Human Resources Planning/Organizational Development

Fatima Shaikh

An organization should have at least one position to review the organization’s human

resources requirements, so that enough focus is placed on human resources in the organization.

Ivy Child meets this requirement. There is a HR consultant in Massachussetts that does a

semiannual review with the CEO (also the HR consultant is next in succession to the CEO).

Other HR positions in the organization include a HR coordinator in California, Michigan,

Virginia, and Connecticut.

Ivy Child has job postings for the Virtual Fundraising and Development and Virtual

Human Resources job titles. For the Virtual Fundraising and Development position, the job

requirements are to identify, define and develop funding sources; research data and resources;

and coordinate the development, writing, packaging and submission of grant proposals. This is

an unpaid internship with no degree requirements but a GPA requirement of 3.20. The other

Virtual Human Resources position has many job requirements including: participating in

ongoing recruiting, orientation/training sessions; serving as an intern leader managing interns

based on the intern calendar and your weekly schedule; analyzing and identifying opportunities

to improve the intern experience and overall intern management process; completing specially

designed major interest projects focused around job incumbents interests in nonprofit

management, participating in leadership development and networking programs focused on

social entrepreneurship and intern management; be comfortable with remote management skills

and use of a virtual space for managing interns. The degree requirements are either bachelor’s,

master’s or MBA degrees. The GPA requirement is 3.20.

These job postings give job specifications, which are defined as “an overall written

summary of worker requirements” (Cascio, 2010, p. 167), Ivy Child may want to look into

behavioral job descriptions because “they tend to be more stable even as technologies and

customer needs change” (Cascio, 2010, 168). Cascio says that job specifications should “reflect

minimally acceptable qualifications” and that they frequently do not; instead listing the

qualifications for an ideal candidate not a minimally acceptable one (2010, 168). However, I feel

that Ivy Child does list minimally acceptable qualifications for their positions. Ivy Child may

want to list “requirements” that are desirable but not required, however the briefness of their job

specification is also a positive feature. They also might want to add a job description, which is an

overall written summary of the requirements.

If desired, another way Ivy Child can beef up their job posting is by using job analysis

methods such as job performance, observation, interview, critical incidents, and structured

questionnaires such as the PAQ. With the job performance method, there is exposure to actual

job tasks as well as the physical, environmental, and social demands for the job. It is appropriate

for jobs that can be learned in a relatively short period of time, which is probably the case for

these jobs. Job performance is inappropriate for jobs that require extensive training or are

hazardous to perform. With the observation method, direct exposure to jobs can provide a richer,

deeper understanding of job requirements than workers’ descriptions of what they do. However,

if the job is mainly a mental one, then observations by themselves may not give much useful

information. Some critical job requirements such as being able to cope with emergencies, may

not be observed. With the interview method, information about standard as well as on standard

and mental work are provided. This method allows reporting of activities that are difficult to

observe. However, workers may be suspicious of interviewers and their motives and interviewers

may ask ambiguous questions, both of which can cause distortion of information and means that

this should not be used as the sole job analysis method. With the critical incidents method, focus

is put directly on what people do in their jobs, and provides insight into job dynamics. The

behaviors are observable and measurable so information gained through this method can be used

for most possible applications of job analysis. However, it takes a lot of time to gather, abstract

and categorize the incidents. It may be difficult to develop a profile of average job behavior,

which is the main goal with job analysis, because the incidents describe either very exemplary or

very egregious behavior. With the structured questionnaires method, the method is generally

cheaper and quicker to administer than the other methods. If it is administered during work

hours, then lost productive time can be avoided. Web based questionnaires can allow large

numbers of geographically dispersed members to be surveyed in English and other languages,

which gives this method a breadth of coverage and a speed of analysis and feedback that isn’t

possible with other methods. However, the questionnaires are usually time consuming and

expensive to make. An analyst may not be there to explain items and make clarifications. The

impersonality of this method can have adverse effects on respondent cooperation and motivation

(Cascio, 2010, 173). The most popular methods are observation interviews, and structured

questionnaires (Cascio, 2010, 172).

According to the manual, “as an intern/volunteer working with Ivy Child International it

is your responsibility to ensure that you acquire the skills that you need to develop as a

professional. So once you identify these skills you can have a one-on-one with your Supervisor

and find a training webinar that you could attend to build the specific skills.” Though the

supervisor does help the intern/volunteer developmentally, I think the policy places too much

responsibility on the intern/volunteer to improve him or herself, and that the supervisor needs to

take a larger role in the professional improvement of the intern/volunteer. A way that the

supervisor helps the volunteer/intern is through the performance appraisals, which are given 45

days after starting and quarterly thereafter. However, volunteer/interns may be discouraged from

improving themselves because there is not much career development they can undergo; they

cannot become paid employees at this time though they can get a chance to work with people of

other departments to get more exposure and they can also get a letter of recommendation.

