True Faith HR

A New Religion

2012-02-01T05:44:00.000-06:00

Judge, T.A., Piccolo, R.F., Podsakoff, N.P., Shaw, J.C., and Rich, B.L. (2010). "The Relationship Between Pay and Job Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis of the Literature." Journal of Vocational Behavior, 77(2), 157-167.

Wealth continues to fascinate us. From the Occupy Wall Street protests to offshore bank accounts, income inequality is at the forefront of most newscasts these days. Mime truly is money. But, does money truly buy more happiness on the job in Corporate America?

In "The Relationship Between Pay and Job Satisfaction," Judge, et al, explore whether income dispersion pays off in terms of happiness. "How does the pay we receive from our work contribute to our feelings about our jobs and lives?" (Judge, et al, 2010, p. 157). They study three important questions:

At the individual level, is pay level related to: (a) pay satisfaction or (b) overall job satisfaction?
At the organizational/sample level, are average levels of pay level related to (a) pay satisfaction or (b) overall job satsifaction?
Do the following factors moderate the relationship between pay level and job satisfaction or pay level and pay satisfaction: (a) U.S., vs. international samples; (b) publication source (published vs. unpublished, and quality of publication outlet); (c) measure of job or pay satisfaction (d) common v. independent vs. independent sources of data; and (e) measure of pay?

To investigate these questions, Judge, et al, conducted a meta-analysis (a combined impact of many existing studies to produce a more statistically powerful analysis) of 86 studies to estimate the correlations between satisfaction and pay level.

FINDINGS

To question 1, Judge and his colleagues found a statistically significant relationship between pay level and both types of satisfaction. However, with question 3, there was no significant difference between U.S. employees and their international counterparts. Similarly, no significant difference was found for publication source, measures used, sources of data, or measure of pay.

Question 2 provided the most interesting result. Here, individuals with high income jobs were only slightly more satisfied than those in low income jobs, and, in some cases, those with lower paying jobs were more satisfied. To wit, "For example, in 2009 dollars, a sample of lawyers earning an average of $148,000 per year were less job satisfied than a sample of child care workers earning $23,5000 per year."

IMPACT FOR HR

1. For job seekers, other job attributes besides pay should be taken into account, such as intrinsic job characteristics (such as skill variety or task identity).

2. While pay can be motivating, it may not be as satisfying as once thought. Being a pay leader may not lead to a more satisfied rank-and-file

3. Pay increases may only have a temporary effect. Judge and his colleagues compare the thrill of a pay raise to being a newlywed; you get an initial boost once married, but it soon returns to pre-marital levels.

4. High pay may only work in areas where there is significant pay dispersion within the organization. If everyone else's pay is high around me, that increase loses some of its effect as well.

Raise the Pressure

2012-01-30T08:32:00.000-06:00

Updated post from January 2010

A continuing challenge in teaching human resources is keeping up with the latest trends and laws. The most recent textbook is unlikely to be up-to-date and even some of the most recent research is likely to have some lag time. As a result, I have my students read blog posts (both past and present) by some of the most influential HR practitioners. On Thursday, January 26, for example, they read:

Dr. Drewett. “ An Open Letter to the HR World” (http://www.drdewett.com/monthlyblog/an-open-letter-to-the-hr-world-the-future-of-hr-according-to-a-non-hr-guy/)

KeithHammonds. “Why We Hate HR.” http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/97/open_hr.html

Mike Van Devort. “HR – Not Dead Yet” (http://www.thehumanracehorses.com/2009/09/18/hr-not-dead-yet/)

Laurie Ruettimann “HR is Dying – Yes? No?(http://punkrockhr.com/hr-is-dying-yes-no/)

Trish McFarlane. “Making the Rubber Hit the Road – “Rebranding” HR” http://hrringleader.com/2009/09/22/making-the-rubber-hit-the-road-re-branding-hr/)

Mark Stelzner. “The Future of HR – Why “DoNothing” is an Option” (http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/2009/10/22/the-future-of-hr-why-do-nothing-is-an-option/)

Lance Haun “ Is Human Resources FatallyFlawed?” http://lancehaun.com/is-human-resources-fatally-flawed/

Sharlyn Lauby, “The HR Profession” http://www.hrbartender.com/2009/strategic/the-hr-profession/

Trish McFarlane. “HR – A Call to Action” http://hrringleader.com/2009/09/25/hr-your-call-to-action/

Lance Haun. “What if HR Got A Mulligan?” http://lancehaun.com/what-if-hr-got-a-mulligan-would-we-do-something-different/

Larry Wilson. “CSI Determines HR is Dead.” http://hrcommons.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/csi-determines-hr-is-dead/

Maren Hogan. “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room.” http://marenhogan.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/slow-dancing-in-a-burning-room/

Karen Berman & Joe Knight. “Do HRManagers Have the Skills They Need?” http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/financial-intelligence/2009/10/do-hr-managers-have-the-skills.html

Dr. John Sullivan. “The Current State of Ill Preparednessin HR” http://www.drjohnsullivan.com/newsletter-archives/242-the-current-state-of-ill-preparedness-in-hr

Read “Shouldyou ban the use of social media in the workplace?”

(http://www.halogensoftware.com/hr-raging-debates/?cat=7)

Read“Future Insights”

(http://www.shrm.org/Research/FutureWorkplaceTrends/Documents/09-0700%20Workplace%20panel_trends_sympFINAL%20Upd.pdf)

Kults, David. “Why HR Really Does Add Value.” http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/12/why_hr_really_does_add_value.html

Ashkenas,Ron, “Stop Bashing HR”

http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2012/01/stop-bashing-hr.html

In the future, not only will they be reading more from the above writers, but they will also be reading posts from authors and websites such as:

Ben Eubanks (http://upstarthr.com/)
Paul Hebert (http://www.i2i-align.com/)
Tim Sackett (http://www.timsackett.com)
Steve Boese (http://steveboese.squarespace.com/)
Kris Dunn (http://www.hrcapitalist.com/)
Kelly Long (http://thryving.com/)
The HR101 series at http://www.victoriomilian.com/p/free-stuff.html
Tim Sackett (http://www.fistfuloftalent.com)
Joan Ginsburg (http://http://www.joanginsberg.com/)
Joe Gerstandt (http://www.joegerstandt.com/)
Paul Smith (http://www.welcometotheoccupation.com/)

Finally, I am ensuring they are keeping up with the anyone and anything I might have missed with the twice a month cavalcade better know as the Carnival of HR.

It is my hope that not only will my students stay current, but that they will see the passion about the field the writers express and be encouraged to read even more of the various authors' perspectives.

#popHR Why I'm Attending #TransformHR

2012-01-27T08:08:00.002-06:00

For the longest period of time, SHRM dominated the HR conference scene. From the bevy of state conferences to the behemoth that is SHRM Annual, SHRM was the 800 lb. gorilla setting the tone for what a HR conference should be.

Of late, however, a number of new learning opportunities are popping up. From the TRU Unconferences to the ever popular HRevolution series, the competition for your educational dollars has never been stronger.

The latest (and greatest?) to enter the scene is the Transform HR conference being held in Austin, TX, February 26-28 and brought to you by the good people at TLNT.com. So, with the many available HR conference options out there of late, why should attend Transform?:

1. Billy Beane is the keynote speaker. As any pop culture HR aficionado knows, Billy Beane was the inspiration for Michael Lewis' book, "Moneyball." Not only did it inspire a thousand HR blog posts (see here and here, for example) about how to value talent, but the book was turned into a mutli-Oscar-nominated movie. You will be able to hear about talent directly from the source. Billy Beane will be must-see viewing.

2. The agenda is fantastic. Not a hole in the schedule that will draw you away to visit the sites in Austin. The speaker list is strong and varied, including such talent luminaries as Tim Sackett (who has his own internationally recognized day), Libby Sartain, Dawn Hrdlica-Burke, Kimberly Roden, Laurie Ruettimann, and the men behind Talent Anarchy (Joe Gerstandt and Jason Lauritsen).

3. Did I mention it was in Austin? Living in the Midwest, Austin will provide a welcome respite from the cold February weather and bring some good BBQ and HR conversation.

4. You can earn recertification credits with the HRCI.

I will be on the scene in Austin covering the event for the blog and I hope to connect with you there if you are in attendance. Otherwise, you can follow all the festivities on Twitter by checking the hashtag #TransformHR.

And, if you act now you can enter the code TF12TCHT for $250 off the registration price.

Hope to see you in Austin!

Until the End of the Time

2012-01-26T07:32:00.001-06:00

In college, a friend and I, used to strive to include 4 words in every paper we wrote. Those words?

Boon
Moist
Torrential
Cavalcade

The reason why these words in particular were chosen has faded away into the mists of time, but we had the belief (perhaps mistaken) that if we could incorporate each of these words appropriately, the natural result had to be a grade of "A." Given we were both social science majors, working "moist" into a paper on the Federalist Papers or an analysis of "Winesburg, OH" was easier said then done.

...........................

Companies inundated with resumes have increasingly turned to applicant tracking systems (ATS) to deal with the sheer volume. However, as an article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal indicates, not all is wine and roses with ATS:

It may miss the most-qualified applicant if that person doesn't game the system by larding his or her résumé with keywords from the job description, according to Mark Mehler, co-founder of consulting firm Career Xroads, which advises companies on staffing.

Even with strong software, problems still arise:

One small error, such as listing the name of a former employer after the years worked there, instead of before, can ruin a great candidate's chances.

So, how does one improve the likelihood of getting noticed by an applicant tracking system? One of the tips offered is:

Forget about being creative. Instead, mimic the keywords in the job description as closely as possible. If you're applying to be a sales manager, make sure your résumé includes the words "sales" and "manage" (assuming you've done both!).

In a sense, my friend and I were hoping our professors were like applicant tracking systems. We hit the right keywords, and, boom, the interview (or the "A") was ours. However, is creativity lost in the process? The hope that an HR manager might take notice when I throw out "boon" or "bifurcate" and take a second look is diminished if I ikss the right note.

All That I Need

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-06:00

Chi, N.-W., Chung, Y.-Y., & Tsai, W.-C. 2011. How do happy leaders enhance team success? The mediating roles of transformational leadership, group affective tone, and team processes. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(6), 1421-1451

A large body of research exists on "employee happiness" and the impact leaders have in influencing it. Who hasn't been affected by a leader in a bad mood? However, less is known about the relationship between positive leader moods and subsequent team performance.

In "How do happy leaders enhance team success," Chi, Chung, and Tsai explore two mediating mechanisms in this relationship: transformational leadership and positive group affective tones. Their first hypothesis is that "leader positive moods will be positively related to transformational leadership behaviors." It is thought that transformational leaders should enhance team performance through the facilitation of team processes, such as team goal commitment (I.e., members' determination to achieve a goal), team satisfaction, and team helping behavior (i.e., voluntarily helping others in work-related areas).

The 2nd hypothesis (part a) sets out that "team goal commitment will mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and team performance." Several studies have found that when team members who are committed to a goal typically dedicate more effort in trying to achieve that goal, which results in higher performance. Transformational leaders should, then, help to increase team goal commitment.

Similarly, part b of the 2nd hypothesis posits "team satisfaction will mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and team performance." Past studies have found that highly satisfied team members are more likely to engage in team activities and try to help the team perform. Positive leaders should, then, help team satisfaction

According to the authors, hypothesis 3 states that "leader positive mood will be positive group affective tone." Central to this idea is the concept of "emotional contagion" - "the processes involved in transferring the moods and emotions of one individual to other individuals." Hence, positive leaders should positively affect the transient moods of the group

To assess these hypotheses, the authors sampled 86 leaders and 365 team members from 85 retail sales teams in five different Taiwanese insurance firms. Team members were primarily female, with ages ranging from 21-30, and tenure in the firm of nearly three years (with tenure on the team around two and a half years). Nearly three-quarters of the sample possessed a university degree. Members were given some questionnaires contained a variety of scales that were used to measure the items above.

Using structural equation modeling to assess the data, the results confirmed the hypotheses stated above.

Implications for HR
1. Given the impact positive leader moods have on improving team performance, selecting the right leader is critical.
2. Greater investment in emotional training might be appropriate so that leaders can better understand the role their moods might have on their subordinates.
3. While personality tests are perceived by some as suspect, team leaders who score high on conscientiousness and extraversion might be given greater weight when choosing a leader for certain tasks.

How I met #HR Hero @timsackett

2012-01-23T04:40:00.000-06:00

A young Tim Sackett in action

This is the story of how I met Tim Sackett.

January 1977. East Lansing, Michigan. It was another cold January morning of rec basketball. The usual punks from Dewitt werebringing their tough brand of defense to the parquet floor of PinecrestElementary School. Amidst thetower of 6^th grade boys, I caught a flash of red hair, saw a smallwiry kid a good foot and a half shorter than the rest of his teammates, andstarted laughing. There was no waythis little wisp of a boy was going to make an impact. Boy, was I wrong….

The ball tipped, and immediately that kid took over as pointguard, and was as strong a leader as I had ever seen to that point if my shortlife. He manipulated his teammateslike John Cusack controlled his marionettes in “Being John Malkovich.” Total control

The particularly striking thing was he started yelling outthese acronyms to call plays. “OSHA” rang out and the Dewitt team went into theDribble Drive. A cry of “FLSA” meant the team went into the High-Low. “ERISA”led into the Triangle. Even whenthe defense was able to respond, he would drive to the basket, attempt a shotand get the foul. Like RickBarry, he would shoot his free throws underhanded and the ball seemingly wentthrough the basket every time.

My teammates and I learned a tough lesson that day….neverunderestimate the slightest of opponents. But, the power of Tim Sackett, point guard extraordinaire, led to theleague passage of the now legendary “Sackett Rules” to create a more levelplaying field.

The drive, the leadership, and the prescience of Tim Sackettcontinues on today with his work at HRU-Tech and his writing stylings at theFistful of Talent blog and The Tim Sackett Project. Check him out below:

   • The Tim SackettProject - http://timsackett.com
   • Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000473689988
   • Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/@TimSackett

Second Nature

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000-06:00

Last May, Laurie Ruettimann and I presented at the HRevolution conference in Atlanta on the topic of "Pop Culture and HR," which focused in part on the watercooler conversations that employees frequently have (sports, movies, music, politics) that may cause conflict. Here's another example.

Its been a rough sports week. My beloved Michigan State Spartans are in the midst of a two game losing streak, falling to Northwestern and arch-rival Michigan. Even worse, the 15-1 Green Bay Packers fell unexpectedly eliminating them from the playoff and repeat as Super Bowl champions. While the 3 losses in a 4 day stretch were painful enough, the true salt in the wound came from checking the Facebook stream, particularly after the Packers loss.

Were there Giants fans gloating? No, even though they had a right to be.

Were there Packers fans drowning their sorrows? Plenty of it...including myself.

Were there tons of Bears, Vikings, and Lions fans celebrating the loss? Absolutely! The schadenfreude was thick, my friends. Check out a sampling ofthe quotes below

"Thank you to the NY Giants for making my day." (Vikings fan)

"Bwahahahahahahh" (Lions fan)

"The Giants may want to paint that locker room in Lambeau blue because it seems as though they own it." (Bears fan)

"I bet those State Farm commercials are rally going to sting during the Super Bowl, right Packers fans?"

Bill Simmons, editor of Grantland.com and ESPN's Sports Guy, in discussing the "Rules for Being a True Fan" in 2002 argues for a Five Year Rule:

"After your team wins a championship, they immediately get a five-year grace period: You can't complain about anything that happens with your team (trades, draft picks, salary-cap cuts, coaching moves) for five years. There are no exceptions. For instance, the Pats could finish 0-80 over the next five years and I wouldn't say a peep. That's just the way it is. You win the Super Bowl, you go on cruise control for five years. Everything else is gravy."

