Question

Case Study - Part 1 of 3

You are the newly hired HR Manager for a small chain of locally owned coffee shops that has grown from 4 shops a year ago to now operating 10 stores across Calgary as well as a main central office for administration (accounting, marketing, legal, supply chain, IT and HR functions). As your first objective, the owner has indicated that they want you to review the current compensation program to ensure that it is “competitive”. What are 2 internal factors and 2 external factors that you would need to consider as part of your review. Please provide a brief explanation of each factor and its relevance to be considered for full marks (4 points)

Case Study - Part 2 of 3

In doing your initial rounds of the stores as part of your orientation, a number of staff have complained’ that there doesn’t seem to be a clear or consistent process that all managers follow regarding performance management. When you shared this initial feedback with the owner, their initial reaction was that they’ve always felt more comfortable just dealing with issues as they came up, but that they would like you to schedule a meeting with them to talk about this in more detail. In preparing for this meeting, identify 3 advantages of a properly designed performance management system (3 points), the 6 key components/steps of an effective performance management system (6 points), and 2 pitfalls to avoid in designing/implementing the system (1 point) (10 points total)

Case Study - Part 3 of 3

One of the Store Managers has called you to discuss an employee issue. Specifically, it was brought to her attention that one of her staff (Shelly Smith) has been writing a personal blog where she has posted various vignettes from her daily work life. One such example is as follows: “‘Bob’ (not his real name) is a nice guy - easygoing, fun, good natured, easy to talk with - and always great with the customers (he’s such a flirt, no wonder he’s been through more relationships and breakups than I can count), and is ALWAYS up for a party after hours (with the amount of partying he does, and his ‘reputation’ (wink, wink) I can’t understand why anyone with half a brain would consider going out with him!!) But honestly, management seems oblivious (or is yet another victim of his ‘charm’). I’m really not sure what’s worse…….the numerous incidents of him being late/absent, or the days he decides to drag himself in to work (breath mint and a comb anyone?? LOL). Anyways, nice guy but I wouldn't go near him with a ten-foot pole!!”. Your manager wants to know what to do next and whether she has grounds to fire her. What are the 4 factors to consider in determining whether you have ‘just cause’ and what do you advise your manager to do next (6 points total)

Answer 1

PART 1 OF 3

First, let's understand what competative compensation is.

It simply means compensation that is comparable to other jobs that prevails in the market. HR managers are the ones that go deep into the this topics as they have many such a factors whichthey have to consider.

Some of these factors are as follows:

Internal factors

Experience: the more experience and education a candidate has, the higher their compensation.

Skill set: the emplyees' skill set is also one of the factors which determines pay.

External factors

Location: one of the main reasons why salaries in large urban areas are generally higher than salaries for similar positions in rural locations.

Industry: even the same job title can expect different wages depending on what industry they are at.

PART 2 OF 3

Advantages of a good PMS is as follows:

morale: morale should would improve making the workplace more pleasant and output per/hr worked should increase cutting labor costs in a significant rate.

Identifing risks: The employee and the organization should benefit from an early end to a bad situation by figuring out what went wrong early on.