IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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ILR School at Cornell University
Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS)
Student Research - Executive Summaries
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/cahrs/research/Studentresearchexecsummary.html
NOTE: The following executive summaries were produced by students taking the following course this Spring (2012).
ILRHR 6640 - HR Online Research and Reporting Methods for Executive Decision-Making
Spring. 4 credits.
Prerequisite: ILRHR 5600 /ILRHR 2600 or equivalent.
S. Basefsky & C. Miller
Designed to develop key HR competencies and skills for researching and presenting information necessary for executive decision making. Includes a comprehensive overview of primarily web-based resources available to HR executives. Emphasizes hands-on training in the best techniques and methods for extracting conceptual frameworks, checklists, best practices, competitive intelligence, legal information, statistical data, and academic research on topics of current interest to industry. Interviewing skills, report writing, and presentation methods are imparted. Following five weeks of intense information instruction and hands-on experience, students act as consultants in a combined classroom and workplace setting as they work on special projects and topics posed by HR executives of primarily Fortune 500 companies. These team-based assignments give students exposure to different companies, their cultures, and executives while providing real work experience.
[Click on the titles below to download the entire executive summary in full-text]
1. Update the recent three years' research on key global employee engagement drivers and practices, and how engagement drivers differ by region of the world, gender and generation. Focus on how to attract, engage and retain talents in China.
2. How can leadership manage a culturally diverse (multicultural) workforce in the USA? What are the best practices that can effectively drive higher engagement and performance of such a workforce? Specifically consider a workforce that includes cultures of China, India and Dubai
3. What approach are companies taking, whose doing it & what do you see them doing to promote a healthy lifestyle? Are there any who’ve shown results on reduced health debt, increase in productivity & engagement, increase profit and/or increased participation by employees?
4. What do candidates look for when finding long-term employment with a company? What are top three reasons candidates chose to apply and accept offer with a company? How do these reasons vary globally?
5. How are companies effectively engaging and leveraging Generation Y employees (also known as Millennials) and how is organizational culture impacted by the growth of this employee segment in the workforce? How is it changing HR policies, recruiting strategies, development initiatives, etc.?
6. What is the single most impactful factor to improving employee engagement in the context of organizational change?
7. Collect data on the current state of executive (or leadership) development programs in terms of:
1) What the trends are, in terms of content, of executive development programs?
2) What the trends are, in terms of development activities, of executive development programs?
3) What companies are considered the best at executive development and how much do they spend on their programs (amount or percent)?
4) Who the thought leaders are (professional or academic) in executive development?
8. When companies decide to move work from one location to another, what is the minimum compensation differential they are generally willing to accept? What costs/factors should we consider when deciding? How might having an existing location in a lower cost talent market change this?
9. How to return an ex pat "home" after an extended time in a foreign country? Best practices.
10. When it comes to employee compensation, what do employees value most? How does this differ by country, and state, globally? Discuss past patterns as well as future predictions based on changes in workforce needs and desires.
11. What about the attitudes within HR related to using data? What about the development of analytical skills in HR professional capacities? How do we handle the "people vs. numbers" attitudes and skill sets prevalent in HR?
12. How to better manage the post-implementation environment of outsourced HR services from both buyer and provider perspective to improve the initiative success?
13. How can high performing organizations differentiate in their total compensation (Merit, Bonus and Equity) utilizing Performance Management System? What are current global compensation trends?
14. Best policies and practices aimed at protecting a company’s intellectual property and trade secrets.
15. How do companies define individual’s development?
16. What metrics are used to evaluate company’s recruiting effectiveness i.e. quality of both the recruiting process and the new hire?
17. What are the latest academic thinking/theories and market best practices on goal alignment during a goal setting process for matrix organizations?
18. What are the key metrics to focus for recruiting? How should a company track them? What are other companies doing regarding the process of tracking and reporting all their metrics?
19. What strategies can companies use to lower full-time MBA turnover? Be sure to address the role of tuition reimbursement and the number of MBA programs where full sponsorship is offered.
20. What is the current thinking and best practices around employer branding and defining the value proposition for our employees?
21. A company is looking for possible methods 1) to let their employees know how the achievement of their own individual goals will contribute and impact the achievement of the company's goal (i.e. find ways to promote "employee alignment") 2) to measure whether their employees feel that their effort do matter to the company's success or not. (i.e. find ways to measure "employee alignment")What are the best practices in aligning employees with organizational goals?
22. When it comes to employee benefits, what do employees value most? How does this differ globally such as in Brazil, Russia, India and China? Discuss past patterns as well as future predictions based on changes in workforce needs and desires.
23. One element in the US that is creating some challenges for us is the topic of mobility/relocation. Some companies have taken creative approaches to leverage technology and allow employees to work from remote locations, for sales the implementation of those alternatives is challenging due to the "customer facing" nature of those jobs. We would like to know what other companies are doing with alternative work arrangements for customer facing positions (e.g sales, category management, shopper marketing)?
24. In moving from an "international" to a truly "global" company, what are organizational structures and operating models that have worked best for others? Additionally, what are other underlying considerations and pitfalls to avoid when supporting this growth strategy?
25. What are the emerging best practices today of companies known to have "high performing" culture?
26. Are global companies who operate in both established and emerging economies utilizing a centralized or decentralized compensation policy? Additionally, how do companies structure their compensation policies in emerging markets that are experiencing high inflation rates and a war for talent?
27. What are some ways companies can facilitate and encourage a global mindset in their workforce, both domestically and internationally?
28. How many of the top Fortune 500 Companies incorporate behaviors (How) in their overall performance rating system and if yes, what percentage is the "How" vs. the "What"?
29. In light of increased disclosure and transparency of executive compensation, which companies are doing better or worse than others with Say-on-Pay votes? What are some of the causes and effects of these SOP votes?
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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