He goes on with regard to friendships and relationships in regards to sports:

If your team defeats a good friend's team in a crucial game or series, don't rub it in with them unless they've been especially annoying/gloating/condescending/confrontational in the days leading up to the big battle. You're probably better off cutting off all communications in the days preceding/following the game, just to be safe.
Along those same lines, if your team squanders a crucial game/series to your buddy's team, don't make them feel guilty about it -- don't call them to bitch about the game, don't blame some conspiracy or bad referee's call, don't rant and rave like a lunatic. In the words of Vito Corleone, you can act like a man. You have plenty of time to bitch in private.
If your buddy's team loses an especially tough game, don't call him -- wait for him to call you. And when you do speak to him, discuss the game in a tone normally reserved for sudden, unexpected deaths.
If one of your best friends loves a certain team that has a chance to win a championship, and your team is out of the picture, it's OK to jump on the bandwagon and root for his team to win it all. That's acceptable. Like Temporary Fan status.

However, this article was written pre-Twitter and Facebook. And, Simmons is strangely silent regarding rivalries.

Certainly, my thirst was quenched with a Super Bowl victory less than a year ago. However, should I take any guff from fans of teams who haven't won a Super Bowl in over 25 years (Bears) or have never won a Super Bowl championship at all (Lions/Vikings)?

So, taking joy in the suffering of others.....

Acceptable or unacceptable when it comes to sports?
Does it depend on the status of the relationship?
Does it depend on whether or not you have a horse in the race?
With Facebook or Twitter, is a general status update o.k., but a direct message or a post on someone's wall crossing the line?
What are the new rules of schadenfreude in a social media age?

One Day

2012-01-18T06:01:00.000-06:00

Ray, J.L., Baker, L.T., & Plowman, D.A. 2011. Organizational Mindfulness in Business Schools. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 10(2). pp. 188-203.

Last week, we examined the concept of surprise and organizational bricolage. In many instances, organizations can fall victim to surprise because they are unprepared. One way to prepare for surprise is to be "mindful," by paying close attention to their surroundings and maintaining the ability to act on unexpected signals. In "Organizational Mindfulness in Business Schools," Ray, Baker & Plowman examine the concept of organizational mindfulness in U.S. business schools and provide evidence of its five dimensions.

The concept of organizational mindfulness was coined by Weick and Sutcliffe in their 2001 book "Managing the Unexpected." They identify five interrelated processes that make up this concept. The first, preoccupation with failure, "involves the organization's sensitivity to the possibility of failures, attention to small failures, willingness to encourage the reporting of mistakes, and the open discussion of problems." For business schools, this might mean searching for multiple explanations why a cohort was particularly critical - is it a symptom of something else? Focused on a particular discipline? Are there similar feelings university-wide?

A second dimension of mindfulness identified by Weick and Sutcliffe is reluctance to simplify. Basically, one wants to seek out divergent views to process information that will lead to novel solutions and new knowledge generation. Blaming decreased alumni donations solely on a bad economy would be avoided.

The third dimension is sensitivity to operations. Like just-in-time systems and RFID tags, organizations use real time information that will allow them to make adjustments on the fly. Colleges may continually assess the curriculum it is offering to ensure it meets current marketplace needs.

The fourth dimension is commitment to resilience. It involves "the ability to correct errors quickly, accurately, and before they have a chance to worsen and cause more serious harm."If a school failed to earn accreditation, for example, it would look to address particular shortcomings.

The final dimension is deference to expertise. It involve, "the tendency to utilize individuals with particular knowledge regardless of status, tenure, rank, and so forth, recognizing that authority does not equate to expertise." In hiring new faculty, it might be wise to consult with a recent hire to judge the current compensation package being offered.

Despite its presence in organizational literature for 10 years, empirical validation of organizational mindfulness has been lacking, with several studies falling short either because the concept itself is flawed, or the tools to assess it have not been significantly robust.

Methods
To assess the concept, the authors sought responses from individuals in four roles: Deans, Associate Deans, Assistant Deans and Department Chairs. Through an e-mail survey sent several times, they received 225 completed surveys representing 154 colleges. Using Weick and Sutcliffe's initial 47-item questionnaire, the authors adjusted it to 43 questions to ensure it was appropriate for a college setting. Respondents were asked to use a 5-point Likert scale (1=extremely accurate to 5=extremely accurate) to assess how each item in the questionnaire described their school. To assess preoccupation with failure, for example, statements such as "We often update our college procedures after experiencing a problem" and "People in this college feel free to talk to superiors about problems."

Analysis and Results
Through confirmatory factor analysis, the authors found a strong fit for the five factor model. In addition, the authors used analysis of variance (ANOVA) to see if there was a significant difference in perceived mindfulness based on role. The analysis found that Deans were more likely to perceive their school as mindful than those in other administrative roles.

Implications for HR
1. Given support for the model, it suggests that HR leaders should look for ways to impact the culture of the organization by looking for ways to encourage novel thinking and not simply mimic how other organizations do business. There often is pressure to adopt the best practices of an industry; this suggest that what might be the best practices might, instead, be the right practices for now, and not the future.
2. Given that the study found that Deans tended to view the organization as rosier than those in lesser position, HR can play a critical role to ensure that the C-suite not become to detached from those dealing with the day-to-day operations of the organization.

If You've Got (G)Love

2012-01-13T06:15:00.001-06:00

A new feature on True Faith HR for 2011: Your Pop Culture HR Friday moment. Each Friday, I will find something of interest from recent books, TV, music, or movies and discuss the HR implications.

The well-reviewed and worth your time reading 2011 book, The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach tells the story of one Henry Skrimshander, a high school shortstop in a small Illinois town. While mediocre as a hitter, Henry is a prodigy on defense, striking the interest of Mike Schwartz, the catcher at a small Northeastern Wisconsin liberal arts college (hmmm....sounds vaguely familiar) called Westish, who recruits him to play Division III baseball.

Henry ascribes much of his success to his beat up copy of Hall of Fame shortshop Aparicio Rodriguez's The Art of Fielding, a collection of aphorisms that are just as much a guide to life, as it is to being a good baseball player. Such aphorisms include:

26. The shortstop is a source of stillness at the center of the defense. He projects this stillness and his teammates respond.
59. To field a ground ball must be considered a generous act and an act of comprehension. One moves not against the ball but with it. Bad fielders stab at the ball like an enemy. This is antagonism. The true fielder lets the path of the ball becomes his own path, thereby comprehending the ball and dissipating the self, which is the source of all suffering and poor defense.
3. There are three stages: Thoughtless being. Thought. Return to thoughtless being.
33. Do not confuse the first and third stages. Thoughtless being is attained by everyone, the return to thoughtless being by a very few.
213. Death is the sanction of all that the athlete does.
99. To reach a ball he has never reached before, to extend himself to the very limits of his range, and then a step farther: this is the shortstop's dream.
121. The shortstop has worked to hard for so long that he no longer thinks. Nor does he act. By this I mean that he does not generate action. He only reacts, the way a mirror reacts when you wave your hand before it.

Once at Westish, Henry rises from benchwarmer to star shortshop, attracting major league scouts to the ballpark to watch him play. Soon, he is threatening to break the record of 52 straight errorless games owned by Rodriguez himself. On the 53rd game, Henry makes an errant throw that strikes his roommate in the face. Like his predecessors - Steve Blass, a Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher in the 1970s who, inexplicably, finds himself unable to throw the ball over the plate, and Mackey Sasser, the Mets catcher who developed a paralyzing fear of throwing the ball back to the pitcher, Steve Sax, Chuck Knoblauch - Henry soon fines he is no longer able to throw the ball to first.

Implications for HR
1. Like #26, is the HR manager a source of stillness at the center of the business? Does he or she project this stillness and the employees respond?
2. How often do you encounter performance anxiety at work, and how do you handle those employee problems? Do you have a book of aphorisms to fall back on like Henry does?
3. Like #99, can you get your employees to go beyond their limits. Do employees see this better performance as their dream?
4. One of the most telling quotes of the book is when Harbach writes about how to make a ball player; how does one get brute efficiency out of natural genius:

Baseball was an art, but to excel at it you had to become a machine. It didn't matter how beautifully you performed sometimes, what you did on your best day, how many spectacular plays you made. You weren't a painter or writer - you didn't work in private and discard your mistakes, and it wasn't just your masterpieces that counted. What mattered, as for any machine, was repeatability. Moments of inspiration were nothing compared to elimination of error. The scouts cared little for Henry's superhuman grace; insofar as they cared they suckered-in aesthetes and shitty scouts. Can you perform on demand, like a car, a furnace, a gun? Can you make that throw one hundred times out of a hundred? If it can't be a hundred, it had better be ninety-nine.

How often do we expect our employees to be robots? Do we look for the art in what they do? Are there mistakes made public for all to see? "What other sport not only kept a stat as cruel as the error but posted it on the scoreboard for everyone to see?"

Forbidden City

2012-01-11T06:30:00.001-06:00

A new feature on True Faith HR for 2011: Research Wednesday. Each Wednesday, I will take a recent HR article from an academic journal and attempt to provide the real world HR implications

As with change, surprise is part of our daily organizational lives. Your day planner may be filled, but an unexpected crisis arises that cause those plans to be thrown out the window. In their April 2011 Academy of Management Journal article, " Expecting the Unexpected? How SWAT Officers and Film Crews Handle Surprises," Beth A. Bechky and Gerardo A. Okhuysen explore how individuals respond to unexpected events that allow work to continue.

To assess surprise, Becky and Okhuysen looked at 18 members of a SWAT team, ranging in tenure from one month to 17 years, with 12 members having more than five years of experience. In addition to observation over a number of briefing and training sessions, members of the SWAT team engaged in semi-structured interviewers ranging from 45 minutes to three hours. Similarly, four different film sets, ranging from small, short-term productions such as shooting a commercial or a music video to sets for full-length movies.

Both groups had commonalities, such as time pressure as well as pervasive uncertainty (i.e., weather or bystanders). There were, however, differences. The negative consequences of surprise for a film project might be reshooting a scene or lack of group continuity from set to set, while surprise for a SWAT team may very well mean significant physical harm. However, both groups worked in environments where surprises were pervasive.

Findings
1. The increasing use of organizational bricolage.

In there 2005 Administrative Science Quarterly article, Blake and Nelson define bricolage as"making do by applying combinations of the resources at hand to new problems and opportunities" (p. 331). Both film crews and SWAT teams became bricoleurs in three ways. One such way is through role shifting. For example, a SWAT team found more suspects than anticipated when breaking into a location. As a result, the role changed from "trying to reach the furthest corner of the location to covering areas and suspects as they advanced." This had a ripple effect as officers in the back had to change their mission as well. A second way was to reorganize routines. Workers had to change their approach to work. For example, a marksman fires at a suspect and misses signaling to the suspect that he is under attack. "Recognizing the changed situation, the waiting break-in team executed a 'dynamic entry,' a well-rehearsed routine, without taking time for conversation." A third way is through "reordering the work." For film crews, this might mean shooting scenes in different order.

2. Resources for bricolage

Two sociological resources were relied upon by both groups in response to surprises: a) Shared task knowledge - multiple members held process knowledge regarding how to complete a certain task, such as camera operators could respond quickly to the absence of one of the team members; b) common work flow expectations - a shared understanding of how events follow one another, such as prioritizing arresting a suspect and engaging in a dynamic entry if a noisy floorboard signals the SWAT team's presence.

3. Developing resources for bricolage

To develop resources, organizations rely on three approaches. One approach is to draft agreement on the work. Early on in shooting, a production designer or art director may have already scouted locations and would anticipate what would be needed for a set. A second approach is to reinforce and elaborate task activities. For a SWAT team, this might mean a trainee might have to take off and put on a bulletproof vest several times to identify the appropriate way to dress, A third approach is to build cross-member expertise. A paramedic might never need to use a gun, but it might be helpful to know how a gun works.

Implications for HR
1. Prepare for the unexpected. Build contingency plans and communicate their importance to all relevant parties. Harken back to the days of fire alarm drills.
2. Build in opportunities at work for routinization of some tasks; turn unprogrammed decision-making into programmed decision-making
3. Engage in shared knowledge building, which may involve simple day-to-day interactions between team members.

Time Will Tell

2011-12-30T05:45:00.004-06:00

It is winter break where I work, which as given me a little time off, and an opportunity to catch up on a little TV and pop culture.

The latter half of 2011 was dominated by #occupywallstreet and its various spinoffs throughout the U.S. Anger as a result of stagnating wages, growing income inequality, and an uneven playing field resulted in many rising up in protest. However, those under attack have had enough. A fascinating piece by Max Abelson in Bloomberg highlights the perspective of the more economically fortunate:

Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus says “Who gives a crap about some imbecile?” “Are you kidding me?”

Tom Golisano, the billionaire owner of the billing firm Paychex, offered his wisdom while his half-his-age former tennis champion girlfriend, Monica Seles, hung on his arm: “If I hear a politician use the term ‘paying your fair share’ one more time, I’m going to vomit.”

One would believe based on these comments that America hates the rich. However, a smattering of TV viewing actually demonstrates the opposite perspective.

In the 1980s, audiences were kept rapt by the wealthy inhabitants of "Dallas," "Dynasty" and "Falcon Crest." Robin Leach signed off each episode of the syndicated "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" wishing each viewer "champagne wishes and cavier dreams."

In the 2000s, MTV introduced America to "Cribs," featuring tours of the homes of wealthy celebrities.

Today, in the midst of a housing crisis and underwater mortgages, HGTV has "hits" such as "House Hunters," "Selling L.A." and "Selling New York," which aren't exactly showing a 700 square foot studio apartment in West Hollywood or the Village.

People still love and want to be rich. Which brings us to...

A&E's "Storage Wars." "Storage Wars" features four sets of auction hunters who scour foreclosed storage units in search of items left behind that could potentially valuable. A unit becomes available, interested buyers have 5 minutes to peer into the locker (they can't go in!), and then the highest bidder gets the rights to the contents found within. Will they discover someone's trash, or will there be antiquities worth thousand of dollars?

With 3% salary increases and limited career growth opportunities, "Storage Wars," perfectly captures today's times...millions losing their assets, while others finding the only way to get ahead is the luck of the draw.

Happy New Year everyone.

Dark Angel

2011-12-01T10:58:00.000-06:00

I love this!

At the recent Republican Governor's Association meeting in Florida, Republican strategist Frank Luntz was trying to assist Republicans on how to address the growing dissatisfaction represented by Occupy Wall Street.

One such way is to focus on "jobs" rather than "careers." According to Chris Moody, the conversation should go as follows:

4. Don't talk about 'jobs.' Talk about 'careers.'

"Everyone in this room talks about 'jobs,'" Luntz said. "Watch this."

He then asked everyone to raise their hand if they want a "job." Few hands went up. Then he asked who wants a "career." Almost every hand was raised.

"So why are we talking about jobs?"

Luntz further goes on to say:

Don't say 'bonus!'

Luntz advised that if they give their employees an income boost during the holiday season, they should never refer to it as a "bonus."

"If you give out a bonus at a time of financial hardship, you're going to make people angry. It's 'pay for performance.'"

I love this...with millions unemployed and unable to find work, and countless others trying to make ends meet by holding 2 (or more) jobs, the answer to our economic woes is the continual Orwellization of the struggle.

It's tough to talk about careers when people need a job first
It's tough to talk about careers, when its not "careers" being outsourced to other countries
Why talk about "pay for performance," when executives get the same "performance" enhancements at the same time each year?
Careers are long-term. They involve expectations of the future. Most people are looking for work today.
People definitely want careers, but the current economy make it tough to turn a job into a career.
Jobs are temporary; careers involve commitment by an employment partner.

How do these "solutions" being offered really create "careers" and the resulting "pay for performance?"

