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December 8, 2003

Do You Know...

The New York City area was hit hard with blizzard conditions Friday and Saturday last week. So what did our team do during the snow?

Mike - "I took advantage of the time to finish my move to a new apartment."

Jennifer - "I cleaned my apartment, did some client work, wrote out holiday cards, and went live with my personal website."

Gabriel - "I drank Mimosas and listened to Motown records."

Jason - "I slept, got ready for a birthday party / dinner, and then went to the party."

A little snow doesn't stop the Astron team!

A Useful E-zine for You

There are lots of electronic newsletters (e-zines) out there. Finding the good ones can be a formidable task.

We recommend you subscribe to the e-zine published by Sasha Corporation, Cincinnati, OH. Never heard of Sasha? Their e-zine tagline best summarizes their services:

"As far as we can tell, we're the only consulting firm on the planet with a primary focus on front line employees, what makes them stay, what makes them succeed."

If you're concerned about retaining and motivating your employees, sign up for Sasha's e-zine today by e-mailing info@sashacorp.com.

You can also view an archive of past articles on their website.

Looking Back, Looking Forward: Perspectives on HR After 20 Years in the Field

VH1's retrospective series I Love the 80s has nothing on us! This issue's article is written by Michael Maciekowich, National Director. Today Michael reminisces on Human Resources in the 1980s. The next issue of Astronology focuses on the 1990s.

On December 4, 2003, the headline of USA Today read, "Worker output rises at 9.4% clip. Best gain in 20 years adds fuel to economy." 20 years ago, in the fall of 1983, the headlines were very similar. In that year, Reaganomics was beginning to take hold and turn around six years of double-digit inflation and unemployment - remember the Carter misery index?

The fall of 1983 was also the beginning of my career in compensation consulting. Here are but some of the critical HR events of the decade.

The 1980s

In 1983, compensation design was in the midst of a transformation. The emphasis was still on internal job equity and point factor job evaluation systems. Management by Objectives (MBO) was all the rage; it was widely considered to be the most effective form of performance appraisal and pay for performance. Organizations such as Honeywell and Zenith Electronics, my former employers, set annual objectives with quarterly benchmarks to be measured and rewarded based on the overall outcome. Internal job evaluation systems, such as the Hay System, were very popular and viewed as scientific methods of determining internal pay levels.

Both MBO and the Hay System were influenced by the recession in that interest grew in maintaining equity and rewarding for objective results. At Astron Solutions, we have seen similar issues raised by clients during this past recession.

1983 was the beginning of the economic expansion that lasted until 1990 (a trend that seems to be repeated every ten years). During this expansion, the growing demands of the American consumer eclipsed the availability of employees, and the first wave of labor shortages began.

Meanwhile, concerns about the quality of the products produced in the United States were growing. Goods produced in Japan and other foreign markets were not only of higher quality, but available at a reduced cost. As these goods were introduced to American consumers, American companies found themselves unable to compete.

In 1980, ABC aired a documentary entitled "If Japan Can…Why Can't We?" which highlighted the work of Dr. W. Edwards Deming and his work with Total Quality Management (TQM). This documentary introduced the concept of consumer-driven planning and measurement, and reviewed how Japan changed its reputation from that of a producer of low-quality copies of American goods to one of cutting-edge quality and cost-efficient production. Companies in the United States took notice, and those of us in compensation and HR consulting were asked to develop systems that would reinforce the key principles of TQM in compensation and performance management systems.

At the same time, the 1980s brought us a series of research publications attempting to determine how success in America is defined and where are we heading in the future. The most notable publications were Megatrends by John Naisbitt and In Search of Excellence by Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman, Jr. These books set the tone for what was working in America, how to best incorporate the principles of TQM, and how to recognize and reward employees as part of an overall human resource strategy. Again, human resource consulting responded by developing programs that incorporated many of the principles found in these publications, most notably the need to improve communication between supervisors and staff in setting and monitoring critical success factors.

Another of the 1980s' notable books was The One Minute Manager by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard. It remains one of the definitive resources used in training and developing managers in day-to-day discipline, employee development, and performance management.

Along with all the research and management theories came an emphasis on setting the value of a job based on the market, and setting the value of a person based on his or her contribution. It was during the 1980s that the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) first established standards requiring healthcare organizations to have performance appraisal and competency assessment systems in place that are directly related to the jobs they evaluate. This led to the advent of what were known as criteria-based job descriptions and performance appraisals. These systems tended to be quite lengthy, attempting to review every task associated with the job, as well as the standards required for acceptable behavior. A number of these systems resulted in documents 20 to 30 pages in length, which led to their demise.

The 1980s were an era of enlightenment in terms of human resource and compensation theory. Human resource professionals, and the consultants providing them with services and guidance, were challenged to use these sound theories to develop programs, products, and services that would lead to positive outcomes for both employer and employee alike. Much, perhaps most, of what we learned during the 1980s is still in use today, and forms the foundation upon which programs from the 1990s to today have been built.

Reader Poll Archive

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Have a Question?

If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us! Simply reply to this e-mail. See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology.

Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting? Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues. For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.

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ISSN Number 1549-0467