QUESTION 1

Imagine that you are head of an HR department at a medium-sized plant. You have known you workers have been unhappy on a number of points. You are hand-delivered a list of "demands" by your workforce that states that if conditions do not improve, a number of employees will quit and move on.

At the same time, you have information that a local competitor, due to loss of profit, will be shutting down, laying off a number of employees. You also know that your own workforce, due to the same economic conditions that caused a loss of profit at the other plant, will be reducing the workforce by 15 percent.

Since you will soon have an influx of applications and you will be laying off people anyway, do you tell your employees about the situation -- or do you do nothing at all? What are the consequences of each choice?

QUESTION 2

Your answers should be a minimum of 1 paragraph in length with each paragraph having 4 - 5 substantive sentences. Please be sure to properly cite any sources used.

• Describe the concept of "rightsizing," and discuss organizational strategies for rightsizing a workforce.
• Describe the concept of "progressive discipline" and why it is important to employers.
• What is the difference between voluntary and involuntary turnover? How can HR managers reduce turnover and increase retention?
• Identify and discuss instances of distributive, procedural and interactional justice that you have experienced.