Freefall

2011-11-28T04:54:00.000-06:00

In this weekend's New York Times, Floyd Norris highlighted the latest statistics for workers and corporations. He writes:

In the eight decades before the recent recession, there was never a period when as much as 9 percent of American gross domestic product went to companies in the form of after-tax profits. Now the figure is over 10 percent.

During the same period, there never was a quarter when wage and salary income amounted to less than 45 percent of the economy. Now the figure is below 44 percent.

Accompanying his article, were a number of charts, including the below to highlight his point:

For decades, the success of workers and corporations were intertwined. As corporations did well and had high profitability, benefits expanded and wages increased. A rising tide lifts all boats, right?

In the 1910s, Henry Ford knew if workers worked long hours at low pay, they could neither afford nor consume the product they were making. So, he lowered the work day to 8 hours and the work week to 5 days, while offering $5 a day in wages (doubling wages). Check out his thoughts here.

When did organizations decide that workers no longer deserved to share in the success of the organization?

How Long

2011-11-14T11:08:00.000-06:00

In today's wonderful edition of The Cynical Girl, Laurie Ruettimann cites that 82% of recruiters find evidence of discrimination against the employed.

This brings up the following conundrum:

1. If recruiters and employers are not looking at the unemployed to fill vacancies, they must be looking at job seekers who are currently desiring to leave their current position, or trying to entice those who may be content at their current job.

2. Wages have stagnated for the past 30 years....see graph:

So, riddle me this Batman, how are vacancies being filled if higher real wages aren't increasing. Or, is the only way to get a wage increase in today's economy is to switch jobs with the expectation, that once the job is secured, one is unlikely to see significant increased in salary for several years? Is pay compression (or even pay inversion) the "new normal?"

Out of My League

2011-11-11T07:22:00.000-06:00

I admit it. I am not a Google + user. Yes, I have an account, and I dabbled with it when it was first released. However, I never found the value added above and beyond what I get with Twitter and Facebook. As a result, I rarely look at it and haven't posted on it in ages.

However, each day I get two or three notices saying that someone has added me to their circle on Google +. Given my limited participation on Google +, I have to ask.....WHY!?!?!

Do they want to simply bask in my good looks and charm? Is it simple autospamming? Is it my enormous....Klout score? What are they getting?

Which brings me to Follow Friday (nice timing, eh?) on Twitter. While it is nice to list people you think others should follow on Twitter, is it really generating new leads and cultivating new relationships? And, why should you "trust" the person making the recommendation? Because I tell you to follow someone, should you really listen to me?

In their 1982 article, Increasing Productivity through Performance Appraisal, Gary Latham and Kenneth Wexley argue that three criteria should be used to judge the appropriateness of the information source. First, evaluators should be aware of the objectives of the employee's job. Second, the evaluators should have an opportunity to observe the employee on the job....the more times the better. Third, the evaluators should be capable of determining whether the employee's performance is satisfactory.

While Follow Friday is a way to recognize people making good contributions, they are often absent of any context as to why they should be added. Are you aware of their job? Have you had an opportunity to observe them on Twitter? Are what they writing satisfactory? Or are you simply following them blindly?

Soviet

2011-11-02T09:30:00.000-05:00

With the news today that hotel reservations are now being accepted for the 2012 SHRM Annual Conference, I bring you my 3rd annual expose of SHRM hotel costs....this time, 7 months early. In the previous two Junes, I have conducted a quick statistical analysis of the cost to attend the SHRM Annual Conference in terms of housing.

I look at selected SHRM conference brochures (i.e., the ones that I still possessed) over the past 12 years to see what it would cost a person to book a single room on a per night average. Clearly, prices in 2001 will be different than in 2012, so I use an inflation calculator to adjust costs to today's dollars. So, how does the 2012 Conference in Atlanta compare to years past?

Cost of an Average SHRM-Affiliated Hotel (per night)
San Francisco (2001): $250.77 (standard deviation of $55.29)
Chicago (2008): $250.16 (sd of $28.80)
San Diego (2010): $238.42 (sd of $41.04)
Washington DC (2006): $226.12 (sd of $38.85)
Philadelphia (2001): $212.70 (sd of $56.90)
San Diego (2005): $199.94 (sd of $48.75)
Atlanta (2012): $198.36 (sd of $22.13)
Las Vegas (2007): $164.16 (sd of $31.64)
Las Vegas (2011): $126.25 (sd of $17.51)

I ran a simple one-way ANOVA (i.e., a fancy way of comparing multiple means simultaneously) to see if there was a significant difference across the means of these 9 sampled years. The results showed a statistically significant difference overall with F = 21.82 (p=.0000) with an R-squared of 38.57% (hence, nearly 39% of the variation in hotel costs can be explained by location). The result is not surprising, given that San Francisco and Chicago is nearly twice as expensive as Las Vegas.

Clearly, attending the SHRM Annual Conference in 2012 will be a much more expensive proposition than in 2011. Hotel costs in Atlanta are approximately $72 a night more expensive than in Las Vegas. However, hotel prices are in the lower third historically, representing a bigger bargain than in any other city than Las Vegas. Further, given the 2nd smallest standard deviation in the sample, you will be able to find higher quality/higher rated hotels for not much more than the overall average.

But....once again, you better start saving your pennies for 2012, as the conference is returning to Chicago, amongst the more expensive cities in the group.

See you in Atlanta.

"No Worse Than The Rest"

2011-10-26T14:01:00.000-05:00

Growing up in East Lansing, MI and the Michigan State campus, one of the more polarizing figures was one Mark Grebner.

Thirty years before the advent of sites such as "Rate My Professors," he was self publishing "Rating the Profs," a short paperback that was available for purchase at the MSU Student Book Store to assist students in avoiding the "harder" professors (several were rated as "A Real Bastard!").

He has also ran successfully for County Commissioner for many years under the slogan, "No Worse Than The Rest." Which made me think...

Is this a winning slogan for HR as well?

Our HR strategy?...no worse than the rest
Our time to fill?...no worse than the rest
Our candidate pool? ....no worse than the rest
How do we train and develop our employees? ...no worse than the rest
How do we keep our employees safe? ....no worse than the rest
Our recognition program? ...no worse than the rest
Our compensation system?...no worse than the rest
Where do you rate the employees? ....no worse than the rest

Does it work?

Gangster

2011-10-20T07:35:00.000-05:00

Facing personnel problems (in this case, the star RB of the Detroit Lions, Jahvid Best, was suffering from a concussion), the Lions and Philadelphia Eagles engaged in a common practice - the trading of employees. However, the trade had an uncommon result. According to ESPN,

Detroit's trade with Philadelphia that exchanged seldom-used veteran running backs Ronnie Brown and Jerome Harrison has been voided.

Two league sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter that the trade was voided because Harrison has previously undisclosed health issues.

Brown arrived in Detroit but never got to practice.

Lions spokesman Bill Keenist said the team would have no further comment.

The Eagles announced Tuesday they dealt Brown to Detroit for Harrison and an undisclosed pick in the 2013 draft. Detroit wouldn't confirm the move because the franchise doesn't until deals are done.

The Lions were looking forward to adding Brown to a backfield that might be without starting running back Jahvid Best for a while. He had his third concussion Sunday in a loss to San Francisco.

Certainly, it was unlikely Detroit was trying to pull a fast one on the Eagles, particularly since most trades of this nature are contingent on the results of a physical.

However, it got me wondering why we don't see trades among employees more often outside of the sporting arena? Could Ford make a play for a senior accountant at Chrysler? Could Amazon be angling for an up and coming software engineer at Google?

Certainly, a number of things limit the possibility of such trades in the business world, such as:
1) Size of organizations - the sporting arena have limits on the number of employees to possibly cover. There are only 30 Major League Baseball teams, with roster limits during the season of 26 players. There are only 32 NFL teams, with roster limits of 53 players. Organizations with 1,000+ employees were make such scouting very difficult

2) Transparency of performance - Pro athletes performance are on display on a regular basis. Turn on the television on Sunday afternoons in the Fall (particularly on DirecTV) and you can see how an employee with another organization is performing. It is tough to see how Bill in accounting is doing at another organization.

However, what would the business world look like if such trading became commonplace? Would workers be more anxious knowing they could possibly be moving to another organization at a moment's notice? Would that increase or decrease performance levels? Would it create a whole new cadre of performance scouts evaluating talent at other employers? Could it address potential staffing imbalances, as one organization may be flush with sales professionals while another could have extra HR managers? Who would create the Trade Value Chart that would assess comparable value of different charts?

And, would we see trades like we've seen in Major League baseball where players have been traded for a set of bats or a turkey?

I'm not sure I want to wake up tomorrow knowing that I've been traded to Lawrence University for a fax machine and a set of Bic pens.

Some Distant Memory

2011-09-14T06:35:00.000-05:00

Working at a liberal arts college, it is hard not to escape discussion of the liberal arts or Western canon. Also sometimes described as Great Books, Mortimer Adler put together three criteria for a tome to be part of the group:

1. The book must have contemporary significance - is it relevant to today's times
2. The book is inexhaustible - one could always pick it up and derive new meaning and benefits from it
3. The book is relevant is to a large number of the great ideas and great issues that have occupied the minds of thinking individuals for a significant period of time.

With that in mind, is there a "Human Resource Canon"comprised of great writings that all HR professionals should read or have read. What HR book is significant, inexhaustible, and relevant to a large number of the great HR issues that PHRs grapple with on a daily basis? Or, is the HR field simply too young or too ephemeral to contain such a library?

Is the HR Capitalist, the HRRingleader, or The Cynical Girl the best we have?

#HREvolution - Its about the People

2011-09-07T07:41:00.001-05:00

In the Fall of 2009, I went to the first HREvolution in Louisville, KY not sure of what to expect. I had met only one attendee in person prior to the event. I had read many of the attendees blogs or seen them on Twitter, but my interaction was minimal. However, as an educator, I wanted to be sure that the information my students were receiving was as current and cutting edge as possible before they entered the workplace.

In the months and years since the 1st HREvolution, the dividends I've earned from attending would make an Apple investor green with envy. I could wax poetic about the content that has been provided year in and year out. But, its the people and the connections made that have been the real payoff, both professionally and personally. Since attending the 1st HREvolution:

I've been asked to contribute to an e-book on training
I've collaborated on the first of a hoped-to-be annual volume on the intersection of sports and HR called "The 8 Man Rotation"
I've appeared on both the HR Happy Hour and Drive Thru HR several times
I've collaborated with an attendee on an incentive compensation research project
I've been invited to attend the NBA Summer League (which both family considerations, and the NBA lockout have prevented me from going)
I've been asked to help organize HREvolution - Las Vegas

In addition, I have shared many meals, laughs, and conversation both on and offline with many of the attendees. I know that if I had a HR question, I could pick up the phone and any number of the people I have met would be more than willing to provide the advice and guidance I needed.

The cost of registration was (and is) small and I would gladly pay three times its listed cost as the results have been priceless.

If the above hasn't convinced you to attend, please note the special deal that is being offered in conjunction with the HR Technology Conference. While there are a lot of $500 discounts being floated out in the Twitterverse, by registering for BOTH HR Tech AND HREvolution, you get the biggest discount available...$600 off the registration for HR Tech. That means attending HREvolution will only cost you an additional $50. I am so confident that you will find HREvolution worthwhile, that if you register for both events and find yourself dissatisfied with HREvolution, I will personally refund you that extra $50. So, register for HREvolution here and I hope to see you in Las Vegas

Try All You Want

2011-08-23T08:46:00.000-05:00

Soon, the glossy brochure with the great HR stock photos will arrive from SHRM HQ on Duke Street promoting the SHRM Leadership Conference to take place in Arlington, VA, November 17-19.   Often cited by the SHRM C-Suite as "their favorite" SHRM Conference, the Leadership Conference is designed for SHRM volunteer leaders to gain professional development as well as share best practices across chapters and state councils.

To SHRM's credit, they provide free registration as well as two-plus nights of housing for many volunteer roles, including Chapter Presidents, Chapter Management Professionals, State Council Directors, State Council District Directors and State Council Core Leadership Area Membership Directors.

However, left to fend for themselves are State Council Social Media Directors.   So, here are a few reasons SHRM should include Social Media Directors to the above group:

1. Social Media Directors volunteer work is significant.
I've served as a SHRM volunteer leader for over 12 years in a wide range of roles (Area/Regional College Relations Director, State College Relations Director, State Foundation Director, Chapter President, State Conference Co-Chair), and I can say without hesitation that the volunteer work performed is on par, if not exceeds, many of those roles. Such work includes, but is not limited to:
*Setting up and blogging on a regular basis
*Posting on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn on a regular basis
*Visiting and speaking to chapters about how they can utilize social media for their chapters as well as their own personal development
*Speaking about social media at the state leadership as well as the state SHRM conference
*Helping and mentoring volunteer leaders and chapters set up LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook accounts

Given the immediacy of social media, the Director role necessitates vigilance on a daily basis.

2. It would legitimize the role
Kudos must go out to the concerted efforts of SHRM's own Curtis Midkiff in his capacity as the social media guru for the organization. From the Bloggers' lounge at the SHRM Annual Conference to the Tweetups and blogtour at various state conferences, Curtis has demonstrated SHRM's dedication and support for the role social media can play for SHRM chapters.   Supporting State Council Social Media Directors would serve to continue the legitimization of this volunteer role.

3. Social Media Directors are the voice of SHRM and the profession
Social Media Directors provide the PR for the chapters, the state council, and by extension, SHRM itself. We are the ones trumpeting the latest efforts of the SHRM Foundation on Twitter. We are the ones highlighting the latest piece of legislation impacting HR from Governmental Affairs on our blog. We are the ones providing on-the-ground coverage of the state legislative conference or state HR conference. We are the ones promoting the Pinnacle Award to members and non-members alike.   In the end, SHRM is shown in the most positive light.

So, SHRM, support you Social Media Directors at the SHRM Leadership Conference in November.

The Patience of a Saint

2011-08-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

As mentioned in the last post, I spent last weekend in San Antonio at the Academy of Management meetings. I left the cozy confines of my cushy desk in my ivory academic tower to enter the rough and tumble world of professor recruiting. In one of the conference hotels, some 15 rooms were set up with an array of 12 tables in each. Candidates waited out in the hall, as if it were some casting director's dream, and it was not uncommon to have candidates with whom you just interviewed return to the room a few minutes later to interview with another college or university. So, after interviewing some 30 candidates, what lessons were learned over the course of three days?

1. Interviewing is exhausting
After interviewing 12 candidates a day for two days straight with little to no break between candidates, major kudos must go to those who interview candidates regularly.   Keeping up the energy and positivity toward the end of the day took major effort (and a few sips of 5-hour energy)

2. Fit, Fit, Fit is everything
We saw candidates ranging from full professors looking for their last destination to green PhD students working on their final sections of their dissertation. However, we probably ended up spending more time talking about our school and its unique aspects than learning about the candidate him or herself. Why? Given the high number of candidates finishing up grad school, often from some top tier research institutions, we had to counter their advisor admonitions of the importance of high quality research as a criterion.   Given our emphasis on quality undergraduate education over "A"-level journal publication, our message had to be made clear, and the hope is we found a few candidates who realize the direction our school is going.

3. Two heads are better than one
It was considerably easier to have two representatives from our institution doing the interview than a lone individual. Not only was it helpful to keep one fresh, and fill in gaps about the job/organization that the other person might have failed to bring up or forgotten, but it also demonstrated the collegiality and camaraderie that we share at our place at work...which leads to....

4. As always, you are the face of the organization
Given the importance that we place on collegial service that we stress not only in our mission, but in our tenure and promotion processes as well, this notion cannot be captured by a single one-on-one interview.   I believe the "chemistry" (for lack of a better word) that my colleague and I conveyed certainly left a much more positive view of our school (which was probably unfamiliar to those outside of Wisconsin or the Midwest) with those who interviewed with us, than those candidates who met with a single representative from another school. Further, I believe we were the only table where laughter was heard on a regular basis.   Even if some candidates were looking at us as the equivalent of a "safety school," they have much more positive regard for us than before they entered the interview.   However, this was not necessarily the case for other schools, which leads to....

