If an organization decides to use biometrics for security reasons, what can it do to protect personal privacy?
> Discuss the kinds of employee information that managers might find to be particularly useful in a talent inventory.
> The chairperson of the board of directors at your firm asks for advice about SWP. What would you say?
> Why should the output from forecasting models be tempered with the judgment of experienced line managers?
> When is it more cost-effective to “buy” rather than to “make” competent employees?
> Why are forecasts of workforce demand more uncertain than forecasts of workforce supply?
> For purposes of succession planning, what information would you want in order to evaluate “potential”?
> Discuss the similarities and differences between job analysis and competency models.
> How are workforce plans related to business and HR strategies?
> Describe the balance-sheet approach to international compensation.
> Why don’t more fathers take paternity leave, even when their employers offer it?
> You are the CEO of a midsize manufacturing company. You want to be sure that all your supervisors understand the concept of retaliation and that your company is not accused of it. What actions might you take?
> It has been said that diversity only endures when it is baked into the way a company does business every day. As a newly appointed CEO of a cosmetics company, how would you ensure that diversity is “baked in”?
> Describe a management policy designed to promote a culture of cooperation.
> Why is cultivating a diverse workforce an ethical imperative?
> Suppose you were asked to identify key components of a successful diversity-training program. What would you say?
> What are some possible sources of intergenerational friction? How might you deal with those?
> What would be the broad elements of a company policy to emphasize the management of diversity?
> How would you respond to someone who has questions or concerns about diversity?
> Why is there no simple relationship between diversity and business performance?
> What key characteristics would you look for in selecting a prospective expatriate?
> In your opinion, what are some key business reasons for emphasizing the effective management of a diverse workforce?
> How might an employer ensure that the term overqualified applicant is not just a code for too old?
> Your boss, the Chief HR Officer, asks for advice on how to avoid charges of age discrimination when conducting a layoff. What would you recommend?
> What are some of the key differences between adverse-impact discrimination and disparate-treatment discrimination?
> To comply with the provisions of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, what types of reasonable accommodations might an employer make for a pregnant employee?
> Why should efforts to reduce turnover focus only on controllable costs?
> What steps would you take as a manager to ensure fair treatment for older employees?
> Prepare a brief outline of an organizational policy on sexual harassment. Be sure to include complaint, investigation, and enforcement procedures.
> As a manager, what steps can you take to deal with the organizational impact of the Family and Medical Leave Act?
> If you were asked to advise a private employer (with no government contracts) of its equal employment opportunity responsibilities, what would you say?
> Describe the conditions necessary for a geocentric recruitment policy to work effectively.
> As a recruiter, your boss says to you, “Don’t worry about not filling that open position. We’re saving money.” Under what circumstances might it be more costly not to fill an open position?
> If you wanted to quantify the financial effects of collaboration and sharing knowledge in a hospital, how might you proceed?
> How would you answer the question, “Is employee turnover good or bad for an organization?”
> What might be some examples of jobs or business models where increasing (or decreasing) turnover makes sound business sense?
> In making the business case for work–life programs, what points would you emphasize?
> Discuss three controllable and three uncontrollable costs associated with absenteeism.
> Why is management interested in the financial effects of employee attitudes?
> Given the positive financial returns from high-performance work practices, why don’t more firms implement them?
> What are the key elements of the LAMP model? What does each contribute?
> What are the HRM implications of employing nonstandard workers in the “gig” economy?
> What effects might international labor standards have on workers, companies, and consumers?
> Recommend three strategies for protecting employees’ personal information.
> You have been charged with choosing an HRIS. What key factors will you consider?
> How might HRIS affect employees, managers, and HR team members?
> What are the advantages and disadvantages of on-premise versus SAAS HRIS?
> What are some examples of HR risks?
> Identify three types of security procedures that can help to minimize the risk of security breaches.
> Technology alone is not sufficient to ensure a successful implementation of an HRIS. What else is necessary?
> Always-on technology, such as e-mail and smartphones, has promises as well as perils. Discuss alternative strategies for avoiding overwork and burnout.
