HR practices

Running Head: COMPANY COMPARISON WITHIN THE HR DEPARTMENT Perrotta 1

Fabio Perrotta

Company Comparison within the HR Department

Youngstown State University

COMPANY COMPARISON WITHIN HR DEPARTMENT Perrotta 2

Table of Contents:

-Overview of Project

-General Discussion of HR

-Interview Process

-Introduction

-Kimberly Pleva (Parker Hannifin)

-Discussion

-Socko Gaetano (iSocko.com)

-Discussion

-Denise Carissimo (JMC Steel)

-Discussion

-John Green (475th Quartermaster Group-US Army)

-Discussion

-Company Comparison


-Conclusion

-References


OVERVIEW OF PROJECT:

For this project I was asked to conduct a journal in regards to HR practices for different

companies. Not all companies perform the same type of HR practice and operate differently

than one another. Whether the company is running by a bigger corporation or the company is

owned by a single individual, there is bound to be similarities and differences with the way the

company performs their HR practices. For this project, I was asked to interview four different

people who perform anything that deals with HR for the specific company that person works for.

Throughout the project, there will be sections regarding the general overview of HR, the

interview process, each individual that was interviewed, discussion of the interview, comparison

of each company and their differences, and finally the conclusion of this project.

GENERAL DISCUSSION OF HR:

Human resources is very vital to a company and without the practice of this, there would

be no company. HR covers many aspects in regards to a company and their workers. Each

individual that is involved in any type of HR practice cannot be biased in making decisions when

it comes to their company and employees they work for. There are four major skills that HR

managers practice on a day to day basis. Hiring and recruiting, compensation and benefits,

training and development, and performance management. Each one of these skills are utilized in

the workplace every day to ensure that the proper HR practices are being performed for the

company in a professional way.

Hiring and recruiting is very important for a company because the company wants to

make sure that the best of the best workers are the ones being hired for the company. The human


resource manager must be adept at hiring and recruiting new employees. Identifying, recruiting,

interviewing and hiring high-performing employees is essential for the long term success of your

company. Creating policies and procedures for the hiring and recruiting process and teaching

these skills to all of your managers is also critical for the future of your organization. Some

companies may already have some policies in place when it comes to hiring their employees, but

the HR managers can also add more to the policies or amend some policies. When having a

business that is not run by a corporation, the individual who started the corporation is the one

who creates the policies for the company and they rarely change.

Compensation and benefits is another important skill that HR managers hold in order to

properly execute the practices in their workplace. Human resource managers must also create,

administer and improve the compensation and benefit structures. Retaining excellent associates

depends on many factors. Outstanding pay and benefits are two critical factors that will

ultimately determine how well your employees feel about your organization and the likelihood

that they will remain with your company in the future. Crafting an effective compensation

system and determining the best benefits package for all of your employees are skills that are

mandatory for the HR manager. Compensation and benefits play a serious role for a company

because there are has to be many rules and regulations regarding this type of action. Companies

want to keep their employees happy, and in order to do that, the company must have an

understanding of the compensation and benefits. Not every company is the same when it comes

to this but it all revolves around the same type of skill that is acquired by the HR managers and

the company as a whole.


Training and development can cost a lot of money for a company. The HR manager is

responsible for conducting a lot of this because employees need to know and understand

everything around and about the workplace they are currently employed with at the time.

Training and development skills are vital assets for a human resource manager. The ability to

create training programs that solve human performance problems will yield important benefits

for your organization. Instructional design skills, as well as outstanding facilitation and

presentation abilities, result in training programs that produce tangible results for that specific

company. Talents in program evaluation and employee feedback are also needed to constantly

improve the quality of all of the company’s training programs. Receiving employee feedback

about the training and development of the company helps the company prosper and grow. This

also helps the HR manager know what they might need to change in the workplace to make sure

that the training and development can be cost effective and be efficient for the company.

Finally, the fourth skill that is very important for a human resource manager is

performance management. The ability to effectively manage the performances of your

employees is an integral part of a human resource manager's job duties. Establishing and

implementing a complete performance improvement process is an essential skill. Designing a

performance review process, maintaining it and effectively monitoring its implementation are

challenging tasks. Coaching your managers on how to use your performance management

program is also an important function of your HR team. Performance management can be passed

down from the HR manager to other employees in order to implement necessary changes for the

company to perform at its highest.


