TELS 3340 Case Studies

Narmin Azizli

Case study 2-A

1 . What is Marilyn’s responsibility to her present employer regarding her knowledge that several employees are planning to seek positions with the new company? Marilyn is an experienced supervisor, and she is responsible to report if there are any problems with employees. In my opinion, she should inform middle or top management that there is possibility that some employees might leave. By doing this she is not telling on her employees. She is making sure that management will be prepared if someone leaves.

In addition, if Marilyn informs top management about he issue, they might consider higher pay rates and better benefits in order to keep their current employees.

2. How should Marilyn reply to the recruiter who is asking her to come in for an interview? Does this constitute an ethnical decision for her? This does constitute and ethical decision for Marilyn. First, she needs to decide if she wants to stay with her current employer, or work for a new company.

I believe that it is not unethical to take a Job interview, or find out more about benefits this new company might offer her.

In my opinion, she needs to inform her current employer hat she is considering other options before taking an interview.

3. Is it ethical for one company to receive funds to move into an area when other companies struggle to keep Jobs from going offshore or from being lost to automation? First, the company that is moving into an area specializes in computer parts.

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Other companies which struggled with Job losses were in the textile field. There is a possibility that computer parts manufacturing plant has better chances of succeeding in that town than textile company. So why not? I don’t think this is unethical.

Especially, if new Jobs will be created in a small town that was hit hard ith Job losses. Community will benefit if there are new Job opportunities.

Case study 3-A

1 . Outline the specific steps Cliff should have taken with Sonja prior to their meeting with Cindy to ensure the meeting went smoothly with no surprises. First, if the company had problems with Cindys performance at work they needed to follow certain procedures. Supervisor needs to identify the problem, once it is clear, so is the procedure to handle it Procedure is a standardized way ot responding to repetitive problems.

Cliff is the corporate property manager; Sonja is corporate assistant property manager. Cliff should have been the one talking to Cindy, not Sonja. In my opinion, Sonja was not even supposed to be in the room. In this case, Cliff was supposed to tell Sonja if she wants to sit in, she can, but he will be the one talking to Cindy. He has the firing power, not Sonja. In addition, it was Just simple meeting to discuss sales expectations for Cindy. Cliff showed that he is a weak supervisor by letting his assistant to fire an employee during sales expectations meeting.

2. As supervisor, what should Cliff have done when it became apparent Sonja was overstepping her authority during the meeting with Cindy? Cliff was supposed to stop Sonja and let her know that she doesn’t have that power. Moreover, he also could ask her to leave the room. He did not follow company protocol during the dismissal, which is very bad for company image.

3. What steps do you believe Heather should take with Sonja? With Cindy? I believe that Heather, as a seasoned veteran of HR needs to talk to Sonja and let her know that she needs to apologize to Cindy, and never overstep her authority again.

In addition, I also think that it would be appropriate for Cliff and Cindy to have another meeting, where Cliff should apologize for what happened to make sure that this ncident does not affect the company and all members of the executive committee.

Case Study 4-A

1. Explain how work specialization is important to Jack as a building and grounds supervisor. Work specialization means that rather than an entire Job being done by one individual, it is broken down into a number of steps that are each completed by a separate individual.

Jacks main Job is to ensure that the inside of the buildings and the grounds are clean and in good repair and are pleasant places for students, faculty, staff, and visitors. This sounds like a simple description of his Job, but it includes a lot more responsibilities. He has to make sure that everything is working fine, take care of plants, snow removal, heat and air conditioning, and maintain constant level of humidity in the greenhouse for biology department. He manages seven other full time workers. Each of them has their own responsibilities. He also hires part time workers depending on the need.

Jack can’t possibly do it all alone. He needs at least one person for each Job. In addition, he monitors their work, makes sure that everything is getting done. Work specialization is very important for Jack’s job. It is very beneficial, but it also has its cons. Boredom, fatigue, stress, low productivity, poor quality, high turnover are all negative things that can come with work specialization. Jack needs to motivate his employees, make sure that they are nappy and nave no problems. A good way to do this is to make them teel I ike DOSS of their Job, he needs to show that he trusts them and they can make good decisions.

Moreover, it will be beneficial to involve them in decision process too. For example, one of the employees has specialization in heating and plumbing. He is more experienced in this field. So listening to ideas he has to offer will be beneficial to Jack nd will show to that employee that his thoughts and ideas count.

