A company that markets sophisticated business management software systems uses sales teams to help customers define needs and to create systems that meet those needs. The teams include programmers, salespeople who specialize in client industries, and software designers. Occasionally sales are lost as a result of conflict or communication problems among team members. The company wants to improve the effectiveness of these teams, and it wants to begin with assessment. How can the teams use 360-degree feedback and psychological tests to develop?
> What is the margin of safety? Why is this important for managers to know?
> What is operating leverage? Why is knowledge of a firm’s operating leverage important to its managers?
> Rio Coffee Shoppe sells two coffee drinks, a regular coffee and a latte. The two drinks have the following prices and cost characteristics: The monthly fixed costs at Rio are $6,720. Based on experience, the manager at Rio knows that the store sells 60
> Crest Industries sells a single model of satellite radio receivers for use in the home. The radios have the following price and cost characteristics: Sales price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 160 per radio Variable costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
> Refer to the data for Balance, Inc., in Exercise 3-27. In Exercise 3-27 Balance, Inc., is considering the introduction of a new energy snack with the following price and cost characteristics: Sales price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1.00 per unit Var
> Refer to the data for Cambridge, Inc., in Exercise 3-25. In Exercise 3-25 Cambridge, Inc., is considering the introduction of a new calculator with the following price and cost characteristics: Sales price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 27 pe
> Rainbow Tours gives walking tours of Springfield. Rainbow charges $40 per person for the tour and incurs $16 in variable costs for labor, drinks, and maps. The monthly fixed costs for Rainbow Tours are $3,600. Required a. How many tours must Rainbow sel
> Foxx Company’s cost structure is dominated by variable costs with a contribution margin ratio of .25 and fixed costs of $100,000. Every dollar of sales contributes 25 cents toward fixed costs and profit. The cost structure of a competitor, Beyonce, Inc.,
> The Dollar Store’s cost structure is dominated by variable costs with a contribution margin ratio of .30 and fixed costs of $30,000. Every dollar of sales contributes 30 cents toward fixed costs and profit. The cost structure of a compe
> As a manager making a decision, which is likely more important: gross margin or contribution margin? Why?
> What is the difference in meaning between the terms cost and expense?
> How can the way an organization creates and carries out its incentive plan improve the effectiveness of that plan?
> Why might a balanced scorecard like the one in question 7 be more effective than simply using merit pay for a manager?
> Stock options have been called the pay program that “built Silicon Valley” because of their key role as incentive pay for employees in high-tech companies. They were popular during the 1990s when the stock market was rising rapidly. Since then, the stock
> Suppose you work in the HR department of a manufacturing company that is planning to enrich jobs by having production workers work in teams and rotate through various jobs. The pay structure will have to be adjusted to fit this new work design. How would
> Why might an organization choose to pay employees more than the market rate? Why might it choose to pay less? What are the consequences of paying more or less than the market rate?
> In gathering data for its pay policies, what product markets would a city’s hospital want to use as a basis for comparison? What labor markets would be relevant? How might the labor markets for surgeons be different from the labor market for nursing aide
> In setting up a pay structure, what legal requirements must an organization meet? Which of these do you think would be most challenging for a small start-up business? Why?
> Why do some employers subsidize the pay of military reserve members called up to active duty? If the military instead paid these people the wage they command in the civilian market (that is, the salary they earn at their regular jobs), who would bear the
> Suppose the company in question 1 wants to establish a skills-based pay structure. What would be some advantages of this approach? List the issues the company should be prepared to address in setting up this system. Consider the kinds of information you
> What are the advantages of establishing pay ranges, rather than specific pay levels, for each job? What are the drawbacks of this approach?
> Discuss several advantages of flexible work schedules. What are some disadvantages?
> Pay structure consists of the relative pay for different jobs within the organization. Establishing a pay structure simplifies the process of making decisions about individual employees’ pay by grouping together employees with similar jobs. Organizations
> Summarize the way organizations use information about jobs as a basis for a pay structure.
> In what type of situation would an employer have a legitimate reason for learning about an employee’s personal matters outside the workplace?
> For the situation in question 2, how would a formal discipline policy help the organization address issues of fairness? Situation from Question 2: A member of a restaurant’s serving staff is chronically late for work.
> A member of a restaurant’s serving staff is chronically late for work. From the organization’s point of view, what fairness issues are involved in deciding how to handle this situation? In what ways might the employees’ and other servers’ ideas of fairne
> Give an example of voluntary turnover and an example of involuntary turnover. Why should organizations try to reduce both kinds of turnover?
> Why are exit interviews important? Should an organization care about the opinion of people who are leaving? How are those opinions relevant to employee separation and retention?
> What are the four factors that influence an employee’s job dissatisfaction (or satisfaction)? Which of these do you think an employer can most easily change? Which would be the most expensive to change?
