Cases for questions
Case 1.1
Caplin Company is having a strategic planning session with the director of HR. They are
discussing the fit between the company’s overall management philosophy, organizational
structure, organizational culture, and their current HR strategies. During the meeting, the
management team asks the HR Director to profile the current workforce. The HR
Director reports that the workforce used to be 85% white, 50% male. Now it is 50%
white, 50% minority with twice as many women as men, but supervisors still tend to be
white males.
The management team begins to discuss how to control costs, improve quality, and create
distinctive capabilities. Several ideas are raised, discussed, and either tabled or assigned to
an individual for further exploration. Some managers noted that people tend to come in at
start time and take 30 minutes to get down to work and that they begin to pack up for the
day 30 minutes before quitting time. People don’t seem all that concerned about working
hard and producing quality products.
As the team wraps up the day’s meeting, they briefly discuss their commitment to the
surrounding community. As a cost-cutting measure, they had eliminated their support of
an Adult Literacy program, in which volunteers used company facilities to conduct reading
classes. The management team decides that they should reinstate the program and
appoints the Director of HR to notify the local literacy council.
Case 1.2
As the manager of HR, you are leading the management team of an old established
company in a strategic planning session. During the planning session, managers are being
forced to think about the future, see the likely changes in the marketplace, and commit to
plans to use company resources to enhance their competitive edge.
The company decides that as part of its business strategy, it wants to attract and retain the
best possible employees. You suggest that the company pay a hiring bonus, use a pay
Case 1.3
Your company sells high-tech products throughout the world and is focusing on a
differentiation strategy. The business environment for the company is volatile, rapidly
changing, and highly complex. The company is highly entrepreneurial and has a strong
moral commitment to quality products, employee job satisfaction, and contributing to the
surrounding community. Finally, the management team has decided to create a common
company culture among the various national and international subsidiaries to reduce
cultural differences and tensions.
Case 1.4
Crowe, Inc. has been a powerful steel producer for the last 15 years and sees only positive
prospects in the future. The company provides employees with long-lasting careers and
has only recently seen the potential to lose a significant number of workers. The company
is very stable and has an elaborate system for providing employees with promotions and
transfers to higher levels within the company. Crowe has a very secure position within its
industry and has no need to extend its production and services into different industries.
However, some discontent has arisen among lower-level employees. Several employees
were fired for on-the-job ethical violations. Those employees let go, in turn, convinced
nearly 100 other employees to threaten to leave unless the policies regarding ethical
violations are revised. In light of this event, Crowe’s HR department has decided to
implement some strategies to curb former employees from causing others to leave, one of
these being that in the instance that any exiting employee convinces another to leave the
company, the company will take back the small stock option given to him/her.
Prior to this, the company’s atmosphere was very congenial and featured camaraderie
between employees at all levels. Now, there has been a noticeable negative shift in the
attitude of the workers toward Crowe authority. Many employees are now filing more
grievances against the management. Some noticeable hostility has also arisen from
employees toward upper-level management.
