Semester 4, Lesson 11(56)

HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING: forEcasting demand for employees

 

I Read text 30 using your dictionary to help with new words. Think of the suitable title of the text. 30

 

TEXT 30

 

Human resource planning involves forecasting the organization’s future demand for employees, forecasting the future supply of employees within the organization, and designing programs to correct the discrepancy between the two. It serves the same purpose for human resource management as strategic planning does for other management activities. The purpose of human resource planning is to ensure that, in the future, the firm has enough employees with the appropriate skills so that it can accomplish its long-term goals.

The starting point of human resource planning is the organization’s strategic plans and goals. Let’s use a hypothetical example. Hubert Spotswood presently owns a successful jewellery store. Hubert has read that, because of the cost of building new homes, economic forecasters are predicting that individuals will choose to remodel their existing homes rather than buy new ones. He has therefore decided that in six years he wishes to be the largest jewellery and tool marketer in the area. His strategic plan is to open a large discount store, Jewels & Tools, which will carry watches and other jewellery as well as tools for household repair and maintenance. In addition, he wishes to have three upscale boutiques for each of the two product groups, to be called Pretty Things and Puttering Things.

He knows that implementing these plans will necessitate more employees with different skills than those he presently employs. Hubert does not have the time to handle all the details of the strategic plan, so he has hired Diana Taylor as a human resource manager. Diana, because she did well in her management courses, knows that she must start by drawing up a human resource plan that will be implemented over the next six years.

 

II. Comprehension check. Working in pairs, answer the questions. 

a) What is human resource planning?

b) Why is it important to predict the organization’s future demand for and supply of employees?

c) Why has Hubert Spotswood decided to reform his business? 

      d) What kind of business reorganization is Hubert Spotswood planning?

      e) Why has he employed Diana Taylor?

f) Imagine that you are a HR manager. What information would you need before drawing up a human resource plan?

 

III. Read the text again. Find and write down a word or words in the text that mean the same as the following definitions. They are in the same order as they appear in the text.

 

a.   making a statement about what is likely to happen, usually relating to the weather, business, or the economy

b.  the amount of a product or service that people want, or the fact that they want it

c.   quantity of something that is available to use

 

d.  deciding how something will be made, including the way it will work, and often making drawings of it

e.   a difference between things that should be the same

f.    the aim that someone wants to achieve

g. to make certain that something happens or is done

h. to succeed in doing something

i. to legally have something, especially because you have bought it

j.     someone whose job is to make a statement about what is likely to happen

k.  to decide to do something

l.     to change the structure or appearance of something

m. a person or company that buys and sells a particular product

n. a reduction in the price of something

o.  to have goods for sale

p. work that is done to fix something that is broken or damaged 

 

q. work that is done to keep something repaired and in good condition

r. the quality of services or goods that are designed for people who have a lot of money

s.   doing something in a slow and enjoyable way

t.    making something start to work and be used

u.  to make something necessary

v. to pay someone to work for you (two words)

w. to take action to deal with a difficult situation

x. preparing and writing something such as a document or plan

 

 

IV. Use your dictionary to look up any new words.

1.     Write the following words in the correct column.

specific      quantitative      qualitative      productivity      index      regression      analysis      ratio      unit      output      population      area      competitor      strength      community      enrol     expert (2)      planner      different from      assume      occur continue      produce (2)      happen      start up      weaken      accurate      move to      environment      agenda      decision-making     step (2)      member      fashion (2)      turn (2)      viewing      purpose      clarification      evaluation       ballot (2)      silently      priority      order (2)      ranking      adopt      decision      participant      series      carefully     design (2)      independently      anonymously      location      original (2)      respondent      position (2)      repeat             

 

Nouns (37)

Verbs (18)

Adjectives (8)

Adverbs (4)

 

 

specific

 

 

2.  Which verbs in A can go with which nouns in B?         E.g. to develop a forecast / forecasts

 

A

to develop       to determine         to rank        to write down         to present        to divide        to arrange         to rely on        to account for        to reach        to consult        to complete        to compile        to correlate        to introduce        to find out         to cause        to review        to trigger        to ask for        to engage in         to redistribute        to restrict        to gather        to need         to hold        to identify        to provide        to use (employ)        to record         to predict         to go through        to forecast                     

