Assignment 1Please read ALL directions below before starting your final assignment.INSTRUCTIONS:1.Read the entire case study carefully and then respond to the four Discussion Questions on page 5. Answer all questions and all parts of each question. 2.Develop each answer to the fullest extent possible, including evidence from the case and citations from course resources, where applicable, to support your arguments.  3.Submit your assignment as a separate MS Word document in your assignments folder. Do not type your answers into the case study document.  4.Include a Cover Page with Name, Date, and Title of Assignment. 5.Do not include the original question. Use the following format: Question 1, Question 2, etc.   6.Each response should be written in complete sentences, double spaced and spell-checked. Use 12-point Times New Roman font with 1-inch margins on all sides.  7.Include page numbers according to APA formatting guidelines.  8.Include citations in APA format at the end of each answer.9.You must submit to the assignment link by the due date. A missing assignment will be assigned a grade of 0. 

NEED DONE ASAPNO PLAGAIRISM

HumanResources Planning

Human resource needs in an organization must address the internal needs of the organization

and the external influences of society. Human resources planning involves taking a proactive

approach to providing the human resources needs of the organization.

The human resources planning process starts with figuring out how many employees the

organization must hire with particular skills to be successful. The planning process also

determines what skills and attributes those employees should have.

Internal and External Influences on the Human Resources Plan

Society influences an organization externally by:

• limiting the supply of labor and the skills that are available to the organization

• determining the values and ethics that the business is expected to follow

• providing competition for the labor needed

• providing technologies that the business can use

The supply of labor is limited because there are a limited number of people. Further limits come

from geographic location and the skills that the labor force have attained. If there is a gap in the

supply of people who have particular skills or people who are willing to work particular jobs, the

economic system will try to fill that gap. This was evidenced in the late 1990s, when the pay for

high-tech jobs was higher than for other jobs. The demand for high-tech workers was high, but

the supply of people with high-tech skills was low, so wages for those positions increased.

Another example of the supply of labor having a social influence is the demand for field workers

and low-level service workers in the United States. The demand for those workers is higher than

the U.S. labor force can supply, so there is an influx of immigrants (both legal and illegal) to fill

the gap between the demand and supply of low-skill labor.

The supply of labor is one of the greatest social influences in our society. With a global economy,

it is now possible for organizations to hire labor in countries outside the United States to do tasks

that in the past may have been done in the United States.

Laws and regulations define for organizations what is acceptable for them to do. Our

society has determined that it is unacceptable for businesses to work 12-year-old children for 10

hours a day, and as a result the child-labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

were passed. In the last 50 years our society has determined that it is unacceptable for

organizations to discriminate on the basis of race, gender, or religion (among other traits), so

EEO laws and regulations have been passed. Businesses are also restrained by the values and

ethics of their own individual organizational culture and by the expectations of society. These

societal expectations may precede or extend the expectations expressed in laws and regulations.

The competition for labor can be intense between organizations. If the competition for

particular skills is intense, it may drive wages up. The supply of specific skills may lead

businesses to compete in different ways. Some businesses may resort to hiring individuals who

do not have the required skills and training those individuals for the skills that the business

needs. Other businesses may move to cities or locales where a skilled labor force already exists.

Society often demands the latest technological advances from businesses. Being

competitive often requires that a business use the latest technological advances and having a

supply of labor that can meet those technological needs can be a challenge. Businesses often

depend on educational institutions to develop training programs that will train people to use the

latest technologies. This symbiotic relationship between business and educational institutions is

an important factor in meeting society’s labor needs.

Factors that are internal to the business when dealing with human resources planning are:

• the environment and culture of the organization

• the strengths and weaknesses in the organization

• the presence of an effective strategic plan

• operational (short-range) planning goals

• the needs that are projected by the strategic and operational plans

Internal factors are much more dependent on the particular organization, so they must be

tailored to the needs of each organization. The environment and culture of the organization

depends on its leadership and market position. That leadership and market position leads to

different strengths and weaknesses that each organization must define for itself. Those strengths

and weaknesses will lead to the major aspects of the organization’s strategic plan. The strategic

plan will define what operational actions must be taken. The strategic and operational plans will

result in goals that the human resources manager can use to project what the organization’s

human resources needs are and will be.