> Working in small groups, identify characteristics that would make an ADR program fair for both employees and employers.
> Should follow-up be required after rehabilitation? If so, how long should it last and what form should it take?
> What are some arguments for and against each of the following policies: dismissal, demotion, return to the same job following rehabilitation, and return to a different job following rehabilitation?
> Should an employee’s agreement to binding arbitration be a condition of employment or a condition of continuing employment?
> What do you see as some key advantages and disadvantages of ADR programs?
> Will widespread labor–management cooperation lead to a loss of union power?
> Is labor–management cooperation just a short-term solution to economic problems, or can it become institutionalized into the very culture of an organization?
> What are some key obstacles in the way of true cooperation by labor and management?
> What role do benefits play, in your opinion, in attracting and retaining workers? Might that role be different for different generations or for employees at different stages of their careers?
> How might your preference for various benefits change as you grow older or as your family situation changes?
> Describe how technology has changed the ways that you live and work.
> Discuss the special problems that women face in overseas assignments.
> Do you think companies should provide a broader menu of benefits (e.g., child care, veterinary care, financial counseling) or improve the menu of core benefits (e.g., health care, insurance, pensions)? Why?
> Can you suggest alternative strategies for reducing the trust gap?
> What are some of the predictable consequences of a trust gap?
> To many people, a deep-seated sense of unfairness lies at the heart of the trust gap. How might perceptions of unfairness develop?
> What types of safeguards might you suggest to ensure fairness, transparency, and accountability in performance-management systems?
> Are there features of current performance-management systems that are worth keeping?
> It’s one thing to get rid of numerical ratings, but managers still have to decide whom to promote, perhaps whom to let go, the relative sizes of pay raises, and bonuses. Will the new systems help them do those things more effectively?
> What disadvantages or opportunity costs can you identify with this approach?
> Are some types of material or course work better suited than others to TDI?
> What are some of the key advantages of TDI?
> How does the effective management of people provide a competitive advantage to organizations?
> How might organizational culture affect the ways that employees deal with coworkers and customers?
> What might be the role of organizational culture in staffing decisions?
> What can a company do to communicate its culture to prospective new hires?
> How might a company measure the costs and benefits of social media in the workplace?
> How can organizations manage the risks associated with social media?
> From your own perspective, what is the main appeal of social media in recruitment?
> As board chairperson, how might you overcome the resistance of a CEO to plan for succession?
> What sort of leadership-development process would you recommend?
> If planning for leadership succession is so important, why don’t more organizations do it?
> Based on EEOC’s guidance, what changes in company policies might be necessary?
> It has often been said that people don’t leave bad companies; they leave bad bosses. What can managers do to enhance employee retention?
> Is there additional information beyond the information presented here that you feel is necessary to make the business case for diversity?
> What is the ethical rationale for building and managing a diverse workforce?
> What can an employer do to avoid liability for retaliation?
> What effects do you think the U.S. Supreme Court decisions have had on the number of retaliation charges filed with the EEOC?
> Why is it that work groups that hold these beliefs are 50 percent more likely to achieve customer loyalty? What might be the link?
> What can a manager do in his or her everyday behavior to encourage these beliefs?
> What kinds of organizational policies might help to support these beliefs?
> How has ubiquitous computing changed the way you live and work?
> What advice would you offer a young person about the effects of technology on his or her career?
> How can managers maximize the positive effects of technology at work?
> The pace of developments in new technologies is becoming faster than the abilities of workers to adjust to them. What recommendations would you make to high-level policymakers in organizations and government to address this issue?
> What might governments do to cushion the blow from job losses?
> In the United States, about 6 million manufacturing jobs disappeared in the first decade of the 21st century. What factors other than free trade and foreign competition might explain that?
> What are some of the benefits of increased flows of digital information and knowledge?
> Do simulations like Motorola’s “travel well”? That is, do you think they will work in different cultures?
> How accurate are such workplace simulations? In what form might results show up?
