Cases in HR

Cases
Case 1.
Samantha Parks is the owner and CEO of Sparks, a small New York agency that
develops advertising, promotions, and marketing materials for high-fashion firms.
Parks has tended to keep a tight rein on her business, overseeing most projects
from start to finish. However, as the firm has grown, she has found it necessary to
delegate more and more decisions to her associates. Shes recently been
approached by a hairstyling chain that wants a comprehensive redefinition of its
entire marketing and promotions look. Should Samantha try to manage this project
in her traditional way, or should she delegate major parts to her employees?
Some experts propose that top executives need to stay very close to the creative
core of their business, which means that even if their primary responsibility is to
manage, CEOs should never cede too much control to committees of creative
individuals or they can lose sight of the firms overall future direction. Others offer
the opposite advice, saying its not a good idea for a CEO to sweat the small stuff
and should outsource and delegate as much as possible. By eliminating trivial
tasks, executives will be better able to focus their attention on the most important
decision and will help the business and also ensure that the top executive maintains
control over the functions that really matter.
The real challenge is to identify what you can delegate effectively without ceding
too much power and control away from the person with the unifying vision.
1) If you were Samantha Parks, how would you prioritize which projects or parts
of projects to delegate?
2) What are some tasks in an organization that a top executive should never
delegate to others?
Case 2.
A freelance project manager, I was hired to find someone to fill a highly specialized
job. When I asked an impressive candidate her pay rate, she named a figure far
below the industry standard. I could have rejected her for this lack of sophistication
or exploited her low bid. Instead, I coached her to a figure nearly twice her bid yet
about 30 percent below my clients budget.
I did not inform my client about the discrepancy, and she was hired at the rate I
recommended. Did I do wrong by either party?
1) In coaching the applicant to request a higher salary, did the project manager
work against the interests of the client organization by which he or she is
employed? Why or why not?
2) Could the manager have avoided this dilemma by proposing a salary figure that
was the industry norm? Would that be in the interests of the client organization?
3) If you were in the project managers situation, would you have handled this
negotiation differently? If so, how so?
Case 3.
Over the past century, the average age of the workforce has continually increased
as medical science continues to enhance longevity and vitality. The fastest-growing
segment of the workforce is individuals over the age of 55. Recent medical research
is exploring techniques that could extend human life to 100 years or more. In
addition, the combination of laws prohibiting age discrimination and elimination of
defined-benefit pension plans means that many individuals continue to work well
past the traditional age of retirement. Unfortunately, older workers face a variety of
discriminatory attitudes in the workplace.
Researchers found that stereotypes suggested job performance declined with age,
counter to empirical evidence that relationships between age and core task
performance are essentially nil. Stereotypes also suggest that older workers are less
adaptable, less flexible, and incapable of learning new concepts. Research, on the
other hand, suggests they are capable of learning and adapting to new situations
when these are framed appropriately. Organizations can take steps to limit age
discrimination and ensure that employees are treated fairly regardless of age. Many
of the techniques to limit age discrimination come down to fundamentally sound
management practices relevant for all employees: set clear expectations for
performance, deal with problems directly, communicate with workers frequently,
and follow clear policies and procedures consistently. In particular, management
professionals note that clarity and consistency can help ensure all employees are
treated equally regardless of age.
Questions 1. What changes in employment relationships are likely to occur as the
population ages?
2. Do you think increasing age diversity will create new challenges for managers?
What types of challenges do you expect will be most profound?
3. How can organizations cope with differences related to age discrimination in the
workplace?
4. What types of policies might lead to charges of age discrimination, and how can
they be changed to eliminate these problems?
Consider for a moment a midlevel manager at a multinational foods company,

Fatima, who would seem to be at the top of her career. Shes consistently making
her required benchmarks and goals, she has built successful relationships with
colleagues, and senior management have identified her as high potential. But she
isnt happy with her work. Shed be much more interested in understanding how her
organization can use social media in marketing efforts. Ideally, shed like to quit and
find something that better suits her passions, but in the current economic
environment this may not be an option. So she has decided to proactively

reconfigure her current job. Fatima is part of a movement toward job crafting,
which is the process of deliberately reorganizing your job so that it better fits your
motives, strengths, and passions. The core of job crafting is creating diagrams of
day-to-day activities with a coach. Then you and the coach collaboratively identify
which tasks fit with your personal passions, and which tend to drain motivation and
satisfaction. Next the client and coach work together to imagine ways to emphasize
preferred activities and de-emphasize those that are less interesting. Many people
engaged in job crafting find that upon deeper consideration, they have more control
over their work than they thought. So how did Fatima craft her job? She first noticed
that she was spending too much of her time monitoring her teams performance
and answering team questions, and not enough time working on the creative
projects that inspire her. She then considered how to modify her relationship with
the team so that these activities incorporated her passion for social media
strategies, with team activities more centered around developing new marketing.
She also identified members of her team who might be able to help her implement
these new strategies and directed her interactions with these individuals toward her
new goals. As a result, not only has her engagement in her work increased, but she
has also developed new ideas that are being recognized and advanced within the
organization. In sum, she has found that by actively and creatively examining her
work, she has been able to craft her current job into one that is truly satisfying.
Questions 1. Why do you think many people are in jobs that are not satisfying? Do
organizations help people craft satisfying and motivating jobs, and if not, why not?
2. Think about how you might reorient yourself to your own job. Are the principles of
job crafting described above relevant to your work? Why or why not? 3. Some
contend that job crafting sounds good in principle but is not necessarily available to
everyone. What types of jobs are probably not amenable to job crafting activities? 4.
Are there any potential drawbacks to the job crafting approach? How can these
concerns be minimized?
5. When people think of a stereotypical leader, they often conjure up the image of a
dynamic public speaker, a forceful and dominant personality, and someone who can
cultivate relationships with a broad number of people. These are all hallmarks of the
extroverted personality type, so its often been the case that extroverts rise to
leadership positions more readily than introverts. However, some question whether
the social dominance and ability to command attention shown by extraverts might
make them less effective leaders in certain ways. In particular, extroverts may be
less likely to take advice from followers. One study investigated how quickly groups
of college students could fold shirts in 10 minutes. Each group had a leader who
was cued to be either extroverted or introverted. The introverted leaders took more
advice from their proactive followers, and this led the groups with introverted
leaders to be more effective. Thus, even though there are cases where introverts
are less successful as leaders, in some conditions they are more effective. Others
note that introverted leaders can be better than extroverts at one-on-one
interactions, empathy, and deliberate decision making. Are there business
executives who break the extroverted leader mold? One is Google co-founder Larry
Page, wellknown for developing a small number of close relationships and being an
excellent listener. Colgate-Palmolive chief Ian Cook might feel uncomfortable in front
of large groups of people he doesnt know, but he has learned to partner with more
extroverted colleagues for presentations to offset his natural shyness. Wal-Mart
Stores CEO Mike Duke is famously low-key and reserved, but he has utilized his
natural introvert skills of managing details and engineering solutions to maintain
the retail giants dominant market position. These examples show that although
extroverts might get all the attention, introverts can still make effective leaders.
Questions 1. Are you more of an introverted or extraverted leader? What can you do
to leverage your personality to be a more effective leader? 2. Under what conditions
do you think extraverts make more effective leaders than introverts? What unique
abilities of introverts could make them more effective in some situations? 3. The
case describes some problems introverts might have in leadership situations. What
techniques might they employ to help them overcome these? 4. What types of
developmental experiences do you think would be especially valuable for
introverted leaders?

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Cases

Consider for a moment a midlevel manager at a multinational foods company,

environment this may not be an option. So she has decided to proactively

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