Angelo’s Pizza Case Notes:
Angleo’s Pizza explores the importance of establishing human resource (HR)
practices as an organization expands. After success with one store, Angelo
opens two new stores and is considering opening more stores or franchising.
However, the case shares some of the HR challenges including high turnover
and other staffing problems. The case explores the need for structured
orientation and training programs, as well as better recruitment and selection
practices.
Questions:
B-8. My strategy is to (hopefully) expand the number of stores and eventually
franchise, while focusing on serving only high-quality fresh ingredients. What are
three specific human resource management implications of my strategy
(including specific policies and practices)?
There are several important HR implications of Angelo’s growth plans. The three
most important include:
Consistent recruiting and selection practices. Angelo needs to establish
new sources of candidates such as employee referrals. He also needs to
implement formal selection processes beyond informal interviews. An
assessment test to identify specific skills and/or a structured interview
process will benefit Angelo’s Pizza.
A structured orientation and new hire training process. Much of Angelo’s
turnover is caused by good workers who leave in frustration due to lack of
training. Better training will lead to better quality pizza and better
retention of staff.
Established management practices and training to support store
managers. Angelo needs some consistency to ensure each store is
meeting his expectations in all aspects of hiring and managing workers. A
structured management training program can help support this need.
B-9. Identify and briefly discuss five specific human resource management errors
that I’m currently making.
There are several errors that Angelo is making, including:
Failing to carefully evaluate applicants and basically hiring anyone that
applies. The poor selection process leads to poor hires that don’t work out
for a variety of reasons.
Providing very little training to new hires. New hires either will not do their
work properly, leading to poor quality products, or they will quit in
frustration because they did not receive proper training.
Not providing training to those that move into management positions.
Managers are the key in opening new stores. Managers must be
equipped with training on how to operate the stores and also how to
manage people.
, Using generic human resource employment application forms and no
other forms or procedures. Angelo needs to use forms that ask relevant
questions about working at his stores such as schedule availability.
Not providing feedback to employees about their performance. Providing
formal feedback to employees is an important component in training
employees on proper procedures to ensure quality.
B-10. Develop a structured interview form that we can use for hiring (1) store
managers, (2) wait staff, and (3) counter people/pizza makers.
There are several interview questions that would be beneficial to the hiring
process of each of these categories of workers. All interview questions should
be related to the specific job and include questions that are based on job
knowledge, situational or behavioral. Some sample questions for each category:
Store Managers
Store managers are responsible for hiring and training their own staff. Some
potential questions for a store manager include:
- Tell me about a time you had to address an employee problem.
- How would you organize the training of your new employees?
Wait Staff
The wait staff needs to have strong customer service skills and be able to
manage in a fast-paced environment. Some potential questions for the wait staff
include:
- Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult customer.
- Give me an example of a time you had to complete several tasks at the
same time, how did you decide what to do first?
Counter People/Pizza Makers
These employees need to also be customer oriented and focused on quality.
Some potential questions for counter people/pizza makers include:
- Tell me about a time when you found a problem with a product, what did
you do?
- If a customer returned a pizza and said it didn’t taste right, what would you
do?
B-11. Based on what you know about Angelo’s, and what you know from having
visited pizza restaurants, write a one-page outline showing specifically how you
think
Angelo’s should go about selecting employees.
There are many different strategies that a student could recommend. First, they
should identify several recruiting strategies. As Angelo notes, it is important to
cast a wide net to yield better candidates. In addition to “Help Wanted” signs at
the stores to attract local applicants, he may want to also consider advertising
with local high schools and colleges. If he does have some valuable employees,
he could also provide bonus payments for employee referrals.
,Careful screening of the applicants is important. He first should create a custom
employment application that asks relevant questions such as scheduling
availability. A next step might include an assessment test to measure honesty or
integrity, or possibly a personality test to assess ability to interact with customers.
One or more interviews should be part of the process and they should use a
structured interview format. Finally, he should outline a background check
process that includes verifying education, past employment and speaking to
references.
