Explain the ‘balance of power’ in the selection process between employers, candidates and other stakeholders.
> What are the key features of HRM in Mozambique?
> Why do you think HRM in Mozambique has been characterised by many continuities?
> What role(s) do you think is most appreciated by international assignees? Why?
> Given the parallels with the original Ulrich model – what barriers and disadvantages may the envisaged shift have?
> How can GM professionals become better global people effectiveness experts? What might this work entail?
> How can GM departments achieve to become more accepted/work more like strategic advisors?
> What roles may senior managers value most?
> Explain employee reactions to culture change initiatives in this case.
> What lessons can managers learn from this case about managing culture?
> Considering the potential influence of national culture, try to identify the main problems in communication between the administrative and academic teams.
> In terms of recruitment and selection of academic staff, what are the important criteria that need to be considered?
> What should be included as key themes in cultural training programmers for the academic expatriates?
> What is the basis of cooperation between management and labour at; (a) SWA and (b) Ryanair?
> Can you foresee a time/place/circumstances when/where Ryanair might recognize a trade union (either willingly or unwillingly)?
> What is the nature of employer authority and management’s attitude towards trade unionism at; (a) SWA and (b) Ryanair
> How would you characterize the soul and the scope of trade unionism at SWA?
> Are Ryanair pilots genuinely or falsely ‘self-employed’?
> How effective are the managers at evaluating employee performance?
> What challenges do managers at Federation Hospital face when rating employee performance?
> Should Federation Hospital retain the current appraisal system? Why or why not?
> How effective is the appraisal system at Federation Hospital? Think about its impact on employee performance and retention.
> Would a feedforward system be appropriate for Federation Hospital?
> Should the CEO of Federation Hospital include a 360-degree feedback system for all managers? Why or why not?
> How would you rate the fit between the appraisal system, the objectives of the hospital and nature of the work undertaken?
> How would you characterize the alignment between Huawei’s business strategy, core values and reward practices?
> Is Huawei’s reward management framework appropriate for rewarding and incentivizing its R&D professionals? What changes should be recommended, if any?
> Would Huawei’s reward system be appropriate if the company’s business model were any different (e.g. a low cost strategy)?
> Huawei’s competitive strategy emphasizes R&D and the development of innovative capabilities. What are the advantages and disadvantages of its current reward management practices in relation to such a strategy?
> What implications did this have for skill?
> What were the main differences between the way work was organised at TCS and at Scotchem?
> Given the evidence here, what are the implications of a general increase in outsourcing work?
> How important is discretion; (a) In these two case studies, and (b) As part of skill?
> What impact would improving or increasing training have had in these companies?
> What soft skills were required in the two organizations? What sort of balance was there between soft skills and technical skills?
> What effect does an emphasis on soft skills have on workers?
> Think about another job that you are familiar with. What soft skills and what technical skills are required? Do they advantage the employee or the employer?
> How does knowing about workers’ technical skills help us to understand this?
> What effect did this have on; (a) The workers, (b) Their work and (c) Their employers? Whom did the soft skills benefit?
> Evaluate the selection process with respect to the four criteria of psychometric quality described at the start of the chapter. Can falling short on any of these criteria, in your opinion, be justified? Design a selection process for the sales associate
> How are each of the perspectives of selection – psychometric, best fit, interactive decision process and discourse – represented in the hiring process for; (a) Managers in Training and (b) Sales assistants (both ‘models’ and ‘part-time impact’ roles)?
> Why have the legal challenges to the company’s hiring approach not eliminated the problem?
> How is the ‘selection as discourse’ perspective reflected in this case?
> Identify as many examples of ‘selection as an interactive decision process’ in this case as you can. Should these processes be eliminated on the grounds they discriminate against particular groups, or can a case be made for retaining all or some of them?
> Design a multi-stage process for hiring graduate engineers into this US multinational in a country of your choice. Provide an explanation for your decisions.
> What perspectives on recruitment discussed in the chapter can be used to analyze Oxygen’s superior performance in terms of skills gaps and staff turnover?
> What factors could potentially have led to Fontainebleau experiencing higher levels of customer service skills gaps than Oxygen?
> Are there any potential drawbacks with Oxygen’s approach to recruitment?
> Are there any apparent contradictions in terms of the recruitment approaches of Fontainebleau and their subsequent experiences with turnover and skills gaps?
> How would outsourcing change the role of HR in the recruitment process?
> To what extent is Jim’s experience an example of ‘viral’ recruitment? What are the potential advantages and drawbacks of such an approach?
> Which methods would you use to attract applicants to the international call center in the UK?
> What is a service-level agreement?
> Do you think that Marriott’s approach may prove more successful for some positions rather than others and/or in attracting certain kinds of candidates?
> How successful do you think such an approach would be within our organization?
> What factors would you have to take into account in designing such an approach for our organization?
