Case 1 Jack Nelson’s Problem As a new member of the board of director for local bank, Jack Nelson was being introduced to all employees in the home office. When he introduced to Ruth Johnson , he was curious about her work and asked her what her machine did. Johnson replied that she really didn’t know what machine was called or what it did. She explained that she had been working there for only 2 months. She did, however, know precisely how to operate the machine ….. Cont. According to her supervisor, she was excellent employee. At one branch offices, supervisor in charge spoke to Nelson confidentially, telling him that something was wrong, but she didn’t know what. For one thing, she explained, employee turnover was high and no sooner had one employee been put on the job than another one resigned. With customers to see and loans to be made ….. Cont. She explained, she had little time to work with the new employees. All branch supervisors hired their own employees without communication with the home office or other branches. When an opening developed, the supervisor tried to find a suitable employee to replace the worker. After touring the 22 branches and finding similar .. Cont. Problems in many of them, Nelson wondered what the home office should do or what action he should take. The banking firm was generally as a well run institution that had grown from 27 to 191 employees during the past 8 years. The more he thought about the matter, the more puzzled Nelson become. He couldn’t put his finger on the problem, and he didn’t know whether to report his findings to the president. Questions 1- What do you think is causing some of the problems in the bank home office and branches ? 2- Do you think setting up an HR unit in the main office would help? 3- what specific functions should an HR unit carry out ? What HR functions should be carried out by supervisors and other line managers ? Case 2 Carter Cleaning Company Jennifer carter graduated from State university in June 2009, and , after considering several job offers, decided to do what she always planned for to go into business with her father, Jack Carter. Jack Carter opened his first Laundromat in 1999 and his second in 2002. the main attraction of these coin laundry business for him was that they were capital rather than labor incentives… Cont. Thus once the investment machinery was made, the stores could be run with just one un skilled attendant and non of labor problems one normally expect from being in the retail service business. The attractiveness of operating with virtually no skilled labor notwithstanding, jack had decided by 2003 to expand the service in each of his stores to include the dry cleaning and pressing of clothes… Cont. He embarked in other words on a strategy of retail diversification by adding new service that were related and consistent with his existing coin laundry activities. He wanted to better utilize the unused space in the rather large stores he currently had under lease. Furthermore he was as he put it tired of sending out the dry cleaning and pressing work … Cont. That came in from our coin laundry clients to a dry cleaner 5 miles away, who then took most of what should have been our profits. To reflect the new expanded line of services he renamed each of his two stores carter cleaning centers and was sufficiently satisfied with their performance to open four more of the same type of stores over the next fife years … Cont. Each store has its own on site manager and on average about seven employees and annual revenues of about 500,000 $ . It was the six store chain that Jennifer joint after graduating. Her understanding with her father was that she would serve as a troubleshooter/consultant to the elder carter with the aim of both learning the business and bringing to it modern management concepts and techniques for solving the business problem and facilitate its growth. Questions 1- Jennifer asks that you make a list of five specific HR problems you think carter cleaning will have to grapple with. 2- what would you do first if you were me, Jennifer Carter? Case 3 Finding people who are passionate about what they do
to giant global firms for improving sales and performance. It prides itself on its unique and unorthodox( not confirming to rules) culture. There is no dress code and employees make their own hours often very long. They tend to socialize together , the average age is 26, both in the offices well stocked kitchen and on company .. Cont. Sponsored events and trips on places like local dance club and retreats in Hawai. An in house jargon( their way of talking together) has developed and the shared history of the firm has taken on status of legend. Responsibility is heavy and comes early, with just do it now attitude that dispense( canceled) with long apprenticeships ( long learning). New recruits are given a few weeks of intensive training known as Trilogy university and descried by participant …. Cont. As more like boot ( healthy) camp than business school. Information is delivered as if with a fire hose and new employees are expected to commit their expertise and vitality to everything they do. Jeff Daniel, director of college recruiting admits the intense and unconventional (un traditional) firm is not for everybody. But its definitely an environment where people who are passionate about what they do can thrive. Cont. The firm employs about 700 such passionate people. Trilogy’s managers know the rapid growth they seek depend on having a staff of the best people they can find, quickly trained and given broad responsibility and freedom as soon as possible. CEO Joe Liemandnt says “ at a software company people are everything”. You can’t build the next software company, which is what we are trying to do here, unless you are… Cont. Totally committed to that. Of course the leaders at every company says “people are every thing “ but they don’t act on it.Trilogy makes finding the right people a company wide mission. Recruiters actively pursue the freshest people in the job market, sourcing college career fairs and computer science department for talented overachievers with ambition and entrepreneurial instinct…. Cont. Top managers conduct the first round of interviews, letting prospects know they will be pushed to achieve but will be well rewarded. Employees take top recruits and their significant others out on the town when they come to Austin for the 3 day preliminary visit. A typical day might begin with grueling( exhausting) interviews but end with mountain biking or laser tag… Cont. One year, trilogy reviewed 15000 resumes, conducted 4000 on campus interviews, flew 850 prospects in for interviews, and hired 262 college graduates, who account for over a third of its current employees. The cost per hire was $13000 Jaff Daniel believes it worth every penny. Questions 1- Identify some of the established recruiting techniques that underline Trilogy’s unconventional approach to attracting talent. 2- what particular elements of trilogy’s culture most likely appeal to the kind of employees it seeks? How does it convey those elements to job prospect? 3- would Trilogy be an appealing employer for you? Why and why not ? 4- what suggestions would you make to Trilogy for improving its recruiting processes? Case 4 Carter cleaning company If you were to ask Jennifer and her father what the main problem was in running their firm, their answer would be quick and short; hiring good people. Originally begun as a string of coin- operated Laundromats requiring virtually no skilled help, the chain grew to six stores, each heavily dependent on skilled manager, cleaner/ spotters, and pressers. Employees generally have no more than a high school education… Cont. (often less), and the market for them is very competitive. over a typical weekend, literally dozens of want ads for experienced pressers or cleaners/spotters can be found in area news papers. All these people usually are paid around $ 15 per hour, and they change jobs frequently. Jennifer and her father thus face the continuing task of recruiting and hiring qualified workers out of a pool of individuals they feel are almost… Cont. Nomadic in their propensity to move from area to area and job to job. Turnover in their stores ( as in the stores of many of their competitors) often approaches 400%. ‘’ don’t tell me about human resource planning and trend analysis’’ Says Jennifer. We are fighting an economic war and happy just to be able to around up enough live applicant to be able to keep my trenched fully manned(human crue). Cont. In light of this problem . Jennifer father asked her to answer the following questions and she would like to know what you would do: 1- first, how would you recommend we go about reducing the turnover in our stores? 2- provide a detailed list of recommendations concerning how we should go about increasing our pool of applicant so we no longer face the need to hire Almost any one who walks in the door.