BP Texas City Case Notes:
This case emphasizes the importance of health and safety in the workplace. The
case shares insights on several safety failures at BP, and in particular at the
Texas City facility. In addition to discussing safety programs, the case explores
the role company leadership plays in creating a safety culture. The case
emphasizes the importance of all aspects of safety from policies and practices to
organizational commitment to creating a safe work environment. The case also
introduces the ethical implications of safety efforts at an organization.
Questions:
B-22. The text defines ethics as “the principles of conduct governing an individual
or a group,” and specifically as the standards one uses to decide what his or her
conduct should be. To what extent do you believe that what happened at BP is
as much a breakdown in the company’s ethical systems as it is in its safety
systems, and how would you defend your conclusion?
The case explores both the safety systems as well as the management practices
that led to the problems at BP. An effective safety policy starts with top
management. Management must not only implement policies to comply with the
law, but also create a safety culture.
This case does raise concerns of the ethical systems at BP. The principles
guiding the conduct of BP’s top management were focused more on cost cutting
than on safety. While cutting costs is important for a large company, doing so
without regard to the impact on safety does create some ethical questions.
Students could cite several examples from the case of deficiencies in safety
practices that BP management was aware of, but did not address.
B-23. Are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s standards,
policies, and rules aimed at addressing problems like the ones that apparently
existed at the Texas City plant? If so, how would you explain the fact that
problems like these could have continued for so many years?
OSHA’s standards, policies, and rules are aimed at creating a safe and healthful
work environment. OSHA has worked closely with BP to abate their safety
concerns through inspections and fines for safety violations. However, the
problems at BP are complex and not easily fixed. OSHA also is faced with
limited resources to get involved enough with the BP operations to address all
, issues. While OSHA did issue the highest fines in its history to BP, it is clearly
not enough. BP needs to go beyond complying with safety regulations and
create a safety culture by making safety a management priority.
B-24. Since there were apparently at least three deaths in the year prior to the
major explosion, and an average of about one employee death per 16 months for
the previous 10 years, how would you account for the fact that mandatory OSHA
inspections missed these glaring sources of potential catastrophic events?
There are a variety of challenges that OSHA faces in trying to enforce safety
laws in a large organization such as BP. The primary challenge for OSHA is a
limited number of inspectors available to conduct complete inspections. Often
inspections are done in response to accidents and as a result, are relatively
narrow in scope. Such inspections may not explore all of the potential hazards.
Further, OSHA inspections do not look at the safety culture or management
decision-making processes that have led to many of BP’s problems.
B-25. The text lists numerous suggestions for “how to prevent accidents.” Based
on what you know about the Texas City explosion, what do you say Texas City
tells you about the most important three steps an employer can take to prevent
accidents?
All of the suggestions in the text are important and a student might include any of
them. However, creating a safety culture is clearly a priority as noted in BP’s
case. Creating a supportive environment is also important. A company can have
the right equipment and train employees in safe behaviors, but if managers and
supervisors are not supportive of creating a safe workplace, then policies may
not be followed. Finally, conducting internal inspections helps identify safety
concerns and demonstrate the importance of safety.
B-26. Based on what you learned in Chapter 14, would you make any additional
recommendations to BP over and above those recommendations made by the
Baker panel and the CSB? If so, what would those recommendations be?
Students might come up with a variety of ideas. As the suggestions provided by
these panels are thorough, students are likely to come up with more specific
ideas. For example, while the panel suggesting involving stakeholders in safety,
a more specific suggestion would be to use employee run safety committees.
Company leadership should make safety a priority by investing significant
financial resources into safety programs. The company should also upgrade all
of their equipment to the newer and/or safer models.
B-27. Explain specifically how strategic human resource management at BP
seems to have supported the company’s broader strategic aims. What does this
say about the advisability of always linking human resource strategy to a
company’s strategic aims?