 

B

demand      method(s)      technique(s)      record(s)      salesperson(s)      amount      data      number(s)      variables      sales     judgement(s)      forecast(s)      product(s)      expert(s)      idea(s)      information      group     exchange      meeting      discussion      communication      solution(s)      questionnaire(s)      survey      opinion(s)      problem           result(s)      amendment(s)      consensus                          

 

3.  Working in pairs, form as many noun phrases as possible combining a word in A with a word in B.

E.g. accurate method, adopted method, qualitative method, quantitative method, statistical method, etc.

 

   A                                                                                        B

accurate

adopted

business

decision-making

designed

different

economic

expert

group

highest

historical

hypothetical

interpersonal

large

local

meeting

open

original

potential

priority

productivity

quantitative

regression

secret

specific

statistical

strategic

useful

written

yearly

job

method

technique

index

analysis

example

sales

goal

strength

school

data

forecast

activities

products

operation

judgement

group

agenda

communication

process

discussion

ballot

order

ranking

decision

survey

opinion

meeting

solution

questionnaire

position

 

V. Pre-reading task

 

Work in small groups.

 

You know already that forecasting demand for employees is a component of human resource planning. It uses methods that can be divided into two groups. Do you have any idea what these groups are?  Can you exemplify each of these two groups of methods?

 

VI Reading   

1. First read  text 31 quickly. Can you find in it any proofs of your suggestions?

 

TEXT 31         Forecasting Demand for Employees

 

Forecasting demand for employees involves predicting how many employees the firm will need in specific jobs in the future. There are two types of forecasting methods: quantitative and qualitative.

Quantitative Forecasting Methods. Quantitative methods, as you can probably guess, use statistical techniques. Two of the most often used techniques are the productivity index and regression analysis. The productivity index is the ratio of employees to unit of output. Returning to our hypothetical example, Diana goes through Hubert's records for the last ten years and calculates that each salesperson accounts for $85,000 in yearly sales. If she can find out the amount of sales in the strategic goal, Diana can determine the number of salespersons that will be needed. Regression analysis uses data about a number of variables that are correlated to predict sales and numbers of employees. In this case, Diana uses population of the area, number of competitors, economic strength of the community, and the number of students enrolled in the local building and trade school to determine the number of salespersons needed.

Qualitative Forecasting Methods. Qualitative forecasting methods rely primarily on the judgements of experts. These methods are used when planners cannot gather historical data to develop statistical forecasts or when they think that future business activities will be quite different from those of the past.

Quantitative forecasts usually assume that what has occurred in the past will continue in the future. For example, if one salesperson produced $85,000 in sales for the last five years, then this should happen in the next five. However, if more competitors start up, or the economy weakens significantly, or the firm introduces many different products, these forecasts will not be accurate. In such a case, moving to qualitative methods, planners consult experts in the business operation who have a good idea about the future environment of the business, and who can provide useful judgements. One technique for gathering information from these experts is through the Delphi method. Another is nominal grouping, which divides a large group into smaller ones, and then arranges the exchange of information among the groups.

Nominal Group Technique. This technique involves the use of a highly structured meeting agenda and restricts discussion or interpersonal communication during the decision-making process. The following steps occur in a nominal group:

1.  Members meet as a group, but before any discussion takes place, each member independently writes down his or her ideas for possible problem solutions.

2.  In round-robin fashion, each member takes a turn presenting a single idea to the group. This continues until everyone’s ideas have been presented and recorded. No discussion of the ideas occurs until all ideas have been recorded for general viewing.

3.  The group then engages in an open discussion of the ideas for the purpose of clarification and evaluation.

4.   A secret written ballot is then taken, with each member individually and silently ranking the ideas in priority order. The idea that has the highest aggregate ranking becomes the adopted decision.

