Cases in Human Resource Management

David Kimball

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781506332147
• eBook ISBN: 9781506332154
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

Cases in Human Resource Management provides students with insights into common challenges, dilemmas, and issues human resource managers face in the workplace. Using a wide variety of well-known companies and organizations, author David Kimball engages students with original, real-world cases that illustrate HRM topics and functions in action. Each case is designed to encourage students to find new solutions to human resource issues and to stimulate class discussion. Case questions challenge students to think critically, apply concepts, and develop their HRM skills. The contents are organized using the same topical coverage and structure as most HRM textbooks, making Kimball the ideal companion for any introductory HRM course.

Part I 21st-Century Human Resource Management Strategic Planning and Legal Issues

• Chapter 1. The New Human Resource Management Process
• Chapter 2. Strategy-Driven Human Resource Management
• Chapter 3. The Legal Environment and Diversity Management

1 The New Human Resource Management Process

Case 1.1. The Changing Role of Human Resources in Organizations: The Curious Case of Zappos

In the 1980s, when you were interviewed or hired for a job you often met a person from the company who worked in the Personnel Office. The Personnel Office was viewed as a place where each employee filed the necessary forms to work at the company.

The Personnel Office was considered a staff management area where you learned about the policies and rules of being an employee at the company. Personnel was considered a staff management area, since they only advised line managers in some field of expertise. For example, Personnel would have consultants with specialized experience in accounting or providing input on legal issues to support the line managers that were creating the product.

Fortunately, over the years the Personnel Office became known as the Human Resources (HR) Department. HR has become a larger part of the strategic planning process in many companies. The HR manager often helps to set policies and strategies in relation to the workforce at an organization. At the same time, HR managers continue to support line managers by constantly improving areas such as finding prospective new employees, training employees, improving employee motivation, searching and evaluating lower cost and higher quality health-care benefits, providing information on retirement services, and many other activities designed to make sure employees are able to complete their jobs.

Zappos, a very successful online retailer that sells shoes mainly to women, is an example of a younger company that provides a modern approach to human resource management. The human resources department at Zappos organizes unique events to help celebrate the excitement at Zappos. To begin the process of working at Zappos, the initial job interview is often conducted in an informal atmosphere to allow the prospective employee to feel comfortable. New employees are offered $2,000 if they don’t want to stay with the company. Very few employees decide to leave the company since they are excited to work for Zappos and their exciting CEO Tony Heish. 1

Zappos has been so successful that it was purchased by Amazon in 2009 for over $807 million. Zappos runs independently of Amazon to protect its unique human resources department. 2

Rebecca Henry is the former director of human resources for Zappos. She believes the company consciously decides what the corporate culture needs to look like based on ten core values. Each new employee is trained by an HR person on each of the following ten values:

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and a Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous
5. Be Creative and Open-Minded
6. Pursue Growth and Learning
7. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
8. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
9. Do More With Less
10. Be Passionate and Determined, Be Humble 3

The HR Department works with upper-level management to develop employee job descriptions, the hiring process, on-the-job training, and the day-to-day work environment based on these unique core values.

Zappos is always exploring new ideas to improve its human resources process. For example, to improve the recruiting process, it has developed a social network known as Zappos Insiders. Zappos Insiders allows prospective employees to interact with current employees to see if they would be a good fit with the creative culture at Zappos. 4

Tony Heish’s latest idea is to make sure the people working at Zappos are truly motivated to work at his company. All employees were offered the option to leave the company with a severance package if they didn’t want to participate in a self-management program. Self-management is a newer management idea that is based on having agile workers. Employees learn to manage themselves and move from job to job instead of staying with a single static job. The goal is for employees to give up traditional job titles and work on multiple tasks, rather than at a specific job. An employee’s job is constantly changing instead of being static.

Overall, 220 employees (14%) took the severance package offered by Heish to weed out employees who wanted to change companies, who were ready for retirement, or decided to leave for their own reasons. However, that also means 84 percent of the remaining employees are employees who are motivated to make Zappos an even more successful online retailer. 5

Case Questions

1. Should Tony Heish be concerned that a large number of managers and employees might reject self-management, leave the company, and accept a severance package?
2. What benefits or incentives do employees experience at Zappos that make them want to stay with the company?
3. Does it appear the Human Resources Department at Zappos is a staff or a line area?
4. Does human resources at Zappos create revenue for the organization?
5. If you were the HR manager at Zappos, would you support the Zappos Insider program as a reliable source of acquiring new prospective employees?

