Gleason & Co. is a mid-sized construction company located in London, Ontario. Four weeks ago, the company was awarded a $2,000,000 federal government contract to renovate a secondary school. Gleason & Co. currently employs 195 employees already working to maximum capacity, so Management has decided to create a department that will be solely responsible for the federal government contract. This will mean a company expansion with 30 new employees joining the organization. You have been given the task of leading the hiring team for the new division.   

There have been many changes in the field of HR since the company last expanded, and Management has expressed concerns that some of the people assigned to your team are not as knowledgeable about Recruitment and Selection as they should be. Management has requested that you begin by educating your team members in the most up-to-date Recruitment and Selection methods.

1. You have decided to use a Situational Interview (SI) format in interviewing the job applicants.

a) Explain the nature and importance of a SI to your team.

b) One of the company’s core competencies is “Teamwork”. Develop a SI question (including a dilemma) that could be used in an interview to test for this competency.

c) Develop a scoring guide that could be used to score the above SI question.

2. Traditionally, Gleason & Co. used an unstructured interview approach, combined with pure judgmental decision making. You want your team to use structured interviews. Develop a short (max. one page) communication addressed to the managers and explain to them the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of their past approach and the structured approach. Focus on a few (3-4) most important components of structured interviews and explain in detail how they contribute to the employment interview structure.

Morning Sky, Inc. (MSI), manufactures and sells computer games. The company has several product lines based on the age range of the target market. MSI sells both individual games as well as packaged sets. All games are in CD format, and some utilize accessories such as steering wheels, electronic tablets, and hand controls. To date, MSI has developed and manufactured all the CDs itself as well as the accessories and packaging for all of its products.

The gaming market has traditionally been targeted at teenagers and young adults; however, the increasing affordability of computers and the incorporation of computer activities into junior high and elementary school curriculums has led to a significant increase in sales to younger children. MSI has always included games for younger children but now wants to expand its business to capitalize on changes in the industry. The company currently has excess capacity and is investigating several possible ways to improve profitability.

MSI is considering eliminating a product from its ToddleTown Tours collection. This collection is aimed at children one to three years of age and includes “tours” of a hypothetical town. Two products, The Pet Store Parade and The Grocery Getaway, have impressive sales. However, sales for the third CD in the collection, The Post Office Polka, have lagged the others. Several other CDs are planned for this collection, but none is ready for production.

MSI’s information related to the ToddleTown Tours collection follows:

      
*Allocated based on total sales dollars.

MSI has determined that elimination of the Post Office Polka (POP) program would not impact sales of the other two items. The remaining fixed overhead currently allocated to the POP product would be redistributed to the remaining two products.

Required:
1. Calculate the incremental effect on profit if the POP product is eliminated:



2. Should MSI drop the POP product?

3-a. Calculate the incremental effect on profit if the POP product is eliminated. Suppose that $1,200 of the common fixed costs could be avoided if the POP product line were eliminated:



3-b. Should MSI drop the POP product?

ABC

ABC, Channel 6, is located in Eugene, Oregon, home of the University of Oregon’s football team. The station was owned and operated by George Wilcox, a former Duck (University of Oregon football player). Although there were other television stations in Eugene, ABC was the only station that had a weatherperson who was a member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Every night, Joe Hummel would be introduced as the only weatherperson in Eugene who was a member of the AMS. This was George’s idea, and he believed that this gave his station the mark of quality and helped with market share.

In addition to being a member of AMS, Joe was also the most popular person on any of the local news programs. Joe was always trying to find innovative ways to make the weather interesting, and this was especially difficult during the winter months when the weather seemed to remain the same over long periods of time. Joe’s forecast for next month, for example, was that there would be a 60% chance of rain every day, and that what happens on one day (rain or shine) was not in any way dependent on what happened the day before.

One of Joe’s most popular features of the weather report was to invite questions during the actual broadcast. Questions would be phoned in, and they were answered on the spot by Joe. Once a 10-year-old boy asked what caused fog, and Joe did an excellent job of describing some of the various causes.

Occasionally, Joe would make a mistake. For example, a high school senior asked Joe what the chances were of getting 15 days of rain in the next month (30 days). Joe made a quick calculation:

(60%) x (15 days / 30 days) = (60%) (1/2) = 30%

Joe quickly found out what it was like being wrong in a university town. He had over 50 phone calls from scientists, mathematicians, and other university professors, telling him that he had made a big mistake in computing the chances of getting 15 days of rain during the next 30 days. Although Joe didn’t understand all of the formulas the professors mentioned, he was determined to find the correct answer and make a correction during a future broadcast.

Discussion Questions

1. What are the chances of getting 15 days of rain during the next 30 days?

2. What do you think about Joe’s assumptions concerning the weather for the next 30 days?

Note : Answers should be in Word format

Morning Sky, Inc. (MSI), manufactures and sells computer games. The company has several product lines based on the age range of the target market. MSI sells both individual games as well as packaged sets. All games are in CD format, and some utilize accessories such as steering wheels, electronic tablets, and hand controls. To date, MSI has developed and manufactured all the CDs itself as well as the accessories and packaging for all of its products.

The gaming market has traditionally been targeted at teenagers and young adults; however, the increasing affordability of computers and the incorporation of computer activities into junior high and elementary school curriculums has led to a significant increase in sales to younger children. MSI has always included games for younger children but now wants to expand its business to capitalize on changes in the industry. The company currently has excess capacity and is investigating several possible ways to improve profitability.

MSI is considering eliminating a product from its ToddleTown Tours collection. This collection is aimed at children one to three years of age and includes “tours” of a hypothetical town. Two products, The Pet Store Parade and The Grocery Getaway, have impressive sales. However, sales for the third CD in the collection, The Post Office Polka, have lagged the others. Several other CDs are planned for this collection, but none is ready for production.

MSI’s information related to the ToddleTown Tours collection follows:

      
*Allocated based on total sales dollars.

MSI has determined that elimination of the Post Office Polka (POP) program would not impact sales of the other two items. The remaining fixed overhead currently allocated to the POP product would be redistributed to the remaining two products.

Required:
1. Calculate the incremental effect on profit if the POP product is eliminated.

2. Should MSI drop the POP product?

3-a. Calculate the incremental effect on profit if the POP product is eliminated. Suppose that $1,200 of the common fixed costs could be avoided if the POP product line were eliminated.

3-b. Should MSI drop the POP product?

What role does Social Media play in your life? Are you aware of the social media policies of the organizations where you work, attend school, or volunteer? Have you used social media to resolve problems, participate in a cause you are passionate about, or to learn about UMUC? How does Social Media impact your personal and professional communications?

Martin is a piano teacher who wants to price discriminate across his students based on their household income. He doesn't know the exact household income of his students, but what is a simple, verifiable characteristic he could use as a proxy for student income?

According to the Economist in January 2015, Bitcoins have three useful qualities in a currency: they are “hard to earn, limited in supply and easy to verify.” Why therefore do many economists doubt that crypto-currencies can provide an alternative to conventional fiat money? What lessons from the historical evolution of money might the “Cartalist school” of money point to in the crypto-currencies debate?

It is believed that 1/4 of adults over 50 years old graduated from high school. We want to see if the percentage is the same for 30 year olds. How many should we survey in order to estimate the proportion of non-grads within 0.06 with 90 % confidence? Suppose we have no idea of the % of non-grads, what would be the "n" value?