Case Strategic Human Resource Management The School of Business Administration at Old State University is one of 12 stat

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Case
Strategic Human Resource Management
The School of Business Administration at Old State
University is one of 12 state-supported
collegiate business schools in a midwestern state. It is
located in a city with a population of
400,000 and a diversified industrial base. Old State
University is the only state-supported
institution in town. One small private college provides
competition to the university’s business
school.
Recently, the university experienced leadership
transition when Dr. George Barnes, dean of
the College of Business Administration since 1988,
retired. During his administration, enroll-
ment increased from 1,792 undergraduates and 142 MBA
students in the 1988–1989 academic
year to 2,284 undergraduates and 233 MBA students in the
most recent academic year.
Dean Barnes was well-liked by students, faculty, and the
central administration of Old
State University. However, he had not led the School of
Business in any new directions and
had basically concentrated on ‘‘doing the same things
better.’’ The ‘‘same things’’ meant an
emphasis on traditional programs (accounting, marketing,
finance, and so on), teaching
undergraduate students in the age range of 18–22 in
daytime programs, and teaching a small
number of full-time MBA students. The latter have been
mostly graduates of the school’s
undergraduate program who decided they were willing to
spend two more years on campus to
obtain the second degree.
Dean Barnes has also successful in upgrading the
proportion of faculty with terminal
degrees from 75 percent in 1988 to 90 percent in the
most recent year. Exhibit 2.3 provides
faculty and student enrollment data for the university
for selected years during Barnes’s tenure.
During the most recent academic year, the dean’s search
committee (consisting of faculty,
students, alumni, central administration, and local
business representatives) met frequently,
screened over 100 applicants, and personally interviewed
six. While the committee arrived at
no consensus, the majority supported Jack Blake for the
deanship. An offer was made and,
after several weeks of negotiation, Blake accepted the
deanship. His background consisted of
an MBA from a prestigious Ivy League business school and
executive leadership positions in a
variety of U.S. corporations in marketing. He left the
position of vice president of marketing at
a Fortune 500 company to accept the
deanship.
During the screening interviews with the search
committee, Blake made it clear that if he
were selected, the College of Business would be ‘‘moving
in new directions and exploring new
markets.’’ Blake made it clear that he did not want to
be a ‘‘paper pusher,’’ but rather an
innovator and entrepreneur. When pressed for specifics,
he indicated he ‘‘would have to study
the situation in more detail.’’
When the new dean arrived on campus in the fall, he
immediately convened a Strategic
Planning Committee to 1) evaluate the university’s
external environment, opportunities,
threats, competitive advantages, and internal strengths
and weaknesses, and 2) recommend
a new long-term mission, goals, objectives, and
programs. The committee consisted of two
senior professors, the university’s vice president for
academic affairs, one graduate student,
one undergraduate student, two prominent alumni, and two
local business leaders.
The committee recommended that the school focus on the
adult learner since demo-
graphic analysis suggested the age group 18–22 in the
state was shrinking and would be a
declining market over the next decade. Specific
recommendations included 1) offering more
evening courses for both undergraduate and graduate
students; 2) structuring the schedule so
that both degrees could be earned entirely in the
evening; 3) offering credit courses in some
suburban locations; 4) offering requested noncredit
practitioner courses at the school, at the
employer’s worksite, and in various underserved small
cities around the state; 5) exploring
possibilities of offering degree programs at these
locations; 6) offering new MBA degree
concentrations in such areas as management of the arts,
healthcare management, and public
sector management, and 7) offering a new ‘‘executive’’
MBA.
The new dean enthusiastically endorsed the report and
distributed copies at the last
faculty meeting of the fall semester. Several questions
were raised, but it did not appear that
serious opposition existed. However, at a following
meeting of department chairs, the dean
indicated that his top priority for the next academic
year was to fill five vacant positions with
new faculty who would be supportive of the new
directions in which the school was moving.
Specifically, he asked them to keep several criteria in
mind while recruiting and selecting new
faculty. These included previous managerial work
experience, a willingness to teach night
courses, a willingness to travel to other cities to
offer coursework, an ability to work with
management practitioners on continuing education
training and special projects, and previous
experience in teaching executives.
In addition, Dean Blake suggested that the chairs
consider those criteria when evaluating
the performance of existing faculty and recommending
salary increases. Finally, he indicated
that one of the faculty positions would be used to
recruit a new assistant dean for external
affairs who would become his link to the practitioner
community. This person would be
involved with helping practicing managers identify their
needs, working with faculty to meet
these needs, and negotiating contracts for these
services.
When word of the dean’s faculty recommendations spread
through the rumor mill, the
reaction was swift and negative. Many of the
‘‘old-guard’’ faculty felt they were hired primarily
to teach full-time students on campus during the day.
Consequently, they were threatened by
the new evaluation criteria. They were also concerned
that the dean was interjecting non-
academic criteria into their departmental faculty
recruitment processes and diverting resour-
ces to nonacademic activities. These faculty felt the
inevitable result would be a declining
quality of education in the school.
A group of these faculty has asked to meet with the dean
to discuss his proposals. The
dean is preparing a justification for both his strategy
and his human resource management
(faculty) recommendations.
EXHIBIT 2.3 Faculty and Student Enrollment Data for the
College of Business Administration in Selected
NOTE: I SENT THIS TABLE AS AN ATTACHMENT IN MY
EMAIL TO YOU. THAT IS EASIER TO READ, SINCE THE PASTING HERE
LOST THE FORMATTING.
Years, 1988–2007
Student Enrollment
Academic Year Faculty Faculty with PhD BS MBA
Total
1988–1989 69 52 1,792 142 1,934
1995–1996 74 57 1,913 154 2,067
2000–2001 78 66 2,065 221 2,286
2006–2007 85 76 2,284 233 2,517
2010–2011 90 81 2,587 248 2,837
Case 26 • Strategic Human Resource Management
87
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Questions
1. How and why do strategic decisions affect human
resource management policies? Can
human resource policies or constraints ever affect
strategy? Why or why not?
2. Identify the problem and causes of the problem in
this case.
3. Evaluate Dean Blake’s strategy and human resource
policies. Did the strategy make sense
in terms of the internal and external environment of the
school? Do the human resource
strategies support and reinforce the organizational
strategy? Why or why not?
4. Evaluate the process by which Dean Blake implemented
the strategic and human
resources changes. Can you suggest any
improvements?
5. How can resistance to his plans and strategies be
overcome?