Why does Elect Co prefer to use local managers to run its subsidiary operations?
> 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.
> Explain the ‘balance of power’ in the selection process between employers, candidates and other stakeholders.
> 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?
> 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?
> In the BritCo case, to what extent would you say that NER forms of employee representation are deep or shallow?
> What implications are there from the BritCo case for the meaning of employee participation?
> Given what has been described at BritCo, should trade unions be worried about the introduction of employee information and consultation regulations?
> Imagine you have been asked for your professional advice and opinion from the BritCo Ireland Board of Directors. They would like you to make a short presentation about the feasibility of a strategy of double-breasting voice in which one or two plants are
> Do you think that senior managers are using the participation channels as a form of management control or are they trying to provide employee autonomy and discretion for the benefit of employees?
> Why do you think the employees have been reluctant to speak up and to make suggestions to improve DairyProductsInc?
> What should the senior managers do to ensure that the new roster committee is successful and a win-win for both management and employees?
> How could the lean manufacturing process be implemented better so that employees and line managers are more satisfied working in autonomous teams?
> How would you describe employee participation at Peninsula Lodge in terms of the framework explained in the chapter (e.g. depth, level, scope, form)?
> Why do you think some employees feel negative about the move to more formal types of employee participation initiatives at Peninsula Lodge?
> From reading the Peninsula Lodge case, why is it difficult to establish a relationship between employee participation and organisational performance?
> Do you think the size of the Peninsula Lodge is an important factor in the nature of employee participation?
> What are the practical implications arising from the forms of dialogue evident in this case?
> What, if anything, should have been done differently? Why?
> Under what circumstances, if any, might it be appropriate to use communicative practices and forms of language to constrain employees’ influence on change processes?
> What should Annie do?
> What, if any, insights does Lewin’s change model provide for this case?
> Based on analysis of data from last year, you have found that 40% of the people who came to your store had not been there before. While some just came to browse, 30% of people who came to your store actually bought something. However, of the people who h
> Your marketing department has surveyed potential customers and found that, (1) 27% read the trade publication Industrial Chemistry, (2) 18% have bought your products, and(3) of those who read Industrial Chemistry, 63% have never bought your products. a.
> Your company sends out bids on a variety of projects. Some (actually 30% of all bids) involve a lot of work in preparing bids for projects you are likely to win, while the others are quick calculations sent in even though you feel it is unlikely that you
> With your typical convenience store customer, there is a 0.23 probability of buying gasoline. The probability of buying groceries is 0.76 and the conditional probability of buying groceries given that they buy gasoline is 0.85. a. Find the probability th
> Your firm is interested in learning more about customers’ purchasing patterns on its Web site and how they relate to the frequency of online site visits. The probability that a customer’s visit will result in a purchase is 0.35. The probability that a cu
> Test to see if the average annual salary for training level A differs significantly from that for levels Band C combined.
> Test to see if the population mean age for men differs from that for women.
> Test to see if the population mean annual salary for men differs from that for women.
> Test to see if the gender ratio differs significantly from 50%.
> You would like to claim that the population has significantly more than five years of experience, on average. Can you support this claim?
> Is Jones correct? That is, using the more complete data set, is it true that Jones has the lowest defect rate overall? Are Jones’s percentages correct overall (i.e., combining domestic and overseas production)?
> Is the average annual salary significantly different from $40,000?
> Viewing the database in Appendix A as a random sample from a much larger population, consider the age values. a. Find the 95% confidence interval. b. Find the 90% confidence interval.
> Repeat exercise 1, parts b and c, using a90% confidence interval. Is the population mean annual salary in the interval? Data from exercise 1: View this database as a population. Consider the following sample of five employee numbers from this database:
> Now look at the entire population of salaries, which you can not usually do in real life. a. Find the population mean and standard deviation, and compare them to the sample estimates from the previous problem. b. Draw a graph for this situation in the st
> Viewing the database in Appendix A as a random sample from the idealized population of potential employees you might hire next: a. Find the 95% prediction interval for the experience of your next hire. Why is this interval so much wider than the confiden
> Viewing the database in Appendix A as a random sample from a much larger population of employees: a. Find the 95% one-sided confidence interval for the population mean annual salary specifying that salaries are at least some amount. b. Find the 99% one-s
> View this database as a population. Consider the following sample of five employee numbers from this database: 24, 54, 17, 34, and 53. a. Find the average, standard deviation, and standard error for annual salary based on this sample. b. Find the 95% con
> What assumptions are required concerning the distribution of each population?
> Which assumption helps the data be representative of the population?
> Name and interpret the two sources of variation in the one-way analysis of variance.
