in the area and therefore keep calm help the officers in keeping calm. Students should also be trained to mind what the talk to prevent enforcements of more problems; they should therefore avoid topics which will add more problem to the already worse situation.
Development: it has been a good recruiting year for MBA’s into finance department, what are some of the programs for developing future leaders that can be considered.
Various programs can be developed to develop future leaders in a department or an organization as a whole. If an organization wants to build a robust leader development approach, it can do so by finding the best leaders and gathering them together so that they can share leadership ideas and goals and once they acquire the best leadership skills be used to growth next generation of leaders because mostly leaders grow from leaders. The senior leaders should not only develop a plan for the initiative but should also take part in coaching, mentor classes and also act as teachers so that the trainees can be able to learn from the seniors and adapt some of the aspects which will make them future good leaders. They should take into consideration how the aspiring leaders spend their time; check their characters and competencies which show a good sign of future leadership.
An organization can also adapt an ESMT program which helps to find future generation of leaders by building a strategic framework for supporting the development of high caliber leaders and maintain a company’s institutional knowledge capacity and vision so as to manage change successfully. Together with the human resources executives, ESMT ran explore the key success factors foundations, tools and instruments that are necessary to build excellent leaders and also maintain them. The program can evaluate learning communities established and give opportunities to access organization development processes. Develop a program that targets human resources and organizations development professional, especially those who wish to deepen their expertise in leadership field and prepare the organization for new challenges. Also line managers who recognize the importance of developing new talents in organizations help in future leadership development process.
Work cited:
Cardy Robert, performance appraisal in quality content, Sanfransisco, CA: Jossey- Bass, (1998).
Paul Ong, impact of affirmative action, Row man Altamira, California, (1998).
Robert Mathis & John Harold Jackson, human resources manager, Thomson South western. ISBN: 0324289588, (2006).
