Respond to the question under each scenario

In-Depth Scenario 1

This morning you received a notice from the local office of your state employment security office that a complaint has been filed against HSS. It appears that before you started as the human resources manager for HSS, several people were interviewed for a mid-level software developer position. The position was not advertised publicly, but several people applied for the position. The person hired for the position is a friend of one of the organization's founders. He is a 38-year-old male. Other applicants for the position included the wife of one of the supervisors of software development and a 54-year-old woman who is a friend of one of the female founders.

The woman who is a friend of one of the founders and was not hired is upset, and she filed the complaint because she feels that she is better qualified than the person who was hired. She has a bachelor's degree and 11 years of experience developing software. The man who was hired has an associate's degree and five years of experience developing software.

After receiving the notice, you have made some informal inquiries as to what the reasons were for hiring the successful applicant. The founder who handled HR issues before you were hired confides in you that he did not want to hire anyone in their fifties because he wanted someone who could "grow" with the company. The female founder who is the friend of the person who filed a complaint is outraged that her friend was not hired. You talked to one of the software development supervisors who was involved in hiring for the position, and he told you that he wanted to hire the person who was hired because the person who was hired had experience that was more directly related to the type of software that needed to have developed.

The founders are aware of the complaint and want you to educate them on the situation. They want you to inform them as to what laws or regulations may apply. They also are concerned with whether this complaint could jeopardize HSS's ability to get government contracts in the future. Finally, the two women founders have asked you to come up with suggestions as to how the hiring practices at HSS should be modified.

Draft a report in which you cover these points. How will your suggestions fit into possible future strategic plans for HSS? Be sensitive to conflicts among the founders on the board and provide good sources to support your suggestions. How well you support your report can have a significant effect on the future of HSS.

In-Depth Scenario 2

This morning, Pam Tillotsen, a junior-level software developer, came into your office, obviously upset. She proceeded to tell you that she had arrived at work and found a picture of one of her co-workers, Jim, a male, on her desk. It was a view of his naked back and buttocks that had written on it, "Let me know if you like what you see." As she looked at the picture, she heard hoots of laughter from across the room.

After calming Pam down and reassuring her that you would investigate this, you walked Pam back to her desk and sat with her for a while until she was comfortable enough for you to leave. You called the male in question into your office and curtly asked him what he was up to. He seemed puzzled, so you showed him the picture. He turned bright red and was obviously upset. He claimed to know nothing about the picture. You asked him how he could know nothing about a naked picture of himself.

He looked carefully at the picture and stated that it was taken in the downstairs restroom where he changed and showered every morning after bicycling to work. He had no idea when the picture might have been taken. Jim went on to tell you, in confidence, that a couple of months ago, a male co-worker had seen Jim holding hands with his male partner at a flea market on the other side of town. Since then he had been subject to embarrassing side comments that referred to his sexual preference from several of the other software developers. In one instance, Jim had returned from lunch and found a bra in the top drawer of his desk.

All of the software developers work in a large room with the software supervisors in glass-fronted offices around the edge of the room. When you have walked through the software development room in the past, the atmosphere has ranged from dead quiet to raucous.

You set up a meeting for later that day with the head of software development. After telling him that anything the two of you discuss at this meeting must be held in strictest confidence, you describe what has happened. He seems concerned after you have told him about what happened. He says that Pam is one of his most promising software developers and he does not want to lose her. He then asks if you think he should fire Jim. He then goes on to explain that the software developers have high-pressure jobs. The software developers often work long hours under pressure and it is only natural that they need to blow off a little pressure sometimes. He admits that it may get "a little out of hand" sometimes but that "boys will be boys."

How do you answer the comments of the head of software development?

Develop a plan to address this problem. In the plan:

Identify who might have a basis for action against HSS and why they might have a basis for that action.

Identify the laws and regulations, including state laws and regulations, that would apply to those actions.

Identify, in detail, how HSS can go about solving any problems that this situation may have revealed.

In this plan, be aware of how your proposals might be perceived by the founders.

Outline a possible training program to help alleviate future problems of this nature. Include who needs to take this training and what specific concepts will be covered in the training.

Cover what problems may be encountered in implementing this program into the cultural atmosphere at HSS.