ThyssenKrupp Elevator Canada

INTRODUCTION During a lunchroom break, a male employee at ThyssenKrupp decided to take up a dare from a fellow colleague for $100 and the Jackass-like prank was videotaped then posted to YouTube. When it came to the attention of the HR manager and other senior management, the employee was fired for violating company policy. The employee argued in court that the organizational culture allowed such behaviour. But would the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) agree?

BACKGROUND ThyssenKrupp Elevator Canada was subcontracting elevator installation at a construction site in downtown Toronto where a large office building was being built. All the workers on the site, including those from ThyssenKrupp, and the main contractor of the site, PCL Construction, were male and the culture of the workplace was described as a “macho” environment where pranks were played. There were reportedly pictures of women and provocative calendars hanging on walls, as well as signs displaying vulgar humour. There was little concern about these as access to the building was restricted to people involved in the construction project. One of ThyssenKrupp's employees at the site was an elevator mechanic. He and several other employees engaged in what he called “picking” on each other and playing pranks to keep things light at work. They also watched pornographic scenes on a worker's iPod and episodes of the television show Jackass, which features individuals doing stupid activities on dares.

ESCALATION OF PRANK BEHAVIOUR Over a period of a few weeks, the mechanic and other employees performed more and more pranks that copied some of the ones they saw on the Jackass show. Typically these events took place in the basement lunchroom where employees gathered for breaks and meals, to change clothes, and to socialize. Soon, money was being offered on dares to do certain actions. For example, one ThyssenKrupp employee accepted a dare that involved a $60 payment—money collected from fellow employees, including three foremen. The dare involved the employee eating spoiled food found in the common refrigerator of the lunchroom. A couple of weeks after the first dare, the mechanic was observed playing with a stapler in the lunchroom on a break. One of the foremen walked in and jokingly said, “What are you going to do with that? Why don't you staple your nuts to something?” The mechanic jokingly replied that he'd do it “if you get enough money.” Though he claimed it was intended as a joke, word spread within a few hours, and soon $100 was raised among seven other ThyssenKrupp and three PCL employees. Another four people were in the lunchroom later that afternoon watching when the mechanic decided to go ahead with the staple dare. He proceeded to drop his work uniform trousers and staple his scrotum to a wooden plank, which was met by “cheering and high fives,” according to the mechanic. With the mechanic's knowledge, the prank was filmed on video. Included on-camera were all those employees present, wearing full worksite uniforms, PCL logos on hats, and TK shirt patches—all easily identifiable and recorded by a worker who was present that day. The mechanic was advised at a later date that the event was posted on YouTube. Initially, the mechanic did nothing about the YouTube posting, but eventually asked for it to be taken off the site. To ensure this was done, the mechanic went back to YouTube searching for the video clip, but couldn't find it. He assumed it had been removed, however it was not—he just didn't search correctly. In total, the video clip was assessable on YouTube for two weeks, during which time many employees in the construction industry watched it. It was during these two weeks that ThyssenKrupp became aware of the video after the HR department received an email with a link to the video, and several people discussed it with a ThyssenKrupp executive at a construction labour relations conference. Conference participants insisted the employee was from ThyssenKrupp, and they questioned how the company could allow something like that to happen during work hours. At this point, ThyssenKrupp management reviewed the video one more time and decided that the mechanic had violated its workplace harassment policy, which prohibited “practical jokes of a sexual nature which cause awkwardness or embarrassment.” The mechanic was fired for “a flagrant violation” of ThyssenKrupp's harassment policy and risking the company's reputation.

CULTURE AT FAULT Upon being fired from his job, the mechanic filed a grievance with the OLRB. He argued that dismissal was too harsh given the culture of the workplace which was accepting of that type of behaviour. He also said no one told him not to do it, no one expressed displeasure, and no one mentioned they were offended. He argued that other employees had done stunts but questioned why he was the only one disciplined for his actions. He also claimed to have never seen the workplace harassment policy, even though it was part of the orientation package.

THE DECISION In July 2011, the OLRB found the mechanic's misconduct on the employer's premises, plus his permission to record it, “patently unacceptable in almost any workplace.” The fact that his employer was easily identified in the video clip contributed to the decision. The fact that the mechanic claimed not to have known about the corporate harassment policy was irrelevant—he should have known better. The OLRB also dismissed as irrelevant that no one protested or objected to the prank during the lunch break, which the mechanic argued was “not during work hours.” The court stated that ThyssenKrupp has an interest in preventing such horseplay and stunts in the workplace. They are in a safety-sensitive industry and such employee misconduct places the firm's reputation in jeopardy. The seriousness of the mechanic's misconduct also superseded any other factors, such as his claim of being a good employee with a clean record and the argument around the culture. There was no evidence that the company was aware of other pranks, and his role as the principle offender wasn't diminished by the culture, said the board. In dismissing the mechanics grievance, the board stated, “If (ThyssenKrupp) employees want to emulate the principles of Jackass by self-abuse, they may be free to do so when they are not on the (employer's) premises and cannot be identified as being associated with (ThyssenKrupp).”

