Elliott HR Management Blog

This assignment is exciting for me because learning about workplace differences between cultures, truly fascinates me. I recently listened to a podcast where author of “The Culture Map” was the guest. It was enjoyable to hear her experiences working with cultures and changing her views past the American expectations. The map allows you to click on whichever countries you are working with and receive a cultural mapping of the selected countries/cultures. With this, you can view how two (or more) cultures fall on eight culture map scales, comparing how each builds trust, gives feedback, and makes decisions.

In regards to our lectures this week, these ideas were helpful. The country I’ve chose to compare is China. Research regarding the cultural distance between China and the US has found that there are many differences between the two countries and Hofstede’s model (Xiumei, et al). For example, the U.S. has a higher display of Individualism while China works more collectively. China also puts much more emphasis on Long Term Orientation than the U.S. does. This orientation means that in the workplace, China may value tradition and reputation more than the United States.

Based on our lectures, I would take the difference in laws into consideration. For example, termination of employees looks different from what we’re used to here in the U.S. China’s laws actually favor the employee more and being able to fire an employee without cause or severance pay require more specific circumstances (Global). This could help me feel more stable taking a job in China where I may feel that I would have more time to get my footing in the role without the fear of not having job security. Another idea to consider is the differences in communication. Erin Meyer describes how she traveled to China to speak and learned that unlike American’s they do not ask questions in the same way. Due to the culture, Chinese people tend to leave several seconds of silence before speaking up where westerners are accustomed to speaking up frequently in order to stand out. She learned that she wasn’t recognizing many valuable opinions from other cultures and was catering more to American norms (Bellis). This consideration could help me refrain from “stealing the show” with Chinese coworkers and recognize the difference in how we share our knowledge.

Recognizing the differences in values, laws, and communication would be key with being able to succeed in the workplace in China.

Citations

Bellis, Rich. “How Not to Run a Meeting with Your International Colleagues.” Fast Company, Fast Company, 6 Mar. 2017, https://www.fastcompany.com/3068755/how-not-to-run-a-meeting-with-your-international-colleagues.

Global, L&E. “Termination of Employment Contracts in China.” L&E Global Knowledge Centre, 4 Feb. 2021, https://knowledge.leglobal.org/termination-of-employment-contracts-in-china/.

Xiumei, SHI, and WANG Jinying. “Cultural Distance between China and US across Globe Model and Hofstede Model.” International Business and Management, http://cscanada.net/index.php/ibm/article/view/j.ibm.1923842820110201.004. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/j.ibm.1923842820110201.004

Through the three surveys, I learned that I have a high life stress inventory that puts me 50% at risk of a major health breakdown in the next two years. Apparently I tend to lean more towards problem-focused strategies which is more helpful for actual problems but not for cases that cannot be controlled. Luckily, the type A survey results showed that I’m not likely to have an elevated rate of heart disease.

Ideas to help manage stress at work include tracking my stressors through journaling. Staying active and making more time for hobbies are also ways to lessen work stress. According to the CDC, early warning signs of job stress are headaches, sleep disturbances, difficulty in concentrating, short temper, upset stomach, job dissatisfaction, and low morale. St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company conducted several studies on the effects of stress prevention programs in hospital settings. These studies analyzed employee and management education on job stress, changes in hospital policies and procedures to reduce organizational sources of stress, and establishment of employee assistance programs.

Although there is no specific “how to” on how to prevent work stress, some companies are taking proactive approaches like building general awareness about the causes, costs and control of job stressors. Organizations are also implementing new programs with management commitment and involvement of employees for valuable input and decision-making. Research has shown that participatory efforts between management and employees can be effective in dealing with ergonomic problems in the workplace because they capitalize on workers’ firsthand knowledge of hazards present in their roles.

A specific example of this is a study performed on a large manufacturing company. The organization created a labor management team to focus on work-stress prevention. The program they designed was divided into two parts. The first focused on management practices and job conditions while the second was comprised of 12 weekly training sessions that were made available during both work and non-work hours. This company had no existing evidence of abundant stress and designed this program purely for prevention of future stress-related occurrences.

https://www.apa.org/topics/healthy-workplaces/work-stress

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/99-101/default.html#Job%20Stress%20and%20Health

Recently, my husband was offered a management position with his company. However, the compensation was salary opposed to his current hourly compensation with quality overtime pay, included. While the management position would include bonuses, there is more of an opportunity to make higher compensation in his current role. Combined with this difference in the roles and the idea of being over-worked for less pay, he chose to decline the offer. This situation makes me think of this week’s chapter readings for “First, Break all the Rules”. Instead of relating higher compensation to higher roles in the company, some organizations are paying front-line workers up to three times more than managerial roles. This relates to my husband’s position because even though he’s not in management, his company doesn’t cap their compensation in order to keep representatives in that role, motivated. In addition, this type of decision also allows workers to be a better fit for management instead of deciding solely on the aspect of receiving higher compensation.

Onboarding processes that I have experienced have varied across the jobs I’ve held. Out of the handful of positions I’ve been a part of, there are two that greatly contrast in my opinion of effectiveness. In one of my jobs, not only did I have peers that I felt comfortable going to for help, but I also trusted my boss to have my best interests at heart. In the other position, there was only one other coworker in my work environment and although we got along, I felt more alone during my time on the job. I feel these aspects relate to my over-all success and happiness due to my perception of my job security and confidence in the role.