> List forms of behavior that can signal job withdrawal.
> A risk of disciplining employees is that some employees retaliate. To avoid this risk, what organizational policies might encourage low-performing employees to leave while encouraging high-performers to stay? (Consider the sources of employee satisfactio
> When a restaurant employee slipped on spilled soup and fell, requiring the evening off to recover, the owner realized that workplace safety was an issue to which she had not devoted much time. A friend warned the owner that if she started creating a lot
> How does a complete performance management system differ from the use of annual performance appraisals?
> Suppose you are a human resource professional helping to improve the performance management system of a company that sells and services office equipment. The company operates a call center that takes calls from customers who are having problems with thei
> Besides giving employees feedback, what steps can a manager take to improve employees’ performance?
> Continuing the example in question 7, imagine that you are preparing for your first performance feedback session. You want feedback to be effective—that is, you want the feedback to result in improved performance. List five or six steps you can take to a
> Suppose you were recently promoted to a supervisory job in a company where you have worked for two years. You genuinely like almost all your co-workers, who now report to you. The only exception is one employee, who dresses more formally than the others
> Imagine that a pet supply store is establishing a new performance management system to help employees provide better customer service. Management needs to decide who should participate in measuring the performance of each of the store’s salespeople. From
> Give two examples of an administrative decision that would be based on performance management information. Give two examples of developmental decisions based on this type of information.
> How can teamwork, empowerment, knowledge sharing, and job satisfaction contribute to high performance?
> What is a high-performance work system? What are its elements? Which of these elements involve human resource management?
> Why should human resource departments measure their effectiveness? What are some ways they can go about measuring effectiveness?
> Federal law requires that employers not discriminate based on a person’s race, sex, national origin, or age over 40. Is this also an ethical requirement? A competitive requirement? Explain.
> How can HRM technology make a human resource department more productive? How can technology improve the quality of HRM decisions?
> Summarize how each of the following HR functions can contribute to high performance. a. Job design. b. Recruitment and selection. c. Training and development. d. Performance management. e. Compensation.
> How can an organization promote ethical behavior among its employees?
> Many employees are unwilling to relocate because they like their current community and family members prefer not to move. Yet preparation for management requires that employees develop new skills, strengthen areas of weakness, and be exposed to new aspec
> In an organization that wants to use work experience as a method of employee development, what basic options are available? Which of these options would be most attractive to you as an employee? Why?
> What are the four broad categories of development methods? Why might it be beneficial to combine all these methods into a formal development program?
> How does development differ from training? How does development support career management in modern organizations?
> Why might an organization benefit from giving employee development opportunities to a dysfunctional manager rather than simply dismissing the manager? Do these reasons apply to non-management employees as well?
> What is the glass ceiling? What are the possible consequences to an organization that has a glass ceiling? How can employee development break the glass ceiling? Can succession planning help with this problem? Explain.
> Why do all managers and supervisors need knowledge and skills related to human resource management?
> What are the manager’s roles in a career management system? Which role do you think is most difficult for the typical manager? Which is the easiest role? List reasons why managers might resist becoming involved in career management.
> Why should organizations be interested in helping employees plan their careers? What benefits can companies gain? What are the risks?
> What are the three roles of a coach? How is each coach different from a mentor? What are some advantages of using someone outside the organization as a coach? Some disadvantages?
> Many people feel that mentoring relationships should occur naturally, in situations where senior managers feel inclined to play the role. What are some advantages of setting up a formal mentoring program, rather than letting senior managers decide how an
> Suppose the managers in your organization tend to avoid delegating projects to the people in their groups. As a result, they rarely meet their goals. A training needs analysis indicates that an appropriate solution is training in management skills. You h
> Many organizations turn to e-learning as a less expensive alternative to classroom training. What are some other advantages of substituting e-learning for classroom training? What are some disadvantages?
> Assume you are human resource manager of a small seafood company. The general manager has told you that customers have begun complaining about the quality of your company’s fresh fish. Currently, training consists of senior fish cleaners showing new empl
> “Alicia!” bellowed David to the company’s HR specialist, “I’ve got a problem, and you’ve got to solve it. I can’t get people in this plant to work together as a team. As if I don’t have enough trouble with our competitors and our past-due accounts, now I
> Why do organizations provide diversity training? What kinds of goals are most suitable for such training?
> Who should be involved in onboarding of new employees? Why would it not be appropriate to provide employee orientation purely online?
> If you were to start a business, what aspects of human resource management would you want to entrust to specialists? Why?
> A manufacturing company employs several maintenance employees. When a problem occurs with the equipment, a maintenance employee receives a description of the symptoms and is supposed to locate and fix the source of the problem. The company recently insta
> How do U.S. laws affect organizations’ use of each of the employment tests? Interviews?