2. What type of organizational structure does this community college have? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this structure? This community college has functional organizational structure. Functional structure is defined as an organization in which similar and related occupational specialties are grouped together.

The strength of this structure is work specialization. Putting like specialties together results in economies of scale, minimizes duplication of personnel and equipment, and employees are satisfied because they are working ith people Just like themselves. The weakness of this structure is that organization focuses on functional goals and loses sight of its best interests. In other words, this can lead to complicated communication and long decision making processes. No one is responsible for end results, so members within individual functions have little understanding of what people in other functions are doing.

In addition, employees can neglect the larger view of the company and its goals and objectives. When an employee has understanding of future goals, and visions of the company he/she can contribute more. When you are doing one Job and not seeing how it benefits the organization in long term can lead to burnout and low productivity. It is important to feel and see that what you are doing matters and benefits the company.

3. Discuss the factors that determine the size of Jacks span of control. Span of control stands for the number of employees a supervisor can efficiently and effectively direct. However, there is no universal answer.

The factors that determine the size of Jacks span of control are his experience and competency, level of training and experience of his employees, how complex are employee activities, how many ifferent types of Jobs are under the supervisors direction, how extensive the departments formal rules and regulations are. Since each of Jacks full time workers specializes in different areas, it shows that the Jobs are more varied which leads to the narrower span of control. Each worker is responsible for different types of things that needs to be done around campus, which makes their activities more complex.

More complex activities lead to narrower span of control. Since each worker does different things Jack needs to review each task that is completed separately, it takes more time. I think seven full time workers and part timers depending on season is enough for Jack.

Case study 5-A

1 . Why is it important for Jameel to know about the laws and regulations that affect human resource practice? Since one of Jameels responsibilities is to coordinate the part-time temporary work needs of several local companies, it is very important for him to know about laws and regulations that affect human resource practice.

He needs to know about equal employment opportunities laws, and selection process which must be handled without regard to race, sex, religion, age, color, national origin, or disability.

2. Why is it important for Jameel to know how to determine staffing needs? Demand for human resources is a result of demand for what the department produces. If company needs to complete certain amount of work, and there are not enough current employees to complete the work, the company will need more employees.

By assessing current human resource and future human resource needs and developing a program to meet future human resource needs which is employment planning, Jameel can know exactly how many potential employees he needs to recruit.

3. What are some recruiting methods that Jameel might use to ensure that he has the ight employees to match the needs of employers? Some recruiting methods Jameel might use are employee referrals, advertisements, school placements, temporary help services, and employee leasing and independent contractors. In addition, he could also use online recruiting websites which are very popular. . Research the employment selection process of three businesses in your community. Ask questions like these: What type of and how much testing do they require? Is an application, resume, or work sample required? Who conducts the interviews and how long are they? Who makes the final decision to hire a new mployee? How long is the process? Three businesses that I researched are Kroger, Starbucks, and Mason Nails. In order to apply for a Job at Kroger you need fill out an online application. First part of their application is designed to collect personal information, and second part is assessment.

The assessment is 17 pages long with 5 questions on each page. The assessment helps them to determine if you are a good fit for the company. Moreover, they also do background check and drug testing. Once your application is selected local manager of Kroger in the area where you live will conduct the interview. The nterviews usually lasts 15/20 minutes. Local manager makes the final decision to hire an employee. The process can take 60 to 90 days (including application processing time). In order to apply for a Job at Starbucks an application process is required. They don’t require any testing.

Usually branch manager conducts the interview and it is approximately 20/30 minutes. Branch manager makes final decision to hire a new employee. The process is 20/30 days long. In Mason Nails usually potential employee does not need to till an application. It someone is interested they need to come in and talk to the manager. If manager needs additional employees he/she will set up and interview with interested person. They would do skills test on potential employee (to see if they can do manicure/pedicure). In addition, license from cosmetology school is required. Manager/owner makes the final decision to hire.

The process is short, it can be a week or two.

Case Study 6-A

1 . Refer to the steps of the control process. Where in the process do the steps taken by the Florida resort hotel fall? The steps taken by the Florida resort hotel fall into the first step of control process which is measuring actual performance. Managers started evaluating room leanliness based on the instructional video information. Because of economic turmoil hospitality industry has been hit hard. Since clean rooms are critical component in customer satisfaction, managers of Florida resort hotel decided to use $10 test.

