Assignment 1: Case Analysis/Scenario

Analyze the following situation:

Mary has worked for Bob for two years. About 6 months ago, Bob asked Mary out to dinner. They had a good time together and agreed that they had some real interests in common outside of work. The pair dated for two months. Mary initially liked Bob, but he was beginning to get annoying. He called her all the time, was very pushy about her seeing him, and wanted to control all aspects of her life; both at work and at home. Mary decided to call it off. When she told Bob that she did not want to see him personally anymore, he went crazy on her. He told her she would be sorry and that he would see to it that she regretted it.

Bob began to make life miserable for Mary at work. She suddenly started to get poor performance evaluations after two years of exemplary reviews. Even the managers above Bob were beginning to make comments about her poor attitude. Mary decided it was time to act. She was worried she would be fired, all because Bob wanted her to continue to date him. She loved her job and knew she did quality work. She made an appointment with the HR manager.

Using the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1991, review the two basic types of sexual harassment (quid pro quo and hostile work environment) and assess the type of sexual harassment Mary is experiencing.

Evaluate the obligations of the HR manager once Mary reports her concerns. If the HR manager investigates and finds Mary is telling the truth, what should s/he do to handle the situation so that the company is not found complicit by the EEOC if further complaint is made?

Analyze the likelihood that Bob would be found guilty of sexually harassing Mary. If found in Mary's favor, what options does the HR manager have to remedy the situation?

Assignment 2

You are the vice president of Human Resources at Community State University. The president of the university has just informed you that the Maintenance Department is experiencing a high turnover rate in addition to an increase in disciplinary actions.

You have been asked to research the use of better recruitment practices and a formal disciplinary model to address the increased turnover and disciplinary issues in the maintenance department.

Begin your paper by summarizing the applicable HR laws, theories and issues that you have studied so far in the class that might apply to the case.

Then, using the SUO library databases, textbook, and other scholarly resources, research and analyze an effective recruitment process and how it might reduce turnover and disciplinary actions.

Additionally, evaluate the pros and cons for a formal disciplinary process for the organization.

Conclude your essay by defending at least three specific recommendations you would make to the university president.

Assignment 3

Assignment 2: FLSA Analysis

For this assignment, you will be researching the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

For the first section of your paper:

Assess the main features of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Compare the definitions of exempt and nonexempt employees.

Evaluate at least three criteria that differentiate an exempt and nonexempt employee.

In spring 2014, President Obama sent a memo to the US Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary directing reform of FLSA to address white collar exemptions and, effectively, increase the number of employees entitled to overtime pay. Research some of the likely revisions the DOL is considering such as increase in minimum salary requirements and change to the current "primary duty" test.

For the second section of your paper:

Analyze how the potential modifications differ from the 1938 law and how the status of exempt and nonexempt employees might be altered by the proposed changes.

Analyze some of the controversies associated with these modifications. Include the union's objections and justify your view whether these changes benefit employees or the employer and whether you prefer the current FLSA law or the proposed changes.

Assignment 4

The Senior Vice President of Human Resources has just informed you that she would like for you to research various HRM practices of Fortune 500 companies. This research will be presented to the board of trustees next month. They want to review other company's best practices to help them realign their strategic initiatives. In organizational studies, the process of reviewing other organizations' best practices and adapting them to one's own organization is called "benchmarking."

Begin by identifying 2 -3 organizations listed in the Fortune 500. Once you have identified those companies, research best practices used by those organizations, paying particular attention to these HRM functional areas:

Recruitment/On boarding
Training & Development
Employee/Labor Relations
Performance Management
Compensation & Benefits Incentives/Practices

Research hints...

In addition to searching for the specific organization name "and best practices" or "best HRM practices," you might find it helpful to search for the specific organization name "and recruitment." "Specific organization name and training & development," and so forth. For example, if Walmart is one of your organizations, search terms could include:

Walmart and best practices
Walmart and best HRM practices
Walmart and Recruitment
Walmart and Onboarding
Walmart and Training & Development
Walmart and Employee Labor Relations
Walmart and Performance Management
Walmart and Compensation
Walmart and Employee Benefits
Walmart and Employee Incentives
Etc.

You can follow the above search patterns for the other organizations you select.

(Hint: Walmart is a good organization to use for one of your companies).

As a result of your research, you should synthesize at least two best practices for each of the HRM functional areas.

To begin your paper, provide a summary of key details about the organizations you are using to benchmark HRM best practices. Who are the organizations? What do they do? Why are they a good candidate for benchmarking? This section of you paper only needs to be a paragraph or two.

For the next section of your paper, evaluate the pros and cons of the best practices you have benchmarked in each functional area. For example, if external recruitment is a "best practice," what are some pros and cons of external recruitment? As a guide, your evaluation of best practices in each functional area should be 1 to 2 pages.

For the final section of your paper, justify the top best practices recommendation in each HRM functional area that you will make to the board of trustees. Imagine that you are actually going to present the recommendations to the board. What will you recommend? Why? How will you link them altogether to form a cohesive and persuasive presentation? Hint: Based upon your evaluation of those best practices in the earlier sections of the paper, summarize the key arguments and research support for your recommended practices to justify them to the board. This section of your paper should be 2 to 3 pages in length.

Submit your report as an eight to ten page paper written in APA format to the Drop Box.

Paper should include at least 5 references in APA format.