Overall BP has been successful in supporting its strategic aims of cutting costs
and becoming more efficient through streamlining processes and making sites
Angleo’s Pizza explores the importance of establishing human resource (HR)
practices as an organization expands. After success with one store, Angelo
opens two new stores and is considering opening more stores or franchising.
However, the case shares some of the HR challenges including high turnover
and other staffing problems. The case explores the need for structured
orientation and training programs, as well as better recruitment and selection
practices.
Questions:
B-8. My strategy is to (hopefully) expand the number of stores and eventually
franchise, while focusing on serving only high-quality fresh ingredients. What are
three specific human resource management implications of my strategy
(including specific policies and practices)?
There are several important HR implications of Angelo’s growth plans. The three
most important include:
Consistent recruiting and selection practices. Angelo needs to establish
new sources of candidates such as employee referrals. He also needs to
implement formal selection processes beyond informal interviews. An
assessment test to identify specific skills and/or a structured interview
process will benefit Angelo’s Pizza.
A structured orientation and new hire training process. Much of Angelo’s
turnover is caused by good workers who leave in frustration due to lack of
training. Better training will lead to better quality pizza and better
retention of staff.
Established management practices and training to support store
managers. Angelo needs some consistency to ensure each store is
meeting his expectations in all aspects of hiring and managing workers. A
structured management training program can help support this need.
B-9. Identify and briefly discuss five specific human resource management errors
that I’m currently making.
There are several errors that Angelo is making, including:
Failing to carefully evaluate applicants and basically hiring anyone that
applies. The poor selection process leads to poor hires that don’t work out
for a variety of reasons.
Providing very little training to new hires. New hires either will not do their
work properly, leading to poor quality products, or they will quit in
frustration because they did not receive proper training.
Not providing training to those that move into management positions.
Managers are the key in opening new stores. Managers must be
equipped with training on how to operate the stores and also how to
manage people.
, Using generic human resource employment application forms and no
other forms or procedures. Angelo needs to use forms that ask relevant
questions about working at his stores such as schedule availability.
Not providing feedback to employees about their performance. Providing
formal feedback to employees is an important component in training
employees on proper procedures to ensure quality.
B-10. Develop a structured interview form that we can use for hiring (1) store
managers, (2) wait staff, and (3) counter people/pizza makers.
There are several interview questions that would be beneficial to the hiring
process of each of these categories of workers. All interview questions should
be related to the specific job and include questions that are based on job
knowledge, situational or behavioral. Some sample questions for each category:
Store Managers
Store managers are responsible for hiring and training their own staff. Some
potential questions for a store manager include:
- Tell me about a time you had to address an employee problem.
- How would you organize the training of your new employees?
Wait Staff
The wait staff needs to have strong customer service skills and be able to
manage in a fast-paced environment. Some potential questions for the wait staff
include:
- Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult customer.
- Give me an example of a time you had to complete several tasks at the
same time, how did you decide what to do first?
Counter People/Pizza Makers
These employees need to also be customer oriented and focused on quality.
Some potential questions for counter people/pizza makers include:
- Tell me about a time when you found a problem with a product, what did
you do?
- If a customer returned a pizza and said it didn’t taste right, what would you
do?
B-11. Based on what you know about Angelo’s, and what you know from having
visited pizza restaurants, write a one-page outline showing specifically how you
think
Angelo’s should go about selecting employees.
There are many different strategies that a student could recommend. First, they
should identify several recruiting strategies. As Angelo notes, it is important to
cast a wide net to yield better candidates. In addition to “Help Wanted” signs at
the stores to attract local applicants, he may want to also consider advertising
with local high schools and colleges. If he does have some valuable employees,
he could also provide bonus payments for employee referrals.
,Careful screening of the applicants is important. He first should create a custom
employment application that asks relevant questions such as scheduling
availability. A next step might include an assessment test to measure honesty or
integrity, or possibly a personality test to assess ability to interact with customers.
One or more interviews should be part of the process and they should use a
structured interview format. Finally, he should outline a background check
process that includes verifying education, past employment and speaking to
references.
