Archive for month: November, 2023

75-150 words please.

Jim Poss Case, pages 107-120 in the text His company, Seahorse Power Company, is an engineering startup specializing in environmentally friendly methods of power generation.

Poss had designed and done initial test marketing of a trash compactor, designed to reduce the frequency and energy expense of trash collection. The case discusses the opportunity and the technology and poses the following questions:

1.    Apply the Timmons entrepreneurship framework (entrepreneur-opportunity-resources) to analyze this case

2.    Discuss Jim Poss’ fundraising strategies. What other options might be considered for raising the funds SPC needs? Is this a good investment?

3.    Discuss the growth strategy. What additional market(s) should Poss pursue?

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Strategy Decisions, Alignment, and Change

Share your organization’s mission and vision (or an organization’s mission and vision with which you are familiar). Evaluate how well aligned recent organizational changes are with the vision and mission of the organization. What strategies would you recommend as a change leader or change agent to ensure future alignment with any change initiatives?

• -Embed course material concepts, principles, and theories, which require supporting citations, along with at least two scholarly peer-reviewed references in supporting your answer. Keep in mind that these scholarly references can be found in the  Digital by conducting an advanced search specific to scholarly references.
• Answering all course questions is also required.
• Use APA style guidelines.

Required readings:

• Review Chapter 7 in Implementing Organizational Change
• Al. Othman, F. A., & Sohaib, O. (2016). Enhancing innovative capability and sustainability of Saudi firms.Sustainability, 8(12), 1-16.
• Parveen, M., Maimani, K., & Javaid, S. (2017). An experimental study of Saudi entrepreneurs who owned small and medium enterprises in Saudi Arabia. International Review of Management and Business Research, 6(1), 257-273.

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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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Answer each case question according to the information given in the case.

Each answer should be between 150-200 words.

1. Understanding Your Employee Benefits: Qualifying for Unemployment Benefits

During the three years that you have worked at your current company, the company has had some success, but mostly, it has not done well. The most recent downturn in business has made you concerned about the future of the company. Several employees who work in your department were laid off in the past six months due to lack of work, and you are concerned that you may be next on the list. It seems that others feel the same way, as company morale is at an all-time low. In fact, the overall company morale, coupled with the poor attitude of your supervisor, is making your job miserable. You aren’t sure if it is worthwhile at this point to try to stick it out.

Every day you dread getting up and going to work. Your supervisor is frustrated about trying to get work done with a lean staff, and you feel that he is taking it out on you. He criticizes you constantly and sometimes makes it seem that it is your fault that things are going so poorly. He has mentioned several times that the department will likely be closed within the year. You know that he is under a great deal of stress, given the impending lay offs, but the situation is becoming unbearable. You still show up to work and do your best, but you’re not sure how much longer you can do it. It seems inevitable that you will lose your job, so you are starting to think that it might be a better idea to resign your position now.

You know that you are going to need to look for a new job soon, regardless of what you do, but it is hard to even think about a job search while you are working full time. You are thinking that maybe quitting your job now will relieve some stress and give you the time you need to conduct a job search. However, you rely on your weekly paycheck, and you aren’t sure what you will do if it takes you very long to find a new job. A former coworker who was laid off last year told you that the unemployment insurance payment that he received helped bridge the gap between the lay off and finding a new job. After a one-week waiting period, he received a weekly benefit that helped him pay his bills until he found another job. As the job market is uncertain, you think that you need the support of unemployment insurance to sustain yourself until you find another job.

You are pretty sure that you will be eligible for unemployment insurance if your company does ultimately lay you off. However, you’re not sure if you can still qualify for unemployment insurance if you resign. If you are able to collect unemployment insurance,214you would like to quit soon so that you can move on with your job search, and you must do some research to understand the unemployment insurance benefit.

1. Are you eligible to receive unemployment if you resign?

2. Should you resign or wait to find out if and when you are laid off?

2. Managing Employee Benefits: Social Security and Retirement Planning at Taylor Foods

As Gavin Jackson leaves the monthly professional luncheon for human resource executives in his area, he starts to consider how the information he learned will affect his company, Taylor Foods. The program speaker provided an update on the Social Security system and how challenges in financing the system may affect organizations. As the director of human resources at this large food-processing and distribution company, Gavin must plan the retirement benefits for the organization’s employees. Gavin had been aware that the Social Security system is in trouble, but now has some clear ideas about how it will affect both the retirement benefits offered by Taylor Foods and the retirement plans of its employees.

Gavin learned that the current Social Security system is unstable and that the future of benefits to be provided is uncertain. In particular, the Old-Age, Survivor, and Disability Insurance (OASDI), which provides retirement benefit payments to retired workers, is under a strain. Retirement benefits comprise a majority of the payments made by the Social Security system, and the instability of the system suggests that current workers may not be able to rely on the Social Security system as it exists today to support them in retirement. Gavin knows that this information affects the retirement benefit planning at Taylor Foods.

The speaker also noted that employees retiring in the relatively near future may base their retirement decisions to some extent on the Social Security benefits available to them. While employees may receive their retirement benefits from Social Security starting at age 62, the amount is reduced if they haven’t reached the full retirement age, which is determined based on year of birth. For example, the age for full retirement is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. Further, the system contains other incentives to encourage individuals to delay retirement. This is important to Taylor Foods, as the age at which employees plan to retire affects the company’s human resource planning process. Annually, Gavin creates staffing plans that include estimates for turnover of employees, and employee retirements are included in those estimates. This information, coupled with a current downturn in the economy, leads Gavin to believe that Taylor Foods may experience a lower level of turnover as employees delay retirement.

