CASE 1: But...It's Our Company Culture!

You are the HR manager for a fifty-person firm that specializes in the development and marketing of plastics technologies. When you were hired, you felt the company had little idea what you should be paid and just made up a number, which you were able to negotiate to a slightly higher salary. While you have been on the job for three months, you have noticed a few concerning things in the area of multiculturalism, besides the way your salary was offered. The following are some of those items:

1. You know that some of the sales team, including the sales manager, get together once a month to have drinks at a strip club.

2. A Hispanic worker left the organization, and in his exit interview, he complained of not seeing a path toward promotion.

3. The only room available for breast-feeding mothers is the women's restroom.

4. The organization has a policy of offering $200 to any employee who refers a friend, as long as the friend is hired and stays at least six months.

5. The manufacturing floor has an English-only policy.

6. You have heard managers refer to those wearing turbans in a derogatory way.

For each of the scenarios outlined above, what do you think needs to be done by management to create a more inclusive environment, without losing the culture of the company? Be sure to justify why you believe each of your solutions will be effective.

Also, taking the approach that you are the employee or one of the employees involved in each of the scenarios outlined above, how you try to resolve the issue. Be specific about what you would do and who you would interact with directly to problem solve for each situation.

CASE 2: Management Style, Applied

You recently completely overhauled several aspects of employee benefits, including health insurance and compensation packages. You have also developed clear succession plans and career development plans to assist in the retention of your current employees. You are pretty excited about the changes and feel they are better for the employees, while costing your organization less money. These plans came from your development of a strategic plan and goals set last year. You think these plans will result in lower turnover. However, in four recent exit interviews, the former employees mentioned the lack of communication from your department on the changes you made. They said they did not feel well informed and are disappointed they were not notified. In addition, they complained of micromanagement on the part of two particular managers. They said they spend half of their day responding to their managers with project updates, instead of working on the projects themselves. As you begin to think about these exit interviews, you realize that development of the strategic plan and implementing it simply isn't enough; you must communicate the changes to employees as well. You also have a bit of concern about the management styles mentioned and think it might be a good time to address some issues in order to ensure more effective management to your entire company.

1. Using concepts from this chapter and other related HRM chapters, discuss at least 2 separate interventions to address each of the issues outlined by the former employees during the exit interview. Be sure to identify the specific issues in your Each issue should be accompanied by at least 2 separate suggested interventions as well as the rationale for why you believe your suggested interventions will resolve the issue.

2. Discuss some of the ways you can communicate the following topics to the employees: changes to benefits, training opportunities, compensation plans, and succession plans. Be sure to identify at least 2 distinct ways in which each topic can be communicated to employees.