You are the newly hired HR Leader for a top company in Silicon Valley, CA. The company is forecasting an extreme expansion in their organization within the next 3 years.
The organization has recently enjoyed considerable growth over the past year, and as a result of this growth, the demands, expectations, and workloads have increased. In 2019, they are expecting a mass exit of the Baby Boomers generation due to the change in Retirement benefits in January of 2020. Although, a significant population of the workforce is in the Baby Boomer age group of 52-70; the expansion and growth prediction is rising.
To be consistent with the organization's mission, vision, and goals, your CEO has given a directive to you & your HR team to strategically ensure the organization is prepared for the influx of employees and exiting of human capital. This will require the team to research, strategize, hire while ensuring training/development for top talent and new hires.
Assignment:
Building from your Signature Assignments 1, 2 & 3:
1. Write a 5-8 page paper summarizing the processes you will take to accomplish your directive (indicated above). Ensure that you have included:
1. Title page
2. Mission, Vision, and Goals
3. Strategies
4. HR departments and descriptions
5. Include concepts you have learned throughout this course
1. In addition to your written report create a Power Point presentation to highlight your paper/organization (An overview of your paper 6 slides minimum)
2. Be prepared to present your PowerPoint in front of the class during a weeks 7& 8.
Be creative with your project, your company can be real or fictitious; however legal
Interview a person in a Career that'd you'd love to work in & write a 2 page write up on the interview. This can not be an interview of yourself it must be another person you're interviewing.
Signature Assignment # 2: Case Study Essay
Alders and Richardson
Diagnosing a Problem with the HR Department
Writing Style Guidelines and Parameters:
Case responses should not exceed 4 pages (this total does not include cover page and References page). All writing for the Case should adhere to APA formatting regarding spacing (double-spacing), font style (Times New Roman) and font size (12), cover and references page. Responses to case questions must be accurate, detailed, and substantive. Students must support their responses to case questions using in-text citations when the idea or quote to which they are referring is based in the course text or another source.
Students, in addition to the course text, may include other sources to strengthen their case question responses. Students should be careful to use credible and scholarly resources. Failure to approximate responses using the above guidelines will result in a lower point total for this component of the course. Spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation, writing mechanics, and over clarity and accuracy are also evaluated.
Signature Assignment # 2: Case Study Essay:
Case Context
Alders and Richardson is a medium sized company that manufactures and sells high tech athletic clothing to University Division 4 athletic programs in US and Canada. The company has a flawless reputation for providing high quality clothing that is durable and "performs" for competitive athletes. Alders and Richardson has seen its revenues grow at a steady 7% clip for the last 8 years. However, despite the revenue growth, Alders and Richardson has seen its costs skyrocket. After an internal audit on the performance on each of its departments as "cost centers," the executive team discovered that much of the cost overrun could be traced directly to the human resources department.
As a management consultant specializing in human resource processes, you have been retained by Alders and Richardson to address this issue in depth. You were told by the company president that the executive management team (the "C-suite team") has attempted to address the issues with the VP of HR. She has refused to take any blame for the underperformance of HR citing external labor market trends and intense competition within the industry.
The first phase of your data gathering process has found the following evidence. First, there has been a steady flow of new hires who do not have the necessary qualifications and competencies required for the wide range of work at Alders and Richardson. Second, established employees are not staying current with cutting edge research, knowledge, skills, and a strong understanding of the manufacturing processes. Third,
talented and high potential employees are leaving Alders and Richardson for other competitors after no more than 1 year.
As you have taken a closer look at HR, you have observed that the department is following the classic HRM process model. This is, of course, good news for as a consultant who specializes in HR, you put a high degree of importance on clear and structured HR process for organizations such as Alders and Richardson. Nonetheless, there is something unsettling that begins to emerge as you drill down deeper into the way Alders and Richardson's HR department uses the HR process model.
You have identified a number of gaps or weaknesses in the way the HRM process model is being used by Alders and Richardson's HR department. You have determined that these gaps or weaknesses are directly linked to the 3 data points mentioned earlier. The weaknesses include:
1. HR's inability to identify, select, and accurately place competent employees into positions where strengths are properly aligned with tasks.
2. HR's failure to provide training and development that address the acquisition of cutting-edge skills and specialized knowledge necessary to perform tasks with excellent and efficiency.
3. HR's failure to retain high-performing employees.
Your report to the senior executive team of Alders and Richardson includes an explanation and recommendation for actions to address the issues in the HR department.
Questions:
1. Identify the factors that could be creating the deficiencies described in 1, 2, and 3 above.
2. What specific recommendations would you make to the senior leadership team at Alders and Richardson to correct the deficiencies in each phase of the HRM process that is creating problems for the HR department at Alders and Richardson.
