CH 1: Case Study 1:

1. What do you think was causing some of the problems in the bank home office and branches? There is clearly a problem with communication, and the effects are felt in the area of employee commitment. Additional contributing factors include the lack of consistency in the policies and procedures of various locations. There is no cohesiveness to the staffing activities of this organization. 2. Do you think setting up a HR unit in the main office would help? Of course we think it would! Since there are HR-related problems both in the home office and in the branches, it is clear that if a personnel office were set up, it would need to help to coordinate the HR activities in the branches. 3. What specific functions should it carry out? What HR functions would then be carried out by supervisor's and other line managers? What role should the Internet play in the new HR organization? There is room for quite a bit of variation in the answers to this question. Our suggested organization would include: HR Unit: job analyses, planning labor needs and recruiting, providing advising and training in the selection process, orientation of new employees, managing wage and salary administration, managing incentives and benefits, providing and managing the performance appraisal process, organization-wide communications, and providing training & developing services. Supervisors and Other Line Managers: interviewing and selection of job candidates, training new employees ,appraising performance, departmental & personal communications, and training & development. Internet and HR: shift some activities to specialized online service portals and/or providers.

CH 5: Questions

1. Given the hotels stated employee preferences, what recruiting sources would you suggest they use, and why? Though the local paper may bring in applicants, the development of succession plan will ensure that lower level employees are ready to move into higher levels when an opening occurs. Campus recruitment and employee referral may also be a good resource. The hotel should begin using selection testing, particularly in the areas of integrity and conscientiousness testing.

2. What would a Hotel International help wanted ad look like? Figure 5.12 displays effective and non-effective ads. Elements from these should be incorporated into student responses, which will vary. The hotel should consider developing a recognizable logo and color scheme, along with a standard format for ads. The use of that format should be mandatory across the various hotels.

3. How would you suggest they measure the effectiveness of their recruiting efforts? The number of qualified applicants per position, percentage of jobs filled from within, the offer-to-acceptance ratio, acceptance by recruiting source, turnover by recruiting source, and selection test results by recruiting source are used by other hotels, and should be considered for use by Hotel International.

Ch8: Application Case: Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company What do you think of Apexs training process? Could it help to explain why employees do things their way and if so, how? There is a weak accountability system. The person assigned to perform training is likely to have very low motivation (a departing employee). With no formal descriptions the trainer will teach their way of accomplishing tasks. There is no training documentation. One receives training in how to train. There are no outcome measures to determine if the training was successful. What role do job descriptions play in training? Job descriptions set the boundaries of jobs in terms of required knowledge and skills. By understanding the job description, a trainer can define the learning requirements for a new or transitioning employee. Explain in detail what you would do to improve the training process at Apex. Make sure to provide specific suggestions, please. Every position would have a formal (written) description. Training procedures would be documented for each position. Supervisors would be formally accountable for training. Extra Answer: Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company Q1. What do you think of Apexs training process? Could it help to explain why employees do things their way and if so how? Answer: After reading the case study, the Apex Training Process is very haphazard. As from the case we can know the facts. It says the company doesnt have a training manual as well as out of date job descriptions for the employees who are supposed to be trained. Well yes employees are been used to working the way they wish to work and according to their working styles it is due to organizational structure and culture. It consists of activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision, which are directed towards the

achievement of organizational aims.mOrganizational structure affects organizational action in two big ways. First, it provides the foundation on which standard operating procedures andmroutines rest. Second, it determines which individuals get to participate in which decision-making processes, and thus to what extent their views shape the organizations actions and is made up of all of the life experiences each employee brings to the organization. Culture is especially influenced by the organizations founder, executives, and other managerial staff because of their role in decision making and strategic direction. Well describing all this it shows that how the culture affects in the organizational working style. The Apex Door Company has many flaws in delegating work and it also shows lack of interest to work from the employees. This is due to the incomplete and unorganized job description as well as the training lacks standardization and non equipped resources. This has happened due to the haphazard system of working. In the case it lists the facts of working that is the training process. It shows that every employee is trained equally in all departments and is not trained according to the job profile. This is the main defect which shows the lay back attitude of employees and resistance to change. As Jim Delaney delegates work to the employees they do things their way which is because of the system of working. As explained before due to the flaws in working. An organizations culture is made up of all of the life experiences each employee brings to the organization. Culture is especially influenced by the organizations founder, executives, and other managerial staff because of their role in decision making and strategic direction. Well describing all this it shows that is not properly maintained. Q3. Explain in detail what you would do to improve the training process at Apex. Make sure to provide specific suggestions. Answer:We should start our training effort by carefully thinking about the organization's strategic goals and objectives, our unit's goals and objectives, what work is to be performed, and the strengths and weaknesses of our staff by thinking carefully about the knowledge and skills needed to do the job. Knowing what a job requires, and how well we want it done will give us data to make training decisions. We should also look at broad performance issues and opportunities

needed to change or improve the organization and the individual employee's strength and growth opportunities. An individual "needs assessment" focuses on the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities required of each employee. Individual needs should be viewed within the context of strategic goals of the organization in order to ensure professional growth and development of employees within established career paths. Our servicing human resources office can direct us to resources to help us assess the individual training needs of the employees. CH9:

Application case: Answer 1: While controversial the recommendations would in fact encourage the administrators to fill out the form correctly. Using the more detailed form and not tying the performance ratings to salary increases allow the managers to feel more free to rating the sectaries accurately. There would be however need to be some strong training sessions ( for both administrators and secretaries)to help them to understand the new systems. Since all secretaries have traditionally received the same salary increases and have been pleased with that, it would be advisable to consider lowering the maximum increase to an amount that could be given to all secretaries staying within the budget. Then all sectaries with a satisfactory rating or better would reactive that increase. Answer 2: Certainly other method could be used. He had already had a taste of what would result if he went to forced distribution or other ranking method. A BARS system might be best, but it could be costly to develop if the clerical staff has positions that are significantly different. Answer 3:

If the development costs are not too great, the BARS system would give the strongest solution to the current solution to the current solution. The behavioral anchors would make it more difficult to just rate everyone at the top. It would also help to eliminate the different interpretations of what the rating scales mean.