5. Social Comparison Theory is alive and well....
Several cohorts of candidates participated and bonded in doctoral consortiums prior to the interviews taking place, so it was not uncommon to see them out in the hall huddled together discussing their interview experiences. We had an opportunity to ask some of them about how the process was going for them, and they were more than willing to share some of their horror stories, including one common thread about one school where the interviewer was consistently demeaning the quality of her/his employer and engaging in epic acts of self-promotion.   The candidates were almost of the point of waiting outside that room just to hear from other candidates what outrageous things were said in that particular round. Talk about bad brand management (and I hypothesize that when that school is unable to find any suitable candidates to hire, they will blame the low "quality" of the applicants).

6. ....but is competition?
One of the better parts of the process was hearing candidates talk up their fellow colleagues from the same school or group. More than once we heard a candidate say that if you do not choose me, you should choose candidate X. Very refreshing.

So, it is off to review the applications and on to the meet with the committee to determine second interviews.

Get the Message

2011-08-11T08:07:00.000-05:00

This weekend, I am heading to San Antonio for the 2011 Academy of Management Meeting/Conference. Over 6,000 academicians and scholars will be coming together to discuss the latest advances in management thought in some 25 subfields (HR, Technology & Innovation Management, Operations Management, Organizational Behavior....the list goes on). Put together all those Ph.Ds, the Riverwalk, and 105 degree weather, and I know you are guaranteed a good time. It will be an excellent opportunity to catch up with old classmates and friends from other Colleges and Universities.

I have, however, not attended in a number of years. I do enjoy getting my learning on, but, unfortunately, there is this status thing, a cult of personality if you will, going on that is rather off-putting. Let me explain. When I was a young academician straight out of grad school and attending the meetings, it was not uncommon to see "colleagues" look in your eyes than down to your name badge. If your name or school affiliation was worthy, a conversation might be started up. If you were deemed unworthy, the colleague moved on to engage in a discussion with someone else who was perceived to be more important. Mind you, this was not an isolated incident that happened at a single conference; instead, it happened multiple times at several conferences. Not good, and cooled me over the years from attending over the past few years.

So, why I am returning? One of the side events of the Academy meetings is the Career Fair where in a number of big hotel ballrooms, hundreds of schools and hundreds of fresh Ph.D. graduates and professors looking to move will be looking for that "love connection." To wit, I will be putting on my HR hat and conducting actual HR work. I am the Chair of the Search Committee for a new Assistant Professor of Business Administration for our school. I've been combing over curriculum vitae left and right over the past few weeks and setting up some 30+ interviews that will take place Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The hope, of course, is that we will find a set of candidates that will be worthy of a second interview, and then a visit to our campus before the final rose ceremony.

I am looking forward, with a little trepidation, to see if things have changed as well as finding that new work colleague.

HREvolution IV - No Phantom Menace

2011-08-02T08:55:00.000-05:00

In a scant two months, the fourth iteration of HREvolution will take place in Las Vegas, and I know what you're thinking....the fourth of anything stinks, right? Movie producers are trying to capitalize and cash in on the public's good will toward the actors and series.

Just look at the following fourquels, and try not to cringe:
"Lethal Weapon 4"
"Terminator Salvation"
"Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"
"The Next Karate Kid"
"Star Wars - The Phantom Menace" (don't try to fool me by titling it "Episode One")
"Batman & Robin"
Any fourquel in a horror series (Omen IV, Halloween IV, Nightmare on Elm Street IV, Saw IV, etc.)

So, what makes the fourth edition of HREvolution more "The Unforgettable Fire" or "Led Zeppelin IV" than "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace?"

1. Look at our cast of characters below:
Jason Lauritsen and Joe Gerstandt present their Talent Anarchy Hacklab
Kevin Grossman and Meghan Biro on Talent Communities
Craig Fisher and William Tincup on Tool and Technologies
Dr. Daniel Crosby and Dr. Colleen Sutherland on Change Leadership
Lance Haun goes Beyond Blogging
China Gorman and Dwane Lay on Technology that sets your HR Team Apart.
...and more

Scorcese and Spielberg couldn't hire a better array of talent.

2. There is no 3D money grab. The price of a ticket still remains at matinee levels.
3. Like any movie premiere, you need glitz and glamour, and what says glitz more than Las Vegas.
4. In older times, going to the movies meant a cartoon, a news reel and a double feature. HREvolution hearkens back to those days gone by by piggybacking off the HR Technology Conference. Plus, as an added bonus, by registering for HREvolution, you will get a significant discount to attend HR Tech.

Of course, the best fourth is the Fourth of July. So celebrate Independence Day early by registering for the fourth edition of HREvolution here

Reality

2011-07-18T07:35:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite books about the film is Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman. In it, the screenwriter of such films as Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, and The Princess Bride, writes:

"The "go" decision is the ultimate importance of the studio executive. They are responsible for what gets up there on the silver screen. Compounding their problem of no job security in the decision-making process is the single most important fact, perhaps, of the entire industry:

NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING."

*Every studio except Paramount turned down Raiders of the Lost Ark. The studio wanted Tom Selleck to play Indiana Jones instead of Harrison Ford, but Selleck couldn't get out of his Magnum P.I. contract.

*Universal turned down Star Wars
*Columbia passed on E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

We see the same thing happen in the sports arena. Scouts in the NFL battle over whether to draft Ryan Leaf or Peyton Manning as the 1st pick. Tom Brady gets drafted in the 6th round. Michael Jordan was not the first pick in the draft when he came out of college.

Physics has the Law of Gravity
Chemistry has Boyle's Law and the Laws of Thermodynamics
Even Economics, the dismal science, has the Law of Supply and Demand

But, does human resources have any laws or universal truths that all abide by? If so, what are they? Or, like their Hollywood and sports counterparts, NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING.

Getting Away With It

2011-07-14T06:00:00.003-05:00

I would love to attend the 2011 Illinois HR Conference on August 22-24 and/or the 2011 Ohio SHRM State Conference on September 21-23. John Jorgensen (Illinois) and Steve Browne (Ohio) have put together a really stellar program for each of these states.

Check out the agenda for Illinois here
Check out the agenda for Ohio here

The quality of line-ups alone justifies attending. Add the networking, entertainment, and food, and it a must-see event.

So, why am I not going? I'm conferenced out.

One of my best friends says I am one of the luckiest people in the world. My job gives me a really flexible schedule, I get to teach 18-22 year olds, and I get to do a lot of traveling. Looking over the past 12 months, I have attended the following conferences:

August 5-6, 2010 - WI SHRM State Leadership Conference in Sturgeon Bay
September 23-26, 2010 - AABRI Conference in Orlando, FL
October 6-8, 2010 - WI SHRM State Conference in Appleton, WI
November 18-20, 2010 - SHRM Leadership Conference in Arlington, VA
February 24-27, 2011 - ASBBS Conference in Las Vegas, NV
March 4-5, 2011 - WI SHRM Student Conference and HR Games in Fond du Lac, WI
April 8-10, 2011 - SHRM North Central Region Student Conference in Romeoville, IL
April 29-May 1, 2011 - HREvolution in Atlanta, GA
June 24-29, 2011 - SHRM Annual Conference in Las Vegas, NV

Intermingled with the above is travel for family, weddings, sporting events (Brewers baseball, NFC Championship, Super Bowl, Final Four) as well as other work and volunteer related functions.

Looking ahead, I already have the following conferences scheduled:
August 4-5, 2011 - WI SHRM State Leadership Conference in Green Lake, WI
August 12-16, 2011 - Academy of Management Meetings in San Antonio, CA
September 30 - October 5, 2011 - HREvolution/HR Technology Conference in Las Vegas, NV
October 12-14, 2011 - WI SHRM State Conference in Madison, WI
November 17-20, 2011 - SHRM Leadership Conference in Arlington, VA
January 5-7, 2012 - AABRI Conference in Orlando, FL
March 2-3, 2012 - WI SHRM Student Conference and HR Games in Platteville, WI
June 22-27, 2012 - SHRM Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA

and....who knows, there might be another conference or two in that time frame.

So, yes, I am lucky. I get to do a lot of traveling and attend a lot of conferences. However, while I would love to be in Illinois and Ohio over the next two months, I am not sure I have the time, energy, or resources to make it there.

However, on behalf of John and Steve, I highly encourage you to go to those great events. And, if you can't, come join us in Madison, WI, on October 12-14. Check out the Learning Sessions here and early bird registration ends July 15.

Feel Every Beat

2011-07-13T07:32:00.000-05:00

For the past few weeks, I have been suffering from a clogged right ear due to the excessive build-up of earwax (perhaps too much information, and I am sure one of the first things you want to read about is earwax). Despite the efforts of over-the-counter remedies, the problem was not being resolved, so I finally went to the ear doctor.

Technology has certainly improved since the last time I went. Instead of flushing it out (NO Q-TIPS!), they now have what seemed like a micro Dust Buster to clear out the ears (maybe Dyson has patented this technology as well). After the successful removal, I decided to have my hearing checked to see what was the impact of 20+ years of rock concerts, blasting New Order and Orbital in the car while driving, and listening to music on headphones.

While cleaning ears might have changed, having a hearing test appears to have not since the last time I had it checked a couple decades ago. You sit in a supposedly soundproof room, put on a pair of headphones, and are given a Jeopardy-style buzzer that you are to press when a series of tones are played.

Here's the thing. I'm sure the test is completely valid, but as you are going through the test, there are times where I was listening, and I was not sure whether a tone was being played....or I thought I might have heard a tone when there wasn't one. You start to question whether you are hearing things (maybe its just the voice in my head).

So, what does this have to do with HR?

1. Well, you can't spell hearing without HR. I'm thankful I have insurance to cover the test.
2. As always, are we asking the right questions? Like the hearing test, do we have content validity? As we continue our metric quest, are we measuring what we purport to measure?

In the end, the concerts and loud music have had an effect, particularly in the upper registers. I am now contemplating purchasing a customized pair of noise-canceling headphones.

Tighten Up

2011-07-08T09:03:00.000-05:00

Like many of you, I have trouble keeping up with all of my contacts on all the social networking platforms as well as the information that accompanies them and it. Twitter, Facebook, Empire Avenue, Quora, etc. and now Google Plus has entered the picture.   I limit my followers on Twitter to around 500, as I have difficulty keeping up with my Twitter stream if it exceeds that number . Unless I have met you in real life, I am unlikely to follow you (apologies to those who have recently followed me and I haven't reciprocated). Even as I try to put a cap on all this, it is still difficult to separate the signal from the noise. Am I effectively using my network to hear about the latest and greatest information? What is the must read set of blogs for the day? Am I missing something crucial?

One of my daily website destinations is Quickish.   Launched in early January 2011 by former ESPN Page 2 writer Dan Shanoff. Shanoff used to write the "Daily Quickie," which highlighted the important stories from the previous day in sports, as well as previewed the potential big stories of the day ahead.   Quickish attempts to take that to the next level by providing real-time sports tips as the day progresses. It could be a blog, it could be something on Twitter, it could be a must see highlight on YouTube. While there are a lot of news aggregators, the key difference for Quickish is that is editor-vetted.

Something similar is needed in the HR arena (perhaps there is, and I am simply missing it, making this whole post moot). While there are sites like paper.li or Twyleh, they are too reliant on hashtags and do not filter the wheat from the chaff.

Take the recent SHRM Annual Conference, for example. With the increased emphasis on social media, the content being produced was enormous.   Someone following the #shrm11 hashtag was likely to be overwhelmed. What was needed was someone choosing the best tweets and blogs at the particular time. A Quickish for HR would serve that purpose.

So, if any venture capitalists are out there...this might be something worth pursuing.

#shrm11 - Melinda Riechert - Social Networking in the Workplace

2011-07-02T12:54:00.000-05:00

When I looked at the title of the presentation, "Social Networking in the Workplace: Untangling the Web of Employer Risks, Employee Rights, and Management Best Practices" and the person presenting the session was a lawyer, my hackles were immediately raised. Would this be a balanced presentation on social media, or one dominated by the dangers that would immediately strike fear in the audience about these tools. Unfortunately, the session was the latter.

I have no doubt Ms. Riechert is an excellent lawyer. She had a firm grasp of the case law; many of the audience members were truly engaged in her talk, and laughed at many of her more light-hearted remarks.

She discussed what is social media. She discussed the rights of employees in terms of working conditions, whistleblowing, privacy, employee monitoring, and legal off-duty behavior. Similarly, she discussed the risks to employers from social media, including damage to reputation, loss of priviliged information, defamation, violation of FTC rules, and loss of employee productivity. She concluded with a discussion of management best practice to minimize risks and how to structure a social media policy.

So, what was/were the issue(s)? First, her social media understanding was limited, by her own admittance. She noted that she signed up for Twitter only recently, and she was unfamiliar with many social media tools that might, for example, restrict protected information during the recruiting process. Further, if I were a neophyte in regards to social media usage, any thoughts of leveraging the benefits would have been thrown out the window. For example...

*She mocked Tony Hsieh and Zappos social media policy, which is to be real and use your best judgment.
*She advised supervisors not to friend subordinates on Facebook
*She warned against giving a LinkedIn endorsement to a colleague

After a SHRM Conference that seemingly embraced social media, from it being mentioned in the keynote addresses of Tony Hsieh and Arianna Huffington to the vibrancy of Social Media Lounge, this session was certainly a sour way to end a conference after such positivity. And, who knows how many potential voices were silenced because of the cautionary approach endorsed by Ms. Riechert?

Bizarre Love Triangle

2011-07-01T16:47:00.000-05:00

So, I just got back from a showing of "Larry Crowne" with 100 of my 70 year old friends.

I'm going to spoil the first 5 minutes of the movie for you...so if you're going to see it, be prepared. Over the opening credits, we see Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks) as a model organization citizen for a Wal-mart clone called U-Mart. He's excited to go to work, he picks up trash from the parking lot, he demonstrates a lot of camaraderie. He spouts that even without organizational policy, sorting the clothes before leaving for the day is the right thing to do.

Over the loud speaker, he hears his name being called to the common break room. He thinks he is going to receive employee of the month, an award he has won 9 times! However, once he gets there, he is met by HR and the suits. He learns that because he does not have a college education (he entered the Navy after high school where he served the country loyally for 20 years as a cook), he is not "management" material, and can't move up the corporate ladder. Because the company doesn't want to prevent anyone from moving up, they decide....TO FIRE HIM.

That's right...they fire him. No thought that the policy might be a bad one. No thought that other positions might plateau. No offer of tuition reimbursement to possibly keep one of their supposedly best employees. No progressive discipline/warning that this might be a possibility sometime in the future if he doesn't start working toward a college education. They fire him.

I understand that they needed the plot point to get him to go to community college to meet cute with Julia Roberts, but its just lazy writing by Tom Hanks and Nia Vardalos to get the movie going.

*But the 70 year old ladies loved the movie anyway

#SHRM11 - Day 4 impressions

2011-06-29T11:13:00.000-05:00

So, I would have loved to have posted this yesterday, but, in a SHRM world where conference days are measured in dog time, and one day is so jam packed it feels like a week, I simply didn't get to it until this morning. So, here are the highlights, lowlights, and other trivia from Day 4:

Keynotes kept getting better and better. From the Q&A with Richard Branson, and the sterling performance from Arianna Huffington, it was turned up to 11 with Tony Hsieh from Zappos. His talk on happy employees and customers was so good, John Hollon of TLNT.com described him "as the SHRM speaker that all others are compared to for a long time to come."

