Chapter 1: The World of Human Resources Management

Exercise 1-1

Go to the Web sites of two organizations that are based in your province. Compare and contrast the information on HR policies and practices provided to prospective employees.
Would you be interested in working for either of these two organizations based on the information provided on the Web site? Support your answer with examples from the Web sites. What other information do you feel should be provided on these Web sites and why?

Exercise 1-2

Go to Workplace.ca.
Specifically, you will be visiting an area called Interviews with… Here you will find over 40 interviews with the senior HR person in a variety of Canadian organizations including Corel, Manulife, Dofasco and more!

Select any 2 interviews from this site and answer the following:

1. Company name.
2. Name of interviewee.
3. What is the key HR activity at this organization?
4. Identify two competitive challenges that make this HR function important to the organization.
5. How did the interviewee become the senior HR representative at his/her organization? Outline his/her career path.
6. What were some of the critical skills, knowledge and abilities the interviewee needed to succeed in HR?

Exercise 1-3

In Chapter 1, six competitive challenges that impact on human resources management were identified:

• Going global
• Embracing new technology
• Managing change
• Developing human capital
• Responding to the market
• Containing costs

How have these challenges affected human resources jobs? Using Job Futures, you will be able to explore what HR practitioners do, the education, training and experience they need, work prospects, and other important facts.

Job Futures is a career tool that was developed by HRDC. It provides useful information about 226 occupational groups and describes the work experiences of recent graduates from 155 programs of study.

Go to the alphabetical index of jobs and look up the descriptions for Specialist in Human Resources (NOC 1121) and Human Resources Managers (NOC 0112) http://jobfutures.ca/noc/browse-occupations-alphabet.shtml

For three of the competitive challenges that face human resources management, identify a skill, aptitude or specific area of knowledge identified in these descriptions. According to Job Futures, how critical are these to success in Human Resources?

Exercise 1-4

HR Strategic Plan Must be Driven by Business Imperatives is an interview with Mary O'Hara, Vice President, People Development, at Bell Canada Enterprises http://www.jobquality.ca/newsroom_e/intvw_mh.stm

In this article, Mary O’Hara discusses the driving forces behind the HRM activities at Bell Canada Enterprises. Identify and describe three examples of the transformative impact of information technology on HRM at Bell Canada Enterprises.