Management, 11th Edition

Chapter 12. Human Resource Management

Chapter 12 Study Questions

1. What is human resource management?

2. How do organizations attract a quality workforce?

3. How do organizations develop a quality workforce?

4. How do organizations maintain a quality workforce?

Learning From Others, Great Employers Respect Diversity and Value People

Working Mother magazine's annual listing of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" has become an important management benchmark—both for employers that want to be able to say that they are among the best and for potential employees who only want to work for the best.

Twenty-four companies—including American Express, Hallmark, IBM, Merck, Patagonia, and Procter and Gamble—are included in the magazine's Hall of Fame for being recognized in the rankings for at least 15 years. A full 100% of the listed companies offer telecommuting and flextime schedules, 98% offer job-sharing, and 94% offer compressed workweeks. These companies are also committed to helping working parents with their child-care needs: 86% provide backup child care and 62% provide sick-child care.

The magazine is a major supporter of mothers with careers. Monthly topics range from kids to health to personal motivation, and more. One article reports how a 4½-day workweek quickly became a big favorite for employees at Bayer, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based pharmaceutical company. According to Beth Adams, Site Services administrator, "This option has worked out very well, especially for scheduling errands ...