Great session speakers. Laurie Ruettimann spoke on "The Future Of HR is Social" and Joe Gerstandt spoke on "No. Great Minds Do Not Think Alike." Both were compelling speakers, with a good message. Blog posts on both to come.

SHRM Academic Initiatives continues to grow. At a luncheon, SHRM Academic Initiatives talked about the continued efforts to improve the guidelines for students pursuing a major in human resources. The number of schools aligning with these standards increases steadily, with the hopes that every student gains the appropriate knowledge that the future working world requires.

My dogs are barking. A little less walking today. "Only" 14,022 steps and 7.89 miles. That brings a three day total of 64, 868 steps and 35.55 miles. This blog should be sponsored by New Balance.

More money, more problems. While the SHRM conference kept me constantly busy, I really haven't had time to gamble (other than a small $15 win betting on the Brewers over the Twins) until yesterday. But, despite my best efforts to give my money to the dealer and the MGM Grand, I ended up winning $425 playing blackjack. So, I am well on my way to getting the iPad2 that was denied me in the Exhibit Hall. Suck it, vendors!

Now, on to the final day of the SHRM Conference and Michael J. Fox

#SHRM11 - Day 3 Impressions

2011-06-28T00:52:00.000-05:00

The Conference truly kicked off in full gear on Day 3, with sessions starting at 7:00 a.m., and parties lasting into the night.   Here is the recap of the day:

*Arianna delivered the goods. Opening keynote Arianna Huffington provided an inspiring talk, and it was wonderful to hear a speaker advocating the appropriate use of social media.   She told a few jokes, advocated a sleep policy, encouraged the audience to write her (arianna@huffingtonpost.com), and answered audience questions with aplomb.

*SRO. With an estimated 18,000 attendees, it was not surprising to discover that many rooms were filled to capacity, and people were turned away at the door. At least two sessions, I wanted to attend at 10:45 A.M. were full.

*Vendors - use your booth numbers. While every vendor I spoke with seemed eager to talk about their product, it was often difficult to locate a particular booth because the booth number was either obscured by the fancy set-up, or the vendor simply took down the identifying number.   Make sure your booth number is visible, please.

*The Social Media Lounge was hopping. SHRM's PR and Social Media Director Curtis Midkiff's effort to enhance the Social Media efforts of SHRM certainly paid off with the Social Media Lounge sponsored by BranchOut. It was a continual hub of activity with a bevy of individuals writing their blog, tweeting, and conversing in person. It has been THE place to be at the 2011 SHRM Annual Conference.

*HREvolution planning continues unabated.   Given the mileage that separates many of us, coming together at SHRM allows for greater collaboration. Today provided an excellent opportunity to get together with HREvolution founders Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane to discuss speakers, agenda, and other HREvolution activities. If you are liking SHRM in Vegas in June, you are going to LOVE the 4th iteration of HREvolution in October with the HR Tech Conference. Tickets are available now.

Parties - It was great to meet up with all the Wisconsin attendees at the Badger Bash at Blondies in Planet Hollywood. The festivities continued at the wonderful SHRM Tweetup at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. Some of the resemblances of the figures were uncanny.

*Dogs are still barking.   The Fitbit tells me I walked 23,945 steps for a total of 13.57 miles.   The bottom of my feet are killing me, but with the day's events, it was worth it

#SHRM11 - Shane Yount - Leadership GPS

2011-06-27T17:46:00.000-05:00

Despite some early mic problems that made the early portion of his presentation sound like a bad Richard & Sal prank phone call from the Howard Stern show, Shane Yount's presentation of Leadership GPS (Goals, People, Systems) provided a competent challenge to current leadership dogma.

He started off with a central question - where are you in terms of leading your organization?   He followed with the flaws that make reaching your destination somewhat cloudy - physical proximity, persuasion, and position.   According to Yount, one can't be consistent using or leading with these three P's.

So, how do you get back on course? According to Yount, it is through the common business language of connection, clarity and consistency.

Yount then moved to the question of are you winning or losing as an organization.   Can you answer this question with the appropriate data and metrics?   Scorecards that educate, facilitate, and motivate can assist you in the process.

Yount further argued about whether leaders truly engage their people.   Do we have a culture of selective engagement or collective accountability? If we are to emphasize accountability, it must become personal and visible to truly be real.   Yount gave an example of an Action Register to make people accountable.

Finally, Yount focused on systems, looking at one aspect - communication.   He noted, "what people don't know, they make up."

By focusing on the the three factors of goals, people, and systems, Yount demonstrated leadership can better serve its employees and organization.

#SHRM11 - The One Thing You Must Do - Visit the SHRM Foundation

2011-06-27T12:12:00.000-05:00

I know there are a lot of temptations here in the sin city of Las Vegas...the slot machines, a Cirque du Soleil show, the $4.99 steak and seafood special.

However, there is one thing you truly must visit before Leaving Las Vegas...the SHRM Foundation booth at the center of the Expo Hall. Why?

The SHRM Foundation provides $100,000 in scholarships to HR professionals, $50,000 in student membership scholarships, and $20,000 in Doctoral Dissertation Awards.
The SHRM Foundation is a leading funder of rigorous, evidence-based research, with more than $1.3 million in ongoing research projects.
The SHRM Foundation continually gives many of the products that are the results of their efforts away for free to the greater HR community, such as the Effective Practice Guidelines, and DVDs, such as their most recent endeavor, "Making Mergers Work."
The SHRM Foundations created the annual Thought Leaders Retreat, which "brings together a select group of leading-edge thinkers and executives in the HR field. Participants explore issues shaping the future of the profession and their implications for research and practice"

So, please stop by the SHRM Foundation booth and make the Foundation even stronger. If you are reading this at home, go visit the SHRM Foundation website and read more about the great things the SHRM Foundation does

#SHRM11 - Day 2 impressions

2011-06-27T00:29:00.001-05:00

Day Two of the 2011 SHRM Annual Conference has come to an end (at least for me...thousands are likely still out taking in the Vegas nightlife).   Here are a few impressions from Day 2.

Meet the New Boss...Same as the Old Boss. This The Who lyric came to mind as Hank Jackson had the "interim" part of his CEO title removed, as was widely speculated.   He shared his rags to riches story, and its nice to know than a failed NBA player can live the dream and become CEO of SHRM. It'll be interesting to see what moves he will make and whether he will take a more active role in social media than his predecessors.

#HRThisandThat with Sir Richard Branson - The opening session with Richard Branson did not live up to a man of his stature, and the format was as deflated as one of Branson's failed balloon trips. While he had a lot of valuable information, the Q and A format was not as successful as one hoped with questions like "Is your success the result of genius or luck."   The questions texted to him from the audience made me wonder if that was truly the cream of the crop that were asked.

Rule #1 of the Exhibit Hall was violated several times.   As noted previously in this blog, my one piece of advice to SHRM 2011 attendees was to not stop in the middle of an aisle to have a conversation, thereby slowing traffic and inconveniencing others. Alas, several did not follow this simple rule of courtesy, making the exhibit hall much more difficult to navigate.

The TLNT Tweetup. As expected, this was the highlight of the day, as good food, good drinks, laughter, and seeing @HRFishbowl cut a rug made the party quite the success

No Discussion of the Flaws of the Student Case Competition. Several chapter advisors were hoping to discuss the many flaws of the student case solving competition that replaced the Regional HR Games this year at some point during the day and a half student conference. Unfortunately, such discussion did not take place. One hopes that the three page letter I sent in April regarding the flaws will be addressed soon.

My Dogs are Barking.   I checked the Fitbit as I typed this, and it indicated I had walked 26, 901 steps and 14.09 miles today.   The emphasis on comfortable shoes cannot be stressed enough.

Onto Day 3 in the morning.

#SHRM 11 - Day 1 Highlights and Trends

2011-06-26T02:16:00.001-05:00

The first of the four and a half day SHRM 2011 Annual Conference is in the books.

Most of the day was spent with the Student Conference. The consistent theme running through out the day was generational differences. From Aaron Kesher's opening session to Joshua's Fredenburg's keynote address to the social media session to close the day, generational differences were on everyone's mind.

Highlights include:
*The social media session moderated by SHRM's Social Media Guru, Curtis Midkiff, featuring panelists John Nykolaiszyn, Robin Schooling, Matt Charney, and Laurie Ruettimann, certainly delivered the goods. They focused on how to network, the importance of a MBA, how to develop a backbone in HR, how you get into HR, and a few HR horror stories were thrown in for good measure. More importantly, the students were engaged and drew a lot of good knowledge from the panel.

*Continued support of student programs and the future HR leaders of tomorrow. An excellent colleague, Dr. Jeff Walls, was selected as the 2011 Advisor of the Year. He is a shining example of the great work advisors do to help students pursue careers in HR, and is a sterling choice to be recognized. Similarly, there were nearly 300 students, advisors, and guests attending today's conference, and it is wonderful to see strong passion for human resources at a young age.

*The volunteers. Kudos to the nearly 700 volunteers who assisted everyone today as they helped register, hand out bags, and direct people to the proper location. Without their assistance, the conference would fall into chaos.

*The networking. Its great to catch up with people in real life who you may only chat with on Twitter and Facebook. Over dinner at Fiamma, the conversation was strong as we talked HR and other matters, reflected on who unfortunately could not attend, and laughed. Special, special thanks to Matt Charney and Monster.com for supporting the dinner.

On to day two.

#SHRM11 - Aaron Kesher - "Generations at Work"

2011-06-25T13:49:00.000-05:00

The student conference started off in strong form with Aaron Kesher's "V+B+X+Y:Generations at Work," with V standing for veterans, B for Baby Boomers, X for Generation X, and Y for Generation Y/Millenials.

Kesher began by having each generation give their perspective on the other three generations by working backward, having the Millenials kick it off. Examples included Millenials thinking that Boomers "work harder, not smarter" and that Boomers use too much paper.

Kesher then detailed what exactly is a "generation." One important note cited was that the discussion is primarily U.S. driven, and we are only now started to look at generational differences internationally.

Kesher used the remaining time to look at each generation specifically, focusing on what "work is...,"their work ethic, their perspective on work/life balance, and how each group was impacted by technology. Finally, he look at how employers can address the motivation of each generation at work. Veterans, for example, would be served by recognizing their loyalty, providing a personal touch (such as a handwritten note), and giving them visible symbols of status.

To an audience that encompassed all four generations, Kesher provided a welcome overview of the topic for those somewhat versed in the topic, while engaging those for whom the material is new.

Hellbent

2011-06-23T07:49:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, I head to Las Vegas for the SHRM 2011 Annual Conference & Exposition. Like last year, I will be blogging it up...In the spirit of Spinal Tap's noted auteur, Marty DiBergi, I hope to capture...the sights, the sounds...the smells....of the 2011 Annual SHRM Conference. I hope to get that...and a lot more. But, hey, enough of my yakkin'....

So, what do you all want to read about from the conference? What stories do you want to hear about? Here are some of the initial blog ideas I hope to bring you:

Behind the scenes of the student conference - Every Saturday, SHRM Student Programs puts on a mini-conference for students and student chapter advisors. This year, it will include a social media panel with the likes of John Nykolaiszyn, Matt Charney, Robin Schooling, and Laurie Ruettimann. What does the Future of HR look like?
Attending the SHRM Annual Conference as a student. What does a student expect to capture from his or her attendance? What did he or she think about the experience? What did he or she think about the exhibit hall? Was he or she treated well by fellow HR professionals? Exhibitors?
The Exhibit Hall - what were the best and worst displays? What were the best and worst freebies? Will Monster.com once again bring the biggest menace to the exhibit hall experience...the rollerbag!?!?
Does any one really win at the exhibit hall? By now, many are receiving conference pamphlets from vendors requesting that they stop by a vendor's booth for a chance to win an iPod, Garmin, TomTom, iPad, gift card, etc. This will be my 11th SHRM Annual Conference, and in the previous 10 years I've won bupkus. Do people really win the prizes advertised?
The party scene - Lots of parties night to counterbalance the bevy of educational opportunities in the day. Sunday brings you the TLNT Tweet-up. Monday has The SHRM11 TweetUp and the Badger Bash (sponsored by the WISHRM state council).
Other topics may include SHRM's Academic Initiatives as well as the SHRM Foundation.

What do you want to read about?

Such a Good Thing

2011-06-19T12:58:00.000-05:00

The SHRM 2011 Annual Conference & Exposition is mere days away.

I know you're excited. You've bought your new outfits from Ann Taylor. You packed your comfy shoes. You've been told to take off your badge as you leave the convention center.

However, I have one piece, THE piece, of advice for the 17,000 new and returning attendees that you haven't been told:

KNOW YOUR SURROUNDINGS AND GET OUT OF THE WAY

What does this mean?

1. Slower Traffic Keep Right.

Yes, this is just like the highway, except there is a lot more traffic in a much more confined space. People are trying to get to sessions, meetings, etc., and walking slowly, in the middle of any pathway, checking your e-mail or Twitter updates on your Blackberry or iPhone is not helping anyone.

2. If you are wearing a backpack or pulling a rollerbag, be aware of your surroundings especially if you are coming to a stop or turning around. Most likely, you are going to trip someone, or knock over the $8 Starbucks he or she just purchased.

3. If you see a friend or colleague, don't stop in the middle of the aisle to start up a conversation. Keep moving and find a more remote location to continue speaking. This is particularly true in the crossroads of the expo hall.

If you follow the above, you are not only going to make yourself, but others around you that much happier.

Now, kids, get off my lawn, and enjoy the conference.

1963

2011-06-16T14:23:00.001-05:00

In 8 days, I will be flying out to Las Vegas for the 2011 SHRM Annual Conference. One of the rites of passage associated with registering and attending the conference is the bevy of mail you receive from vendors hoping to lure you to their booth to discuss the latest in HR technology, drug testing, relocation, etc. Occasionally, they entice you with the promise of a certain geegaw that you can't find at any other booth. It would not be uncommon to receive 13+ pieces of mail a day in the 3 weeks prior to the start of the conference.

However, the pitch has changed.......
...........................................................

Last year, at the SHRM Annual Conference I had the opportunity to be part of the 1st "SHRM Blog Squad," where I had the opportunity to highlight many of the conference events. You can read more details about it here. Thanks to Curtis Midkiff (@shrmsocmedguy) and Jennifer Hughes (@SHRMPress), I will once again be able to share my feeble thoughts on the conference yet again. However, because of my registration as a blogger for the conference, I have yet to receive a single piece of vendor mail.

However, I have been inundated with e-mails from vendors asking me to set up appointments to meet with their CEO or hear about their latest product, presumably as a pitch to feature him or her or the product in my blog. In addition, I have receive numerous calls from these companies following up on their e-mails.

As a courtesy to these vendors, let me tell you about my credentials:
1. I am an Associate Professor of Business Administration.
2. In that role, I make approximately .1% of any decision affecting the human resources of our organization.,
3. In the words of Lloyd Dobler, in "Say Anything:" "I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that"

So, I may be the wrong audience to target.

The one thing missing is a little WIIFM: What's In It For Me. What do I get out of taking time out of my busy SHRM Conference schedule to hear your pitch and feature your product/service/CEO in my blog? (One company who shall remain nameless did offer a "blogger gift bag;" if it anything like actors receive at the Oscars or college football players get when they attend a bowl game, count me in).

Which gives me an idea......
.......................................................................

In 2010, Morgan Spurlock released the movie "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold:"

In the film, he sets out to finance the movie by getting advertisers to sponsor the film, which is essentially a movie about how advertising is polluting our lives and minds.

Given how many pitches I have received in the past couple weeks, I have decided to become a sell-out myself:

1. Sponsor my blog

If it worked for Morgan Spurlock, it can work for me. I am more than willing to rename my blog, "(Your company name) presents: True Faith HR." I'd be glad to include your company logo in every SHRM11 blog post I write. I'd include your company name in every tweet I issue. I'd even include pictures of myself in your company clothing line. As my blog and tweets will likely reach thousands of eyes, what better way to get your name out there.

