Rylan Wymer - HR Management Blog

Option 1: Labor Unions

I chose to look into the pros and cons of labor unions. I hear a lot of mixed opinions on labor unions and while I don’t know someone I can immediately talk to about their experiences with unions, every conversation I’ve had with someone in a union always painted it in a great light while if they were not in a union they typically talked down on unions. Those in unions stated they got higher standard pay, more benefits, and more job security and protection. While those not in unions said they are too controlling, didn’t allow for fast advancement and benefitted seniority rather than merit and skill, and limits autonomy and individuality in favor of coming to a group consensus. This coincides with a lot of the information I received from my online research and this weeks learning material. Overall the key takeaways I’ve gotten from my research and this weeks learning materials it seems that whether someone would prefer to be in a union or not depends on what they are looking for in their career. If they value higher job security, generally a higher standard wage rate, and benefits then maybe going a union would be better for them. If someone believes more in meritocracy where employees are based on their actual job skill rather than their seniority or if they don’t like how some unions may have a closed culture and make it hard for minority workers to feel comfortable in union shops then being non-union could be for them. Personally I’m not really swayed by being union or non-union and I think it would depend more on what sort of trade/industry I was in and what company I worked for, but if I had to make a blind decision the safer option to me seems to be going the union route.

Understanding the Pros and Cons of Labor Unions

The Pros and Cons of Unions – SmartAsset

After taking the three tests;

Take the Life Stress Inventory,
Coping and Stress Management Skills Test,
 Type A Personality Survey,
my results were a 133 on the Life Stress Inventory Test, a 43 on the Type A Personality Survey, and a 65 on the Coping and Stress Management Skills Test. Generally these seems to be pretty “average” scores. The 133 on the Life Stress Inventory Test means that I have had a relatively low amount of life change in the past year and a low susceptibility to stress-induced health breakdown so this didn’t seem to be a cause for too much concern.

The 43 on the Type A Personality Survey means that my interactions with others are,

“generally characterized by warmth and tolerance, are also at times tinged with impatience and hostility. When you’re stressed or frustrated, you can lash out at others or end up stewing in anger or frustration. Even your moderate score may put you at risk because this aspect of the Type A Behavior Pattern (TABP) can not only be extremely harmful to relationships, it is also very damaging to your health. While originally it was thought that global TABP was the culprit in coronary heart disease, research now shows that hostility, impatience, and the other related traits are likely the real source of the problem. Based on your results here, you may be at an increased risk of heart disease. Keep in mind however, that there are other causes unrelated to the TABP, such as poor diet, lack of exercise, and smoking, among other things.” (https://psychologytoday.tests.psychtests.com/bin/transfer)

This seems to be moderate score but could still lead to some pretty serious outcomes if I don’t take notice of it.

Finally, my 65 on the Coping and Stress Management Skills Test means that I,

“sometimes use problem-focused strategies in order to cope with stress. Although using these methods is generally ineffective when dealing with situations you can’t change or control, they tend to be rather handy when the stressor you are facing is controllable. Thus, in certain cases, it’s a good idea for you to take action in order to modify or take charge of a stressor in order to better cope with it.” (https://psychologytoday.tests.psychtests.com/bin/transfer)

So it seems I have a habit of stressing about things I can’t control which I would agree with. I don’t necessarily think this is too bad of a shortcoming and feel that it is typically just a trait of being a human being. But, recognizing it and being able to cope with it is something that is key especially in my career as there will be a large amount of instances where I can’t control things in commercial construction. Whether that’s weather, design changes, etc.

I think for me the key steps I can take to manage stress are prioritizing my physical health, as when I get a good amount of sleep and make it a habit to workout and be active I feel better not only physically but mentally as well. When I get into a rut and am not working out or eating bad I find myself feeling worse mentally as well. A lot of organizations also agree with this as the company I will be working for makes it so employees have discounted access to gyms. This makes it so employees have more of an incentive to lead a healthy lifestyle especially in such a stressful industry like construction. Overall, I think for me having a routine where I am able to be healthy ends up making it so the stress of my everyday life be it school or work is much more manageable.