3. What will be the measures or metrics used that would indicate that your recommendations in #2 above are having a positive impact on the Alders and Richardson HR process? What measures or metrics would indicate that your solutions are not having the intended impact?
4. What do these HR failures and the VP of HR's resistance to address these issues suggest about the collaboration and communication on the executive management team?
5. What recommendations would you have for the president of Alders and Richardson regarding the VP of HR and HR's ongoing under performance?
6. What might be the sources of resistance to your recommendations and intervention?
Signature Assignment # 3: Case Study Essay
The Brighten, Inc., Corporate Leadership Development Institute
The Ethics of Inclusion/Exclusion and Who Pays
Writing Style Guidelines and Parameters:
Case responses should not exceed 4 pages (this total does not include cover page and References page). All writing for the Case should adhere to APA formatting regarding spacing (double-spacing), font style (Times New Roman) and font size (12), cover and references page. Responses to case questions must be accurate, detailed, and substantive. Students must support their responses to case questions using in-text citations when the idea or quote to which they are referring is based in the course text or another source.
Students, in addition to the course text, may include other sources to strengthen their case question responses. Students should be careful to use credible and scholarly resources. Failure to approximate responses using the above guidelines will result in a lower point total for this component of the course. Spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation, writing mechanics, and over clarity and accuracy are also evaluated.
Signature Assignment # 3: Case Study Essay:
Case Context
You are the director of the internal corporate leadership development institute at Brighten, Inc. This Institute provides management and leadership development and training for high potential women and men across the company. With a company that employs some 30,000 employees and with 10 locations across the US, Canada, and Europe, there is a continual need for a pipeline of promising talent.
One of the more popular "training tracks" requires a rigorous two-year commitment where the first year is spent learning senior management skills around people development and cultivating engagement. The second year focuses on leadership strategies, influence, and effective leadership practices that advance the corporate vision and mission.
As a 10-year member of the organization and now, as the director of this powerful and prestigious program, you are, at any one time, familiar with a number of employees who are enrolled in the institute.
Occasionally, these employees ask if they can be fast-tracked through (bypass) some of the training in order to graduate quicker so they can take advantage of unique opportunities and continue their upward climb through the company ranks. Typically, the individuals that approach you are people with whom you are familiar and whom you respect. Each time you are approached by these individuals who ask to be fast tracked, you think of the following issues that are at stake in their request:
4. If they are fast tracked, what will they miss in their management and leadership training that could be a liability to colleagues and direct reports?
5. If you agree to fast track some of those who have approached you, how would their lack of complete training impact the larger company?
6. If they are fast tracked, how will this be viewed by other employees in the program who must (and eventually will) complete the entire training process?
7. How will your credibility and ethics be called into question as the director of the program if, among those who you allow to fast track, some emerge as leaders who themselves cut corners and perhaps damage some aspect of the company?
Signature Assignment # 4: Case Study Essay
Hi-Pro Performance Fly Rods
A Global Issue of Control
Writing Style Guidelines and Parameters:
Case responses should not exceed 4 pages (this total does not include cover page and References page). All writing for the Case should adhere to APA formatting regarding spacing (double-spacing), font style (Times New Roman) and font size (12), cover and references page. Responses to case questions must be accurate, detailed, and substantive. Students must support their responses to case questions using in-text citations when the idea or quote to which they are referring is based in the course text or another source.
Students, in addition to the course text, may include other sources to strengthen their case question responses. Students should be careful to use credible and scholarly resources. Failure to approximate responses using the above guidelines will result in a lower point total for this component of the course. Spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation, writing mechanics, and over clarity and accuracy are also evaluated.
Signature Assignment # 3: Case Study Essay:
Case Context:
As a monitoring and control consultant and specialist, you have been asked to help analyze a company's performance in three different areas. The company, Hi-Pro Performance Fly Rods produces high-end fishing rods for discriminating customers. These fishing rods are manufactured and sold in three primary markets: The United States, Argentina, and New Zealand.
In the US market, at month 18 the manufacturing process is producing at 126% of the acceptable upper limit of performance. In Argentina, at month 18 the manufacturing process is producing at 33% of the acceptable lower limit of performance. In New Zealand, at month 18 the manufacturing process is producing at 110% of the acceptable lower limit.
As the monitoring and control consultant and specialist to this company, you are to analyze what needs to be changed in each of the three manufacturing process scenarios. You must make specific recommendations to the executive team that will respond to each of the three trends or variance levels at each manufacturing center location.
18 Months Actual Manufacturing Operations
Acceptable
Upper Limit
Standard
Performance
Acceptable
Lower Limit
Month 1 Avg. Month 12 Avg. Month 18 Avg.
US Operations:
Argentina Operations:
New Zealand Operations: