14 Discussion Questions

Question 1

David Perkins, left a successful career in the NFL after two head injuries his doctors recommended for his safety to leave the sport if he wanted to live past the age of 30.  David not one who sits around without anything to do decides to open a sports bar, The Wing Shack  After 5 years the restaurant concept gained momentum and he was opening his fifth restaurant in the Michigan area.  David is proud of himself being socially responsible for creating jobs in the community and feeding the homeless. If David is doing so well he shouldn’t be sitting in his attorney’s office spending money he could be using to help his community on as David expressed an unwarranted lawsuit. David is being sued for discrimination by two waitresses from Roseville, Michigan:  Mindy Simpson and Laura Walker. Simpson received positive performance evaluations and was promoted to shift supervisor within 6 months of being hired.  However, in her last evaluation Simpson who is 5’8” says she was advised by her manager to lose weight and join a gym, she was given 30 days to lose weight despite her losing 13 pounds on her own after working on the job for 2 months.  After the 30 day period of not losing weight she was fired.

Walker on the other hand, who is 4’10’ and weighs 120 pounds says she was put on weight probation and then fired even though she lost 20 pounds.

David gives his attorney his side of the story, “I run a successful business and pride myself on hiring women who fit the image of a sports bar.  I give guidelines on my website about hair, eyes, skin, makeup and exercise.  All of my female wait staff have to attend image classes and pass the exam.  Employees are hired based on the image you have when they are hired.”  Please respond to the following questions and give your reason for each position you share

· The woman are suing because they are being fired for being too heavy, is that illegal under state and federal law?

· Is David’s claim the woman were fired because the image of the Wing Shack that is central to his business which allows him to discipline and fire waitress for not maintaining the image he wants to uphold for the sports bar accurate?

· Mindy further claims since giving birth to her two month old son, she has had problems maintaining her weight.  In other words having children changes a woman’s physique, making it more difficult to return to one’s pre-baby weight.  Could she possibly have a legal case on the basis of the Americans with Disability Act?

Question 2

Organizations  have to develop an international Human Resources Management Strategy, when they expand globally.  Which do you think is more critical for international Human Resource Management:

· Understanding the cultural environment, or

· Understanding the political and legal environment?

Please choose (1) position and give a rationale; examples are also a way to demonstrate your understanding of the learning concepts.

Question 3

Two Olympic Gold Medalist in skiing married in 2014, Jason and LeAnn Benson opened Adventurers and Explorers (A&E) outdoor sporting store that sales gear and clothing.  The couple’s concept is different than many of the other sporting goods stores, they design and sell their own lines of specialized products.  LeAnn’s focus is on the design of products and Jason’s focus is on the financials; therefore, no one is worrying about the organizational policies or controls.

Jason and LeAnn encourages their employees to continue their favorite outdoor sport from skiing, mountain climbing, white-water rafting, etc. Employees are given two weeks of paid vacation. However, many employees were allowed to take up to two months off at half pay so they could fulfill their life-long dreams.  Samantha just returned from a successful climb of Mount Everest.  Beth will use her two months off to backpack around Europe. Around the office there was a joke of having the weekend flu where employees would take (Friday-Monday off) to enjoy the outdoors.  The office often ran below staffing levels depending on the season. In addition, because Jason and LeAnn were Gold Medalist they attract more employees who are interested in skiing.  The skiers want time off during the peak season.  This is also the peak time for A&E orders and service requests.

In the last three (3) years the company has grown from 30 employees to 100.  Jason and LeAnn need advice on controlling the daily staffing levels so A&E are able to meet or exceed customer expectations for responsiveness without sacrificing its own identity as a company.  Choose one of the issues facing A&E and propose a solution and rationale for your response.

· Paid vacation along with the most valuable times for vacation (peak season time off)

· Attendance Issue-The Weekend Flu (Friday-Monday)

· A&E needs to know whether customers are satisfied with the products and responsive to their needs as outdoor enthusiasts

Question 4

Organizations have to ensure they find the best candidate for the job among a pool of many applicants.  Which of the basic selection criteria do you feel is the most critical in hiring?  Give a rationale for your decision along with examples.

· Education and experience

· Skills and abilities

· Personal Characteristics

· Hiring for fit

Question 5

Choose whether you believe a company should hire for diversity or the best qualified individual.  Explain your rationale.  Determine how your current (or future) place of work could benefit from a diverse workforce.

Question 6

Managers are often times overwhelmed with their day-to-day activities and postpone important aspects of their jobs including performance appraisals. What is the purpose of performance appraisals within organization?  Do you think performance appraisals are effective? Give a reason for your position. What components should be included in a performance appraisal?

Question 7

Three months ago, you decided to hire freelance workers because the company was overloaded by the amount of data processing due to the growth of the company.  Today is the last Friday of the month and you have to process the invoices from the freelance workers. The freelance workers are doing an excellent job processing the invoices; however, the amount of hours used to complete the work increases each month.  Last month, the freelancers timesheet showed they spent an average 18 hours to go through the data for one client.  This month, the freelancers spent an average of 25 hours per account.  This is troubling since it took in-house processing 5-7 hours to go through the data for one client.  The most inexperienced employee on the team took 9 hours to process one client’s account.

You discussed with another manager the situation and he suggested using a software program called EyeSpy that takes pictures of freelancers computer screens, records keystrokes and mouse clicks periodically throughout the day.  At the end of each week, you can drill down by worker their productivity to give you an accurate report of whose doing what while on the clock.

· Should the company be allowed to install the EyeSpy software to monitor performance?  If not what are other suggestions on finding out why there are variations in the freelancers timesheet.

· Is it legal for organizations to monitor the performance of its employee’s without telling them.  Why or why not?

Question 8

Your company promoted you to a management position in the new research facility in India.  Surprisingly you have adjusted to the new culture, language and navigating the city since you have never lived outside the country. You arrive to work early to get a jump start of your day and noticed on the payroll report there are a few employees who have taken an occasional three-day weekend; however, none of the employees have taken a full week off.  You know from previous management training classes overworked employees are more prone to stress related health issues and less safe at work plus you have to think about the company’s bottom-line. You want your employees to take more time off work to enjoy time with friends and family but how? Please respond to the following questions.

· Which motivation theory(s) do you think would help communicate the importance of vacation time to your employees?

· How would you convince your employees taking time off work is more beneficial for them and the company?

Question 9

Among the many challenges managers face they have to provide accurate, timely and effective feedback to employees.  As a manager how will you ensure you are giving employees the feedback they need to be successful on the job while still carrying out the strategic plan of the organization.  You are a district manager who manage 25 employees in the Southeast: South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. You try to see your managers once a month but when there are issues you have to constantly change your plans.Please respond to the following questions?

· How will you connect with your managers when you don’t see them on a daily basis?

· How do you monitor performance and give feedback both positive and negative?

Question 10

Take a moment to reflect on your knowledge of human resource management prior to taking this course and what you have learned during the 10 Weeks of the course.  Chose one of the concepts below and how you plan to apply them to your current or future position.

· The Human Resource Management process

· The Legal HR Environment

· How HR fits into the overall business level strategy of the organization?

Question 11

1. Select one (1) of the approved topics from the www.procon.org Website and state your position on the issue.

2. From the Procon.org Website, identify three (3) premises (reasons) listed under either the Pro or Con section — whichever section opposes your position.

3. For the three (3) premises (reasons) that oppose your position on the issue, answer these “believing” questions suggested by Elbow:

o What’s interesting or helpful about this view?

o What would I notice if I believed this view?

o In what sense or under what conditions might this idea be true?”

o

Question 12

Use the Internet to search for an example of an enthymeme in the media (e.g., Internet, television, radio, newspapers, etc.).

· You may find an op-ed, political piece, advertising, et cetera.

· Identify the implied premise in the enthymeme.

· Why did you choose this example?

Question 13

There are several types of fallacies – equivocation, false authority, ad hominem, appeal to ignorance, and bandwagon. Please provide two (2) different examples of advertising that show any of the above topics. Which of the above fallacies is used in each advertisement? Why do you think the advertisers used that fallacy in the ad? Did the advertisers use the fallacy effectively? If you were an advertiser, what would you have done differently to better use the fallacy?

Question 14

Find an online article (news, magazine, journal, etc.) on any subject that interests you that uses statistics to make its conclusion. Share a link in this thread.

Now answser these questions about that article:

· What is the premise and conclusion of the argument based on statistics?

· Determine whether or not the argument uses any deceptive statistics.

· Give your opinion on whether or not the argument has persuaded you. Explain why or not.

· Determine the primary ways in which statistics or authority are used in your current position in developing persuasive arguments and provide examples here.

 

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