Just make me an offer.

2. Draw my name at your booth for your "Grand Prize."

This will be my 11th SHRM Annual Conference in a row. In my previous 10 years of attending the conference, I have yet to have my name drawn as the winner of a booth's grand prize. You lure me in with the promise of an iPod, laptop, or GPS, yet each year I leave empty handed. I remain firmly convinced it is due to the credentials listed above; if I am not likely to buy your product, why give me the prize.

BUT.....now I have this blog. Why give the prize to Donna in benefits from Boise, Idaho. Draw my name instead. You can be sure as all get out that I will be talking about my new iPad 2 on this blog and I'll be giving your company all sorts of props here. C'mon, what better way to make your company look magnanimous that giving this here blogger your prize?!?!?

So, vendors, what say you? I'm not expensive....I'll take an iPad 2, Amazon gift card, Tom Toms, pound notes, loose change, bad checks, anything. Do I have to come right flat out and tell you everything?

Serious inquiries only!

World in Motion

2011-06-14T06:00:00.001-05:00

I serve on the Benefits Advisory Committee for our school. We meet weekly to discuss many of the aspects of our benefits plan, and I would say that 80-85% of our time is spent on health care and its related issues: switching providers, amending the dental plan, looking for cost savings. Our benefit administrator spends significant amounts of time dealing as well with employee interaction with that plan.

So, it was interesting to read the news that the flawed McKinsey study that argues 30% of employers wil drop health insurance by 2014 ( for some discussion of the problems with the McKinsey study, click here and here). It got me to thinking, why are employers in the health care business? Given how much time, energy, and resources our HR Department spends, is the competitive advantage of providing it to attract applicants worth the effort?

Further, why are employers opposed to a single payer or Medicare-for-all system? Wouldn't HR be freed up to handle more employee performance and strategic issues instead of spending all the time dealing with insurance companies? Wouldn't employees be more productive instead of fretting over filling out yet another flexible spending account reimbursement form?

I understand the cost implications of it, but what would be the disadvantage(s) purely from the standpoint of operating your business?

Thoughts?

Guilt is a Useless Emotion

2011-06-13T21:35:00.000-05:00

Tonight I watched the GOP Presidential Debate from New Hampshire on CNN. In an effort to get to know the candidates, a series of "fun" questions, known as This or That, were asked as CNN went to commercial. For example:

Herman Cain, Former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, was asked "Deep Dish or Thin Crust" (Deep Dish was his answer.

Newt Gingrich was asked, Dancing with the Stars or American Idol (Idol was his definitive answer)

Mitt Romney was asked Mild or Spicy Chicken Wings. (Mitt took a bold stand with spicy)

Ron Paul was asked Blackberry or iPhone (He went Blackberry, losing the crucial iPhone vote).

So, in that vein...what would be your HR This or That?
Organizing company picnics or giving performance reviews?
Seat-at-the-table or culture?
Team-building or organizing a wellness program?
Coach purses or flip-flops?
Drive Thru HR or HR Happy Hour?

So, what's your HR This or That?

Run 2

2011-06-13T07:09:00.000-05:00

Today, I have a guest post at XpertHR where I take a light-hearted, truly Coperican take on the question "If I could change one thing about HR...."

Check it out here

Rock the Shack

2011-06-08T16:01:00.000-05:00

I know you come to True Faith HR for hard hitting HR analysis...and what could be more hard hitting than an analysis of SHRM Hotel costs. Last June, I examined the cost of hotels at the 2010 SHRM Annual Conference, and found some significant differences. Do those differences remain in 2011?

Once again, I looked at selected SHRM conference brochures (i.e., the ones that I still possessed) over the past 11 years to see what it was cost a person to book a single room on a per night average. Clearly, prices in 2001 will be different than in 2011, so I used an inflation calculator to adjust costs to 2011 dollars. So, how does Las Vegas compare to years past?

Cost of an Average SHRM-Affiliated Hotel (per night)
Using a typical Sunday-Wednesday night as a baseline:
San Francisco (2001): $251.47 (standard deviation = $55.44)
Chicago (2008): $247.23 (sd=$28.46)
San Diego (2010): $243.59 (sd=$41.93)
Washington DC (2006): $225.81 (sd=38.80)
Philadelphia (2002): $214.47 (sd=57.34)
San Diego (2005): $201.03 (sd=$49.02)
Las Vegas (2007): $162.58 (sd=$31.34)
Las Vegas (2011): $126.25 (sd=$17.51)

As expected, Las Vegas is statistically significantly cheaper than every other in the sample. Its even statistically cheaper than 4 years ago.

Never has there been a better time than to attend the SHRM conference than today with hotel prices at their lowest prices by far. Even adjusting for inflation, it is $36 cheaper to attend today than 4 years ago. Once again, you'll be able to nab a 5-star hotel such as the Bellagio ($199 in 2007; $149 in 2011), Venetian ($189 in 2007; $139 in 2011) or Wynn ($215 in 2007, $139 in 2011) for a price of a hotel in the bottom quartile in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, or San Diego).

But...you better start saving your pennies for 2013, as the conference will be in Chicago, and you'll likely be paying twice as much for hotel rooms as you are today.

See you in Vegas!

Here to Stay

2011-06-03T07:47:00.000-05:00

I watched the film Waiting for Superman with great expectations, and, not surprisingly, those expectations were not met. Directed by Davis Guggenheim (director of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and husband of actress Elizabeth Shue) , the documentary focuses on the failing U.S. school system, placing the blame on teacher unions coddling poor performing teachers and a system of tracking that makes it impossible for lower performing students to ever catch up with their higher performing peers. Interspersed with these attacks is a look at 5 children hoping to stake their claim on one of the coveted spots in a charter school, the alternative which Guggenheim appears to champion. While the film is to be applauded for raising questions about the state of education, and its heartbreaking to watch dedicated students suffer, the film has a number of flaws, particularly from a human resource perspective.

First, the film never explores what exactly defines "good teaching." Guggenheim never mentions what turns people into better teachers what is the superior content that they deliver, as well as how they teach. We are presented with two excellent teachers who are frustrated with their current school, start up a charter, and suddenly everything was hunky-dory. But, it never demonstrates how and why they are better, and what barriers existed that made being superior so difficult in their former school.

Second, the process of hiring teachers is never explored. How are charter schools hiring "better" teachers? Are they offering a better salary? Better benefits? Greater autonomy? I checked out US Charters: Staffing for Success to see what the recommended approach to recruitment and selection might be and they offer 10 steps:

Write a role description for each staff role.
Identify required and desired qualifications and characteristics.
Identify potential sources of staff.
Promote your school.
Recruit
Determine how you will screen candidates.
Prepare materials and organize assistance.
Make initial selections.
Notify all candidates of outcomes.
Draw up the contract

So, where is the magic? What are charter schools doing differently in hiring than their public and private school counterparts in identifying and selecting superior candidates?

Finally, the last 20 minutes focuses on the lotteries for the 5 families mentioned above. For the charter schools those families, Guggenheim cites that the school has "x applicants for y slots" (i.e., 142 applicants for 40 slots). You can feel the tension in the air as the ping pong ball exits the hopper, and the families await their fate. However, the scene ultimately fails in that Guggenheim doesn't tell us how many applicants did NOT apply for the lottery. What is the percent of applicants to the total pool of students?

Given that each lottery applicant represents a dedicated parent or set of parents (they would not have applied if they did not care about their child's education), the untold reason for the success of charter schools may very well be the 85, 90, 95% plus of involved caring parents. As a result, are teacher unions and tracking really to blame when public school educators are dealing with students whose parents are too busy or indifferent?

Salvation Theme

2011-05-19T08:27:00.002-05:00

A running theme over the past few months has been Zombie HR. Ben Eubanks has written "10 Reasons to Hire Zombies." Doug Shaw made his own contribution with "Zombie HR." Jay Kuhns wrote last week that "Service Zombies are not World Class." Today, Dwane Lay staked his claim with "The CDC and the Zombie Apocolypse."

Coincidentally, the University of California-Santa Barbara has taken a new approach to the zombie discussion:

About 800 students showed up to The Hub at 8 p.m. for the second annual Zombie Debate hosted by Associated Students’ Program Board to hear six professors argue why their area of study would be most valuable in surviving a zombie attack.

This year, the participants were Walid Afifi of Communication, Rusty Busto of Religious Studies, Tamsin German of Psychology, Glenn Beltz of Engineering, Candace Waid of English and Comparative Literature, and the newest champion, John Latto of Biology, whose prize was bragging rights.

Each professor used a different tactic to sway audience members, ranging from Afifi’s use of digital maps to show where zombies had attacked and Twitter feeds to get updates on what was going on, to Busto surprising the audience by pulling out a chainsaw to prove his point that the Religious Studies Department employs the necessary tools.

Missing from the debate was the perspective of a professor of human resource management were invited to the debate. So, why might HR be uniquely suited to handle a zombie attack?

Experience - HR professionals have spent many years dealing with employees whose dedication and passion have long since disappeared.
Knowledge - Given the private discussions they have with many employees, they know where those bodies are buried and can act accordingly.
Being a Credible Activist - By delivering results with integrity and sharing information, they can build relationships of trust with our new zombie overlords.

So, have at it folks...why would studying HR provide you with an advantage in dealing with a zombie attack?

The Beach

2011-05-11T06:55:00.000-05:00

Last January, I discussed the detailed tenure and promotion process most academicians go through to move up the limited career ladder. I was being sly (and somewhat disingenuous) in my discussion as I was going through that very process. On January 31, I submitted my application for Associate Professor with a 46 page essay (which you can read here if you are incredibly bored or are looking for a sleep aid) along with supporting material. After 3 (!!) long months, I learned last Friday that my application was supported and I will start the 2011-2012 year as an Associate Professor.

The first emotion I felt when I opened the letter informing me of the news was not joy, but immense relief. The waiting and waiting for the decision had certainly taken its toll, as I grew frustrated by the lack of news. But relief sooned turned to thoughts of "what now?"

Should I rest on my laurels? That'd be very easy to do...and I wouldn't be the first.
Can I be content at the rank I have achieved, knowing the difficult road that lies ahead if I choose to pursue the next level?
What will it eventually take to reach the pinnacle of any academic career - the rank of Professor?
What will it take to demonstrate "sustained competence over time," given application to that rank is at least 5 years away?
I have yet to start a family. Can I maintain the energy and devotion needed to continue growth and prominence in my chosen field, particularly if a child enters the picture?

With finals coming to close, and a couple research projects in the mix, it will be a summer of both satisfaction of what I have accomplished, and contemplation of the future.

Blue Monday

2011-05-09T06:00:00.006-05:00

As mentioned before, Laurie Ruettimann and I presented on "Pop Culture, Politics, and HR" at last weekend's HREvolution Conference.

One of the questions that we posed to the audience was, "what would you do if you learned your employee is a birther?" The tilt of the question was to see whether political, let alone radical, views would affect your perception of the employee's ability to get things done. Would you trust him or her to handle a crucial negotiation or sale based on this initial fact? The general consensus by the audience was that if the employee demonstrated an ability to defend a position with reason, and they have shown a history of good judgment otherwise, they would trust him or her to handle their business. Also impacting the decision was an employee's sales record.

So, with that as prologue, is there a fact you could learn about an employee or colleague that would cause you to pull a 180 on your perception of him or her? Member of the John Birch Society? KKK? Loves the song "Cotton Eyed Joe" or Rick Astley?

What have you?

Dubculture

2011-05-02T07:10:00.000-05:00

As mentioned, Laurie Ruettimann and I presented on "Pop Culture, Politics, and HR" this past weekend at HREvolution. I imagine that the presentation would have been vastly different if the Obama news came out Friday night instead of Sunday night (in fact, Laurie's blog this morning would have most likely been a centerpoint of the discussion). In any case, given that there were so many good sessions competing with our own, here are the questions we were prepared to ask the audience in our session (of which, many were brought up):

What do you want your workplace to be like?
What do I want from work and the workplace besides money?
Is it simply a paycheck?
What do I want/need from my supervisors/employers/colleagues?
Is there a social component?
Why do we worry about survivors during a layoff, if work is not social?
Why does morale go down during a layoff?
Ulrich indicates in "The Why of Work," that we seek a sense of purpose, meaning, value, and contribution. What contributes to that sense of purpose?
Does pop culture help contribute to that sense of meaning or purpose?
What relationships do or should exist between the workplace and the rest of my life/family/religion/community/nation?
Is it a personal and/or social "good" to be a "workaholic?"
How would I know if I was a workaholic?
How do examples from and familiarity with popular culture illuminate and contribute to answering the above questions?
What is the vocation of HR?
What is HR's calling?
What do we want our role to be in human resources?
Is HR corporate lackeys merely enforcing the organization's restrictive and punitive rules?
Is HR creating a workplace where workers can share ideas and feel welcoming?
Does making workers feel welcoming matter?
What is pop culture?
Is it a failure of American society that many of us default to pop culture because we have no other basis to form a community upon?
Are politics considered pop culture?
Are sports considered pop culture?
What about Obama's youth movement and Shepard Fairey posters?
Is it art?
Should those posters be allowed in the office?
What is the relationship between pop culture, HR, and the workplace?
Do we believe that the outside world of life/entertainment/art has a place at work?
Do we need external topics to talk about at work because our actual jobs are so suffocating?
Who is participating in the discussion of pop culture items?
Is it the engaged?
The disengaged?
Those that are outright sabotaging the workplace (and is pop culture the manifestation of it)?
What role does pop culture play in the socialization process?
Does pop culture bind us together or separate us?
Does pop culture serve to exclude some as well?
Do employees feel left out if they didn't watch the latest episode of "Desperate Housewives" or "American Idol?"
What are the expectations, if any, of employees with regard to pop culture understanding?
Do I feel compelled to read a particular book (i.e., Bridges of Madison County) or watch a TV show to fit in?
Does pop culture begin to feel like homework?
Is there peer pressure to participate (like learning the electric slide for a company function)?
What if I don't care about the Royal Wedding?
Is pop culture ephemeral?
Can we even create a common bond with one another with friends, at work, or at home?
What is the impact of community at work?
Does work no longer fulfill that need for purpose, meaning, value, and contribution if I am able to find my niche or subculture online?
Do I need to come to work to discuss the latest twists and turns on "The Killing" or "Fringe" when I can go to online message boards to get an immediate reaction?
Is there a stigma associated with popular culture?
How does one react when you hear someone went to ComicCon? Positive? Negative?
Is being a fan of the Grateful Dead or Phish something to be embraced, or are you viewed as a directionless, drug-addled nomad with no link to reality?
Do you read comic books?
Do you listen to country music?
Do you read People?
Do you read US Weekly?
Do you read comic books?
Do you read Romance novels?
What is the divided line between those cult classics and guilty pleasures, and those items to truly be avoided?
Can you dress up as Dr. Frank N Furter for the midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show on weekends and still become CEO?
Is pop culture just high class gossip?
How many check out TMZ.com?
How many check out Perez Hilton?
How many check out Egotastic?
How many spent at least some time in the past month talking about Charlie Sheen?
Do we view the gossiper in the organization positively or negatively?
Do we view the gossiper as having power in the organization, given the info he/she possesses?
Do we view gossip as small or petty?
Does pop culture carry the same weight in the organization as gossip?
Do we view the pop culture "expert" with respect or disdain?
Are we impressed when he or she can rattle off inane facts, or obscure quotes from movies?
Does it signal the person as "unserious" and unworthy of being promoted within the organization?

