The heart of the book examines how to make effective decisions about human resources. It achieves this by analyzing the prevailing pressures and issues facing managers; discussing the concepts, theories, and research related to these issues; and describing the actions taken by leading organizations to achieve their objectives. Examples of the issues covered include: the effects of work-family pressures; work force diversity; global worldwide trends, such as the European Unions social charters and Asian expectations and cultural norms (integrated throughout the book); the use of high-performance work teams and new approaches to employee relations; the explosion in the use of information and computers as decision aids; college student recruiting; workforce reductions and downsizing; managing careers; aligning business strategies and human resource decisions; and more.
Many practices that now enjoy current popularity have potentially negative consequences. Too often attention is focused on improving the bottom line, while the potential downside for employees and their dependents is ignored. Examples include the use of contract workers, variable pay, and shifting health costs to employees; all of these actions increase the uncertainty and risk people face. These issues are discussed throughout the book.
Part 1 Assess Conditions,Plan And Set Objectives
Part 2 External Staffing
Part 3 Employee Development
Part 4 Compensation
Part 5 Employee/Labor Relations