 Delphi Group Technique. This method employs a written survey to gather expert opinions from a number of people without holding a group meeting. Delphi group participants never meet face to face. In fact, they may be located in different cities and never see each other. The following steps take place in a Delphi group:

1.     The problem is identified, and members are asked to write down potential solutions through a series of carefully designed questionnaires.

2.     Each member independently and anonymously completes the first questionnaire.

3.     Results of the first questionnaire are compiled at a central location and then redistributed to the original respondents.

4.     After reviewing the results, members are asked again for their solutions. This process usually triggers new solutions or causes amendments to the original position.

5.     Steps 3 and 4 are repeated as often as necessary until a consensus is reached.

 

2. Write down the names of quantitative and qualitative methods that you can remember.         

 

3. Comprehension check.

 

Read the text again more carefully. Complete the sentences with the appropriate ending, a, b, or c.

 

1.  The productivity index is …

a.     the indicator of improved production due to skilled employees.

b.     a figure that shows the relationship between the output and the number  of workers needed to produce it.

c.     a number that indicates the dependence of production on workers’ skills.

 

2.Diana calculates that …

a.     the annual sales figure per one salesperson in Hubert's store makes $85,000. 

b.     each salesperson in Hubert's store earns $85,000 annually. 

c.     each salesperson in Hubert's store gives an account of sales figures that make $85,000 yearly.

 

3.       To determine the number of salespersons that will be needed, Diana has to …

a.     correlate such variables as resident population, competitors, economic state of the people, and the number of students admitted to the local building and trade school.

b.     find out the number of correlated variables that are essential for regression analysis.

c.      use data about people living in the area, competitors’ strong points, business environment and students enrolled in the local building and trade school.

 

4.       Qualitative forecasting methods can be used when …

a.     no previous statistics are available to develop quantitative forecasts.

b.     the strategic goal of future business activities is unspecified.

c.     the past business activities are likely to continue in the future.

 

5.       Quantitative forecasts may not be accurate if …

a.     the company increases the number of employees.

b.     the firm increases the output.

c.     the business launches a lot of diverse products.

 

6.       Qualitative methods are concerned with …

a.     planning of business operations.

b.     using information obtained by statistical methods.

c.     collecting required data from the specialists.

 

7.     Unlike nominal groups, Delphi group participants …

a.     have to rank different ideas.

b.     can feel free to speak their opinions with guaranteed anonymity.

c.     are not asked to write down their judgements.

 

VII. Discussion

 

Working in small groups, compare and contrast the nominal group technique and the Delphi group technique. Give your ideas about the advantages and disadvantages of these two techniques when they are employed in forecasting demand for employees.

 

VIII. Individual work. Texts 32, 33

TEXT 32                        Professional managers

The literature on organization is both extensive and old, but organization is not the same as management. Much of the literature on management history is American in origin and, not surprisingly, attributes most of the credit for the development of management to US originators. Jacques (1997) comments:

Moderns appear to be superior to other people because we see clearly what has hitherto been seen through the eyes of bias and superstition; English are superior among Moderns because they are the ones who produced the entire body of early work; Americans are superior to British because they have superior character. That this hierarchy of ethnocentrism is commonplace in American writing makes it no less worthy of comment.

One of the principal originators of modern management highlighted in the US literature was, in fact, neither English nor (born) an American. The Scot, Daniel McCallum, was general superintendent of the Eric Railroad in the USA. This railroad, in common with other large rail companies, was finding it difficult to operate profitably, unlike smaller local railroads. He wrote (see Chandler, 1962) that:

A superintendent of a road fifty miles in length can give its business his professional attention and may be constantly on the line engaged in the direction of its details; each person is personally known to him, and all questions in relation to its business are at once presented and acted upon; and any system however imperfect may under such circumstances prove comparatively successful.

However, McCallum contended, when the railroad is ‘five hundred miles in length a very different state exists. Any system which might be applicable to the business and extent of a short road would be found entirely inadequate to the wants of a long one.’

He set about creating a management system in which responsibility for the railroad was split into geographical divisions, each of manageable size. Superintendents were given responsibility for operations within their respective divisions but had to provide detailed reports to the central headquarters. There McCallum and his assistants were able to coordinate the whole operation. McCallum advocated a number of management principles:

               good discipline

               specific and detailed job descriptions

               frequent and accurate reporting of performance

               pay and promotion based on merit

               clearly defined hierarchy of superiors and subordinates

               enforcement of personal responsibility and accountability

               the search for and correction of errors.

