you have been the human resources manager for Human Solutions Software for six months. These first six months have been
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 12:44 pm
you have been the human resources manager for Human Solutions
Software for six months. These first six months have been difficult
at times, with you needing to develop your credibility with the
people who work for HSS. There have been some major changes at HSS
since you became the human resources manager. A West Coast branch
office, which has 25 new employees, has been set up for HSS in
Portland, Oregon; and the former chief of operations has moved to
Portland to head that new office. HSS has also received a major
contract with a German firm. That contract is being managed from
the main office in Maryland now, but a European branch office will
be opened in the next few months. The German contract has led to
the hiring of an additional six employees at HSS headquarters, with
four of those employees planning to move to Europe when the branch
office opens there. HSS has also received several new contracts,
mostly with private firms, that have led to an additional expansion
of 18 more employees at the HSS headquarters. This means that HSS
has expanded from 65 employees, when you first started as the human
resources manager, to 114 employees now. As human resources manager
you have hired a consultant who has conducted job analyses for all
the present positions at HSS. The founders at HSS have finally
begun work on a strategic plan for the organization and see you as
one of the lead people in developing that plan. You have also set
up standardized recruiting and staffing procedures that have been
used to hire many of the new employees at HSS. The hardest part of
your job has been convincing several of the founders that these
changes were needed. The demands of the organizations that HSS
contracts with, and several threatened lawsuits by potential or
former employees, have helped you to get these changes approved by
the board. You have accomplished all of this with only one clerical
person to help you. Recently you have been putting pressure on the
board to hire two human resources generalists to help you in your
tasks. You have justified this expense by the money that the
organization can save by avoiding lawsuits, by doing more training
internally, and by being more efficient in recruiting and staffing
positions. Two months ago you submitted a plan for reorganizing HSS
based on the job analyses. This structure included a traditional
board of directors (made up of the five founders), a president/CEO,
five vice presidents (finance, operations, marketing, technical
services, and human resources). This morning you found out that,
with a few minor revisions, your plan has been accepted. You will
be the new vice president of human resources with the two human
resource generalist positions being approved also. The founders
have also given you the responsibility to supervise the five
personnel who administer and provide quality control for contracts
that HSS has. While you are excited about your new position and the
success of HSS, you are aware of all the work that is ahead of you
now. You see HSS as an organization that must be led into being a
more mature organization, with more established employee policies.
One of the first things that you plan to have your new HR
generalists do is to work on organizing all of the employee
policies at HSS into an employee handbook. You also feel a need to
update and review the benefits policies for employees. Scenario 1
One of the many things on your list of things to be done to help
bring HSS into being a more mature organization is to implement a
formal performance appraisal system. The acting head of software
development advises you that she wants to develop an effective
performance appraisal system for her department. She remembers,
from having taken a human resource management class as an
undergraduate, that there are a number of different ways to measure
performance and she wants your guidance in selecting one. She also
wants to make sure that the method chosen to measure performance
fits the technical nature of the workers she supervises who work in
teams. Knowing what an individualistic society the USA is, she
suggests there be an individual and a team component.
B) Answer/discuss the following: 1) What information will need
to be gathered to develop the new appraisal system; 2) How you will
make the performance appraisal job-related and valid; and 3) How
you will mitigate the risk of rater errors when evaluating
performance.
Software for six months. These first six months have been difficult
at times, with you needing to develop your credibility with the
people who work for HSS. There have been some major changes at HSS
since you became the human resources manager. A West Coast branch
office, which has 25 new employees, has been set up for HSS in
Portland, Oregon; and the former chief of operations has moved to
Portland to head that new office. HSS has also received a major
contract with a German firm. That contract is being managed from
the main office in Maryland now, but a European branch office will
be opened in the next few months. The German contract has led to
the hiring of an additional six employees at HSS headquarters, with
four of those employees planning to move to Europe when the branch
office opens there. HSS has also received several new contracts,
mostly with private firms, that have led to an additional expansion
of 18 more employees at the HSS headquarters. This means that HSS
has expanded from 65 employees, when you first started as the human
resources manager, to 114 employees now. As human resources manager
you have hired a consultant who has conducted job analyses for all
the present positions at HSS. The founders at HSS have finally
begun work on a strategic plan for the organization and see you as
one of the lead people in developing that plan. You have also set
up standardized recruiting and staffing procedures that have been
used to hire many of the new employees at HSS. The hardest part of
your job has been convincing several of the founders that these
changes were needed. The demands of the organizations that HSS
contracts with, and several threatened lawsuits by potential or
former employees, have helped you to get these changes approved by
the board. You have accomplished all of this with only one clerical
person to help you. Recently you have been putting pressure on the
board to hire two human resources generalists to help you in your
tasks. You have justified this expense by the money that the
organization can save by avoiding lawsuits, by doing more training
internally, and by being more efficient in recruiting and staffing
positions. Two months ago you submitted a plan for reorganizing HSS
based on the job analyses. This structure included a traditional
board of directors (made up of the five founders), a president/CEO,
five vice presidents (finance, operations, marketing, technical
services, and human resources). This morning you found out that,
with a few minor revisions, your plan has been accepted. You will
be the new vice president of human resources with the two human
resource generalist positions being approved also. The founders
have also given you the responsibility to supervise the five
personnel who administer and provide quality control for contracts
that HSS has. While you are excited about your new position and the
success of HSS, you are aware of all the work that is ahead of you
now. You see HSS as an organization that must be led into being a
more mature organization, with more established employee policies.
One of the first things that you plan to have your new HR
generalists do is to work on organizing all of the employee
policies at HSS into an employee handbook. You also feel a need to
update and review the benefits policies for employees. Scenario 1
One of the many things on your list of things to be done to help
bring HSS into being a more mature organization is to implement a
formal performance appraisal system. The acting head of software
development advises you that she wants to develop an effective
performance appraisal system for her department. She remembers,
from having taken a human resource management class as an
undergraduate, that there are a number of different ways to measure
performance and she wants your guidance in selecting one. She also
wants to make sure that the method chosen to measure performance
fits the technical nature of the workers she supervises who work in
teams. Knowing what an individualistic society the USA is, she
suggests there be an individual and a team component.
B) Answer/discuss the following: 1) What information will need
to be gathered to develop the new appraisal system; 2) How you will
make the performance appraisal job-related and valid; and 3) How
you will mitigate the risk of rater errors when evaluating
performance.