Question

Describe the meaning of a domain statement of HRM practices

Make a distinction among the nineteen specific dimensions of HRM practices.

Discuss how they relate to a firm’s reward system, staffing system, training and development and performance management systems.

Answer 1

When we study the management practices of different companies we can see big differences between them. These differences are observable even in similar companies. Through the domain statements we can classify these differences and analyze its effectiveness. The domain statement of HRM helps managers to make informed decisions about selecting. These domain statements are divided in four categories and 19 dimensions. These include reward system attributes, staffing system attributes, attributes of the training and development system, and attributes of the performance measurement system.

I the first category, reward system attributes, we found the following dimensions. First pay level. The company can select between pay at level (meet), below (lag) or above (lead). The pay at risk dimension refers to how much of the pay is at risk. The dimension of performance-contingent pay the amount of pay is directly related to the level of performance. A good example would be a seller who receives a pay per commission. The internal versus external job pricing dimension refers to what criteria the company uses to assign pay, external like the competition or only internal criteria of the company. The skill-based pay is a very relevant dimension in our actual world. Traditionally the companies pay to the employees based on the specific job and seniority. The skill-based pay the knowledge and skills are the criteria to determinate the salary. With this strategy the company aims to encourage their employees to acquire new skills that will help the company in future changes. The dimension of seniority-based pay set the salaries based on the length of service in an employment unit. In the next dimension, benefit system flexibility, the employees can select their benefits from a selection the employer offers. The last dimension of this category is benefits level that refers to the expenditure level of the benefits offers by the employer.

The next category is staffing system attributes. The first dimension is career system orientation. This dimension difference between companies that select entry-level employees and development them versus companies that fill their needs with external employees. In the potential versus achievement orientation dimension management decides promote employees with a standard mobility competition with respect to staffing levels. The next dimension is organization fit. In this dimension the company decides to choose among employees that has similar characteristics to the company or different skills to give variety to the company. In the exit orientation dimension the managers decide between promoting stability and loyalty among employees or shrink constantly to retain only those employees who have a fundamental set of skills.

The third category is the Attributes of the Training and Development System. The first dimension in tis category is skill orientation. Here, the managers decide between developing their employees in specific and functional skills or in general skills. The Training-Method orientation refers if the trainings are “on-site” or “off-site”. The Career pathing mean if the company provide the development plan or depend of the employee initiative. In the Succession planning the managers decide to have a formal succession plan in place or no. The last dimension is Skill inventories. In this dimension the company develops a table with the necessary skills and different employees that fulfill these.

The last category is attributes of the performance measurement system. The first dimension is measurement type. This measurement can be based on the results or in the process. The last dimension is measurement source. Here the measurement can be unidirectional, supervisor to employee, or multidirectional, for example 360 degree feedback system.

These categories relate to each other. It is important to consider this relationship to be successful. For example, a skill based pay must be accompanied by a development plan and an appropriate evaluation method. After analyzing the needs of the company and the requirements of customers, managers must evaluate these 19 dimensions to have a team committed to achieving the goals.