Book Analysis: A Manager’s Guide to Keeping the Best and Brightest
Human Capital Related Book Analysis Assignment:
Practitioners in human capital must make a consistent effort to stay current with changes in laws and best practices in their field. Those who become certified as SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, or SHRM-GP, have a continuing education requirement to retain their credentials. It’s important that, as future professionals, you begin to read and learn more about effective human capital practice within organizations. Additionally, I hope that you will take some time to find a title that is interesting to you and one from which you can learn.
The book analysis assignment is designed to encourage you to find a professional book, read the book, and then think critically about how it is related to human capital practice.
book: The stay interview: A manager’s guide to keeping the best and brightest. Finnegan, Richard. (2015). ISBN:
0814436498
What makes a book “acceptable”?
• It must have been published no earlier than 2015.
• It must be relatable to US employment practices and US workplaces. Please note that general
“leadership” or “mindset” books will not meet the “acceptability” test for this assignment.
• You must be able to demonstrate alignment of the book’s content to three or more chapters of your text.
Your book analysis should cover the following:
1. Review of content and overall lessons presented in the text (2-3 single-spaced pages).
2. Relationship of content to human capital practice; point out direct relationships to the textbook by chapter
and concept and identify how this information impacts the overall concept and/or practice. (2-3 single-
spaced pages).
3. Identify how the information learned in the book will impact your own practice of human capital-citing
specific concepts and roles, and further, why this information is important for you to know as a
practitioner of human capital. (2-3 single-spaced pages)
4. Conclusion with your recommendation on the applicability and use of this information for all human
capital practitioners—identify how and why this information is useful. (1 single-spaced page).
Please note that these are “minimum” guidelines and do not guarantee an “A” on the project. To achieve the highest possible score, I will be looking for detailed and engaging content that identifies the learning that took place from reading the book. See below for how the paper will be graded.
Your paper will be graded on the following as they relate to the four factors above:
Thoroughness: How well did your analysis cover each of the four factors identified above. This is a quality, as well as quantity, measurement.
Thoughtfulness: How well did you express your observations in the analysis.
Usefulness: Is the content useful to those who might be interested in reading the text? Is the information presented detailed enough to make a compelling case for purchasing and reading the book?
Quality: Is the analysis presented with appropriate language and terminology, and free from errors?
The book analysis will be due on May 3, 2021, at 12:00 pm (noon). You should submit a copy of your book analysis through Canvas by the deadline. Late submissions will not be accepted by Canvas or by your professor. This assignment is worth 20 points, which means that combined with strong performance for the online discussion, LinkedIn Learning, and blog learning journal, it could have a very positive impact on your grade.
Book Analysis -The Stay Interview: A Manager’s Guide to Keeping the Best and Brightest
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Institutional Affiliate
Book Analysis -The Stay Interview: A Manager’s Guide to Keeping the Best and Brightest
Introduction
Richard P. Finnegan, a consultant in the engagement and retention of valued employees, offers an effective framework through which organizations can overcome the challenge of losing their best talents. Finnegan’s 2015 publication, The Stay Interview: A Manager’s Guide to Keeping the Best and Brightest, posit that a manager’s ability to understand the needs and motivations of employees is integral to increasing the retention rates of their organizations. Provided herein is a comprehensive review of the book through the lens of its contents, the relationship of concepts presented with human capital practice, and reflection on the importance of the concepts to human capital practitioners.