Gavin is considering both of these issues as he considers retirement benefits, as well as staffing planning at Taylor Foods. While the company currently offers a competitive retirement plan, he knows that he needs to reexamine the benefits in the context of his new understanding of the Social Security system. He also needs to consider how employees planning to delay retirement will affect the organization and the human resource planning process.

1. How does the instability of the Social Security system affect retirement benefit planning at Taylor Foods?

2. Should Gavin consider the possibility of employees delaying retirement in the company’s human resource planning process?

1. Understanding Your Employee Benefits: The Decision to Work from Home

As you make the nearly hour-long commute home from your job at your company’s downtown office, you think about today’s announcement with some excitement. The director of human resources introduced a new company policy that permits employees to apply to telecommute. The company is doing well and is hiring new workers. As a result, management recently reviewed company policies and practices to accommodate the needs of the growing workforce. The company is looking to save some facility costs and also respond to employee requests for more flexible work options. The company will allow people in certain positions, including yours, to work from home either full time or a just a few days each week.

With high gas prices, daily parking expenses, and the logistics challenges that the two hours a day you spend commuting causes, you see this as a great opportunity. You have two children, and, although they are in school full time, it is almost impossible for you to attend your children’s special events at school without taking a full day off and using one of your limited vacation days. Further, when your children get sick, you have to use a sick day to stay at home taking care of them and not working.

The new company policy states that employees who telecommute must use their own computers and provide evidence that they have a safe and quiet work environment. The company will provide you with any other work supplies that you need. All of the information you need to do your job is available to you via an online connection, so the transition to working at home should be fairly easy. You already have an office at home with a computer, so you could begin telecommuting as soon as your request is approved.

It seems like the perfect solution to your daily challenges, but you worry about how telecommuting will affect your career. You’ve heard from others that old adage, “out of sight, out of mind” and have concerns about your chances for future promotions if you aren’t in the239office every day. Further, you have high productivity expectations and you consider whether working at home alone will allow you to work harder, as you would not have the typical office distractions, or whether you would be distracted by work that needs to be done around the house. You also think that you might feel somewhat isolated, as you generally are a social person and enjoy seeing your coworkers each day. As you consider some of the negatives of telecommuting, your excitement wears off, and you aren’t sure what you should do.

1. Should you apply to telecommute? If so, should you pursue a part-time or full-time work-at-home arrangement?

2. If you do telecommute, what can you do to make sure that the arrangement does not negatively impact your career? Are there any other concerns you should have?

2. Managing Employee Benefits: Transitioning to a Paid Time-Off Bank

Human Resources Manager Stan Gomez finds that he is spending a lot of time talking with supervisors about employee absences. Stan is the Human Resource Manager works for Custom Call Services, a contract customer service-call center that provides year-round online and telephone service to the customers of a wide variety of clients. Staffing levels are essential to meet the demanding level of calls and inquiries the center receives each day. The company offers paid time-off options to its employees to allow them to balance work and nonwork interests. A goal of the time-off program is to keep unscheduled absences to a minimum in order to keep productivity and service quality high. Unscheduled absences create a problem, as the company has to cover the workload of the absent employee with little advance notice.

Custom Call Center offers a generous paid time-off program to allow employees to have time off to rest and relax, to meet personal obligations, and to manage unexpected illnesses. Currently, employees receive 10 vacation days, 3 personal days, and 5 sick days per year. Due to the nature of the business and the need to provide service to clients every day, the company does not close on any holidays. Thus, in addition to other time-off benefits, the company provides seven floating holidays and encourages employees to take these on or near traditional holidays.

The time-off program currently creates some challenges for the company. While the company uses an automated system to track employees’ time off, supervisors still need to record and properly allocate time off as it is taken. This requires the supervisors to know the reasons for each absence and the scheduling policy for each type of absence. For example, employees must schedule vacation and floating holidays in advance. They are encouraged to schedule personal days in advance, but personal days may be taken without advance notice if necessary. Finally, sick days do not require advance notice, but they may require a doctor’s note if an employee uses a few days in a row, or if the supervisor questions the need for the absence.

The sick days create the most challenges for supervisors, as sick days are typically taken without advance notice. Many supervisors suspect that not all last-minute call-offs are necessary. Some employees have admitted that they use sick days even if they are not sick when they have exhausted all of their other time-off options. Essentially, they plan to take a day off, but because the policy does not allow them to schedule sick days in advance, they call off shortly before they are scheduled to work. As a result, supervisors must quickly arrange to cover those shifts.

To overcome these challenges, Stan is considering transitioning the company to an integrated paid time-off (PTO) policy in which all time off is grouped into one bank. Instead240of the current time-off allotments, the company would offer 25 PTO days each year. Under this policy, employees could still call off on the same day due to illness, but they would be encouraged to schedule most of their time off in advance. Further, supervisors would not need to know the reasons for the absences; they only would need to track the number of days taken off by employees. Stan thinks that the PTO bank would eliminate many unscheduled absences and ease the administrative burden of the company’s current time-off policies.

1. Should Custom Call Services switch to a PTO policy? What are the pros and cons of doing so?

2. If Custom Call Services does transition to a PTO policy, what are some things that Stan should consider including in the policy to address concerns about absenteeism?

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