Skullcrusher

2011-05-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

Back from Atlanta and the 3rd Annual HREvolution Conference. While there will likely to be about 74 of these, give or take in the next 48 hours, here are my quick impressions:

The Conference Committee Rocked It Again - This was the 3rd time I had the opportunity to attend HREvolution, and it once again delivered in spades. Kudos have to be given to the Conference Committee of Steve Boese, Ben Eubanks, Trish McFarlane, and Crystal Peterson for the fine job on the facilities, food, content, and atmosphere. Fanatstic job!

People Like Each Other - Given the significant connections that were made prior to the event, you can definitely see the passion for each other shine through in person...from long-time vets to first-time attendees. You had nearly 60 people show up before the event even started to get together and chat. You had 30 people head to Flip Burger for dinner Saturday night. You had 35+ at breakfast the next morning. There is a kinship about the experience that was mutually shared....just follow the #HREvolution on Twitter to see.

Our Session Went Well - I was blessed to have the inestimable Laurie Ruettimann be my co-pilot for our session on "Pop Culture, Politics, and HR." It was that, and so much more. We discussed:

What is pop culture?
What is the relationship between pop culture, HR and the workplace?
Does pop culture bind us together or separate us?
Is pop culture ephemeral?
Is pop culture just high class gossip?
What do you do if your employee is a birther?
But, given the format of the conference, the audience took us in a lot of different and unexpected directions - how to deal with employees who are a**holes, scientology, religion, gay vegans, news v. opinion

We both had an interesting and good time presenting it, and we had a great audience who pushed, prodded and poked the discussion, as they should.

Get Over the Format - I thought too much breath was wasted on the discussion by some on whether it was a "conference" or "unconference." Was the content good? Were you able to connect with others? Get over the label.

Other Thoughts
*Atlanta - not a big Coca-Cola town
*The Meet Meme trading cards were a hit....would love to have them for our own state SHRM conference.
*As it demonstrated yet again, it was not your father's HR conference - I was 4 for 4 in hearing the "F-word" in each of my sessions. I'm tempted to start another blog titled "Profane HR."
*The unintended effect of the flat taxi rate to/from the airport - the driver of the taxi Joan Ginsberg and I shared decided in the middle of the trip to pull over at a gas station to use the restroom. Wonder if that would have happened if the meter was running.
*Looking forward to HREvolution 4 in Las Vegas October 2. Heard a rumor that might be a new member of the planning team....

Sputnik - The launch of the 8 Man Rotation

2011-04-28T05:21:00.000-05:00

The combination of sports and HR has been a running theme of this blog since its inception. In this large world of ours, its not surprising to find some like-minded folks covering the same topics. With that in mind, I, with the assistance of Steve Boese, Kris Dunn, Lance Haun, and Tim Sackett have put many of our sports- and HR-related posts into one, easy-to-read e-book entitled "The 8 Man Rotation." Years in the making! 40 posts! 100 pages! It even includes a foreword by Bill Kutik and Laurie Ruettimann.

What is the 8 Man Rotation? Read the book on SlideShare! Get it on pdf here! Enjoy!

We hope this is the first of what will become a yearly production. So, look for the 2011 8 Man Rotation in January of 2012!

Carnival of HR - 4/27/11 Edition

2011-04-27T05:35:00.002-05:00

With the HREvolution Unconference looming this weekend, I have the enviable task of providing the pre-conference Carnival of HR. As noted earlier, since HREvolution should be about evolving and change, the blog posts I want should answer one of the following questions:

1. What was your favorite blog post you ever read and why?
2. What was the blog post that pushed or influenced you to evolve and change and why?
3. What was the blog post that influenced you to get into blogging and why?

Let's get to the results:

R.J. Morris nominated Steve Boese's "PBR, Irony, and Duct Tape." According to R.J., "Steve does an incredible job of taking the reader somewhere unexpected. He weaves marketing, youth rebellion, branding and the decline of manufacturing into a powerful story about being a father and the irony of generational differences. It’s a very powerful post."

Steve Browne nominated Paul Smith's "Songs About Work 3-D." In Steve's words, "I began reading Paul long before I started a blog myself. It was so cool that he combined music with work because I have been doing that for the past 8 years through the HR Net, and I didn’t know that anyone else in HR made the connection. Paul’s blog keeps it real. He is genuine, poignant, thoughtful and edgy. I like that in HR and identify with it. Living on the edge of HR is so much more exciting vs. fighting from the inside out."

William Gould nominated Charlie Judy's "The Care and Feeding of Your CFO." According to William, "(Charlie's blog) was one of the first HR blogs that I found and read; his writing certainly influenced my decision to create a blog of my own (HR Soot). What struck me most about Charlie's writing was his raw honesty, direct approach to real HR issues, and the authenticity which pushed against the traditional, neutral HR voice. Since the summer of 2010, I've discovered a number of great blogs and bloggers, and have grown to appreciate and respect the progressive, business-minded HR professionals that exist in the spaces between the traditional HR noise. But, Charlie's blog was the one that ignited an idea in my mind that perhaps I too should join the public discussion about what HR could be in the future."

New to Twitter and blogging, Chris Fields, cites the inspiration for his blog is the Evil HR Lady herself, Suzanne Lucas. In his most recent blog post, Chris writes, "... while researching human resource blogs, I came across the Evil HR Lady. The moniker was enough to intrigue me and her articles and postings were pretty good too. They were thought provoking, insightful and informative. At the time, I was still not sure if this was something that I wanted to be involved in and not sure if blogs really had an impact. Until one day, I read a post ("Why Workplace Bullying Should Be Legal") and the subsequent comments, the post was about bullying. The article made excellent points about passing legislation regarding bullying but the reaction was down right, wrong! It got ugly, and personal.....She responded with intelligence, respect and just a bit of clarity.....I gained more respect for the Evil HR Lady....Suzanne Lucas, Evil HR Lady, thanks, you helped me to blog." Check out Chris' blog for his full contribution.

In her post, "Relationship: Transparency and Trust," Lynn Dessert cites as her inspiration Penelope Trunk's "How to Decide How Much to Reveal About Yourself." Lynn writes, "I was hooked. I spent hours reading about her raw life experiences, marveling in her resilience. Sure, I walked away with – wow she’s gone through and deals with a lot of crap. However, what sticks in my mind is that she is a survivor with real life experiences. She gets it. And I would love to talk to or meet her, even though she is a private person." Check out Lynn's blog for her full contribution.

In his post, "The Community DJ and Me," Mervyn Dinnen expresses his praise for Paul Jacobs' "Community DJ." Mervyn writes, "I loved this post because it was simple and well written. The perfect blog. Three paragraphs…one to pose a question, the next to provide an answer, and the final one to explain why." Check out Mervyn's blog for his full contribution.

Dwane Lay gives praise to Trish McFarlane's "I'm Engaged At Work, Are You?" and Paul Smith's "License to HR" as the posts that inspired him to start writing. Dwane writes, "I went back to the first posts on their blogs I could find where I commented. I’m not saying my comments were all the witty or important, but any post that gets someone new in the space to add their voice is, to me, an important one." Read about Dwane's first encounter with Trish and Paul, as well as his further thoughts on this topic here.

Bill Boorman cites three posts as his inspiration. The first is written by his son. Bill says, "A bit egotistical but when you read it you will understand it. This post is by my 11 year old son on his old blog, To Be frank. Read it and you will understand why it brought tears to my eyes. A complete surprise and best birthday present ever!" The second is from Steve Newsom when he announced to the world that he was living with cancer. Bill states, "It’s very moving. Whenever I’m drawn to feeling stressed, I reach to these posts for hope and inspiration. Without doubt they have shown me the value of living for now, and this post made me extra thankful for what I have over what I don’t." Lastly, Bill cites his own guest post. Bill clarifies, "This post didn’t inspire me to blog, it got me blogging. Jeff lipschultz asked me to guest post. Hard to believe that it was only June 2009. I have since written 400+ posts, before being asked I hadn’t considered blogging. I include it not because I wrote it, but to emphasize the importance of asking others to guest for you who have never posted before."

In "Welcome to My House of Words," Ian Welsh discusses his initial entry into the world of blogs, "They seemed really lively. I wanted to join in, but felt nervous about writing the wrong things. I got over that." He then cites three blog posts worth noting, "I enjoyed the discussions, and then came the beckoning of the blogs. Great stuff written by great people. My first comment was on Mike Travis’, Liars in the Executive Suite post, which, I believe, still holds the record for the most comments (39) on the HR site. I joined Ira Wolfe’s Geeks and Geezers with a couple of comments and otherwise cruised around and particularly to the exotic places Rebecca Morgan (Grow Your Key Talent) described to us. Bit by bit I was being drawn in and loving the lure of the blogs." Read Ian's full discussion at the above link.

In "The Start of It All," Shauna Moerke shares the story of her journey into blogging, "I have always said that I credit (blame) my start in blogging to Kris Dunn,The HR Capitalist. His was the first HR blog I ever read and it was from his Blogroll that I expanded my horizons to the Evil HR Lady, Laurie Ruettimann, Lance Haun, and Jenn Barnes (HR Wench I miss your blog and you!" She concludes, "So big hugs to you KD, for inspiring all of this! You still have one of the best blogs out there and I know I’m not the only one who has benefited from your example. Here’s to you, Cheers!" Check out Shauna's full discussion at the above link.

To close, I share my own thoughts on the questions. The inspiration for this blog came from the Cynical Girl herself, Laurie Ruettimann, who pushed me into blogging at the 2009 SHRM Annual Conference in New Orleans (I can faintly hear her saying "sucker" under her breath). Meanwhile, my favorite blog post was Josh LeTourneau's "Social Recruiting 3.0 - Fast Forward to the Era of Leveraging Conversation and Social Interaction." With its unique perspective and detail, it represents, to me, the apex of blogging and is something for other HR bloggers to emulate and aspire to.

Thanks to all the contributors, and to those who helped to inspire them.

Every Little Counts

2011-04-25T19:47:00.000-05:00

This weekend, HBO showed the special, "Talking Funny," featuring Ricky Gervais, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, and Louis C.K., given the title, talking funny. With that all-star line-up of comedians, you know it was going to be hilarious...and it was. But, even more so, it was also about work...the work of comedy and being a comedian. Topics included:

*What is funny?
*Are there lines that shouldn't be crossed?
*Is profanity necessary (Seinfeld, for example, rarely curses on stage)?
*Is it easy to go on stage and make people laugh?
*Do audiences matter?

Toward the end, they get into a discussion of could the average person do what they do? It leads into a discussion of professionalism. As they joked, people play touch football in the backyard, but it doesn't cause us to stop watching professional football. They further joked that people could likely learn perform surgery at home, but it is simply easier to pay someone with a little more expertise.

Definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of comedy, butto gain insight on another profession and how they work.

Kiss of Death

2011-04-18T07:29:00.000-05:00

Last Christmas, I bought my wife the Season One DVD set of "The Good Wife." Somehow, we missed adding the critically acclaimed show to our DVR during its initial run. During down time in the regular TV season, we try to catch up on an episode on DVD here and there. We've only made it through episode 8, but, for whatever reason, it has yet to connect with Mrs. True Faith HR.

This led to the following discussion - how long does it take for any show to find its creative footing? I say it takes, on average, 6-7 episodes before a show truly finds its footing; she says it takes shorter (i.e., she is more willing to give up early on a show).

It may simply differ based on the show. Someone watching the first four episodes of "The Wire" might have found the array of characters incomprehensible. Some say "Big Bang Theory" or "Seinfeld" didn't reach its peak until season 2 or 3. The powerful opening pilot of "Lost" started the series off with a bang, but some say it became transcendent with its fourth episode, "Walkabout." Similarly, the Sopranos started to become the critical favorite with its fifth episode when Tony took Meadow to college only to spot a familiar enemy now in witness protection.

So, what does this have to do with HR? What is your escalation to commitment with an employee? How long are you willing to stick with a mediocre employee before severing the relationship? Are you ending the relationship before the employee has an opportunity to become transcendent?

Thieves Like Us

2011-04-07T07:35:00.000-05:00

In three weeks, I'll be heading to the HREvolution unconference in Atlanta to present on HR & Popular Culture with the Cynical Girl herself, Laurie Ruettimann. However, two days prior to the start of HREvolution, I get to present the prime appetizer in the form of hosting the April 27th Edition of the Carnival of HR.

However, instead of simply accepting the best blog posts of the past two weeks, we will be going in a slightly different direction. Since HREvolution should be about evolving and change, the blog posts I want should answer one of the following questions:

1. What was your favorite blog post you ever read and why?
2. What was the blog post that pushed or influenced you to evolve and change and why?
3. What was the blog post that influenced you to get into blogging and why?

So, instead of promoting our own writing, it is time to highlight the best of others? Get your suggestions to me at matthew.stollak@snc.edu by Monday, April 25th with "Carnival of HR" in the subject line. I look forward to seeing the best of the best.

Hey Joe

2011-04-06T12:54:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, I attended my 10th NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four in Houston, TX. Here are some quick observations:

Houston is not a great site for the Final Four. It is very spread out, forcing attendees to rely heavily on cab rides to get around town. Further, the cab drivers we had were very unfamiliar with the city, and at least 3 times I had to search my smartphone for the address, and even had to enter one address into the cab driver's GPS. That did not convey a positive view of the city. Further, the sprawl of Houston made for less of a Final Four feel. When you are in San Antonio or Indianapolis, the event is much more compact and you see fans everywhere. Thus, it creates much more buzz and excitement for the event. Rotate the event in San Antonio, Indianapolis and New Orleans and be done with it.
The stature of the Final Four attracts a number of current and former athletes. Until you see professional athletes up close, you never get a sense of how different they are. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? Tall. Really tall. Really, really tall. Charles Barkley? Huge - both vertically and horizontally. Imagine if you could easily identify talent as easily as you could choose height. Then again, Doug Flutie looks like a weekend softball player.

With sports on the mind, it is time to hype Thursday's HR Happy Hour at 7p.m. Central:

You can learn all you need to know about recruiting, talent management, effective team dynamics, managing star performers, aligning compensation with performance, and succession planning from studying the history of the National Basketball Association. Don't believe it? Where else but in big-time sports can you see the effects of talent assessment, recruiting, leadership, and employee engagement played out, in public, under the spotlight, every day of the year? What players to draft, which ones to develop, which ones to cut loose, and how to build the right mix of personalities and talent to achieve team goals are the primary concern of all sports franchises, and quite honestly, they are the same concerns of organizations in all types of industries. Sure, you might think this show is an excuse for Steve to assemble a bunch of his friends to talk about sports, and you'd be partially right. But sports offers a lens to most the of most critical issues you deal with every day in HR, Recruiting, and Management, so this week we'll try to make the connection. And we will also talk about the Final Four, the NBA Playoffs, and Moneyball. Joining us on the show will be The 8 Man Rotation dream team - Kris Dunn, Lance Haun, Tim Sackett, and Matt 'akaBruno' Stollak. It should be a great show and I hope you will join us.

Shame of the Nation

2011-04-01T07:03:00.000-05:00

Today, I turn over the blog to my friend Jessica Miller-Merrill to talk about efforts to reduce unemployment

No Kidding -- April 1^st Proclaimed Zero Unemployment Day

Social media movement launches to change the face of recruitment

04/01/2011 – Why does unemployment stand at 8.9% in the United States when there are more than 3 million jobs currently available? What part of the recruiting process is keeping positions from being filled? And how can we fix it?

It is questions like these that will be discussed today as part of the unofficial “Zero Unemployment Day.” Thoughts leaders across recruiting and human resources industries will pose questions and conversation with their audiences using social media as part of the newly announced Zero Unemployment Movement.

Jerome Ternynck, the Founder and CEO of Smartrecruiters (www.smartrecruiters.com), a free recruiting software, has partnered with Human Resources and Recruiting Expert, Jessica Miller-Merrell of www.blogging4jobs.comto launch the Zero Unemployment Movement.