This test worked and guest rooms cleaned to an impeccable standard.

2. As a supervisor, do you think the $10 test is a fair and appropriate method to measure the performance of the housekeeping staff? Why or why not? I think the $10 test is appropriate and fair method to measure performance. Housekeepers usually do their Job, but they don’t clean every single little spot. They are not motivated to do so. If you fire them and hire new staff, the new staff will do the Job, but it won’t be perfect. Perfect clean rooms are essential for customer satisfaction.

Therefore, for housekeepers to have motivation to clean to perfection $10 test works. I look at it like tips, for good service you get tips. Same can be applied to this situation.

3. Describe which type of control is illustrated in this case. How do you know? Corrective control is a type of control that provides feedback after an activity is finished to prevent future deviations. Corrective control is illustrated in this case, ecause after the room has been cleaned, the manager would walk in lay 10 one dollar bills on the bed and take a dollar for each mistake.

The manager gives feedback after the cleaning has been done.

Case study 7-A

1. In her new Job, how might Toby make use of the knowledge she has about decision-making styles? Toby can use her knowledge about decision-making styles by examining how her boss, and other supervisors make their decisions. Once she knows their styles, she could find the best style to introduce her new ideas and take actions that she thinks will work better in the call center.

2. How would Toby benetlt by examining the styles ot ner boss and those ot the other supervisors?

By examining the styles of her boss and other supervisors Toby can understand how two different people, with access to the same information, can differ in the ways they approach decisions and in the final choices they make. In addition, once she fgures out their decision-making styles she will know exactly how to approach them with new ideas and offers.

3. In a popular television show The Apprentice, we see a particular style of decision making. Identify other public personalities by their decision-making styles. George W. Bush the 43rd president of US has directive decision-making style.

Most of his decisions are quick and made with minimal information. On the other hand, Barack Obama’s decision making style is analytical. He tends to be more careful with his decisions, considers more alternatives, and reviews a lot of information before making a decision. Moreover, Jimmy Kimmel famous talk show host has behavioral decision making style. He works well with others, tries to avoid conflict, and seeks acceptance. In conclusion, Marc Jacobs who is a famous designer has conceptual decision making style. He tends to consider many alternatives, his focus is long range, and he is creative.

Case Study 8-A

1 . Describe the behaviors (stealing) by these employees in terms of their needs, the organization’s effect on them, equating their inputs and outcomes, and what employees expect from their employer. Need is a physiological or psychological deficiency that makes certain outcomes seem attractive. When your needs are unsatisfied it leads to tension, which sets off a drive to satisfy that need. These plant workers are unhappy with decisions that their company is making, they can’t do anything about it. If they quit, they will have no income at all. Stealing seems like a revenge for them. In order to satisfy their needs they steal.

Moreover, the organization was too busy with its own problems that they forgot about their workers. According to Herzbergs research if we want to motivate people in their Jobs, we need to emphasize on achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, and growth. The organizations decisions had negative effect on the employees. Organization made them feel like they don’t have a voice. Equity theory states that employees perceive what they can get from a Job situation outcomes) in relations to what they put into it (inputs), and then compare their input-outcome ratio with the input-outcome ratio of others.

These plant workers were getting paid certain amount of money for their Job, suddenly their salary decreased. Naturally, they are very angry about the situation. They know that they are getting paid less for the amount of work they are doing. Finally, according to expectancy theory, an employee will be motivated to exert a high level ot e ttort when ne or sne believes that effort will lead to a good performance appraisal; that a good appraisal ill lead to organizational rewards such as a bonus, a salary increase, or a promotion; and that the rewards will satisfy the employee’s personal goals.

In this situation, plant workers are definitely not expecting anything from their company. All they got is salary decrease, and there will not be any bonuses or salary increase. They have no motivation to put full effort in their Job.

2. What do you believe supervisors could have done differently to avert this “potential” problem? I believe that, the idea that pay cut would cause less harm than eliminating several obs altogether was a bad idea. Reducing pay levels in order to prevent layoffs is not a solution.

It will bring more harm to the company, Just like it did in this case. Imagine you are making certain amount of money at your Job, and one day your supervisor announces that you will be making less. It is definitely not fair for you. A company provokes anger of all of its employees by decreasing their salary, whereas layoffs are hard and sad but they don’t affect work productivity of remaining employees. Layoffs could have been hard but better decision to make.