Case 1.2. HRM Careers: Five Growing Areas of Human Resources

What does it mean if you say you want to work in human resources? Actually, if you can show a desire to work in HR, that is great! Too many students lack a focus on what they specifically want to do for a job and a career. So, being able to say one wants to work in HR shows that a student has scoped out an area he or she would like to learn more about and gain experience in.

A person who would like to work in human resources can expect to work closely with the other people in the organization. Thus, an HR employee needs to have good people skills, as the HR job will be to take the lead in the management and maintenance of the organization’s people. The HR person might find his or her job to be as delightful as helping employees who have a new baby in their family or as sad as helping with employees who leave the company, are laid off from the company, or even pass away.

Human Resources employees are increasingly asked to see the big picture of the organization. They need to know where the company is going so they can hire the appropriate people to fill those positions. For example, if a supermarket chain decided to add gasoline stations to its stores, then the company might need to hire a person who had experience in gasoline sales instead of—or along with—knowledge of food sales.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS.gov) provides data on human resource management jobs for the 2012 to 2022 range. Median pay in the field of human resources is expected to be just under $100,000 per year, or $47.94 per hour. The data are based on a person having a bachelor’s degree and 5 years of related work experience. Job growth over the 10-year period is expected to be 13 percent, which is considered as fast as the average growth in all occupations. The average job rate in all occupations is expected to be 11 percent. 6

HR jobs can be classified as either generalist or specialist. An HR generalist may operate in many different areas of the discipline. A specialist focuses on a specific discipline of HR. Many smaller organizations have only one or two employees in their HR office. The HR employees will have to be generalists inasmuch as they will have to help employees in many different areas.

The following are the human resources positions that are expected to grow in the next five years:

1. Compensation and Benefits Managers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS.gov) explains that these managers plan, direct, and coordinate how much an organization pays its employees and how employees are paid. Benefits managers plan, direct, and coordinate retirement plans, health insurance, and other benefits that an organization offers its employees. For example, employees can select a health-care plan for their family from the benefit manager. Employees will then periodically ask questions about their plan throughout the year. The benefits manager will end up answering questions regarding the deductible level in the plan, which the family must pay before most medical services are free. One plan, for example, may have a $4,000 deductible. That amount of medical care money must be spent before services are reimbursed. Employees can also ask the benefits expert for help with purchasing medical supplies via mail order instead of using a local pharmacist. Salaries can range from $48,000 to $98,000, depending on where you live.
2. Training and Development Specialists. The median wage for trainers was $56,000 in 2012. Training and development is the area of the company where employees receive education. Trainers need to have good communication skills, as they lead training sessions on topics such as leadership, teamwork, and product-specific information. 7
3. Employment, Recruitment, and Staffing Specialists. These HR workers are employment specialists who screen, recruit, interview, and place workers. The goal of staffing specialists is to get talented people interested in working for their company. Mean wages are around $63,000 a year.
4. Human Resources Information (HRIS) Analysts. This person uses computer skills to help ensure the data within the human resources department. They ensure the integrity of the data, testing of system changes, and analysis of data flows for process improvement.
5. Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) Managers. Many small to large businesses have an EAP program to help employees with their perso...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Publisher Note
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Brief Contents
• Detailed Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Part I 21st-Century Human Resource Management Strategic Planning and Legal Issues
• 1 The New Human Resource Management Process
• 2 Strategy-Driven Human Resource Management
• 3 The Legal Environment and Diversity Management
• Part II Staffing
• 4 Matching Employees and Jobs Job Analysis and Design
• 5 Recruiting Job Candidates
• 6 Selecting New Employees
• Part III Developing and Managing
• 7 Training, Learning, Talent Management, and Development
• 8 Performance Management and Appraisal
• 9 Rights and Employee Management
• 10 Employee and Labor Relations
• Part IV Compensating
• 11 Compensation Management
• 12 Incentive Pay
• 13 Employee Benefits
• Part V Protecting and Expanding Organizational Reach
• 14 Workplace Safety, Health, and Security
• 15 Organizational Ethics, Sustainability, and Social Responsibility
• 16 Global Issues for Human Resource Managers