The Human Resources Plan

The human resources plan is strongly tied to the organization’s strategic plan and it can be

difficult to separate the two. This is one of the reasons that it is essential that the human

resources manager be involved at the highest levels of strategic planning. For example, an

organization cannot function without people available and willing to work for it. It would be

unwise for an organization to locate a facility in a geographic region that did not have a supply of

labor, at a cost that the organization could afford. The human resources manager must be

involved in such decisions, so the supply of labor can be accurately evaluated. Decisions such as

locating new facilities are important parts of an organization’s strategic plan.

With human resources planning being such an important part of the strategic planning process,

the steps in the human resources planning process closely parallel the same steps in the

strategic planning process. These steps are:

HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING STRATEGIC PLANNING
1. Review the organizational vision and
mission to make sure the HR philosophy is
coordinated with that vision.

1. Develop an organizational vision and a
mission statement about that vision.

2. Inventory the internal organization for
skills and needs, now and in the future.

2. Analyze the internal environment for
strengths and weaknesses.

3. Look at the external labor market to see if
it can meet the organization’s human
resources needs for now and in the future.

3. Analyze the external environment for
opportunities and threats.

4. Define objectives for the human
resources function in the organization.

4. Set objectives for the organization.

5. Figure out how human resources will
make sure the labor needs of the
organization will be met to fulfill the
objectives of the strategic plan.

5. Develop a strategy to meet the
organization’s goals.

6. Hire people and/or train people for the
skills and attitudes the organization needs;
or take steps to make sure people will be
available to hire as they are needed in the
future.

6. Implement the strategy.

7. Check on the human resources
projections and make sure to adjust for any
changes that were not anticipated by the
human resource plan.

7. Evaluate the strategic plan and modify
that plan as needed.

A human resources manager can use a number of tools to help develop and implement a human

resources plan.

1. A labor-demand forecast provides a prediction of the organization’s future labor needs.

2. A labor-supply forecast provides a prediction about whether those future labor needs can

be met by the labor available in society.

3. A gap analysis expresses what the difference will be between the demand for and the

supply of labor.

Several things must be considered when analyzing labor needs. Both the global and the diversity

needs of an organization provide opportunities for the organization to grow. Those same

opportunities may give the human resources manager headaches in forecasting and filling labor

needs. Hiring people with backgrounds that have not previously been represented in the

organization can lead to the need for more education and training in human skills for all

employees. Human resources managers in modern organizations are responsible for more than

just filling any labor gaps. Human resources managers are increasingly responsible for keeping

the employees’ morale and motivation levels at a productive level.

A good job analysis is essential to the human resources planning effort. If an organization’s

needs have been defined through good job analyses, the internal labor demands will be much

easier to determine. Good job analyses are also important to determining if there is an adequate

supply of labor in specific skills needed for the organization.

Gap analysis can be dealing with either a lack of labor supply or a surplus of labor in the

organization. If there is already a surplus of labor in the organization, it can lead to downsizing.

It is more unpleasant for an HR manager to have to plan to downsize than to plan for expansion,

but human resources plans will often lead to the conclusion that parts or all of an organization is

in need of downsizing. Effective human resources management can mitigate the negatives of

downsizing. Some focus must be put on how downsizing affects those who are still in the

organization after the downsizing occurs.

Human resources planning is the basis for everything else the human resources manager does. It

is also the way an organization’s human resources function is tied to the rest of the organization.

A good human resources plan will contribute to the success of the individuals in an organization

and to the success of the organization itself.

Researchingand Writing Job Analyses

Job (work) analysis is simply gathering information on a particular function in an organization

and organizing that information in such a way that an organization’s jobs are well defined for

legal and management purposes. Good job analyses are important in making an organization

more efficient and effective, and they are also used to provide a supervisory structure and a

basis for pay rates in an organization. Job analyses are an important, information-providing

component to the strategic planning process. The ultimate purpose of job analyses is to make

the organization more productive and profitable.

A job analysis looks at the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that are needed to perform a

particular job in an organization. A job is the tasks that an individual must perform to be

successful in helping the organization succeed in meeting its strategic goals. Knowledge is the

information the person needs to perform a job. Skills are tasks in which an individual needs to

apply psychomotor actions to perform adequately. Ability is the proven competence to

adequately perform a task.

An example to illustrate these terms is driving a truck for an organization. Potential truck drivers

must have knowledge about the way a truck operates and must also pass a written test to prove

to a government agency that they have this knowledge. These truck drivers may also have to

prove that they have the skill to drive a truck by passing an “on-the-road” test of their skills.