> What is the theoretical basis underlying an approach like the Marriot’s?
> Given the external environment, is it possible for us (or any Chinese hotel employer) to improve the reputation of the sector?
> What role can we reasonably expect universities with hospitality and tourism degree programmers to play in improving the image of the sector?
> Are there any particular factors (such as those related to our organization and/or the national context) that may hinder any of the approaches that you have suggested to improve recruitment?
> Are there any other approaches to recruitment that our organization could potentially use to alleviate the recruitment issues? Explain why these could work.
> What role did HR practices play in supporting these forms of capital?
> What were the key forms of human, social and organizational capital generated in One Team?
> In the future: a. How might the network be developed further? b. What obstacles might be encountered to further development? c. How might these obstacles be overcome?
> Consider the possible actions that AMS might have made to strengthen organizational commitment?
> What are the main challenges faced by AMS when seeking to strengthen employee commitment to the organization?
> What evidence is there that these changes have had a positive influence on organizational performance?
> Why have AMS made the changes, as detailed in the case, to their HR practices?
> In what ways have the different forms of capital contributed to the success of Mother?
> What risks and problems might Mother encounter in the future in the people management area and how might these be overcome?
> Explain the role of people management practices in supporting these forms of capital.
> What recommendations would you give the call center on their selection process? Refer to Table 4.2.
> What is your position on the case scenario? Provide an argument making use of Ryan’s evidence and the economic and social pressures impacting selection (Table 4.2).
> Based on Table 4.1 and the validity coefficients, what is the overall psychometric quality of this procedure?
> What are the advantages and disadvantages of Elect Cooperating with a decentralized management approach to business in general?
> Why does Elect Co prefer to use local managers to run its subsidiary operations?
> Discuss some of the main talent management challenges faced by the company in the emerging markets.
> Discuss some of the main talent management challenges faced by the company in developed markets.
> What was the main talent management challenges facing Elect Co as a result of the switch away from a multi-domestic strategy towards a more globally integrated strategy?
> To what extent do you think employer and employee desires for flexibility can be reconciled by a scheme such as this one?
> As a manager reviewing the introduction and implementation of this policy, what recommendations would you make to move the policy forward?
> Are there certain circumstances that might make this more likely?
> How far was Britishstores’ original employment policy ‘ethical’ in modern terms? What sort of ethical principles did it draw upon? Which elements would be acceptable today, and which would not?
> Which stakeholder groups should take priority when push comes to shove? What duty, if any, does the company owe to its employees and shareholders in a modern free market society?
> Construct an ethical case in favour of the flexible firm solution proposed by the director of marketing, explaining which principles you draw on.
> How justified was the decision to prevent trade union organization and is it still appropriate today? Consider the arguments for and against and the principals involved.
> Do you agree with the analysis that is presented, that due to the requirement of the service engineers to utilize contextual knowledge that they can be classified as knowledge workers?
> If a knowledge worker is defined as anyone whose work involves the use of a reasonable amount of theoretical or contextual knowledge can you think of any occupations that it isn’t appropriate to label knowledge work?
> What would be the benefits and disadvantages of Domestic-Powerco providing formal support, within work time, for the informal, pre-work meetings that many engineers used to organise? Is it better to leave these meetings to be managed by staff informally,
> Is there more that Domestic-Powerco could have done with its payment and reward system to encourage/reward appropriate knowledge sharing behaviours among engineers?
> Is the ratio of managers to engineers adequate, or too high? Reflect on the benefits and disadvantages of either increasing or decreasing this ratio, for both managers and engineers. Is changing this ratio significantly likely to have any impact on the
> What are the antecedents and outcomes of engagement described in this case?
> What role do you think the different parties in the SSC (e.g. HR, senior management, line management, colleagues) play in supporting employee engagement? What activities might they undertake to carry out these roles?
> Why might it be either beneficial or detrimental for the firm to launch an initiative to increase levels of engagement with the local (SSC) operations, potentially challenging the already high organisation engagement with the global retailer brand?
> How do you think the location of this firm in India is affecting how engagement is managed, compared to if this firm were located in a developed Western economy?
> Senior management would like to receive a report from you explaining the following: (a) What questions you would include in your employee engagement survey? (b) Why you think these questions are important? (c) Any challenges you would anticipate in gaini
> What job resources and job demands can be identified in this case that may be contributing to engagement levels?
> What do you think will be the effect on the engagement of remaining employees when their colleagues are laid off involuntarily across the organisation due to downsizing requirements? How might any negative effects be minimised?
> How might a firm such as this increase engagement amongst employees when there is no room to offer additional financial incentives?
> As the firm transforms its focus from multiple product brands to a single global corporate brand, how might it go about ensuring levels of employee engagement are maintained or increased at both work and organisation level?
> Does a strategy of double-breasting (union and non-union) participation serve managerial or worker interests?
