Exam (elaborations) APPLICATIONS IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 7E

This case describes the creation of a human resource department in a young, rapidly growing company. The human resource director, Joyce Newcombe, faces a number of issues in developing and implementing human resource policies for the company's five plants. The major issues include: the role of human resource management in organizations, interface between human resource and line managers, integration of human resource policies with business goals and strategies, organization structure, and termination procedures. This case serves as an excellent pre-measure of the level of knowledge that the student brings to the course or as a post-test of the student's knowledge at the completion of the course. II. OBJECTIVES: 1. To introduce students to the various roles of human resource management in organizations. 2. To illustrate potential areas of conflict between human resource and line managers. 3. To demonstrate the linkage between human resource policies and programs and organizational goals and strategies. III. DISCUSSION: This case works well as a way of introducing students to the role of human resource management in organizations. The major issue facing Newcombe is how to assure consistency in the implementation of the company's human resource philosophy and policies throughout its plants. The problem will become compounded in the future as Mount Ridge expands geographically. To effectively analyze the case, the students should view both the short-term and long-term dimensions of the problem. In the short-term Newcombe must determine how to respond to the call from Johnson. The Johnson incident underscores the problem of getting line managers to embrace and implement top management's "human resource goals." It is clear from the president's statements that the company views employees as valuable assets critical to company goal attainment. Braxton's actions and handling of Johnson's request for pay increases and promotions indicates that perhaps the company's philosophy has not been effectively communicated to plant management. While it appears that Johnson is quite qualified and can perform the equipment operator's job, Braxton's behavior ultimately results in the company losing a good worker. Also it is not clear that Braxton made any efforts to talk with either corporate personnel or the manager of plant operations about Johnson's requests. Since the company was growing so rapidly, students argue that there may have been opportunities for Johnson at one of the new plants under construction.