When truck drivers have a position, they have to prove their ability to take the truck and its load

from one place in the country to another in a safe and efficient manner.

Job analyses should be:

• observable

• not dependent on individual behavior

• valid

• consistent

There are three specific, legal uses for job analyses:

1. A job analysis can be used to help define whether a position is exempt or nonexempt for

overtime provisions of the FLSA. The definition of duties and responsibilities that comes

from a good job analysis makes it easy for an organization to support the classification of

a position as exempt or nonexempt under Department of Labor (DOL) guidelines.

2. A job analysis will define the essential job functions of a position as required under the

ADA. If a good job analysis is accomplished, it will be easy to list essential job functions

in the job description as required by the ADA.

3. A job analysis will clearly define, for the worker and for the organization, what the duties

are for any position in the organization. These duties can be stated clearly and be

required for new employees to read and understand. This should help to alleviate any

misunderstandings about what is expected of an employee holding a position in the

organization.

If an organization does not have good job analyses for its positions, it is asking for legal trouble.

Job analyses, or the lack thereof, are often the focus of lawsuits. An organization protects itself

from legal trouble by having good, scientifically valid job analyses.

Job analyses also have specific management uses:

• Managers can use job analyses to classify positions and place those positions in an
appropriate relationship with each other. Job analyses will define which positions should

be supervisory and who should report to which supervisors.

• Job analyses can be the basis for setting up a compensation plan for people in the
organization. Once the positions are classified in relationship to each other, it is easier to

place any of the positions at a fair compensation level.

• Job analyses help to define which employee should be doing what. This makes the
everyday decisions as to who should be doing what work in an organization much easier.

• Job analyses are often used as the basis for employee evaluations. If the duties for a
position are clearly defined using a good job analysis, those defined duties are a good

starting point for designing evaluations for the individual positions in the organization.

Basically, job analyses can make an organization more efficient and effective. The time and

expenditure put into job analyses will almost always be repaid in having more efficient

management functions.

The job analysis is the actual gathering and organizing of the data needed to define the duties of

positions in an organization. A job description is briefer than a job analysis and identifies what

the duties, tasks, and responsibilities, are for a position and to whom a person holding a position

will report. Job specifications define the KSAs that are needed to do a job and are used to

define the qualifications one must have to be hired or promoted.

There are many methods that may be used to do a job analysis. It is often best to have someone

objective from outside the organization do them because job analyses can have internal political

pressures put on them that might make them invalid. The courts will also take job analyses more

seriously if they know that they have been conducted by an objective outside source. All

methods of job analysis will have some qualitative aspects, but it is best to make job analyses as

quantitative as possible because if the organization has to defend the job analyses, the court will

give the quantitative data more credibility.

Common methods of job analysis are questionnaires, observation, having an analyst work

the job and then analyze it, interviewing individuals and groups that perform the jobs,

and using diaries or logs of workers who have performed the jobs. All of these methods

have their strengths and weaknesses. If a person holding a job is aware that the job they are

doing is being analyzed, they may perform the job differently as they are observed or

interviewed. Most people behave differently when they know others are studying them, so it is

difficult to get accurate job analyses when depending on information from people who already

perform the job. Using outsiders to analyze the job may be more objective, but often they do not

know the job’s entire context and so may omit important aspects of it from the analysis. Also, at

this time it is inadvisable to use job-trait techniques or behavioral techniques, because in recent

years the courts have been dubious about them.

Among the many tools that can be used for performing job analyses are the Position Analysis

Questionnaire (PAQ), Functional Job Analysis (FJA), Job Compatibility Questionnaire

(JCQ), and Work Progress Mapping (WPM). The best tool to use depends on the

organization’s particular needs and situation. FJA works well for classifying jobs, or job design.
PAQ works well for job evaluation and is probably the simplest and least expensive method. Be

aware of the O*NET site, which has a wealth of information about jobs and the skills needed to

http://online.onetcenter.org/

do them. Also be aware of the DOL’s Occupational Outlook Handbook, which uses the Dictionary

of Occupational Titles.

It is easy to get wrapped up in the specifics of doing job analyses and forget why we do them.

