Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 4th edition, covers the full range of human resource management topics in a streamlined 14-chapter format. As this fourth edition goes to press, I feel even more strongly than I did when the first edition was published that all managers ―not just human resource managers―need a strong foundation in human resource management concepts and techniques to do their jobs. I therefore wrote Fundamentals for all students of management, not just those who will someday carry the title Human Resource Manager and, in this new edition, added more practical techniques and real company examples. With 14 comprehensive chapters covering all major HRCI (SHRM) topics, and two end-of-book modules, I wrote this book to compete with 16-chapter introductory Human Resource Management textbooks, as well as with books titled Fundamentals of Human Resource Management.
This 4th edition has several distinguishing characteristics. While it again focuses almost entirely on essential personnel management topics like job analysis, testing, compensation, and appraisal, fostering employee engagement is used as an integrating theme throughout the chapters. Employee Engagement Guide for Managers features show how managers use human resource practices to boost employee engagement. Practical skills applications―such as how to appraise performance, how to establish a simple pay plan, and how to handle grievances―are used throughout to provide students with important management skills. Because all managers have personnel-related responsibilities, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 4th edition, is, as noted, aimed at all students of management, not just those who will someday carry the title Human Resource Manager. Building Your Management Skills features highlight managerial HR skills. The legal environment of human resource management―equal employment, labor relations, and occupational safety―is covered fully, with practical chapter-specific implications for managers in Know Your Employment Law features in most chapters. A continuing case illustrates the front-line supervisor’s role in human resource management. Chapter 12 shows how “Best Companies to Work For” actually cultivate positive employee relations. Knowledge Base icons flag topics addressed by the HR Certification Institute’s PHR® and SPHR® Knowledge Base.
THE REVISION
In revising this textbook, I of course wanted to update the chapters and include all the changes while ensuring that the switch by adopters from the 3rd to the 4th edition would be hassle free. So, for example, numbered questions in the boxed features and separate “A-head” Employee Engagement Guide for Managers sections allow adopters to choose (if they so desire) which features they want to assign. The book’s main new items include:
New: Employee Engagement Guide for Managers
Employee engagement refers to being psychologically involved in, connected to, and committed to getting one’s jobs done. Recent surveys show that about 70% of employees are disengaged at work. I use new Employee Engagement Guide for Managers sections in Chapters 3?14 to show how managers use human resource activities to improve employee engagement. For example, Chapter 3’s Guide shows how Kia Motors (UK) improved employee engagement, Chapter 6’s Guide shows how Toyota uses a total selection program to improve engagement, and Chapter 12’s Guide shows how “Great Companies to Work For” like Google and SAS develop the positive employee relations that help foster employee engagement.
New: Building Your Management Skills
Building Your Management Skills features throughout the book help to show students and managers how to apply what they’ve learned, such as how to conduct an effective employment interview, create an actual pay scale/pay plan for a company, and discipline an employee.
New: Know Your Employment Law
The new Know Your Employment Law sections in most chapters show the practical implications of the employment laws that apply to that chapter’s topics, such as the laws relating to recruitment (Chapter 5), selection (Chapter 6), training (Chapter 7), and safety (Chapter 14).
New: HR in Practice Company Illustrations
You’ll find many more actual company examples in this edition. The 3rd edition had several boxed HR in Practice features; I added more of these in this 4th edition, to show how companies such as Zappos (strategic HR management) and Honda (selecting employees) actually implement their HR practices.
New: Building Positive Employee Relations
Employee relations is the managerial activity that involves establishing and maintaining the positive employee?employer relationships that contribute to satisfactory productivity, motivation, morale, and discipline, and to maintaining a positive, productive, and cohesive work environment. Most human resource management survey books include Employee Relations as a section heading or chapter heading, but usually don’t show how managers actually develop and maintain positive employee relations. I expanded Chapter 12 (Maintaining Positive Employee Relations) to do so.
New: Sustainability and HRM
In a world where sea levels are rising, glaciers are crumbling, and increasing numbers of people view financial inequity as outrageous, more and more people say that busi-nesses can’t just measure “performance” in terms of maximizing profits. This 4th edition contains all-new material on sustainability and on the roles of HR management in implementing companies’ sustainability efforts.
New: Treatment of Global HR, and Small Business HR Management
In the previous 3rd edition, two end-of-book modules, Managing HR Globally, and Managing Human Resources in Small and Entrepreneurial Firms, contained most of the material on global human resource management, and on small business human resource management. In this new 4th edition, I moved much of the global HR material from the Managing HR Globally module to new Managing HR around the Globe boxed features throughout the book, and similarly moved much of the small business HR management material from the small business module to new HR Tools for Line Managers and Small Businesses boxed features throughout the book. The two modules remain in the 4th edition, but now focus more on strictly supportive and supplementary material, such as how international cultural differences influence global human resource management.
FEATURES CONTINUED FROM
PREVIOUS EDITION
Diversity Counts features provide practical insights for managing a diverse work force, for instance regarding gender bias in selection decisions, bias in performance appraisal, and “hidden” gender bias in some bonus plans.Social Media and HR features in each chapter demonstrate how employers use social media to improve their human resource processes.Improving Performance through HRIS features demonstrate how managers use human resource technology to improve performance.HR as a Profit Center features provide actual examples of human resource management practices that cut costs and improve performance.Strategic Human Resource Management: Chapter 1 introduces and Chapter 3 presents the concepts and techniques of human resource strategy. Each Part opener contains a continuing model that shows how those chapters’ HR policies and practices produce the employee skills and behaviors that a company needs to improve its performance.