(2) Considering that the mechanic claimed that the ThyssenKrupp culture contributed to such behaviour, in your opinion, does ThyssenKrupp need to change its corporate culture? If not, why not?   

(3)  You have to take one side, either the company ThyssenKrupp or the fired employee. If you decide to represent ThyssenKrupp, then you are the defense lawyer. If you decide to represent the fired mechanic, you are the Plaintiff’s Lawyer. Present your arguments with evidences and supporting matter to the Judge.

Write research paper about:

Implementing a Performance Management System

You can follow these steps:

-Introduction

-Body – More Information

Recommendations. -

Conclusion -

References-

A Detailed Pros and Cons analysis with at least 7 Pros and 5 Cons of the Strategic Action. This section should lead with statement that, describes what the strategic action is, what primary level or secondary level strategy the action is meant to achieve, and how that fits with the firm’s Generic Strategy. Then the Pros and Cons will help you evaluate how well the strategic action fulfills the strategy. The pros and cons should not be vague positives from the book or the article but specific to your understanding of the companies involved. Use of Numbers or Bullet points are also strongly recommended for each unique pro or con.

TOPIC- On November 1, Google paid $2.1 billion to acquire Fitbit, one of the most well-known fitness tracker brands in the world

1- Create a study guide students can use as a supplement to tutoring in business/cis

research and document additional tutoring methods that can be used for various learning styles.

Document effective ways of tutoring in the online learning age.

Share multiple tutoring learning practices that can be used in future tutoring formats.

Consider finding policies and procedures for tutoring in business/cis

Finally share with me ways that can make you a better tutor.

A: Abilene paradox

After viewing the video, discuss times when you (personally and professionally) have gone to Abilene or noticed that your work group or company is on the way. Give examples of those experiences. These can be very simple every day examples, e.g. going along on a project at work you held reservations about, having a preference for where you eat dinner, but going to a place you dislike because you didn't want to hurt someone's feelings, marrying the person you didn't love, buying a car you didn't like, moving when you didn't want to (you get the point). Try to post one professional and one personal (e.g. one work setting and one life setting example) if you can. How can you stop Abilene from happening in your organization?

Abilene Paradox video clip: 3528 - De Abilene Paradox; groepsconformisme (preview)

B: Characteristics of an effective team
Briefly describe a group or team that you have been a part of that you felt was particularly effective. Determine what specific characteristics of that team made it so (e.g., group or team structured, roles, norms, etc.). Provide specific examples to support your response on techniques, theories, steps, etc..

*A complete initial discussion post answer both parts A and B.

**Please remember to include references and to extend your posts to include outside sources.

Search entries or author

1. Will online retailers, in general, experience a positive outcome in opening physical stores?

2. For what types of online retailers does opening stores make the most sense? Why?

3. Is it more challenging for traditional retailers to build an online space, or for online retailers to build a physical store presence?

A forecasting method has produced the following over the past five months. What is the mean absolute percent error? Month Actual Forecast 1 102 110 2 120 116 3 125 120 4 110 120 5 100 113

Give an account of concurrent ownership in a​ multiple-dwelling building.

In many workplaces ranging from Fortune 500 to small enterprises, workplace communication takes place over instant messaging. The leading platform in this space is Slack, a cloud-based team collaboration tool. Messages are organized by private and public channels and users can chat, share documents, browse through past messages, and collaborate with each other. Slack is solidifying the role of instant messages in the workplace and even if you end up in a company that does not use Slack, it is likely that you will end up using one of its competitors.

Slack has an interesting founding story: Stewart Butterfield, who is also a co-founder of the image hosting service Flickr, founded the video game company Tiny Speck and released the game Glitch in 2011. As part of their game development process, the company also built a team communication platform, allowing software developers to communicate with each other while building Glitch. Glitch was shut down after a year, but the company devoted itself to the full-scale development of their communication tool, which resulted in Slack. Through word of mouth, Slack acquired 16,000 users in its beta stage, and the product was fully released in 2014. Four years later, the company boasts 50,000 companies and 6 million users. The company expects to surpass e-mail use in the workplace by 2025.

Using instant messaging organized by private and public channels is changing how people communicate in the workplace, sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse. On the upside, Slack often receives feedback from users who identify as shy and introverted, stating that this tool allows them to participate more in team conversations. Anna Pickard, Creative Director of Voice and Tone, at Slack, also observes that messaging makes communication more humane and natural. Communication no longer takes place between small groups of people over e-mail. Instead, it occurs in channels that are searchable and are organized by team or topic. People can reach out to and connect with people they would not otherwise. Many companies have an "ask me anything" channel where employees may post messages and high-level managers may answer, resulting in greater transparency and accessibility to upper management, helping to create a sense of belonging.