The main reason stated for doing job analyses is to provide information to comply with legal and

ethical requirements. Another equally important reason is to provide information to managers so

that they can organize the company to be more efficient and effective. Behind all of the great

reasons for job analyses, however, is that job analyses are an important component in the

strategic-planning process for an organization. The information gathered from job analyses is

essential to the development of good strategic plans.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm

http://www.wave.net/upg/immigration/dot_index.html

http://www.wave.net/upg/immigration/dot_index.html

HumanResources Planning and Recruitment

Before hiring anyone, it is important to know what an organization’s skills and needs are. If a

good job analysis has been performed for positions in the organization, that job analysis provides

much of the basis for HR recruitment planning. Once the planning process has been advanced,

recruiting for employees in an organization can take place. As discussed on week 1, human

resource needs in an organization must address the internal needs of the organization and the

external influences of society. Once those needs are determined, an organization can begin

recruiting to fill those needs. The recruitment planning process consists of figuring out how many

employees the organization must hire with particular skills to be successful, and then determine

what specific skills and attributes those employees should have. There are many techniques that

can help with the recruiting effort.

Recruiting

Recruiting is a natural outgrowth of human resources planning. Once the plan identifies what

skills are needed in the organization, it is time to begin recruiting for those skills.

There are two levels of recruiting:

1. The human resources department manages the process, making sure it follows

organizational and legal recruiting guidelines.

2. The managerial level of recruiting personnel provides the content expertise to ensure that

people with appropriate skills to fit specific needs are recruited.

The basic questions that must be answered when recruiting include:

• What skills are needed?

• What techniques should be used for recruiting for those particular skills?

• How long will the recruiting process take (time lapse) before the new recruits are on the
job?

• How many job applicants will be qualified and hired (yield ratios) using the recruiting
techniques that are selected?

• Should the recruiting take place internally or externally?

The human resources planning and the job analyses will already determine the skills needed in

the organization. It is important that the human resources manager keep the managers in the

departments focused on meeting the strategic planning goals. Sometimes the department

managers are more concerned with operational (short-term) needs and overlook strategic needs.

It is also important for the human resources department to make sure that department

managers are educated about the legal and ethical concerns of recruiting. Department managers

are often so focused on hiring people who are like the people who have been successful in their

departments in the past, that they are unaware of the advantages of recruiting people who may

bring new ideas and attitudes into the organization, but who may look and act differently.

There are many ways to ensure that people who have needed skills become aware that your

organization is recruiting for their skills. Generally, the more focused on skills, the less general a

recruitment effort needs to be. Unsolicited applicants and referrals are cost-effective ways of

finding needed skills. Both of these techniques may bring equal employment opportunity (EEO)

problems with them, however. It is important to define when unsolicited applicants become

official applicants for a position. The status as to whether a person has applied for a job will

affect the organization’s EEO statistics and could determine whether an applicant has grounds for

a discrimination lawsuit. Using referrals tends to get applicants who are like the people who refer

them. Using referrals when a job has not been publicly advertised can lead to a lack of diversity

and potential lawsuits.

Advertising for positions can be general or specific. General advertising appears in broadly

distributed sources. Specific advertising may be in trade or professional journals or websites that

will be read only by people in that profession. Broader advertising will get more applications but

lower yield ratios, whereas specific advertising will bring fewer applicants and higher yield ratios.

Hiring external employment agencies or search firms to help fill positions can be very cost-

effective because the external organizations will pre-screen applicants, resulting in higher yield

ratios for the applicants that your organization actually interviews. Campus recruiting is useful

for entry-level professional positions but will not be effective for positions that do not require a

college education or positions that require previous experience.

Electronic recruiting is more effective when recruiting computer-savvy personnel and on more

focused professional job-recruiting sites. One of the problems with electronic recruiting is dealing

with the numerous search firms that will contact you and want to recruit for your organization

once they see your posting; however, the Internet has great potential to help in the recruiting

effort.

The recruiting effort is an extension of job analyses and is also an extension of the human

resources planning process. Society external to the organization may have a great effect on the

planning and recruiting process. Be aware of issues that affect labor supply and issues that deal

with equal employment opportunity guidelines while planning and recruiting people to work in

your organization. The human resources manager is on the front line of making sure that an

organization can meet its goals, because an organization cannot meet its goals without properly

skilled employees.

SelectingEmployees Without Getting into Legal Trouble

Selection involves deciding which of the people who have been recruited will be selected to work

in the organization. The selection process has management and legal consequences that must be

taken into account before making final selections. Getting the most qualified individual for each

position is a major goal, as is hiring people in fair and legal ways. A good hiring process will

prevent possible litigation as well as other problems that can occur later on when an organization

hires the wrong people.