Each and every one of these skills are requirements for any HR manager in order to

perform their necessary duties. It is important to implement these skills in the workplace or

company because it will help the company be more efficient with the workers. The employees

in a workplace depend on the HR managers for a lot because the employees can go to the HR

manager about any issues regarding the workplace or if they want changes done to the work

place. HR managers do so much more than you think behind the scenes in a workplace

environment.

Throughout this project, there will many discussions regarding different companies and

their HR practices and how they would handle the skills HR managers possess. It is important to

understand the differences these companies retain because workers or HR managers will need to

be able to adjust to different companies if need be. The goal is to understand the necessary

requirements for the position these managers hold and to understand the employees of the

company and how those people play into the job of the HR manager. The skills discussed in this

section are universal and are understood by many people in the HR field. As a student studying

HR myself, these skills are definitely a requirement that need to be studied and learned and

implemented into the workplace. The goal is to be able to use these skills to the best of their

knowledge and make the best use of them.

INTERVIEW PROCESS:

For this project, I conducted a 14 question interview for each person and the company

that they work for. It was very interesting to gather the information from each person because

although there were some similarities, there were many differences as well. I had to privilege to


talk to each and every one of these people one on one and get more of an insight on the company

they work for and the practices they utilize with the company. I interviewed a total of four

people with different backgrounds in the field. Some of the candidates that I interviewed either

owned their own company or worked for a larger corporation. Here is a list of the questions that

were asked during the interview:

1. What company do you work for?

2. How long have you been with the company?

3. Is the company corporately run?

4. What do you like best/least about working for this company?

5. Can you describe a typical workday in the department?

6. Do your employees feel free to express their ideas and concerns?

7. Do you have an open door policy?

8. What are the possibilities for professional growth and promotion?

9. How much interaction do you have with superiors, colleagues, employees, and customers?

10. Do you have the opportunity to work independently?

11. Does your future here seem secure?

12. What is the department’s environment/culture like?

13. What type of work does your company do?

14. Any previous experience with HR?


Each participant answered each question to the best of their knowledge and what they had

retained over the years of working with the company. It was very important to gather the most

accurate information in order to do a good comparison between the companies. No two

companies are the same which made this project rather interesting. It was intriguing to find out

more about the inside parts of these companies and each company practices their specific HR

management. Each participant was more than happy to let me interview them for this project. I

wrote down the answers to each question I asked and recorded them in a notebook for me to

copy into this project. Each interview was done through the course of this semester and took

about three months total to gather the information that I needed in order to complete the entirety

of this project.

INTRODUCTION:

Each and every company has some sort of HR manager that oversees the company and

the employees of the company. The HR manager has a very important position in a company

because they make sure that everything is running smoothly for the workers and the company.

As it was mentioned before, HR managers tend to specific skills in order to maintain the balance

in the workplace. Throughout the rest of this project, the type of discussion that will be taking

place is the interview with each candidate, the date the interview was done, the candidates

responses, a comparison amongst each company, and how each company differentiates. This is

something very important to understand amongst the companies because in order for the

company to run a certain way, each company will have to have different operations concerning

the HR practices.

KIMBERLY PLEVA (PARKER HANNIFIN) FEBRUARY 18TH 2016.


The first person I interviewed was my Employee Relations and Workplace Ethics

professor, Kimberly Pleva. Pleva is a part-time professor here at YSU and I had the privilege to

be able to interview her and ask her what her experience was in the HR field. Pleva works for

Parker Hannifin as an HR manager. The company is headquartered in Cleveland and has over

60,000 employees throughout the United States. Parker Hannifin manufactures parts for

essentially anything that moves. There are a total of 12 manufacturing sites located all over the

United States. The following section will include the interview that took place with Kimberly

Pleva.


a. “Parker Hannifin.”


a. “I was with the company for 16 years now. My first year there I was just an intern

and ended up staying with company because I was offered a position there.”


a. “Yes, the company is a large Fortune 200 company headquartered in Cleveland. I

am currently in the largest division. There are about 60,000 employees spread out

over 12 manufacturing sites.”


a. “What I like most about the company is the job security and stability of the

company. I am also my own boss, so I enjoy making decisions on my own that

positively affect the company. What I like least about the job is that I have to


sometimes travel to other locations all over the US and that takes time away from

my family.”


a. “In a typical workday, I plan and organize different departments of my division.

