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HMRT 386 (Introduction to Human Resource Management) Final Exam Prep Athabasca University
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HMRT 386 (Introduction to HumanResource Management) Final Exam
Prep Athabasca University
, l
HMRT 386 (Introduction to Human Resource Management) Final Exam Prep Athabasca
University
Unit 1 – Introduction to HRM
Review your Progress
1. Why do organizations and individuals enter into an employment relationship?
• Organizations and individuals enter into employment relationships because there is an
exchange of value between the two parties. The worker provides his/her time and skill
in exchange for the employer’s remuneration
Employers hire employees to accomplish the tasks at hand—meaning employment is an
economic relationship between the two whereby there is an exchange of value between
the worker and the employer. The worker provides their time and skills (the labour)to the
employer in exchange of remuneration, such a wages and benefits). The employer’s wants
particular tasks performed and in return for the performance, will pay the employee for the
work performed.
Workers enter into this relationship because they must exchange their labour with
someone to acquire money so that they can purchase the necessities of life. The agreement
that workers strike with employers is called the wage-rate bargain.
In terms of employment, this usually means:
▪ The duties and obligations of the employer and employee are asymmetrical
meaning that the employer issues orders of tasks to complete/accomplish,
and the employee obeys them
▪ Employers must profit or fail; thus, employers face pressure to cheapen intensity
labour as one means to increase their profitability
▪ Employers’ interests are to maximize profits, whereas the employee’s
interests are to maximize their wages and control their conditions of work.
2. What does the word resource in the term human resource management suggest about
the nature of the employment relationship?
Basically Human Resource Management implies that employees (people) are resources
to the employer. And these employees drive the performance of their organization
(along with resources such as money, material, and information). Successful
organizations are particularly adept at bringing together different kinds of people to
achieve a common purpose.
Human resource management (HRM) centres on the practices, policies and systems
that influence employees’ behaviors, attitudes, and performance. As a type of resource,
human capital means the organization’s employees, described in terms of their
training,
, experience, judgement, intelligence, relationships, and insight—the employee
characteristics that can add economic value to the organization. In other words,
whether it assembles vehicles or forecasts the weather, for an organization to succeed
at what it does, it needs employees with certain qualities, such as particular kinds of
skills and experience. This view means employees in today’s organizations are not
interchangeable, easily replaced parts of a system but the source of the company’s
success or failure. By influencing who works for the organization and how those people
work, human resource management therefore contribute to such basic measures of an
organization success as quality, profitability and customer satisfaction.
Human resource management is critical to the success of organizations, because human
capital has certain qualities that make it valuable. In terms of business strategy, an
organization can succeed if it has a sustainable competitive advantage. We can conclude
that organizations need that kind of resource that will give them such advantage.
Human resources have these necessary qualities: 1) are valuable, 2) are rare, 3) cannot
be imitated and 4) have no good substitute.
3. In what ways are women typically disadvantaged in employment relationships? What
factors explain this disadvantage?
Women often disadvantaged by pay and often receive less than men and are often passed
up for promotions. Workers are also employed in part-time, temporary, casual, and/or
contract jobs. These types of workers re referred to as being “precariously employed”
because they are often poorly paid, have little job security, and lack statutory and
employment benefits. Women are among those who hold precarious employment as well
as immigrants, and visible minorities.
Women have more difficulty at meeting their employer’s expectations at work in terms of
their availability for work and overtime due to the demands of child care and eldercare,
which is predominantly done by women. As such, one could say that most jobs are deigned
on the “male” model, whereby paid employment is the primary task of the employee, and
social reproduction is taken care by someone else. This often results in women having to
take part-time work or flexible positions so that they can meet their family responsibilities.
As previously mentioned, this would be deemed “precarious employment” which means
that the employees are often poorly paid—thereby being disadvantaged in employment
relationships. Therefore, this contributes to lower salaries, and lesser access to benefits,
training, and promotion. Women are thereby financially vulnerable and potentially more
dependent upon a partner or social programs.
Women are typically the ones who typically care for a family member who are ill, recovering,
elderly or sick children.
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