Selecting people to work in an organization takes into consideration both objective criteria and

the judgment of experienced managers. Objective criteria include whether the applicant’s

qualifications are reliably and validly linked to the needs of the organization. Judgment criteria

deal more with the perception and observations of the managers hiring the individual. Both

objective and judgment criteria are essential to a good selection decision.

Looming over the entire selection process are three questions:

1. Who is best qualified to work in this particular position?

2. Who best will help the organization meet its goals?

3. Is the selection process fair and equitable, and does the selection process follow EEO

guidelines?

Who is best qualified is not an easy question. The best-qualified person may not be the best

person to help the organization meet its goals. What if there is an employee at a restaurant who

is acknowledged by everyone there as the fastest and most efficient employee? Her productivity

is greater than any other individual who works there. That employee, however, is constantly

complaining and creating problems with other employees and is known to steal food from the

restaurant. She is the best-qualified employee from the standpoint of doing the job, but she may

hinder the overall organization in meeting its goals.

Whether the selection process is fair and equitable may end up being decided by a court of law,

so human resources managers must be aware of how EEO guidelines affect the hiring process.

Courts require that the selection process be valid. Being valid means that the selection process

is using data that shows that the skills being used as selection criteria are needed for a person to

do the job. It may not be a valid selection criterion if there is a requirement that a person needs

a college degree to work on an assembly line. What a person learns in college may not relate to

the skills they need to work on an assembly line.

Reliability means that the selection instruments for getting the job consistently measure the

same. If a person takes a test for a job, they should be able to take the same or a similar test

later and get the same test score.

If an organization is going to use a test to determine qualifications for a position, they should

make sure the test is both valid and reliable. It can be very expensive to hire a consultant to

prove that the test is job-related so that it can be considered valid and reliable. Many

organizations have overcome the validity problem with tests by using tests for common positions

(police, fire, computer skills, etc.). These tests are readily available from various consulting firms

that have already proven the validity and reliability of that test for that particular position. Other
organizations have done away with tests altogether and rely solely on interviews for selection

purposes. The courts do not question the validity of interviews as critically as they do pen-and-

paper tests.

Application forms and biographical data may predict how well a person might perform a job, so

application forms and biographical data can be shown to have validity in some cases. The

predictability seems to be higher in weighted application blanks (WABs) and in biographical

information blanks (BIBs). Research has been done on both WABs and BIBs that shows the

validity of the questions used for the specific jobs for which the questions were screening.

General application forms may not be valid and may ask questions that could be the basis for

lawsuits. An example of a common question that is on most general application forms is asking

for the date someone graduated from high school. Using this date, a manager could determine

an applicant’s age. It is illegal to make a negative hiring decision based on someone being over

the age of 40, because of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Someone who did

not get the job could claim that the reason was that the hiring person(s) could tell they were

over 40. It is best to ask only for information that is directly related to the job, because if you

know things about the person that are unrelated to the job, the person may claim that you

discriminated against them because of the information you knew.

Reference checks are advisable and was discussed last week, they can be helpful in preventing

negligent hiring. However, they often do not yield any useful information. Several successful

lawsuits have been made against former managers who gave former employees bad references

without having information to back up the bad references. As a manager, it is advisable not to

give any information out about someone who has worked for you without records to prove that

what you say is true. Because of this threat, most managers will not give more information than

things that are a matter of record, such as the dates a person worked for the organization and

the number of days that person was absent from work. It is also advisable for an employer to

check on the accuracy of any educational pursuits by checking on transcripts.

Many tests eliminate minorities at a rate that is higher than that at which they eliminate

Caucasians. This may be related to the tests being culturally biased in favor of the typical

Caucasian cultural experience, or it may be because some minorities have poorer educational

opportunities in their early lives. This bias in testing can cause a disparate impact on some

protected status groups. If the test can be proven valid for the specific job being hired for, the

courts may accept this disparate impact as being acceptable because the test is job-related. Be

aware that the courts may be suspicious of culture-related tests, especially personality tests or

tests that are based on behavior traits.

Performance tests that are designed to simulate the type of work a person will be doing if they

are hired tend to have good predictive validity. This is especially true if these performance tests

are part of an evaluation by an assessment center. Assessment centers use a number of tools to

test a person’s ability to do a particular job. Among these tools are in-basket exercises, problem

analyses, group-interaction evaluation, presentations by the applicant, and role-playing

exercises. These tests may be combined with paper-and-pen tests to gain a greater

understanding of the job applicant’s abilities.