The hours are very long and strenuous since I oversee so many employees.

Payroll, compensation, worker benefits, employees, all of these functions that

need to be reviewed are done by me and a few others. The workload is not

divided much amongst other HR personnel.”


a. “Yes, every employee has every right to express their ideas to me about the

workplace.”


a. “Yes, there is absolutely an open door policy within my company. Employees can

come to me in regards to any issue there is in the work place.”


a. “There is significant growth and promotion within the company. The hiring

process is mostly done within the company and some people are recruited for the

company as well. I am a prime example since I started off with the company as

an intern 16 years ago.”

9. How much interaction do you have with superiors, colleagues, employees, and

customers?


a. “There are 12 people in my scope of the department. I collaborate with these

members daily. I also talk to many superiors throughout the course of the day to

discuss some issues in the workplace. There is some interaction over the web

with colleagues from other plants around the US.”


a. “I have a lot of opportunity to work independently throughout my work day since

I am the main person in control of the HR department. I usually associate others

when I need to.”


a. “My future seems very secure because I have been promoted to the top position

that I wanted to be in. There are many benefits that are also associated with this

career that allow me to live comfortably.”


a. “The culture is a very collaborative type of culture and team oriented. There are

many hats to pitch in.”


a. “Essentially the company manufactures products for anything that moves. Such

as: cars, aircrafts, space crafts, etc.”


a. “Other than graduating with my masters in HR, that was my only prior

experience. I have always been with Parker Hannifin from day one.”


AFTER INTERVIEW DISCUSSION:

Kimberly Pleva provided very detailed answers to my questions during the interview.

Pleva even gave details I did not ask for but that made the interview process so much better

because I was able to understand more about the company she worked for. It was interesting to

know all the work that goes into the company and what her title actually entails. I thanked

Kimberly after the interview was done and was pleased to have her as one of my candidates to

interview for my project.

SOCKO GAETANO (iSOCKO.COM) FEBRUARY 24TH 2016

Socko Gaetano is another candidate that I interviewed for this project. Socko was a very

different type of candidate because he did not work for someone else. Socko owns his own

company, he is a photographer. 25 years ago, Socko started his company called, iSocko.com.

Socko specializes in many different types of photography that has a very wide range of the type

of photography he does. Socko travels all over the US and to some other countries to do his

work. Socko mentioned that he is mostly in Chicago because he has a studio out there, but most

of the time, he is located here in Youngstown, Ohio. Socko has his own office and studio in

Youngstown where he operates his business most of the time. The most interesting part of

interviewing Socko was that he did this all on his own. Socko did not have a business partner

that would have helped him get a head start on his business. Socko currently has one assistant

on site that helps him with appointments and sales. This summer, I have to opportunity to intern

Socko and help his manage appointments and schedule clients. Socko plans on retiring after this


year, so I am honored to have the opportunity to work with him. The following section will

include the interview I had with Socko Gaetano and his responses.


a. “I own and operate iSocko.com photography.”


a. “I started this company 25 year ago at my house by myself.”


a. “No, the company is being operate by myself.”


a. “What I like best about my company is the amount of traveling I get to do and the

different sites I get to see. Being able to experience this has opened my eyes to so

many more opportunities. What I like least about my job was that in the

beginning, it was tough to start a business on my own, there was a lot of money

that I put into it and it took years before I started noticing a profit.”


a. “A typical workday consists of daily planning of where and when appointments

are going to be. Planning future appointments and scheduling clients is

something that I do daily with my assistant.”


a. “Every employee I have had working under me could express any way they

wanted to me directly. Since I owned the business, there was no need to go to a

higher authority, I am the highest authority.”



a. “As I mentioned before, I do have an open door policy with every employee that I

have ever had. I am always open to any suggestions that an employee might

make to me or the company.”


a. “Since I own the company, there have been many opportunities for growth and

promotion. I took every opportunity I could get when it came to expanding my

company. I was able to start my own business and grow from there.”