One way that interns/volunteers can be motivated is by having the possibility of being in

the succession plan for the CEO position. This may be a good thing to do because that a lot of

emphasis is placed on the CEO position in Ivy Child making the succession plan very important

(and that being said the work load should be made more equitable with less emphasis on the

CEO). The succession plan should be driven by the CEO with commitment from the top; a

common set of leadership attributes should be identified and communicated; candid

comprehensive performance reviews should be conducted regarding performance and potential; a

regular schedule for performance reviews should be maintained; all decisions should link talent

to the strategy of the organization (Cascio, 2010, 182).

Employee Relations and Communications

Fatima Shaikh

Ivy Child utilizes several forms of communication. There are weekly meetings on

Mondays via Skype. Ivy Child also communicates via email and phone, if necessary. The email

used is Go Daddy! workspace webmail. They use Google docs to update information on what

they did, to communicate what needs to be done, and what has been completed. They have an

online manual detailing policy, which is given to all members through email. However,

acceptable behavior is not detailed out, which needs to be done.

Ivy Child has a grievance procedure. Grievance procedure is a method to resolve

conflicts because they introduce justice systems into the workplace (Cascio, 2010, 553). They are

now found in at least a half or more of all nonunion firms. They “increase organizational

commitment and performance by treating employees fairly and by identifying problem areas”;

avoid expensive lawsuits; and prevent unionization (Cascio, 2010, 553). Ivy Child’s grievance

policy has a formal and informal procedure. Whenever possible, complaints are dealt with

informally between the volunteers concerned or the complainant and their supervisor. At any

point, the complainant can try to get support from any member of the Ivy Child staff such as for

moral support, to get an explanation of the grievance procedure or to help identify the options the

complainant has. These informal discussions are not officially recorded and it is made clear they

are not official or formal grievance procedure. If the complainant feels that the informal

discussions have not resolved the problem, then they can write a letter to Human Resources, or if

it involves Human Resources, then in writing to the Executive Director. A virtual or face-to-face

meeting will be held between the volunteer and Human Resources (or other appropriate person)

to respond to the complaint. The volunteer can explain their complaint and how they would like

it to be addressed. The volunteer can be accompanied by another employee of Ivy Child. After

the meeting, Human Resources (or other appropriate person) will give a written response within

five working days of the meeting telling what the response to the complaint will be. If further

investigation is needed, Human Resources (or other appropriate person) will need to conduct

further meetings or investigations. In this case the five working day limit may have to be

extended. The response will follow this meeting and will bring up the right to appeal. If the

volunteer feels the issue is still not resolved well, the volunteer can appeal and repeat the process

again. The ability to appeal, being able to consult another Ivy Child volunteer/employee, and

being able to have another Ivy Child volunteer/employee with you in the meeting are

characteristics that make this process fair. The four qualities a grievance procedure should have

are that all employees should know about it and exactly how it operates (this system does);

employees must believe that there will be no reprisals taken against them for using it;

management must respond quickly and thoroughly to all grievances; and an appeal process

should be provided (this system does) (Cascio 2010, p. 555).

Ivy Child also has a disciplinary procedure. The informal procedure is for a volunteer to

talk to Human Resources if another volunteer’s actions or behavior is a problem. The volunteer

can get support from Human Resources or Executive Director for things such as to have

someone to listen and offer moral support, have someone to explain the procedure, to help

identify options, and to help draft a letter. If informal procedures don’t result in the desired

behavior change or the initial incident is very serious, a written report detailing the nature of the

alleged incident or offence will be made to the Executive Director. Violent behavior, theft or

vandalism are examples of very serious initial incidents. Within ten days, the Executive Director

will make an interview with the volunteer, who may be accompanied by another volunteer.

Human Resources and the Executive Director will lead the meeting and investigate the

allegation. The volunteer will have a chance to speak. Within five days, the volunteer will be

informed in writing of any action that will be taken. The Executive Director will be able to

suspend a volunteer, if necessary. There is a possibility to appeal, if the volunteer is unhappy

with the decision taking as a result of disciplinary action. They can contact the Executive

Director who will hear the appeal at a second meeting. The Executive Director’s decision is

final. Again, the ability to appeal, being able to consult another Ivy Child volunteer/employee,

and being able to have another Ivy Child volunteer/employee with you in the meeting are

characteristics that make this process fair.

Ivy Child’s recognition program is informal and is supposed to be tied to performance

and behavior. The manual says recognition is supposed to be part of the workplace culture,

because employee recognition creates motivation because it gets people to do their best. One

possible way the manual says that people can be rewarded is by having the chance to work with

people from other departments so they can get more exposure and enhance their knowledge. The

manual mentions that employee of the month and month brochures can show which employees

stood out and it can be emailed out. There is a light bulb award given out for new ideas, and a

star volunteer is highlighted in detail on the website. The manual suggests that praise can be

given in staff meetings. The manual also suggests emails and thank you notes. The manual

suggests that tokens of recognition can be given out. The manual also suggests those being

recognized say who else helped them to achieve such a great result. The manual is somewhat

nice in giving suggestions, but the recognition program should be more formalized rather than

just giving suggestions. That way recognition will truly take root in the workplace culture.