Review of Content
Richard P. Finnegan presents an excellent framework through which managers can engage with their valued employees while also increasing the organization’s retention rates. The author proposes regular interviews with employees to keep up with their needs and motivating factors, thus avoiding sudden notices of intentions to leave employment by valued employees. It is an effective approach to uncovering the employee’s concerns and providing solutions to the same without compromising its key objective of sustainable growth and development. The framework follows an elaborate system spreading across the nine chapters of the book’s 128 pages. Finnegan begins by defining the stay interview by differentiating it from other interviews or meetings conducted within organizations in the first chapter, The Stay Interview CITATION Fin15 \l 1033 (Finnegan, 2015). He defines it as a platform that allows employees to present their agendas to the managers while the latter employs different skills in the interview to understand the former and avoid their departures from the organization. Finnegan then emphasizes the importance of the stay interview, demanding good preparation by the manager CITATION Fin15 \l 1033 (Finnegan, 2015). Chapter two of the book outlines a preparation plan for the unique interview involving nine steps. The steps include planning, having a clean slate, devising questions, availing reference sources for the organization’s retention plan for employees, overcoming fear, inviting and scheduling the interview, and choosing an appropriate setting for the same CITATION Fin15 \l 1033 (Finnegan, 2015). The other steps include gathering any equipment used in the interview and forecasting a successful interview with each of the employees CITATION Fin15 \l 1033 (Finnegan, 2015). The author presents four critical skills for conducting a successful interview in chapter three, Four Essential Skills. The crucial skills include careful listening, taking down notes, probing, and accepting liability to the organization’s decisions and responsibilities CITATION Fin15 \l 1033 (Finnegan, 2015). Finnegan reiterates the importance of managing the interview in chapter four by highlighting three key objectives through which managers can exercise control over the exchange. The author also classifies employees into five different categories and identifies how managers can approach employees across the different groups. The different categories include the satisfied, mysterious, low performers, ambitious, and the high performer CITATION Fin15 \l 1033 (Finnegan, 2015).
The next step of the framework involves developing stay plans in chapter five, highlighting five crucial elements of an effective stay plan. These elements include set objectives for each interview, actions for the manager, actions for the employee, dates for both the manager and employee’s actions and achieving the set objectives, and written documents for the manager and the employee CITATION Fin15 \l 1033 (Finnegan, 2015). The next step entails closing and forecasting the stay interview, thriving on the manager’s ability to build trust with the employee to prompt positive response from the latter on the proposed motivation for their retention CITATION Fin15 \l 1033 (Finnegan, 2015). As detailed in chapter six, closing and forecasting further involves the manager’s presentation of the data collected from the retention initiative to the executive for organizational support for the actions and objectives documented in the meeting CITATION Fin15 \l 1033 (Finnegan, 2015). Finnegan also highlights 13 traps characterizing the stay interview and how managers can avoid them in chapter seven of the book, including the fear of response from the employee, employee’s silence, and the possibility of breaking trust CITATION Fin15 \l 1033 (Finnegan, 2015). The efficacy of the employee retention approach or framework presented by Finnegan presents itself in the diverse managers and executives’ responses to Finnegan’s interview on their experiences applying the intervention. The managers and executives express their experiences in chapter eight of the book, with most attributing high retention rates and increased productivity through the approach CITATION Fin15 \l 1033 (Finnegan, 2015). The book ends Finnegan’s observation that the book and its concepts build on a true story based on the successes witnessed through the framework in the last chapter.
Relationship to Human Capital Practice
Human capital practice refers to the strategic approach taken by organizations to enhance their competitive edge in the market through maximum capitalization of the available human resource CITATION Bas07 \l 1033 (Bassi, 2007). Achieving such an outcome demands effective human capital management practices to maintain high retention rates for valued employees and increase their productivity for the organization's sustainable growth and development. It achieves the said objective by creating a platform for recruiting the best talents in the market, acquiring the most skilled and competent employees for the organization’s daily operational activities, increasing their productivity, and promoting effective management of employees CITATION Bas07 \l 1033 (Bassi, 2007). Finnegan’s The Stay Interview: A Manager’s Guide to Keeping the Best and Brightest focuses on encouraging managers to engage with employees while motivating them to stay with the organization and bringing out the best in them. It deals and correlates with the post-recruitment and hiring functions of human capital management practices. The author’s definition of the stay interview in the first chapters allows managers to understand the framework for their application towards enhancing their human capital management approach for increased productivity and higher retention of employees CITATION Fin15 \l 1033 (Finnegan, 2015). Maximizing the return on investment of the employees or human resource and their value demands the development and utilizati...