Chapter 15 Discussion

Concept & Brief Description: Helping Expatriates Return Home. When the Expatriates assignment ends the human resource management department has to help them transition back to his or her home country. This transition can be hard because of the lifestyle they are given. This may include: maid service, limousines, private schools and clubs.
Emotional Hook: Think if you were given an assignment that took you away from your home and culture for quite some time and then were expected to end that life and go back to your country and previous life and live it like you did before.
Key Points: The two main activities that help with this change are communication and validation. It is important for expatriates to know when they begin that there will be continual change. The more the organization keeps in contact with the expatriate the more effective and satisfied they will be on returning home. Validation is giving the expatriate recognition for their overseas service. It almost seems like a duty and when they duty is over they are pleased with their work and can go right back to their old lifestyle. It is also how the employee will be able to help the organization. like what skills will they bring and what position will they fill? This skill may be learned from a culture.
Facilitative Questions: What do the organizations do if they are given lots of trouble from the expatriate when they are finished with their assignment and are transitioning home? Is there a contract that lets them know what there assignment entails? What if they commit and then if they are asked to do something they refuse to do it because they didn't know they would have to do that ahead of time?

Chapter 13 Reflexion

Benefits- Includes all benefits- government and company.
Discussions- Benefits are really important!

Government Mandated Stuff-

Benefits required by law- could change drastically in a year.

· Social Security- Flat payroll tax on employees and employers.

· Unemployment Insurance- Payroll tax on employers that depend on state requirements on experience rating.

· Workers’ Compensation Insurance- Provide coverage according to state requirements. Premiums depend on experience rating.

· Family and Medical Leave- up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for childbirth, adoption, or serious illness

We talked a lot about benefits and how important they are. It is so expensive to live and it seems like it is a smarter thing to do to get a job that gives good benefits rather then pays well. Pay is great but the older I get the more I see benefits can be better.

Library Day!

Today we went to the Library and learned all about how to use the libraries resources. Christy Donaldson came and taught us about it. I have never understood how to use those things before but now I can use them to write my HRM research paper as well as my English research paper. I learned a lot and was able to use the information to find stuff.

Chapter 9 Discussion

1. Dysfunctional Managers: can be toxic to the environment because a lot of the time they stifle good ideas and can drive away employees. Some of the behaviors causing this are intensity to others, inability to be a team player, arrogance, poor conflict management skills, inability to meet business objectives, and inability to adapt to change. There are programs that can help with this.
2. My experience with this has been that when I worked at a scrap booking store my manager was afraid of me because my dad was one of the owners of the company. She would always tell all the workers that they had to work hard when I was around. It made me really mad because it shouldn't matter if my dad owned the company or not. Everyone should be working hard no matter what.
3. I think in this situation it would have helped to treat me the same as all the other girls. I had an interview like all the rest, I had to be trained just like everyone else. I think it would be hard being a manager but I have seen many effective managers and I think they are that way because they are well balanced, kind but stubborn when she needed to be. I hope I can one day be able to master the art of being an excellent manager.
4. My question would be why might people not try hard when they are the manager? Don't they realize they could put their job in jeopardy. I just think you would want to work harder to keep your position because a lot of time it is better than being an employee and getting paid minimum wage.

Chapter 8 Discussion

1. Rating Behavior: there are a couple different ways to measure behavior. Critical-incident method, Behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS), Behavioral observation scale (BOS), and Organizational behavior modification (OBM). All of these ways helps companies

2. I know that for me my employers have always just interviewed me and then as the time goes on they make the changes that are needed for the company to run the way they want. They might ask me to change some things and then see how well I do it and how well it works for both of us.

3. I think the point that I thought was the most effective is the OBM. the three things that happen in this one are:

1. Define a set of key behaviors necessary for job performance.

2. Use a measurement system to assess whether the employee exhibits the key behavior.

3. Inform employees of the key behaviors, perhaps in terms of goals for how often to exhibit the behaviors.

4. Provide feedback and reinforcement based on employees' behavior.

4. How is the most effective way to find out future employees behaviors before you hire them?

Chapter 6 Reflexion

I thought the guest speaker did a fabulous job in helping me understand proper training better. I think that a lot of companies do not train properly and run into problems. There are also those that only focus on the training and don't give that trust to their employees. They end up with robots instead of critical thinkers and problem solvers. I hope that I can have a happy medium of training when I start a business and that I can trust my employees enough so they can think on their own and be able to help the company progress.

Chapter 6 Discussion

1. Advantages and Disadvantages of Interviewing. It is important to know how your employees will communicate with those around them. A lot of the business does well according to the customer service of the company so it would make sense to pick the employees that will accomplish that for the company. But then again there can be problems with interviews. Like for one it takes up time from the employer. It can be based on certain peoples biases. You can run into discrimination problems.
2. I think that only one of my jobs had a great and effective interview and that was for my nanny job. My job at the bakery and at a scrapbooking store weren't very effective. They just asked me the stupid questions that they have been asking people since they first started the company. I want to feel important and like the employer is actually thinking hard on whether to hire me or not, not just going through the motions.
3. I think it is good to have interviews but I don't think they have to be the only thing that decides if the person should get the job. Some people get nervous and may not be themselves in an interview. I think it is important to see them actually perform. I think it is important to figure out what would be the best questions to ask those that want to be hired and then figure out if you want them to answer what you want to hear or be truthful.
4. How do you have a comfortable but formal setting in a job interview? What kinds of problems do you think will occur in the company if you choose not to interview? What are your opinions on Interviews?