At the same time, technology sometimes amplifies communication problems that also occur in person, and creates new ones of its own. If you have ever written a chat message and instantly regretted it, you can imagine the problems that may occur at scale in the workplace. The instantaneous nature of chat can make people less deliberate and careful about their messages. There are also examples of private feedback given in an open channel, resulting in a public shaming of an employee. Slack conversations, even if they are in private channels, can be read by the employer, and may result in adverse employment actions against the employee. There is no "forward" button on instant messages, but it is all too easy to take a screen shot of the conversation and share with others, resulting in Slack leaks, similar to e-mail leaks. Additionally, there is also user error—in e-mail it is relatively easy to find out who the recipients of the e-mail are, but on Slack, people may pay less attention to who is on that channel, and others may join the channel at a later point, suggesting that the audience for the posts will evolve and can grow over time. People may confuse which channel they are on, and post messages intended for a small group to a broad audience.

As Slack grows, it develops its own etiquette. For example, hitting "enter" after every sentence is often mentioned as a no-no, and a pet peeve of heavy users. Senders are expected to complete their message and then hit enter in one go. Other habits may result in productivity losses—spending time in private chats as opposed to working is one way in which Slack and tools like it may result in productivity losses. One company banned the use of Slack during meetings, as people were having back-channel conversations during the meeting, which was distracting and affecting engagement in the meeting. How these tools are used are shaped by the office culture, and in turn will have an impact on communication culture in the workplace.

1. If you were to create a social media policy including Slack, what types of rules would you include and why?  

2. What types of messages do you believe are appropriate to communicate via Slack? For what type of communication is this tool less useful?

3. What type of communication barriers exist when workplace communication takes place over Slack and similar sources?

4. What are the implications of Slack and similar communication tools in affecting the sense of belonging that employees experience in the workplace?

5. Based on reading this case and your general experience with similar tools, what advice would you give to an employee who will start working in a company using Slack?

1. Include the bold headings below.
2. Summary: Provide a brief summary listing the key facts in the case.
3. Case Discussion Questions: Include each question before your response. Write a detailed and researched reply to each of the Case Discussion Questions found at the end of the case study.
4. Conclusion: Write a conclusion and include a separate reference page.

Can anyone help on this?.Thanks.

List and explain the seven (7) ways MNE’s handle employee relations.

Forecasting 1. Demand data collected on yearly registrations for a Six Sigma seminar at the Quality College are shown in the following table

a. Estimate (forecast) demand again for years 4-12 with a 3-year weighted moving average in which registrations in the most recent year are given a weight of 0.50, 0.25, and 0.25.

b. Estimate (forecast) demand again for years 1-12 using exponential smoothing with a smoothing constant of 0.3. To being, assume that the forecast for year 1 was 5,000 people.

c. Compute the MAD forecasting error for each forecast. Which forecast is better?

Explain and give some examples on the change efforts for first order change and second order change in an organization.

This semester, we unexpectedly had to move classes to be 100% remote/online. Employers have had to face the same challenge of suddenly managing, motivating, and maintaining productivity with all or most of their employees working remotely/online.

1. You are now the Head of HR for Sports Marketing, a firm that works with professional sports teams on marketing and community outreach programs. You have 100 employees. 75 are in the US (spread across Boston, NYC, Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles). 25 are abroad in England, Spain, New Zealand and Morocco. As the Head of HR:

a) How will you ensure that the employees feel connected to their managers and each other?

b) How you will keep employees motivated to do their best work?

c) How you will help managers to stay connected to employees?

d) How will you keep everyone up to date on how the pandemic is affecting Sports Marketing as a company, including updates on when offices will open?

e) How you do company meetings and any other major initiatives you as Head of HR can think of?

1. National Bank (see previous problem) is considering adding a second teller to the lunch-time situation to alleviate congestion. If the second teller is added, find the following:
   1. The average teller utilization
   2. The average number of customers in line
   3. The average time a customer waits before it seeing the teller
   4. The average time a customer spends in the service system
   5. If the tellers are paid $15/hour, is it worth adding the second teller (Hint: answer the question by only looking at the single hour by comparing 1 vs. 2 people)

Write a yardstick report that examines two or more alternatives for a product, service, or program of your choice. Establish specific criteria by which to compare and evaluate the alternatives. Evaluate each alternative based on your criteria. Conclude your report with a viable recommendation.

Structure your yardstick report as follows:

1. Introduction. Open with the purpose for the report and explain how the report is organized.
2. Problem statement. Describe the background, problem, or need.
3. Solutions and alternatives. Explain possible solutions and alternatives.
4. Established criteria. Establish criteria for comparing the alternatives; explain how the criteria were selected or developed.
5. Compare alternatives. Discuss and evaluate each alternative in terms of the criteria. Use a table for comparison.
6. Conclusions and recommendations. Draw conclusions and make recommendations.
7. References. Include the sources you used in a references section at the end of the report.