customers?

a. “There is a ton of interaction with my assistant and the clients that I work with. I

am constantly in contact before and after photoshoots.”


a. “I do work independently, other than when I work with my assistant when she

comes to appointments with me.”


a. “I made sure that this business was secure for me and that it would keep on

growing as I got older. I made sure to insure the company if anything were to

happen. I put money away for myself I ensure a proper secure position for

myself.”



a. “The environment can be laid back at times. Most of the time it is more of a

business environment when it comes to dealing with clients.”


a. “The company that I work for is iSocko.com photography.”


a. “I had no previous experience in HR but I graduated with a business degree,

therefore I had some knowledge what I was getting into whenever I started the

business 25 years ago.”


Socko Gaetano was a very interesting candidate to interview. It was nice to be able to

learn more about a company that was started up by one person alone. Socko does everything for

the company. Socko does the payroll for his assistant, pricing and sales for his clients, and also

books appointments. Although he has an assistant, Socko mentioned he likes doing a lot of

things on his own. Some companies depend on many others to help with operating a business or

corporation. Since Socko and his assistant are the only ones working for the company, it is very

easy to manage the typical HR practices.

DENISE CARISSIMO (JMC STEEL) MARCH 7TH 2016:

Denise Carissimo was somewhat similar to Kimberly Pleva. Denise is a part-time

professor at Youngstown State University and works for JMC Steel. Denise does HR

management work for the plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The company is headquartered in

Chicago and Denise mentioned that she sometimes travels there for work seminars. The most


interesting thing about Denise is that she and I have many similarities when it comes to what we

studied in college. Denise was a communications major with an HR minor, then she received

her MBA as well. That is the exact path I plan on taking after I graduate. The interview was

very conversational because there were many laughs throughout the interview. I was very

comfortable talking to Denise and the interview went very well. The following section will

include the questions and answers to the interview I administered to Denise Carissimo.


a. “I work for JMC Steel.”


a. “I have been with the company for three years now, about to be going on my

fourth year.”


a. “Yes, there are 12 locations total with 15,000 employees.”


a. “What I like best about the company is the employee relations within the

company. It is like a family. The bonuses for the company are great as well, we

are given very generous bonuses each year. What I do not like about the

company is that I have to go through three layers of authority to make decisions.”



a. “A typical work day in my department is very hectic. I am usually there from 7

AM to about 5 PM, Monday – Friday. I mostly deal with attendance and talk to

supervisors about who needs to be written up in the workplace.”


a. “The employees are free to express any ideas or concerns regarding the work

place. Employees are constantly asking for some type of change within the

workplace. As long as the change is within reason with the company, the

company is pretty good with implementing changes.”


a. “Yes, there is a completely open door policy.”


a. “As of right now, I have not been with the company long enough to experience

much growth or promotion, but definitely within the next 3-5 years.”


customers?

a. “There is constant daily interaction.”


a. “I do have opportunity to work independently, but I do work with many

colleagues throughout the day.”


a. “I have a very secure future with this company.”



a. “The environment is very family-like. All of the employees are very close with

one another.”


a. “The company manufactures steel tubing.”


a. “I have 15 years of HR experience and I worked for another steel company, so I

was extremely experienced for my current position with JMC Steel.”


Denise Carissimo was a great candidate to interview. Denise was full of life and

enthusiasm while I was interviewing her. This helped the interview go a lot smoother than I

anticipated. I was very captivated by Denise because we had very similar goals when she was in

school and we also studied the some major. It was great having Denise as a professor this

semester, and I was grateful to have the chance to interview her and have more insight on the

company that she worked for.

JOHN GREEN (475TH QUARTERMASTER GROUP – U.S. ARMY RESERVE) APRIL

5TH 2016:

In order to conduct this project in a way that viewed various sides of HR practices, I

made sure to interview a variety of people. John Green, who is currently a student in most of my

HR management classes, actually performed HR work in the Army. This was very interesting to

be able to learn more about because I have gathered a lot of information from a wide selection of

candidates and their different ways of performing HR management practices. John is currently


an HR major at Youngstown State University and is planning on continuing with HR with an

internship this summer in Cleveland. The following section will include the questions provided

by me, and responses provided by John Green.


a. “I am currently working for the 475th Quartermaster Group U.S. Army Reserve.”


a. “I have been enlisted in the Army for 6 years now.”


a. “The government is running the company.”


a. “The thing that I like least about working here is the repetitiveness of the work.

