Question Guidance to Vignettes and Discussion Questions
Best Practices
Helping Panda Express Workers Communicate
1. What
business reasons might support Panda Express’s practice of hiring many workers
whose first language is not English?
Answer: The
main business reason would be the increased diversity of American consumers.
Even if the main language used by customers is English, customers will want to
see themselves reflected in the workforce.
2. What
advantages do you think Panda Express gains from offering English-language
instruction as an employee benefit?
Answer: While
the language instruction has business metrics that it will need to achieve,
this effort is more focused on the development of skill sets that will help
employees now and in the future. Employees see this as an investment in the
skills that will make them marketable in other careers and industries.
HRM Social
Glassdoor Reviews Foster Better Communication
- In what ways is knowledge
a source of power for workers in this example? In what ways does the
knowledge shared on Glassdoor empower Purina?
Answer: Students should identify how informed workers have better
bargaining power; knowing a company’s reputation, for instance, may lead
someone not to work for Purina. The knowledge sharing, however, gives Purina
the opportunity to mitigate or rectify any issues they find discussed.
- Besides opinions about
their company, what other kinds of knowledge could employees
constructively share on social media (Glassdoor and other tools)?
Answer: Discussion should identify all aspects of working
conditions, including pay and benefits. Focus intently on specific occurrences,
the reaction of management, and how that impacts company perception as a whole.
HR Oops!
HRM Barely Gets a Passing Grade
1.
Imagine that you work for a manufacturing company
where the HR department’s performance on providing the necessary talent is just
"adequate." From a business standpoint, what might be the
consequences of this less-than-excellent performance?
Answer: Students may identify aspects of performance, retention,
and motivation—all impacting the business’s bottom line. Going deeper, students
should be able to cite specific examples on how this "mistake" could
take place.
2.
Imagine you run the HR department in that same
manufacturing company. What is one step you could take to improve your
department’s performance?
Answer: Students may identify many steps, but each step should
reflect aligning HRM with the strategy, while measuring HRM results. Back to
Question 1, have student take the outlined negatives and turn them into
positives.
HR How To
Handling HR Implications of Artificial
Intelligence
- Based on the information
given here, suggest a problem that could cause an AI system to give poor results.
Answer: Responses
will vary, but a majority of them will focus on the quality of information
going into the AI software and what the AI is being asked to solve. If the
information is faulty or not thought out by management, then AI will only accelerate
the poor decision making.
- What should an HR
department consider besides cost savings when evaluating the use of
artificial intelligence?
Answer:
Assessing the job inventory that a company currently has would be one of the
first steps to a decision. If a company has a majority of standardized
positions where AI could be used to accelerate and make the decision making
process more efficient, then that would be one consideration. If positions are
focused on creativity or ethical intuition, then those jobs would not be
performed better by AI.
Did You Know?
Half of U.S. Employees Looking to Change Jobs
1. What challenges and
opportunities do employers face in a climate where half of an organization’s
employees feel ready to leave?
Answer: Responses
will vary, but may balance the challenge of losing internal talent with the
opportunity to gain external talent. Further, it may provide employers the
opportunity to retain employees if they are offered better opportunities when
compared with competitors’ offers.
End of Chapter Questions and Cases
Thinking Ethically
How Solid Is Your
Digital Footprint?
- Which of the following
would you include in your social-media networks? Current co-co-workers?
Past co-workers? Current supervisor? Competitors?
Answer: This topic should be discussed openly in class and current
events (scandals) used for exampling. There is no right or wrong answer to this
question as the focus should be on how social media is used and discussion on
boundaries.
- What standards do you
apply to your own social-media conduct? Which of these, if any, would you
consider ethical standards?
Answer: Responses will vary based on a number of student criteria.
Again, application to real world situations is recommended.
Review and Discussion
Questions
- How does each of the
following labor force trends affect HRM? (LO 2-1)
a. Aging
of the labor force.
b. Diversity
of the labor force.
c. Skill
deficiencies of the labor force.
Answer:
An organization’s internal labor force comes from its external labor market—individuals
who are actively seeking employment. In the United States, this aging labor
market is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. The share of women in
the U.S. workforce has grown to nearly half of the total. To compete for
talent, organizations must be flexible enough to meet the needs of older
workers, possibly redesigning jobs. Organizations must recruit from a diverse
population, establish bias-free HR systems, and help employees understand and
appreciate cultural differences. Organizations also need employees with skills
in decision making, customer service, and teamwork, as well as technical
skills. The competition for such talent is intense. Organizations facing a
skills shortage often hire employees who lack certain skills, then train them
for their jobs.
- At many organizations,
goals include improving people’s performance by relying on knowledge
workers, empowering employees, and assigning work to teams. How can HRM
support these efforts? (LO 2-2)
Answer: Employing knowledge workers, empowering employees, and
assigning work to teams are current trends that are indicative of a
high-performance work system in action. Human resource management can support
these efforts, respectively, through modification of the recruiting and
selection processes—recruiting and hiring those individuals with the necessary
knowledge; utilization of human resource practices such as performance
management, training, work design, and compensation to ensure success of
employee empowerment; and increasing the employees’ responsibilities and
control via work assigned to teams.
- How do HRM practices such
as performance management and work design encourage employee empowerment? (LO 2-3)
Answer: Performance management systems and work design give the
employees the information needed to understand their job and its
responsibilities, and to be held accountable. When employees are trained
properly and understand their job, they have more latitude in making decisions.
- Merging, downsizing, and
reengineering all can radically change the structure of an organization. Choose
one of these changes and describe HRM’s role in making the change succeed.
If possible, apply your discussion to an actual merger, downsizing, or
reengineering effort that has recently occurred. (LO 2-4)
Answer: Human resource management’s role in these endeavors is a
significant one. For instance, in a merger situation, differences between the
businesses involved in the deal make conflict inevitable. Therefore, training
efforts should include development of skills in conflict resolution. HR
professionals have to sort out differences in the two companies’ practices with
regard to compensation, performance appraisal, and other human resource
systems. Settling on a consistent structure to meet the combined organization’s
goals may help to bring employees together. In a downsizing scenario, human
resource management must “surgically” reduce the workforce by cutting only the
workers who are less valuable in their performance while boosting the morale of
employees who remain after the reduction. In a reengineering situation, the way
the human resource department itself accomplishes its goals may change
dramatically. The fundamental change throughout the organization requires the
human resource department to help design and implement change, so all employees
will be committed to the success of the reengineered organization.
The student responses will vary as
to the example selected; however, for an actual merger, the formation of
Citigroup would be an excellent example.
- When an organization
decides to operate facilities in other countries, how can HRM practices
support this change? (LO 2-5)
Answer: Organizations with international operations hire employees
in foreign countries where they operate, so they need to know about differences
in culture and business practices. Even small businesses serving domestic
markets discover that qualified candidates include recent immigrants, as they
account for a significant and growing share of the U.S. labor market. This
means human resource management must have a working knowledge of different
cultures. Additionally, organizations must be able to select and prepare
employees for overseas assignments. This task requires preparation in order to provide
the support and training needed by the expatriate.