The article “Your New Hires Won’t Succeed Unless You Onboard Them Properly” makes some great points that relate to my experiences in these two instances. For example, the article describes how a meta-analysis was conducted that examined the findings of 70 separate studies. From this data, a connection between employees feeling socially accepted and their success was found. In my first position, I felt welcomed by my coworkers and was confident that they would help me when I needed it. I especially took to one coworker that went out of her way in the beginning of my employment to mentor me. This relationship set a solid foundation to the success I found down the road.

However, I had a very opposite experience with the next role. In this role, I felt very separated from my peer and we started working at the same time. As a result, we both relied on our boss for training. This training resulted in being self-guided and we were directed to wing it and learn on our own without interrupting much of his day. Where one role I felt socially accepted and supported, the other I felt that I was isolated. This difference in onboarding could have had an impact on my over-all success, especially seeing that I was not only happier in the first role, but also performed significantly better.

Citation: Ellis, A., Nifadkar, S., Bauer, T., and Erdogan, B. (2017) Your New Hires Won’t Succeed Unless You Onboard Them Properly.Links to an external site. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles 

I’ve been a part of various types of interviews over the years and our readings this week have helped me understand those companies more and why they chose the tactics they did. In terms of utility, I recall a group interview back in 2014 with a large banking institution. I was pretty nervous about the idea of a group interview and was not excited about the idea. I understand now that due to the amount of positions that needed to be filled and the cost of time, a group interview made the most sense for that company. However, I found that a group setting is most beneficial for applicants that display more extrovert qualities. In order to stand out in a group of 15+, individuals need to speak up and get noticed. This setting set me up for success since I’m naturally apt to take part in group discussion but for people who don’t strive in that type of competitive environment, the organization may have lost out on talented hires. Over-all, this group interview choice may not cater to all personalities but in reference to utility, it makes sense. Being that the positions to be filled were going to be entry-level jobs, this company saved resources by combining multiple applicants that met certain criteria and were able to select promising candidates all at once. While this effort succeeds in hiring for positions that have a higher rate of turnover than other career opportunities within the company, it may also be a narrow choice for personality types.

When it comes to one-on-one interviews, I have had some contrasting experiences. Where one process, I did three separate one-on-one interviews with multiple managers for the same location, I’ve also experienced just one interview with the leading manager. I found interviewing with all manager types for the same company to be a great example of reliable validity. This process was able to be repeated with similar questions but multiple outlooks from management that would be involved in my day-to-day activities. That way, each manager could do their own evaluation and then they were able to come together to see if their experiences, with me, aligned. In the event that I was interviewed with only one manager before being hired, their tactics still displayed reliable validity even though he didn’t have the resources for other leaders to evaluate my behavior. Instead of having multiple outlooks, he chose to have me complete a personality test immediately before the sit down interview. This choice asked an arrangement of questions, many of which were the same idea phrased differently to be able to find solid qualities to see if I would fit in the environment for the job.

Between the different types of interviews, the utility choices made sense for each company. Although multiple variations were implemented, each experience provided reliable validity through the type of questions and tools that were used.

Citations

Lecture 2: Introduction to Selection

Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Steinmetz, C. (2013). The perfect hireLinks to an external site. . Scientific American Mind , 24 (3), 42-47

Developing and updating job descriptions is a part of business that previously felt mundane to me. Our readings this week forced me to take another look at just how important they can be when it comes to finding valuable talent. In the article titled “Job Worth Doing: Update Descriptions”, it that caught my attention that a company can be potentially sued for not including a required work task in their public job description. As I say that, it sounds silly to not realize that liability but that’s a great example of how many facets there are in the business world that make a difference. The challenge of keeping descriptions up to date and accurate could be overcome by routinely surveying current employees on their day-to-day tasks. It could also be beneficial to set up a system where the responsibility to update the job descriptions goes through a review process in order to consider more than one opinion. Like the article states, even if job requirements have stayed the same, it’s important to consider how the wording and design is taken into account. If a description is dated multiple years, it may be obvious to applicants and that attention to detail could defer someone from being interested in applying. To overcome that obstacle, there should be at least an annual review of the description with research-backed data that shows updated ways to catch a potential applicant’s attention. Over-all I can see the benefit in including current employees in the process but also comparing similar role details with other companies in order to keep the description current and not relying on one specific example. Developing and maintaining job descriptions may be regularly overlooked but making it a regular part of employee reviews and not catering the description around a specific individual could make a positive impact on attracting the right kind of candidates and avoiding potential lawsuits.

Citation

Tyler, K. (2018, April 11). Job worth doing: Update descriptions. SHRM. Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/Pages/0113-job-descriptions.aspx.

How to see HR in successful companies

Citations

Breitfelder, M. D., & Dowling, D. W. (2008). Why Did We Ever Go Into HR?.Links to an external site. Harvard Business Review, 86(7/8), 39-43.

Buckingham, M. & Coffman, C. 2016. First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently.Links to an external site. page 14 (2016 print)

Garvin, D. A. (2013). How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management (Links to an external site.). Harvard Business Review, 91(12), 74-82.

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