Compensation can be a huge driving factor in the way one may act or approach a certain situation. In my case, I was recently offered a full-time position at a company I have been interning with the past couple years as I will be graduating from OSU after this year and I feel that I definitely acted in a certain set of behaviors as I was motivated by the potential compensation I would be receiving. As well as I would most likely be giving this company multiple years of life and wanted to make sure I felt like I was making the right choice if I accepted. During the interview process I was much more thorough in asking questions about financial details than I have been in the past when interviewing for internships as I was now focused not only on the experience I would be getting from the job but making a livable wage. I wouldn’t say I felt more comfortable asking questions that would usually make me feel uneasy but I understood that it was important to do so and it showed I cared about the compensation package I would be receiving. Ultimately, I accepted the offer for a lot more reasons other than compensation but I feel that I certainly acted in a different way due to it.

Trainings for anything be it school, work, or a hobby can be very hit or miss depending on how they are ran. For me an effective training usually involves hands-on examples so I can visually see how something is done. I don’t usually work the best without an example first. So a training that I have had that I found very beneficial was my drivers ed class I took when I was 16. They were very thorough and took it slow both in the classroom and when we would go out and drive. I think the hands-on examples and group setting really cultivated a good learning environment and it made it so something that could potentially be dangerous like driving ended up not being scary and I felt confident in my skills. On the flip side a training I’ve had that wasn’t that effective are my monthly work trainings that are sent online and basically are comprised of a couple short videos followed by a quiz. There is nothing hands-on or that really makes you care about the topic and you can finish them in about 5 minutes without even really learning anything. I think this is not an effective way to hold trainings as it doesn’t really stick with someone and makes them feel more like a chore than something useful. It also takes the human aspect out of training which can help someone learn even more. Overall, they don’t feel that helpful and seems to be more of a checklist sort of deal where the company does it just to be able to say they do monthly trainings.

For my implicit attitude test I chose to take one on Race (White – Black), as I felt this would be the most interesting and thought provoking test to see the results of potential implicit bias as I am caucasian. The test results were pretty interesting as I find myself to be very progressive so seeing that I ended up being faster at sorting African Americans with “Bad” than I was at sorting European Americans with “Bad” surprised me and honestly didn’t make me feel that great. I suppose this is why they are called implicit biases, as I don’t feel that these would affect me in the case that I was overseeing a selection process. However, I wonder if these could subconsciously impact my decision making without me being really aware of it. In this scenario, I suppose I definitely can see how implicit bias could impact the reliability or validity of a selection process. One idea to counteract this would be to have a diverse panel of various employees from the recruiting company hosting the selection process so it helps to improve the fairness and makes it so one persons bias doesn’t decide if someone isn’t hired. Another thought would be to incorporate blind reviews or evaluations of potential candidates so it makes it more based on their merit and experience and doesn’t introduce opportunity for biases based on demographics. Overall, just understanding implicit biases do exist and being aware of them is the first step in starting to counteract them. If we just push them off to the side then we are doing a disservice and not working to make it more fair for everyone in the work force and in society as a whole.

Interviews are key in finding new talent for companies and they act as a two-way street in the sense that both the interviewer and the candidate have ways they can make the interview effective or ineffective for themself.

In my experience effective interviews for employers typically stem from them being straightforward and honest about what they are looking for, the requirements of the job, etc. As this weeds out applicants and doesn’t waste time for either party, this gets into selection utility and making it worth it for the candidate to actually apply at the company.

Whereas ineffective interviews for employers in my experience make candidates jump through hoops like holding multi-round interviews and just stringing them along without clear results or outcome. I also think interviewers that don’t provide clear information on the job or what it entails can make it ineffective or ultimately lead to quick turnover.

Overall, I’d just advise employers to be honest which can be hard in a business setting and then just have a structured set of questions that give them a clear idea of the candidates knowledge, capabilities, and even lets their personality shine through too.