What I like the best about working here is the military experience.”


a. “A typical work day includes updating forms and clerical support for soldiers in

the unit.”


a. “Yes, the lower enlisted ranks are able to express more than the higher enlisted

ranks.”


a. “Yes, there has always been an open door policy when I was enlisted.”


a. “I was promoted frequently with a possible promotion to a Sergeant.”



customers?

a. “There is a lot of interaction throughout the whole day, especially amongst higher

ranks.”


a. “You are able to work independently if your superior knows you are capable of

doing so by yourself.”


a. “Yes, my future is very secure if I continue to enlist, I could have a job for the rest

of my life.”


a. “The environment used to be close, but people are constantly coming and going

with a high turnover rate, so there is a lot of distance between us now.”


a. “We train other units on petroleum/fuel/water operations. We are the last unit to

train on petroleum.”


a. “I have no prior experience with HR because I enlisted in the Army right out of

high school. What I learned in the Army and what I have learned so far in college,

is the current experience that I have.”



John Green may have been the most interesting candidate that I had interviewed

throughout this whole project. To be able to receive information about HR practices in an

environment other than an office setting is refreshing to hear because that is something that most

HR managers have in common. The interview was also very interesting because it was with a

current student at Youngstown State University who has had experience in HR management just

like the other candidates that I had interviewed. John is only 24 years old and already has 6

years of experience in the field. That is very admirable and influential to have a candidate that I

can at least relate to on the same age level, although we have different experience. I thanked him

for allowing me to interview him and including his responses into this project.

COM PANY COMPARISON:

Amongst all of the candidates that were interviewed in this project, there were many

similarities and also many differences that accompanied the information gathered. The

similarities that all of these companies have in common is the use of HR practices and skills.

There are very specific skills that are required by HR managers to perform in the workplace.

Another similarity that all of these candidates had in common was that they all have decent

amount of knowledge and experience in the field. The main components that differentiate these

candidates is obviously the companies each candidate is part of and that they are from

completely different entities.

The first candidate, Kimberly Pleva works for a Fortune 200 company and the other

candidate that was similar to this was Denise Carissimo. Since both of these candidates work for

larger corporations, they are both in charge of a large quantity of employees. Socko Gaetano is


self-employed and was able to perform the proper HR practices like the other candidates. John

Green, a student, has experience in HR through the Army, and that is where he has gained the

experience he has in HR management.

The main differences that set each candidate apart is how they each acquired the

knowledge in HR management. Kimberly Pleva worked for her company for 16 years where she

started as an intern and worked her way up to the top of her company. Kimberly previously had

some experience based on her education and degree in Human Resources. Socko Gaetano built

his business 25 years ago in his own home. Socko had received a degree in Business and was

able to utilize the knowledge he already had and implement that into his business. Socko now

has a very prosperous business in photography. Denise Carissimo has had 15 years of prior

experience in the field of Human Resources on top of receiving her MBA. Denise now works for

a company that she expects to move higher up in the upcoming years. Finally, John Green, who

is only a student at Youngstown State University practices HR management in the Army. John

gained 6 years of experience doing HR with his fellow soldiers in the Army. John is currently

working on receiving his bachelors in Human Resource Management from Youngstown State

University.

CONCLUSION:

All in all, each and every single one of these candidates that I had the wonderful

opportunity to interview had definitely enlightened me more and more with each interview. It

was captivating to hear the different ways that each candidate used the proper skills in order to

perform the basic tasks of an HR manager. The purpose of this project was to interview a


number of candidate and receive information in regards to how each candidate utilizes their skill

in Human Resource Management. As mentioned before, I had the wonderful opportunity to get a

chance hear from four completely different people and how each of them works in the HR field.


REFERENCES:

Carissimo, D. (2016, March 7). Personal Interview.

Gaetano, S. (2016, February 24). Personal Interview.

Green, J. (2016, April 5). Personal Interview.

Pleva, Kimberly. (2016, February 18). Personal Interview.

HR practices

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