The lines of authority from headquarters to superintendents and then to their subordinates were laid out clearly on paper effectively on an organizational chart. Other railroads copied this system and were able to become effective and profitable. In turn, these ideas spread to other US businesses.

By 1900 the USA had undergone several decades of rapid, large-scale industrialization. Large American companies such as Heinz and Singer Sewing Machines had the characteristics of modern, highly-structured organizations. They produced standardized consumer durables for the mass market. These organizations required a supply of trained managers. Notionally selected on the basis of ability and expertise – rather than family connections they needed to know how to organize, reward and motivate their staff. In the USA, state and private universities were opened to cater for this new professional need.

The first companies of equivalent size and organization did not arise in Britain and the Commonwealth until the 1920s and management education was similarly late in developing. Like most European or Asian companies they still tended to employ relatives or to promote long-standing workers to management roles.

Reliability and ability to impose discipline were held to be more important than technical knowledge. Increasingly, however, managers (especially those at a senior level) developed vested interests incompatible with those of the working-classes (labour) and shareholders (capital).

A distinctive form of scientific management was taken up in the new high-volume production industries. This came to be known as Fordism after the mass production methods used by Henry Ford for automobile manufacturing. Jelinek (quoted in Mintzberg, 1994, p.21) considers that Taylor ‘for the first time made possible the large-scale coordination of details planning and policy-level thinking, above and beyond the details of the task itself ’. This produced a new division of labour, splitting tasks and their coordination into different roles. So management had become ‘abstracted’ from day-to-day activities, allowing it to ‘concentrate on exceptions’. Taylor’s ideas were developed further by Frank and Lilian Gilbreth who made valiant efforts to turn human beings into automatons. Their bizarre concepts included the ‘therblig’ (Gilbreth backwards) as a measure of work (Rose, 1975, p.84). Frank Gilbreth became famous for his study of bricklaying in which he reduced the movements involved from 15 to eight, and increased the number of bricks laid from 120 an hour to 350.

Smith (1948, p.144) gave an example of a simple motion study using the Gilbreths’ terminology, a bottle of gum and a brush:

 

 

Actual movements                                        Generalized description

1

Reach for the gum bottle

Transport empty

2

Grasp the brush

Grasp

3

Carry the brush to the paper

Transport loaded

4

Position for gumming

Position

5

Gum the paper

Use

6

Return the brush to bottle

Transport loaded

7

Insert the brush

Pre-position

8

Release the brush

Release

9

Move the hand back

Transport empty

 

What was the point of such a motion study? Smith quoted a paper by H.G. Maule from the Journal of the Institution of British Launderers, May 1935, which reported on use of the methodology to investigate the process of folding sheets:

The sequence of movements was: collect a sheet as it came from the calendar, fold it, place the folded article on a table. In the course of timing he noticed that a disproportionate amount of time was taken in the last movement owing to the position of a table on which the folded articles were placed. By calculating the time taken and multiplying it by the number of sheets folded in a week he found that 20 miles a week were walked unnecessarily. … By a slight rearrangement of the table this was altered, and yet no one had noticed it before  this.

Huczynski and Buchanan (2000) argue that Taylorism and related techniques are more prevalent today than ever. Japanese just-in-time techniques bear a number of similarities to some aspects of scientific management. Scientific management was one of the first of the ‘one best way’ methodologies of dealing with people management.

 

Scientific management

In 1903, F.W.Taylor an American engineer published Shop Management, outlining a system for extracting maximum output from workers. Later, his methods were presented as The Principles of Scientific Management (1911). Controversial at the time, and still the subject of debate, Taylor is quoted frequently as the inspiration for many modern industrial practices including Japanese production methods. He outlined a systematic but controversial programme based on:

rudimentary time and motion studies

selection of ‘first-class men’ for the job

premium pay for a ‘fair day’s work’.

