Prepare a 3-4 page analysis considering several possible courses of action that could be used to address issues within a company. You will state how and why you would take each course of action, or if you would not take a specific action, explain why not.
This assessment examines how to assess the effectiveness of both internal and external candidates for the jobs for which you are recruiting. There are many views of these two areas of selection and many accurately describe possible outcomes for the organization. Organizational employees, first-line supervisors, and other stakeholders see the value in supporting promotion from within. It saves resources in training, reinforces current employee commitment, and offers the powerful promise of a long-term professional future for those working in the organization.
However, organizations with a majority of long-term employees often suffer from a groupthink condition that can do great harm. From the NASA Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2002 to the banking failure of 2008, groupthink has the ability to set organizations on a destructive path. One of the outcomes of groupthink is organizational failure. The other consequence is the tendency to become insular, which comes from hiring and promoting people who think more alike than different. Anyone involved in accreditation can tell you that accrediting agencies, whether they are government or private, strongly discourage hiring a school’s own graduates. Accrediting agencies allow only a very small percentage of homegrown faculty members in any school. One of the things they are trying to encourage is the diversity of thought and professional background. These are essential components of organizational success; their absence can do a great deal of damage in organizational decision-making as well as product development.
Every individual position that becomes vacant or is new to the organization must be evaluated to determine whether it should be advertised internally only or both internally and externally.
Assessment IntroductionScenario
For this assessment, imagine that you are the Vice President of Human Resources (VP of HR) for CapraTek. The Western sales division has had more turnover than any other part of the company. Since 2010, there have been six different sets of directors and deputy directors for the organization. In three years, the Western sales division has lost 80% of its clients. The other sales division has only lost 2% of its clients. The marketing-science office at the corporate level has been deeply involved in redesigning product development and sales processes, which have become more complicated. It has also become harder for customers to qualify for financing. These actions, while presented as quality efforts, have not led to positive outcomes. Over time, these conditions have raised prices above all competitors. While the organization’s products are of great quality, some products could be over-engineered and possibly too taste specific.
Aside from the low morale, the level of turnover at the senior ranks of the division has done harm to employees at all levels of the division. Frontline sales professionals, supervisors, support staff, support leaders, middle managers, and stakeholders are confused about quality standards and approval stages. The CapraTek CEO and COO have consistently selected sales directors and deputy directors from outside the organization, but all were soon terminated for poor performance. The next set of directors was selected internally from the sales professionals, and they were terminated after about 18 months. Additionally, the job description for this position has been studied and refined multiple times; this is not the issue or answer for this assessment.
Your Challenge
As the VP of HR, consider the following actions and for each one:
- Describe whether you would execute this action.
- If you would execute this action, explain how and why.
- If you would not execute this action, explain why not.
Actions to Consider
- Seek consulting services: Seek consulting services from a professional search firm that will take the place of the company human resources staff performing the recruiting effort. The private firm will perform the search for candidates and conduct pre-assessments and interviews before the final candidates are presented to the company. Provide evidence as to why this would be a good decision.
- Hire from within: Continue to hire candidates from within the organization using the current process of allowing HR and the CEO and COO to make the selections. Provide evidence-based rationale to support your decision.
- Conduct an internal Search: Begin an intense internal search within CapraTek for director and deputy director positions to be run by HR, leading to a robust list of candidates for consideration. Describe why or why you would not take this course of action.
Assessment Instructions
Prepare a 3–4 page analysis that states how and why you would take each course of action, or if you would not take a specific action, explain why not. All three Actions to Consider must be addressed. Along with your recommendations, include the following:
- Analyze options available for addressing issues with employee turnover, product development and the sales process, rise in product prices, and operational morale.
- Weigh the pros and cons of taking each action.
- Determine whether you would take each action.
- Explain how available options could be executed.
- Explain briefly what steps you would take to accomplish any of the actions you would choose to take.
- Provide the rationale for each decision to either take or not take a course of action.
- Describe key factors that influenced your decision.
- Include material from your references to support your conclusions.
Review the HR Challenge: Selecting the Right Candidate (Internal – External) Scoring Guide to see the criteria by which your assessment will be evaluated. Before submitting your assessment for evaluation, review your draft in SafeAssign to check your use of source material.
Submission Requirements
The deliverable for this assessment applies professional skills in Human Resources Management (HRM) to workplace situations which you will likely encounter in your day to day work in HRM. As part of your learning, we focus on the development of effective professional communication skills for the workplace.
- Length: Your plan should be 3–4 typed, double-spaced pages, not including the cover and resources pages.
- The cover sheet should include your name, the course number, assessment title, and date. No other information is required on this page.
- Each of the three Actions to Consider should be addressed.
- The resource pages (reference list) should be the last page or pages.
- Organization: Make sure that your assessment writing is well-organized, using headings and subheadings to organize content for the reader.
- Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12-point.
- Resources: Use at least two scholarly or academic sources.
- Evidence: Support your assertions with data and in-text citations. Use current APA format for in-text citations and create a reference list at the end of your documents.
- APA formatting: Resources and in-text citations are formatted according to current APA Style and Format guidelines.
- Written communication:
- Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly writing standards.
- Write for a specific audience, using the vernacular of the profession.
- Use spell-check and other tools to ensure correct spelling and grammar.