> Why does predictive validation provide better information than concurrent validation? Why is this type of validation more difficult?
> Choose two of the selection methods identified in this chapter. Describe how you can compare them in terms of reliability, validity, ability to generalize, utility, and compliance with the law.
> Why should the selection process be adapted to fit the organization’s job description?
> What activities are involved in the selection process? Think of the last time you were hired for a job. Which of those activities were used in selecting you? Should the organization that hired you have used other methods as well?
> Some organizations set up a selection process that is long and complex. In some people’s opinion, this kind of selection process not only is more valid but also has symbolic value. What can the use of a long, complex selection process symbolize to job se
> How can organizations improve the quality of their interviewing so that interviews provide valid information?
> For each of the following jobs, select the two kinds of tests you think would be most important to include in the selection process. Explain why you chose those tests. a. City bus driver b. Insurance salesperson c. Member of a team that sells complex
> Suppose your organization needs to hire several computer programmers and you are reviewing résumés you obtained from an online service. What kinds of information will you want to gather from the “work experience” portion of these résumés? What kinds of i
> Traditionally, human resource management practices were developed and administered by the company’s human resource department. Line managers now play a major role in developing and implementing HRM practices. Why do you think non-HR managers are becoming
> Suppose an organization expects a labor shortage to develop in key job areas over the next few years. Recommend general responses the organization could make in each of the following areas: a. Recruitment b. Training c. Compensation (pay and employee be
> How can organizations improve the effectiveness of their recruiters?
> Recruiting people for jobs that require international assignments is increasingly important for many organizations. Where might an organization go to recruit people interested in such assignments?
> Discuss the relative merits of internal versus external recruitment. Give an example of a situation in which each of these approaches might be particularly effective.
> Give an example of a personnel policy that would help attract a larger pool of job candidates. Give an example of a personnel policy that would likely reduce the pool of candidates. Would you expect these policies to influence the quality as well as the
> Why do organizations combine statistical and judgmental forecasts of labor demand, rather than relying on statistics or judgment alone? Give an example of a situation in which each type of forecast would be inaccurate.
> In the transitional matrix, which jobs seem to rely most on internal recruitment? Which seem to rely most on external recruitment? Why? 2007 2004 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (1) Sales manager (2) Sales representative (3) Sales apprentice (4) As
> Review the sample transitional matrix shown in Table 5.1. What jobs experience the greatest turnover (employees leaving the organization)? How might an organization with this combination of jobs reduce the turnover? 2007 2004 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
> Some organizations have detailed affirmative-action plans, complete with goals and timetables for women and minorities, yet have no formal human resource plan for the organization as a whole. Why might this be the case? What does this practice suggest ab
> Assume you are a manager of a fast-food restaurant. What are the outputs of your work unit? What are the activities required to produce those outputs? What are the inputs?
> What skills are important for success in human resource management? Which of these skills are already strengths of yours? Which would you like to develop?
> Modern electronics have eliminated the need for a store’s cashiers to calculate change due on a purchase. How does this development modify the job description for a cashier? If you were a store manager, how does this affect the skills and qualities of jo
> What ergonomic considerations might apply to each of the following jobs? For each job, what kinds of costs would result from addressing ergonomics? What costs might result from failing to address ergonomics? a. A computer programmer b. A UPS delivery
> Suppose you have taken a job as a trainer in a large bank that has created competency models for all of its positions. How could the competency models help you succeed in your career at the bank? How could the competency models help you develop the bank’
> Discuss how the following trends are changing the skill requirement for managerial jobs in the United States: Increasing use of social media. Increasing international competition. (c) Increasing work-family conflicts.
> Consider the “job” of college student. Perform a job analysis on this job. What tasks are required in the job? What knowledge, skills, and abilities are necessary to perform those tasks? Prepare a job description based on your analysis.
> The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that employers make reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. How might this requirement affect law enforcement officers and firefighters?
> For each situation in the preceding question, what actions, if any, should the organization take? Situation in preceding question a. A veteran of the Iraqi conflict experiences lower-back pain after sitting for extended periods of time. He has applied f
> What is the role of each branch of the federal government with regard to equal employment opportunity?
> How can organizations motivate employees to promote safety and health in the workplace?
> OSHA penalties are aimed at employers, rather than employees. How does this affect employee safety?
> Imagine that a small manufacturing company decides to invest in a materials resource planning (MRP) system. This is a computerized information system that improves efficiency by automating such work as planning needs for resources, ordering materials, an
> What are an organization’s basic duties under the Occupational Safety and Health Act?
> Given that the “reasonable woman” standard is based on women’s ideas of what is appropriate, how might an organization with mostly male employees identify and avoid behavior that could be found to be sexual harassment?