“Using a social media grassroots effort, we hope to draw attention to the current state of employment,” says Ternynck. “Unemployment is the consequence of an inefficient labor market. We live in a connected world in which should be fast, it should be social, it should be fair... mostly it should be easy".

Conversations today on social media will surround the questions posed in many of the movement’s YouTube videos from industry experts including: Why does recruiting suck, What’s your recruiting pain point, and How do we fix it?

Recruiters and those involved in the company hiring process are encouraged to participate in Zero Unemployment Day by posting comments on Twitter using the #ZeroUE hash tag, visiting the movement’s Facebook Fan Page (www.facebook.com/zerounemployment), or by recording a video.

“Let’s get the conversation started about how to fix the recruiting process where it’s a win/win situation for both the company and candidate,” says Miller-Merrell. “The economy is improving and more than 130,000 job are being added monthly, and yet open positions are taking upwards of 4-6 months to fill.”

To learn more about the Zero Unemployment movement, please contact Jessica Miller-Merrell at 405-343-5751 and by visiting www.smartrecruiters.com/zero-unemployment or view the release live at http://bit.ly/hXrjWU.

Contact: Jessica Miller-Merrell

405-343-5751

jessica@xceptionalhr.com

Confusion

2011-03-24T07:26:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, the 6th largest amount of snow in history fell into our area. Given the sheer volume involved poses unique strains on the organization. Do we have the personnel to clear the sidewalks and parking lots? Are the streets safe enough for faculty, staff, and students to trek from their homes and start their regular routine, or should work be closed or delayed? How do we communicate to everyone if the decision is made to close the school?

Yesterday, at 5:45, we received an e-mail from the President indicated work was delayed until 11:00 a.m. Given that classes don't start until 8:00, it seemed like a reasonable timetable. In addition, I did notice a few employees had posted a similar notice on Twitter shortly thereafter. I still decided to make the trip onto campus, and found that 3 of my colleagues did the same. However, they were unaware of the change. They did not check their e-mail in the morning (the horror!!!).

Later that afternoon, given worsening conditions, the decision was made to cancel the rest of the work day so that people could return home safely. However, the communication method had changed. The emergency notification system was activated and I received the message in a number of media - text, phone call, e-mail, message on the organization's web page, and on my Twitter feed. Perhaps, a lesson was learned in the intervening hours about getting the message across.

How are you assuring your employees are getting the news of an impending change in the routine?

Morning Night and Day

2011-03-15T07:54:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, the great Tim Sackett had a wonderful post on HR's role is primarily a sales position. So, put on your sales hat and tell me how you would recruit in the following scenario:

You're the HR director for a school district in Wisconsin. $834 million in cuts to education have been enacted by the state government. Despite massive cuts to valued programs such as Advanced Placement, music, and art, as well as a significant number of teacher jobs eliminated, you somehow have to fill a teaching position under the following constraints:

Wages are frozen, or tied to an increase in the Consumer Price Index
Health benefits (including dental) that were negotiated by taking a lower salary now require the hire to pay 12.6% of wages
Pension benefits that were negotiated by taking a lower salary now require the hire to contribute an additional 5.8%
Wellness incentive premiums are suspended
Collective bargaining rights have been stripped away
Rights regarding teaching hours are suspended
Rights regarding non-teaching duties are suspended
Grievance procedure rights are suspended
Class sizes will be increased
Older, more experienced educators that you might have counted on to serve as mentors and models for younger teachers to emulate, have either been laid off or have taken early retirement. Emeritus programs have been reduced or eliminated
Rights regarding assignment, transfer, and reassignment have been suspended.
The people you are trying to hire have been demonized by the state government and the press, as lazy and parasitic.
Seniority rules that might have encouraged hires to put in their time have been eliminated, meaning it is likely that you are likely going to have go through the search process again in the not too distant future
Its frickin' cold in Wisconsin from mid-September until May.

So, how do you convince the best and brightest educators to not only come to your district, but stay? How do you lure a competent teacher with two kids, ages 7 and 8, to come to a state where the schools in which they will enroll have undergone significant turmoil? What's your value proposition?

Dracula's Castle

2011-03-10T07:24:00.001-06:00

Last night, in a bold move, Republicans voted 18-1 to strip collective bargaining rights from many of Wisconsin's public employees (remember that Police and Firefighters were not part of this bill). Gov. Walker, in addressing this end run, stated:

In order to move the state forward, I applaud the Legislature's action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform government. The action today will help ensure Wisconsin has a business climate that allows the private sector to create 250,000 new jobs.

While I am a simple HR professor, I am curious what kind of business climate he has fomented that will not only create 250,000 new jobs, let alone find the bodies to fill them?

1. He has already rejected $810 million from the Federal Government to support a high speed rail from Milwaukee to Madison, a project that could've created 13,000 jobs
2. His new budget cuts $834 million from education, a move that will, no doubt, impel many long-time quality educators to take early retirement as well as force schools to layoff or fire many other employees to meet budgets.

So far, I'm seeing jobs being destroyed, not being created. Leaving the previous points aside, if I am a business looking to relocate, or an investor looking to put my money somewhere:
1. Is Wisconsin stock now rising?
2. Do I want to put my time, energy, and resources into an economy with an angry electorate?
3. Will I expect my labor force to be better prepared for the working world when class sizes will continue to grow and quality teachers will inevitably look elsewhere for employment?
4. Where are the quality employees going to come from, particularly since more and more employers are not even looking at individuals who are unemployed?
5. Wisconsin has already been experiencing a perceived "brain drain" problem. Will the current events improve or exacerbate this issue?

From the employee side, what do people look for from a job? A 2007 survey by the Center for Excellence in State and Local Government Excellence (while somewhat dated, I would expect the results to be similar today) indicated the top 4 items desired:
1.   Health insurance - For public sector employees in Wisconsin, this has certainly gotten weaker.
2.   Having job security - again, the actions of last night have made this weaker
3. Being in an environment with clear policies and procedures - certainly with collective bargaining rights being stripped, many public employees now have less voice in how those policies will be made.
4. The retirement plan - again, it has become a less attractive commodity in Wisconsin

If I am an education major, will I want to go work for a Wisconsin school district where budgets are tighter than ever before and I have less rights, less benefits, and have been demonized by my state government? Who is going to find working for Wisconsin schools suddenly more attractive? If I am looking to relocate my family, will I be looking to move to Wisconsin, in light of recent events?

I Told You So

2011-03-07T07:00:00.001-06:00

Next month, Laurie Ruettimann and I will be presenting "Pop Culture, Politics, and HR" and the 3rd rendition of HREvolution in Atlanta, April 29. With the multitude of options and topics, you may be wondering why we are having this discussion in a session, instead of over drinks in the hotel bar?

The relevance is big picture HR. People should be stepping back in our session and asking why they are in this field. What was one of the biggest HR books in 2010? David Ulrich's "The Why of Work." Our presentation essentially gets to "The Why of HR."

Why do we go to work? Is it simply a paycheck? Is there a social aspect? Why do we worry about survivors during a layoff? Why does morale go down? I'm still collecting a paycheck, but my friend(s) are no longer there. As Ulrich indicates, through work, we seek a sense of purpose, meaning, value, and contribution. What contributes to that purpose? Does pop culture help contribute to that sense of purpose?

Recall a few years ago when Gallup looked at the elements of great managing. One of the central questions in their survey was "Do I Have a Best Friend at Work?" Work is social. Pop Culture is social. I go to work to talk to my best friend about basketball, my troubles, union busting in Wisconsin, my love life, Charlie Sheen.

One of the central terms at my workplace is vocation. What is the vocation of HR? What is our calling? Are we corporate lackeys merely enforcing its restrictive and punitive rules? Are we creating a workplace where workers can share ideas and feel welcoming? Does the latter even matter?

So, we tie all that together with a discussion of MTV's Skins and being a rockstar from Mars.

Only a few tickets remain for the event, so sign-up now.

Jetstream

2011-03-04T06:58:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, I was attending the ASBBS Conference in Las Vegas. Having some spare time, and being somewhat a hamburger aficianado, I decided to grab lunch at the Burger Bar in the Mandalay Bay. Perusing the many options on the menu, I came across the Rossini burger which they were selling for $60.

That's right, you can get a $60 burger at the Burger Bar. Vegas certainly lives up to its excess

What do you get? "Kobe beef, sauteed foie gras, shaved truffles on an onion bun. Named after a XIXth century Italian composer whose love for fine food was legendary. The preparation always includes foie gras, truffles and a rich brown sauce, in this case, Black Perigord Truffle."

Now, I wasn't brave (or wealthy) enough to drop $60 on a burger. But, it made me wonder if a $60 burger can truly live up to its price tag. Would the very selling price influence my perception of its taste? Would my expectations be heightened? Am I more apt to like it because I do not want to admit I made a mistake in spending that much money on a burger (especially since In-n-Out Burger was less than a mile away and I could have gotten a fantastic meal for less than $5.00)?

With that in mind, are we guilty of the same kind of thoughts in the design of our HR programs? Do managers become enamored with the service they provide, thinking it is the equivalent of a $60 burger? Do employees believe HR is delivering a Rossini or just a Whopper?

Turn

2011-03-03T07:29:00.000-06:00

Tensions remain high here in Wisconsin as the standoff between Gov. Walker and the public employee unions continues unabated. Some have directed their anger at the so-called "Wisconsin 14;"the 14 Democratic State Senators who engaged in a "foot filibuster" by leaving the state to prevent a quorum on the budget repair bill stripping Wisconsin public sector unions of their collective bargaining rights. Some have argued that these Senators should be back in Wisconsin doing their jobs and letting the budget bill come up for a vote accordingly.

I would be much more sympathetic to this view, if I didn't just live through repeated use (or abuse) of cloture votes, filibusters, and appointee holds by the minority party in 2008-2010. In a decade where winning 51 percent of the vote was considered an electoral "mandate," the 2009-2010 US Senate was limited in their ability to pass any legislation, despite Democrats having a 57 to 41 majority. Cloture votes preventing even a debate on a bill, let alone an up or down vote, occurred in record numbers. Similarly, Obama appointees are repeatedly denied an up to down vote due to Senate holds (see one example here), with far more appointees being held up than the previous administration.

While I would appreciate more transparency by both parties, here's one solution to the cloture problem: treat cloture votes like the NFL Instant Replay rules. In the NFL, Coaches get two challenges during the course of game to challenge a referee's call. Strategy certainly comes into play as they have to decide when to make such a call; use them up too early, and you don't have any remaining to challenge a bad call made late in the game.

So, give each Senator two opportunities to invoke cloture in the course of the year. Prior to 2007, the highest number of cloture votes in the past 88 years was 82. Limiting opportunities to invoke cloture to two per year would bring such political tactics more in line with historical norms.

Working Overtime

2011-02-17T09:57:00.004-06:00

I am the son of teachers. My dad was a professor of psychology for 35+ years at Michigan State University. My mom was a Grammy-award winning choir director who taught at all levels of education. Growing up, I never was deprived of much. As public sector employees, they earned a reasonable salary and received reasonable benefits. They were home when I went to school, and they were home when I returned. Plus, they had summers off (though dad often taught summer courses).

So, I am quite intrigued and dismayed by the recent action of the Wisconsin governor toward public sector employees, and, in particular, school teachers.

Some may think that public sector teachers are getting rich off taxpayers. But, let's look at what compensation public sector school teachers do and do not receive.

Unlike most private sector employees, there is no promotional ladder to climb that promises higher compensation and benefits. A human resources professional can go from a specialist to a generalist to a VP of HR. An AP History teacher in 1995 will still be an AP History teacher in 2005, 2015, and 2025 (if they are still teaching). There is no corner office one can strive to achieve. He or she cannot aspire to the Senior Executive VP of AP History. At best, there will be negotiated salary increases from year to year.

Unlike some private sector employees, school teachers receive no double digit percentage raises for excellent performance. Kids score higher on the statewide test or on the ACT, the teacher is not going to be showered with incentives.

Unlike some private sector employees, school teachers receive no profit sharing when the school district does well.

Unlike some private sector employees, school teachers do not receive stock options that could blossom down the road. There is no IPO money available for the local high school.

Unlike some private sector employees, school teachers are not offered a 4-5 digit signing bonus to teach 4th grade science.

Unlike some private sector employees, school teachers do not receive significant perquisites at their workplace. My grandma's neighbor use to work at Stouffer's and her refrigerator was stocked with the latest food stuffs. Another friend worked for Chrysler and would get significant discounts on the latest automobile. School teachers don't get a discount on pens or erasers. There are no free Post-It Notes. Postal workers do not get stamps at a 40% discount.

Certainly, those who choose the teaching profession because they are passionate about what they do. They are not expecting an extravagant compensation package. However, a social contract developed over several decades that basically said please take care of our children, and we will provide you with quality health care and a strong defined benefit plan (which was a common benefit offering in the private sector as little as 30 years ago).

That social contract is in danger of being broken.

What is a school teacher really worth? Who will choose to teach your children as those rights earned over decades of negotiation are challenged and eroded?

Krafty

2011-02-15T07:46:00.003-06:00

In my efforts as professor, I have always been interested in the effect altering class policies and changing incentives has on student behavior. I fiddle around with changing attendance policies, the grading scale, the number of exams, the point values of exams to see the impact on how students approach the class.

For the past few semesters in the statistics class I teach, I've asked students to fill out a survey telling me things such as the name they liked to be called, their e-mail, etc. One question I've asked recently is "what specific goal is your grade for the class?" Assuming that students are not exactly thrilled about taking the subject, and assuming the students have the foresight to know it is a tough subject, I've expected an array of answers crossing the spectrum of the grading scale. However, the Lake Wobegon effect has held true, and the students have responded with very high opinions of themselves. Last semester, some 65 students answered, on average, a goal of 3.77 on a 4.0 scale (while the final average grade was a 2.77....I'm sure there were quite a few disappointed souls).

This semester is no different. Once again, the average grade goal was 3.77. In one section 23 (of 31) students had an A for their goal, with another 4 stating an "AB." In the second section, 18 (of 28) listed an "A" as their goal with another 8 listing an "AB." Only one student across two sections listed a grade below a "B."

I added a new question this semester, asking students, "What specific grade do you expect to receive in this class?" immediately after the question about their grade goal. Were students confident in their stated goal, or did they have high aspirations, but knew they realistically might not achieve them? 86% (51 out of 59) thought they would receive the grade they set as a goal.

So, the results beg a number of questions:
1. Is there a student grapevine? When I was choosing classes as an undergraduate, I would ask around about which professor to take, and how difficult he or she might be. Whenever I return exams, students always compare their scores to the person next to them. Are students sharing this information outside of the classroom as well? Do students really know how difficult the class might be?
2. Should we be managing expectations of students? Should I publish the average grade of previous semesters in my syllabi each semester, so that students know what grade they are likely to earn? Should the average grade be published when students register for classes (along with teacher ratings)? What other efforts should be made to temper student expectations?
3. What role does external or internal locus of control play?

I'm sure there is a study in here somewhere.

Waiting for the Siren's Call

2011-02-01T07:01:00.003-06:00

These are heady times in our little hamlet called Green Bay. The excitement is palpable as our football team is playing in Super Bowl XLV. Everywhere you turn, people are dressed in green and gold and conversation inevitably turns to what will happen in this weekend's game.

However, some are taking this weekend's festivities a bit far. At least one Green Bay organization is experiencing a significant number of personal and family illness days being submitted for Friday, February 4, 2011, and Monday, February 7, 2011. Amazing how people can anticipate being sick several days in advance.

With 85-90% of TVs in this area expected to be turned to the Super Bowl on Sunday, it is understandable that absence might be a little higher the day after, especially if the home town Packers emerge victorious.

So, how does your organization handle absenteeism on the day after the Super Bowl? Will cases of personal and family illness be subject to verification by a doctor?

Confession: I will be attending the game and flying back from Dallas on Monday. So, count me as absent.