BP Texas City Case Notes:
This case emphasizes the importance of health and safety in the workplace. The
case shares insights on several safety failures at BP, and in particular at the
Texas City facility. In addition to discussing safety programs, the case explores
the role company leadership plays in creating a safety culture. The case
emphasizes the importance of all aspects of safety from policies and practices to
organizational commitment to creating a safe work environment. The case also
introduces the ethical implications of safety efforts at an organization.
Questions:
B-22. The text defines ethics as “the principles of conduct governing an individual
or a group,” and specifically as the standards one uses to decide what his or her
conduct should be. To what extent do you believe that what happened at BP is
as much a breakdown in the company’s ethical systems as it is in its safety
systems, and how would you defend your conclusion?
The case explores both the safety systems as well as the management practices
that led to the problems at BP. An effective safety policy starts with top
management. Management must not only implement policies to comply with the
law, but also create a safety culture.
This case does raise concerns of the ethical systems at BP. The principles
guiding the conduct of BP’s top management were focused more on cost cutting
than on safety. While cutting costs is important for a large company, doing so
without regard to the impact on safety does create some ethical questions.
Students could cite several examples from the case of deficiencies in safety
practices that BP management was aware of, but did not address.
B-23. Are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s standards,
policies, and rules aimed at addressing problems like the ones that apparently
existed at the Texas City plant? If so, how would you explain the fact that
problems like these could have continued for so many years?
OSHA’s standards, policies, and rules are aimed at creating a safe and healthful
work environment. OSHA has worked closely with BP to abate their safety
concerns through inspections and fines for safety violations. However, the
problems at BP are complex and not easily fixed. OSHA also is faced with
limited resources to get involved enough with the BP operations to address all
, issues. While OSHA did issue the highest fines in its history to BP, it is clearly
not enough. BP needs to go beyond complying with safety regulations and
create a safety culture by making safety a management priority.
B-24. Since there were apparently at least three deaths in the year prior to the
major explosion, and an average of about one employee death per 16 months for
the previous 10 years, how would you account for the fact that mandatory OSHA
inspections missed these glaring sources of potential catastrophic events?
There are a variety of challenges that OSHA faces in trying to enforce safety
laws in a large organization such as BP. The primary challenge for OSHA is a
limited number of inspectors available to conduct complete inspections. Often
inspections are done in response to accidents and as a result, are relatively
narrow in scope. Such inspections may not explore all of the potential hazards.
Further, OSHA inspections do not look at the safety culture or management
decision-making processes that have led to many of BP’s problems.
B-25. The text lists numerous suggestions for “how to prevent accidents.” Based
on what you know about the Texas City explosion, what do you say Texas City
tells you about the most important three steps an employer can take to prevent
accidents?
All of the suggestions in the text are important and a student might include any of
them. However, creating a safety culture is clearly a priority as noted in BP’s
case. Creating a supportive environment is also important. A company can have
the right equipment and train employees in safe behaviors, but if managers and
supervisors are not supportive of creating a safe workplace, then policies may
not be followed. Finally, conducting internal inspections helps identify safety
concerns and demonstrate the importance of safety.
B-26. Based on what you learned in Chapter 14, would you make any additional
recommendations to BP over and above those recommendations made by the
Baker panel and the CSB? If so, what would those recommendations be?
Students might come up with a variety of ideas. As the suggestions provided by
these panels are thorough, students are likely to come up with more specific
ideas. For example, while the panel suggesting involving stakeholders in safety,
a more specific suggestion would be to use employee run safety committees.
Company leadership should make safety a priority by investing significant
financial resources into safety programs. The company should also upgrade all
of their equipment to the newer and/or safer models.
B-27. Explain specifically how strategic human resource management at BP
seems to have supported the company’s broader strategic aims. What does this
say about the advisability of always linking human resource strategy to a
company’s strategic aims?
Overall BP has been successful in supporting its strategic aims of cutting costs
and becoming more efficient through streamlining processes and making sites