Taylor’s ideas were not original. They embodied attitudes of the time, including strict discipline to control soldiering (‘slacking’ or ‘skiving’). Taylor saw two forms: (a) ‘individual’ soldiering where workers’ were naturally lazy; and (b) ‘systematic’ soldiering where workers conspired to maintain a comfortable work rate. Activities were timed to prevent employees from taking it easy. As chief engineer at the Midvale Steel Company, Taylor sacked slow workers, cut piece-rates, and brought in non-union workers. Productivity was raised by standardizing and simplifying procedures into specified and unvarying jobs. Employees were not allowed to think about their jobs, bring in new ideas, or vary tasks to alleviate boredom. Broad craft knowledge was no longer required knowledge was transferred to the manager.

Taylor’s basic concept was the ‘task idea’: planning out every job in minute detail; giving precise instructions on what to do, in what order, at what speed; and eliminating wasteful or unnecessary actions. This produced ‘one best way’ for any task. At the Bethlehem Steel Company he applied his principles to shovelling and handling pig iron (Taylor, 1947, p.43) :

Now, gentlemen, shovelling is a great science compared with pig-iron handling. I dare say that most of you gentlemen know that a good many pig-iron handlers can never learn to shovel right; the ordinary pig-iron handler is not the type of man well suited to shovelling. He is too stupid; there is too much mental strain, too much knack required of a shoveler for the pig-iron handler to take kindly to shovelling.

The plant employed 400–600 men to move several million tons of material each year. Taylor found the optimum load for shovelling, designed better shovels and scheduled carefully timed rest-pauses. He was able to achieve the same output from 140 men with an average 60 per cent bonus, virtually halving costs. He argued that the men were not being overworked but simply doing their jobs more sensibly.

Taylor used Henry Knolle – a ‘first-class’ labourer immortalized in management literature as ‘Schmidt’ –to demonstrate the motivating effect of premium pay. Knolle’s pig- iron handling increased four-fold to 50 tons a day, for a bonus equivalent to half his normal pay. Only one in eight workers could match this performance, the remainder being given lower-paid work. Many employers used Taylor’s system to increase produc tivity, but without extra pay. In fact, wages were often reduced on the grounds that the rationalized jobs could be classified as unskilled. The work was given to people, such as new immigrants, who would accept lower pay.

In his writings, Taylor presented his work at Bethlehem Steel as a success. In fact, there were angry reactions from workers, managers and others. Press publicity on likely redundancies, threats of industrial action, and management resentment led to Taylor’s dismissal. He spent the rest of his life publicizing his theories. He believed that he had developed a science that would legitimize the professional status of managers. Rose (1975, p.32) describes Taylorism as ‘an instructive reminder of how “scientific” theories of workers’ behaviour which fail when actually applied in industry can none the less acquire a substitute vitality as managerial ideologies’. In other words, ideas which do not work in practice can still be sold to other managers!

As an early management guru, Taylor used recognizable tactics:

            he developed a relatively simple set of principles

            took personal credit for devising them

            gave them a pretentious name scientific management

            and publicized them extensively.

What relevance do Taylor’s methods have for modern human resource management?

TEXT 33

The human factor 

 

The ‘science’ in scientific management was doubtful. At the same point in time, however, academic researchers had begun to take an interest in the practical aspects of work. Work psychology was pioneered by the German psychologist Hugo Munsterberg (1863–1916) who moved to the USA and became responsible for a research laboratory at Harvard. Between 1900 and 1914, he applied the techniques of the young science of psychology to issues such as the selection of engineers to operate new machines, and the efficiency of various industrial practices (Thomson, 1968, p.133). Work psychology is deemed to have taken off after the publication of his Psychology and Industrial Efficiency in 1913. In Germany and the UK the demands of war boosted further research. In Britain, the Health of Munition Workers Committee (1915–17) was required to: ‘. . . consider and investigate the relation of hours of labour and other conditions of employment, including methods of work, to the production of fatigue, having regard both to industrial efficiency and to the preservation of health amongst the workers’ (quoted in Thomson, 1968, p.345).