Developing and maintaining proper job descriptions can present a lot more challenges than one might initially think. As they are used for multiple facets throughout a company from recruiting, performance analysis, and even compensation. This means there are a lot of potential risks that can potentially occur if they aren’t developed or maintained properly. For example, an outdated job description can be used by an employee that files a claim against the company as they may be able to say they are being asked to do more than what is in the job description or if they were fired for not doing something listed in the job description it could also make for a valid case. Having poorly developed or maintained job descriptions also just doesn’t allow the company to run as smoothly as proper ones, as it creates confusion, isn’t able to be used for workforce planning or performance reviews. (Job worth doing: Update job descriptions
Links to an external site.) It ends up making it unclear for current or potential employees exactly what is expected of them. Which can end up limiting their engagement and productivity when working, ultimately impacting the efficiency of the company. As well as limiting managers ability to find new talent and recognize top performers. In order to overcome some of these challenges associated with unclear job descriptions it is paramount to take the extra time to develop them the job descriptions and continually update them on a regular basis. Other than this just making sure someone in the HR department is well equipped to create the descriptions and then they work with high-level managers to update the listings when needed.

Hello everyone, I am Rylan Wymer and this blog is for my MGMT 453 class. For this blog post I am looking at 2020 Fortune Best Companies to Work For and discussing how some of these companies practice HR. The companies I have chosen to take a look at are Hilton, Ultimate Software, and Wegman’s Food Markets, Inc which were respectively voted the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd best places to work at in 2020. Hiltons main way of practicing HRM is through education and mentorship programs and their “Hilton University” which allows their employees to access debt-free education, aiming at not only improving their career at Hilton but as a whole, per HR Dive. This shows Hilton’s main section of the HR Functional Areas they focus on is Training and Development as they care about training and developing their employees not only in the current role they are in but for their future goals as well whether that’s with Hilton or not. I’d say this also means Hilton practices Strategic HRM pretty well too as this allows their employees to not only better their own career and knowledge but it makes them better at the job they are performing for Hilton, aligning their HR practices with their overall objective of better performing employees thus a better experience for their customers. While Ultimate Software practices HRM by focusing more on the HR Functional Area of Employee Health & Safety. Ultimate Software is an HR software firm so they are pretty intune with how stressful the workforce can be and that the employees need to be treated like customers in the sense they need to be given a level of respect and dignity that allows them to feel safe while working for a company that clearly cares for their well-being. They standby their motto of “Our purpose is people” which coincides with the basic principle of HRM which is people matter. Lastly, Wegman’s Food Markets practices HRM by following the HR Functional Area of Recruitment and Selection, as they purposely choice candidates based on whether they seemed to have a interest/passion for food which they believe would translate to engaging a customer more and according to their research a engaged customer typically spent 46% more at checkout, per Wegman’s: HR Practices and Culture . It’s really interesting to me to see the different sections of the HR Functional Areas that companies tend to focus on and that they can vary a decent amount, but they still all tend to work in their favor and help them successfully perform their HR practices in a way that makes their employees happy.

Now it’s clear management can really impact a companies culture and how their employees both feel at work and how well they perform. So if I was a manager I would like to be the kind that is easy to approach with questions, and also able to turn mistakes into learning moments rather than just unnecessary berating. I think it’s important for employees to be able to feel empowered about their choices and if their manager is one that they can talk to about ideas and they aren’t scared to put themselves out there in front of, that’s the kind of manager I would like to be. Though being able to put your foot down and make hard decisions is still necessary no matter how supportive you can try to be. I feel that the most challenging part of a manager’s job is when they have to make a decision that impacts a team member or may even slightly undermine if the manager doesn’t believe they are doing the correct thing. It can create an awkward working environment and they have to leverage that outcome with what would be the best business decision. It just becomes a situation which seems lose-lose and I think that’s where a good manager is able to find the best course of action even if it still ruffles some feathers.

Thank you for reading!

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