The courts do not usually hold interviews to validity standards that are as strict as those used for

tests for two reasons:

1. Interviews usually occur later in the hiring process, so all of the people who make it to the interview stage are
usually qualified to do the job.

2. Interviews involve judgment by managers who may have expertise about a particular job that the courts do not
have, so the courts do not want to second-guess the judgment of someone who has more knowledge about the
job than the courts have.

The main types of interviews are:

• structured interviews in which all applicants are asked the same questions

• panel interviews in which several people from the organization interview the candidate at
the same time

• situational interviews in which an applicant is asked what they would do in a particular
situation

• behavioral interviews in which the applicant is asked how they have acted in the past in a
setting that relates to the job for which they are being interviewed

• stress interviews in which the interviewer puts the interviewee under pressure to see how
the interviewee handles that pressure

Interviews may lead to more discrimination than tests because more human judgment is used.

Human judgment is subject to biases and to trying to fit the person to the position. By having a

predetermined image of what type of person will fit a position, or an organization, an interviewer

may unintentionally discriminate against someone, especially if the interviewee has a trait that is

easily observable, such as race, gender, disability, or age—all protected statuses. The selection

process involves selecting the best person to do a particular job, but it also involves making sure

the organization is being fair, equitable, valid, and reliable in the assessment of those individuals

it hires.

1

Assignment 1

Please read ALL directions below before starting your final

assignment. INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Read the entire case study carefully and then respond to the four

Discussion Questions on page 5. Answer all questions and all parts

of each question.

2. Develop each answer to the fullest extent possible, including

evidence from the case and citations from course resources, where

applicable, to support your arguments.

3. Submit your assignment as a separate MS Word document in your

assignments folder. Do not type your answers into the case study

document.

4. Include a Cover Page with Name, Date, and Title of Assignment.

5. Do not include the original question. Use the following format:

Question 1, Question 2, etc.

6. Each response should be written in complete sentences,

doublespaced and spell-checked. Use 12-point Times New Roman

font with 1-inch margins on all sides.

7. Include page numbers according to APA formatting guidelines.

8. Include citations in APA format at the end of each answer.

9. You must submit to the assignment link by the due date. A missing

assignment will be assigned a grade of 0.

© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Alan Cabelly, Ph.D.

Case Overview Part A
In August, Jason Hubbs submitted a résumé to the human resource department of Big Time

Computers Inc. in response to an advertisement in the local newspaper for a senior technical

2

writer. The résumé was forwarded to Big Time’s Manager of Technical Publications, Lisa

Cavanaugh, for her consideration.

Big Time Computers is a local high-tech firm with sales offices throughout the United States

and Europe. At the time of the senior technical writer job advertisement, Big Time employed

about 1,200 people. Big Time designs and manufactures high-end computer systems that sell in

the $500,000 to $6,000,000 range. Big Time’s products are sophisticated and complex, and the

working atmosphere is highly technical. The engineering department is the largest and most

dominant department. Engineers are in management positions throughout the company,

including top-level management. Due to the sophistication and complexity of their products,

employees in marketing, customer service, and technical publications are required to have

strong technical backgrounds; many have engineering or computer science

degrees.

The technical publications department employed 14 people. This included the manager, two

senior writers (Mark Samson and Chris Murray), seven writers, one technical editor (Colton

Hamrick), and three editorial assistants. The manager had a business degree and had been

working in the technical publications field for 12 years. The senior writers had four-year

engineering degrees; the other seven writers had engineering degrees, computer science degrees,

or two-year associate’s degrees in a technical field. The technical editor had an English degree

and an associate’s degree in electronics, and the editorial assistants had English or liberal arts

degrees.

The department had a well-established set of procedures for new manuals and manual

revisions. When given a writing assignment, the writer would do the necessary research by

reading product specifications and interviewing the engineers involved with the product. The

writer would then develop an outline which was reviewed by the appropriate engineers and the

technical publications project leader responsible for that product. The writer then wrote a first

draft which was edited by the technical editor and reviewed company wide. The reviewer list

included key people from each area of the company. After making necessary changes, the

writer submitted the manual for a brief second review and made additional changes. An

editorial assistant did proofreading and formatting before each review, and when the two

reviews were complete, the editorial assistant did the final proofing and formatting. The

manual was then printed. This extensive review procedure gave the writers a great deal of

exposure throughout the company.

© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Alan Cabelly, Ph.D.

The current job opening was a new position at Big Time that was necessitated by an increased

workload. Although some internal people wanted to apply for the job, Cavanaugh believed that

no internal candidates had the necessary skills for the position; besides, she thought it would be

good to bring in new blood at the top. She found one strong résumé and began the hiring

process.

3

In considering Jason Hubbs’s résumé, Cavanaugh noted that Hubbs had a computer science

degree, was working toward a Doctoral degree, and had three years’ experience as a technical

writer in a local high-tech firm. Cavanaugh was impressed with Hubbs’s credentials and

scheduled an interview date. Cavanaugh included herself, the technical editor and the two senior

writers on Hubbs’s interview schedule. Cavanaugh’s interview was general, focusing on

background, goals and work habits. Hamrick, the technical editor, asked questions regarding

writing skills and techniques, while Samson and Murray, the senior writers, focused on Hubbs’s

technical skills.

Cavanaugh then met with the interviewers to determine if Hubbs was qualified for the senior

technical writer job. Cavanaugh was pleased with Hubbs’s responses to her general questions

and liked the writing samples he had given her. Hamrick felt that Hubbs had answered the

interview questions well but had reservations about his interpersonal skills and ability to

integrate into the department. He also had some concerns about one of the writing samples.

Samson and Murray thought his technical skills were excellent and had no strong feelings either

way about his interpersonal skills. Cavanaugh, Samson, and Murray all felt that Hubbs should

be hired; Hamrick disagreed. Cavanaugh checked two of Hubbs’s three references and got good

reports on his skills and work habits. She hired him.

© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Alan Cabelly, Ph.D.

Big Time Computers inc.
Technical Publications Department

4

© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Alan Cabelly, Ph.D.

Answer the following:

1. A) Evaluate the recruiting strategy and methods used by the hiring manager and identify

and discuss any gaps or limitations. Address the following and explain your rationale:

• How would you describe the recruiting strategy used by Cavanaugh?

• What could have made the recruiting process more effective?

• Do you agree or disagree with the decision to not consider internal

candidates? What implications might this decision have for the team?

B) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of internal vs. external recruiting methods

as they apply to this case.

C) Discuss three additional recruiting sources that could have been used to find potential

candidates and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each as they apply to this

case.

5

2. A) Evaluate the selection methods, including the interviewing process used by the hiring

manager. Do you believe they were effective? Discuss any limitations or challenges that

may exist with the selection methods and the interview process used.

B) Discuss three other selection methods that could have been used and discuss the

advantages and disadvantages of each as they apply to this case.

3. Evaluate the decision of the hiring manager to make the candidate an offer despite the

concerns of Hamrick. Do you agree or disagree that a hiring decision should have been

made without consensus among all three team members? How could Hamrick’s

feedback have been handled by the hiring team?

4. Based on the recruiting and selection processes used, do you believe the hiring manager

was prepared to make a hiring decision? Why or why not?

© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Alan Cabelly, Ph.D.

Assignment1: Case Study 1 Part A: Recruiting and Selection

Worth up to 25 points and 25% of course grade

The purpose of the activity is for you to explain and evaluate different recruiting and selection

methods and systems.

Assignment alignment with Course Competencies:

• Understand the essential components of the HR functions of recruiting and selection.

• Recommend recruiting and selection solutions or initiatives to address dynamic customer
and stakeholder needs.

• Interpret HR recruiting and selection issues and challenges to develop strategic solutions
and interventions.

• Critique recruiting and selection initiatives to ensure alignment with HR and
organizational strategies.

Deliverable:

1. Read the entire case study carefully and then respond to the four Discussion Questions on
page 5. Answer all questions and all parts of each question.

2. Develop each answer to the fullest extent possible, including citations from course
resources, where applicable, to support your arguments

3. Submit your assignment as a separate MS Word document in your assignments folder.
Do not type your answers into the case study document.

4. Include a Cover Page with Name, Date, and Title of Assignment.
5. Do not include the original question. Use the following format: Question 1, Question 2,

etc.

6. Each response should be written in complete sentences, double-spaced and spell-checked.
Use 12-point Times New Roman font with 1-inch margins on all sides

7. Include page numbers according to APA formatting guidelines.
8. Include citations in APA format at the end of each answer.
9. You must submit to the assignment link by the due date. A missing assignment will be

assigned a grade of 0.