In 1919, the researchers involved formed the UK National Institute of Industrial Psychology (NIIP), a body similar to the Australian Institute of Industrial Psychology founded in 1917. These organizations investigated and researched working conditions, and developed vocational guidance and selection techniques. In New Zealand, vocational guidance dates from 1913 where it was offered by the Christchurch branch of the YMCA. Initially the work of occupational psychologists bordered on physiology as they investigated fatigue and monotony. It had been believed that fatigue was caused by a build-up of toxins in the blood. It was even thought that an elixir could be found which would neutralize these chemicals; when injected into exhausted workers this could allow them to work indefinitely! The researchers proved conclusively that fatigue was not purely physiological – it was also psychological (Rose, 1975, p.70).

Their work directly countered the myth that working longer hours produced greater out- put. In their research on monotony the NIIP psychologists took a deliberately anti-Taylorist perspective. They confirmed Taylor’s views on the value of rest pauses but argued against the notion of ‘one best way by a first-class man’. The simple truth was that individual tasks could be done equally effectively in a variety of ways by a diverse range of people. Different people had their own ways of performing effectively: they worked more efficiently when allowed to vary their own working methods. It became clear also that money was not the sole motivator for working people: the social relations between workers influenced their attitude to the job and their productivity. Workers were human beings and should be treated as such: the researchers had identified the importance of human factors.

In effect they had anticipated the conclusions of the more famous ‘Hawthorne studies’, but their reports expressed in dry scientific language made for dull reading, and were not accessible to a wide audience. Moreover, their income came from industrial commissions which were expected to be confidential. The most positive response came from the chocolate makers, Cadbury and Rowntree, which were Quaker-owned and humanitarian in attitude. They were receptive to ideas about training, vocational guidance, staff welfare, and joint worker–management councils. Many, if not all, employers were not like-minded. The soft approach of the NIIP also had a hard centre, in the shape of efficiency measures such as selection tests to identify suitable workers for specific jobs.

Psychological tests for selection, or ‘psychometric tests’, were extensively developed in the USA and the UK from World War I through to World War II. Some two million Americans were tested during World War I alone. Their particular priority was the identification of ‘sub-normals’ at one extreme and officer material at the other. After the war, testing became a lucrative commercial activity in the USA but introduced a worrying element of ‘scientific’ racism which has not been entirely eliminated.

 

Henry Ford

Ford made his first car in 1893 and formed the Ford Motor Company in 1903. He started the company with 11 other men, together putting up US$28 000. Eventually he bought out his associates and Henry Ford became the company. According to Beynon, (1973, p.18):

He was The Man. And he was to remain The Man until his death. Throughout his life he maintained a single-minded, autocratic hold over his company, entirely convinced of his right to run it as he thought fit.

Ford standardized products (‘any colour as long as its black’), applied modern technology to a flowing production line and allocated workers’ jobs according to Taylorist principles. Ford’s plant at Highland Park, Michigan, was dedicated to a single mass- market car the Model T. The main building at Highland Park was four storeys high, 865ft long and 75ft wide a staggering 260 000 square feet and was the largest building in the state of Michigan (McIntyre, 2000, p.271).

His major innovation, the moving assembly line, was inspired by Chicago slaughter- houses where vast numbers of cattle were ‘disassembled’ on a moving line. At Ford every worker had one task such as fitting a door to each car as they moved up the line. This development was given considerable publicity and Ford made every effort to pre- sent himself as a great engineer. In fact, there was nothing new about the equipment. The distinctive feature of the assembly line was the organization of human resources. Assembly workers were allowed a minimum time to complete an operation before the car continued to the next stage. ‘The idea is that the man ... must have every second necessary but not a single unnecessary second’ (Ford, 1922, quoted in  Beynon, 1973, p.19). A harsh attitude permeated the company. Employees were watched closely and were regarded as objects rather than human beings. They were to do as they were told to be hired and fired arbitrarily. Whilst maximizing production efficiency, assembly-line manufacturing led to high rates of absenteeism and employee turnover. In 1913 Ford needed 13 000–14 000 workers but over 50 000 came and went in that year. Something had to be done. In 1914 Ford announced a package deal for his workers: the ‘Five Dollar Day’, presented as a profit-sharing system that more than doubled workers’ wage rates. However, it included a number of changes which benefited the company. Ford did not agree with Taylor’s simplistic incentive system. He never paid on a ‘piece-work’ basis, believing that it led to rushed or ‘botched’ work. Instead his new scheme increased management control of workers’ performance through a combination of:

Job evaluation, leading to a thorough rationalization of workflow.

