Case 1c4u1h

Chapter 1

Application Case: Jack Nelson's Problem 1. What do you think was causing some of the problems in the bank home office and branches? There is clearly a problem with communication, and the effects are felt in the area of employee commitment. Additional contributing factors include the lack of consistency in the policies and procedures of various locations. There is no cohesiveness to the staffing activities of this organization. 2. Do you think setting up a HR unit in the main office would help? Of course we think it would! Since there are HRrelated problems both in the home office and in the branches, it is clear that if a personnel office were set up, it would need to help to coordinate the HR activities in the branches. 3. What specific functions should it carry out? What HR functions would then be carried out by supervisors and other line managers? What role should the Internet play in the new HR organization? There is room for quite a bit of variation in the answers to this question. Our suggested organization would include: HR Unit: job analyses, planning labor needs and recruiting, providing advising and training in the selection process, orientation of new employees, managing wage and salary istration, managing incentives and benefits, providing and managing the performance appraisal process, organization-wide communications, and providing training & developing services. Supervisors and Other Line Managers: interviewing and selection of job candidates, training new employees, appraising performance, departmental & personal communications, and training & development. Internet and HR: shift some activities to specialized online service portals and/or providers. Continuing Case: Carter Cleaning Company 1. Make a list of 5 specific HR problems you think Carter Cleaning will have to grapple with? Potential answers could include the following: 1) Staffing the company with the right human capital by identifying the skills and competencies that are required to perform the jobs and the type of people that should be hired. Sourcing candidates and establishing an efficient and effective recruiting and selection process will be an important first step. 2) Planning and establishing operational goals and standards and developing rules and procedures to business goals and strategies. Failure to do so will result in a lack of clarity around performance expectations down the line as each store becomes operational. 3) Implementing effective Performance Management through setting performance standards, high quality appraisal of performance, and providing ongoing performance coaching and to develop the abilities of each person and positive employee relations. 4) Deg an effective compensation system that will give the company the ability to attract, retain and motivate a high quality workforce, providing appropriate wages, salaries, incentives and benefits. A poorly designed system will result in difficulty in attracting candidates, turnover and low employee morale. 5) Training and developing employees both at the management and employee level to be able to perform the job to meet the performance expectations. This should include a new hire orientation program as well as a program for ongoing training and development. Lack of attention to this component may result in errors, increase in operational costs, turnover, and morale problems.

2. What would you do first if you were Jennifer?

Answers will vary; however, probably the most important first step is to ensure that the staffing process is well designed and targeting the right mix of skills and abilities needed among candidates. A thorough job should be done in analyzing the requirements of each job, developing a complete job description for each role, and sourcing candidates that meet those requirements. Significant time should be invested in the hiring process to ensure that the candidates hired meet the requirements and possess the skills and abilities to do the job. Chapter 3 Application Case: Siemens Builds a StrateUntitled 1gy – Oriented HR System

1. Based on the information in this case, provide examples, for Siemens, of at least four strategically required organizational outcomes, and four required workforce competencies and behaviors. Strategically required organizational outcomes would be the following: 1) An employee selection and compensation system that attracts and retains the human talent necessary to global diversification into high tech products and services 2) A “learning company” in which employees are able to learn on a continuing basis; 3) A culture of global teamwork which will develop and use all the potential of the firm’s human resources; 4) A climate of mutual respect in a global organization. Workforce competencies and behaviors could include 1) Openness to learning; 2) teamwork skills; 3) cross-cultural experience; 4) openness, respect and appreciation for workforce diversity.

2. Identify at least four of the strategically relevant HR system policies and activites that Siemens has instituted in order to help HR contribute to achieving Siemens’ strategic goals. 1) Training and development activities to continuous learning through a system of combined classroom and hands-on apprenticeship training to technical learning; 2) Continuing education and management development to as developing skills necessary for global teamwork and appreciation for cultural diversity; 3) Enhanced internal selection process which includes pre-requisites of cross-border and cross cultural experiences for career advancement; 4) Organizational development activities aimed at building openness, transparency, fairness, and ing diversity 3. Provide a brief illustrative outline of an HR scorecard for Siemens. Metrics could include things such as: 1. Level of organizational learning: a. Number of hours of technical training per employee (class room and hands-on) b. Number of hours of education management development 2. Level of cross cultural team work a. Number of employees assigned to roles including cross-border and cross-cultural experiences b. Survey results measuring employee climate on dimensions of teamwork, openness, transparency, fairness, diversity 3. Extent to which the employees can describe the company’s core values 4. Effectiveness of selection process for identifying high quality candidates – number of qualified candidates per position, turnover and retention statistics. Continuing Case: the Carter Cleaning Company

1. Would you recommend that the Carters expand their quality program? If so, specifically what form should it take? Most students will agree that there are opportunities to expand the quality program. The employee meeting approach is a good

start in of utilizing high involvement organizational practices. There are opportunities to maximize the overall quality of their human capital. For example, training seems to be an obvious area to focus in of educating and building awareness about basic standards and procedures. 2. Assume the Carters want to institute a high performance work system as a test program in one of their stores. Write a one page outline summarizing what such a program would consist of. Students should include some of the following ideas in their outline: Identify the types of HR practices they would implement to improve quality, productivity, financial performance; methods for job enrichment; strategies for implement and leverage a team-based organization; ways to implement and facilitate high commitment work practices; employee development and skill building to foster increased competency and capability in the workforce; a compensation program which provides incentives (for example profit sharing; pay for performance) for achieving major goals and financial targets. Chapter 4 Continuing Case: Carter Cleaning Company

The Job Description

1. What should be the format and final form of the store manager’s job description? The format noted in figure 4-7 could be a reasonable format to use. Students may recommend that Jennifer include standards of performance section in the job description. This lists the standards the employee is expected to achieve under each of the job description’s main duties and responsibilities, and would address the problem of employees not understanding company policies, procedures, and expectations. In addition, students may recommend that Jennifer instead take a competency-based approach which describes the job in of the measurable, observable, behavioral competencies that an employee doing that job must exhibit. Because competency analysis focuses more on “how” the worker meets the job’s objectives or actually accomplishes the work, it is more worker focused. 2. Was it practical to specify standards and procedures in the body of the job description, or should these be kept separately? They do not need to be kept separately, and in fact both Jennifer and the employees would be better served by incorporating standards and procedures into the body of the description. The exception to this would be if the standards and procedures are so complex or involved that it becomes more pragmatic to maintain a separate procedures manual. 3. How should Jennifer go about collecting the information required for the standards, procedures, and job description? She should first go about conducting the job analysis, collecting information about the work activities, human behaviors, machines, tools, equipment, and work aids, performance standards, job context, and human requirements. The best methods for collecting this information in this case are through interview, questionnaires, observation, diaries/logs maintained by employees, In addition, she should ensure that she is identifying the essential functions of the job, and that the descriptions are ADA compliant.