Pay grades, matched to the ‘value’ or difficulty of jobs.

Disqualifying clauses, which prevented workers with less than six months’ service, men under 21 and all women from receiving US$5 a day. ‘Young ladies’ were expected to get married and leave the company.

Finally, eligible workers only received the full pay rate if their behaviour and personal habits at work and home were deemed to be satisfactory. Alcohol and tobacco were frowned upon; gambling or taking in boarders were unacceptable. Ford believed that high wages should be paid only to the morally deserving, since the others would spend it unwisely. A Sociological Department was established with 30 investigators checking workers domestic circumstances and spending habits. Within two years, 90 per cent of Ford workers were thought good enough to receive US$5 a day, but investigators could recommend the loss of six months’ bonus at any time if their lifestyles were not accept- able. Ford believed in the virtue of hard work but did not value charity the poor deserved their fate. He never expressed any concern about the drudgery and boredom of the assembly line, considering most people to be incapable of any better.

 

 

 

The Union Bank of Australia: HR 100 years ago

 

 

Personnel, payroll and other records from the Union Bank of Australia were examined for employees who joined between 1888 and 1900. The researchers found that employment was characterized by limited ports of entry, impersonal rules for pay and  promo tion, well-defined career ladders, shielding from the external labour market, and a long-term employment relationship. Additionally tenure within the bank was rewarded considerably more than experience elsewhere, and pay increased significantly after 25–30 years’ service.

 

 

IX. Grammar. Third Conditional

 

Third Conditional

if + Past perfect

would + have + Past participle

Example

Explanation

If you had driven more carefully, you would not have had an accident.

Criticism: You had an accident because you didn't drive carefully enough.

If we had played a little better, we could have won the game.

Regret: We didn't play well, so we lost the game.

 

Mixed Conditionals

Types

Example

First Conditional + Third Conditional

If she is as clever as you say she is, she would have been rich by now.

Third Conditional + Second Conditional

If I had had your advantages, I could finish the construction of a house now.

 

Ex.1Translate the sentences (The Third Conditional):

1. If she had studied, she would have passed the exam.

2. If I hadn't eaten so much, I wouldn't have felt so sick.

3. She wouldn't have been tired if she had gone to bed earlier.

4. He would have been on time for the interview if he had left the house at nine.

5 If you had saved your money, you could have bought a new flat.

6. If it had snowed, we could have gone skiing.

7. If we had taken a taxi, we wouldn't have missed the plane.

 

Ex.2. Translate the sentences (Mixed Conditional):

1. If I were you, I (to check) the facts before I accused them.

2. If she were in your position, she (to help) him by now.

3. If you (not to remind ) me before, I (to forget) about it now.

4. If they (to invite ) me yesterday, I (to come) to their place tonight.

 

Ex.3. Choose the correct form to complete the sentence:

1. If I had gone to England, I ______ missed Rachel's visit.

had……               would have

2. If I'd gone to University, I ______ liked to have studied Design.

had             …….would have

3. I ______ gone to the cocktail party if I hadn't had too much work on.

had             ……..would have

4. I ______ recognized you if somebody hadn't told me who you were.

hadn't                          wouldn't have

5. I would have bought a Mercedes if I ______ been able to afford it.

Had……… would have

6. I ______ sent you a postcard if I hadn't lost your address.

had                  would have

7. I wouldn't have told you if I ______ known that you would get upset.

Had                      would have

8. I'd have come in earlier if I ______ known how much urgent work there was.

had                   would have

9. I ______ forgotten all about it if you hadn't reminded me.

had                  would have

10. I'd have helped you if you ______ asked me.

had                   would have