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Scene Set-up: Keene receives the email before Schule and barges into his office.
Scene Location: Schule’s office, Hypetec Wear; Tuesday morning 8.45am
The Meeting - Summary: Randall walks into Bill’s office unannounced clearly agitated
over the email he just received from Abbe. Randall begins to explain the situation and
Bill immediately expresses concern over the use of company email for personal matters.
Randall acknowledges this concern but continues to plead his case by expressing that
Abbe was being irrational and should be removed from the department.
Bill states that he wants to refrain from making any decisions until he has a private
discussion with Abbe and talks things over with the Human Resources department. His
primary motive is to ensure productivity of the team doesn’t suffer. He indicated strong
disappointment with Randall for engaging in the office romance.
Afterthoughts – Summary: Bill thinks that it is entirely possible to prevent litigation at
this point. He plans to do some more investigation but believes that a solution can be
agreed to by all parties. He reinforces his position that he needs to talk to Abbe and get
the other side of the story and recommends that Randall not interact with Abbe at all until
the situation gets resolved so that it doesn’t get worse. Bill does not feel that it was too
soon to mention likely possible outcomes because they were outcomes typically outlined
in organization’s policies (e.g., termination, transfer). Bill states that he feels that at a
minimum the two leaders will be separated because they cannot continue to work
together. Bill’s major concern with email is that it’s not secure and can be sent to many
people and not be factual.
Dossier: The specific artifacts included in the DVD are:
1. Willsby’s email (August)
2. Photograph showing Randall touching Abbe
3. Randall’s “threatening” email (July)
IV. Discussion Questions:
The References and related Discussion Questions may be found in PowerPoint slides 1-1 to 1-12
on the Instructor’s side on the text’s Website.
Learning Objective #1: To assess students understanding of the analytical decision making
approach and to apply it to a novel scenario.
1. Would this situation be an example of programmed or non-programmed decision making?
Why? (PPT 1-2 &1-3)
Student’s responses will vary – focus should be on their thought process and justification
However, the situation is unpredictable in that it is unclear if this can be resolved peacefully
2. What would be an example of a satisficing decision in this scenario? What
consequences/benefits would this approach have? (PPT 1-2)
Students answers will vary. Any answer that is not mutually agreeable to HR, Abbe, Randall,
3. What is Bill’s greatest concern?
A. Productivity.
B. Liability.
C. Morale.
Bill seems to be most concerned about productivity and is downplaying the likelihood
3. Assume you are Bill and you decide to use an analytical (or rational) decision making
strategy to handle this situation (PPT 1-4 & 1-5). The analytical decision making approach
involves the following steps:
1. Recognize need for decision
2. Define the problem
3. Generate alternatives
4. Evaluate alternatives
5. Implement a solution
6. Get feedback
Describe in detail the specific actions you would take for each step. Be sure to address the
following questions in your answer:
a. Who would you talk to?
b. Where would you go for more information?
c. What relevant policies, procedures, laws are relevant here?
Student’s answers will vary. It is important that they carefully think through all the
Note: The following “pop-up questions” may be found on PPT 1-6
4. Bill’s first step should be:
A. Call Abbe.
B. Call HR.
C. Document Meeting.
5. Randall wants to hear Abbe’s side. Bill should:
A. Tell him.
B. Be confidential.
C. Meet as group.
6. Bill is discussing possible outcomes.
A. It’s too early
B. It’s appropriate
C. It’s HR’s job
Learning Objective #2: To assess students’ ability to detect communication strengths and
weaknesses.
1. Evaluate Bill and Randall’s active listening and communication skills (“Components of
Active Listening” and “The Communication Process”; PPT 1-7 to 1-9). What did each do
effectively? How could they have improved? Support your answers with the specific
behaviors you observed.
Randall interrupted Bill frequently, indicating that he was not really listening to his point of
Bill maintained his composure, was not flustered by Randall’s agitation. He empathized with
1. Randall’s agitated. What should Bill do?
A. Stop Meeting.
B. Hear him out.
C. Call Abbe in.
Discuss each option in terms of it’s relative effectiveness towards promoting supportive,
2. Abbe and Randall chose to communicate about their personal relationship via email. What
are the disadvantages of using this communication medium for this purpose? What would
have been a more effective way for Abbe and Randall to communicate? (PPT 1-10)
Email should not have been used for personal business according to the company’s policy.
Abbe and Randall probably would have had a more productive communication if they had
2. What is the concern about email use?
a. It’s not secure.
b. It’s not efficient.
c. Easy to misinterpret.
Learning Objective #3: To have students identify key issues related to inter-office romances and
the legal and managerial implications, therein.
1. What guidance is HR likely to provide to Bill? What future actions are Bill’s
responsibilities? What actions should HR take? (PPT 1-11)
HR should provide guidance in terms of the dating policy the organization has and the sexual
Bill definitely needs to talk to Abbe about her side of the story. Ask her what solution would
2. Abbe and Randall were co-leading a team. Does this situation pose the potential for a
lawsuit based on quid pro quo or hostile work environment sexual harassment? Why? (PPT
1-11)
Because they did not have a supervisor/subordinate relationship in which one made
employment-related decisions (e.g., firing, raises, promotions) that affected the other, this
3. Should the fact Abby and Randall were involved in a relationship be reflected on their
performance evaluation? Who should be held accountable for the lower productivity of their
team? (PPT 1-12)
If disciplinary actions were taken, it is probably not necessary to restate the specifics of the
Exercising Strategy
Home Depot’s Bumpy Road to Equality
Questions
1. If Home Depot was correct in that it was not discriminating, but simply filling positions
consistent with those who applied for them (and very few women were applying for
customer service positions), given your reading of this chapter, was the firm guilty of
discrimination? If so, under what theory?
Students’ answers may vary, but could include the following. It appears that Home Depot
did discriminate against women by not hiring the few that applied for the customer
2. How does this case illustrate the application of new technology to solving issues that
have never been tied to technology? Can you think of other ways technology might be
used to address diversity/EEO/affirmative action issues?
Students’ answers will vary, however, the following could be included in the answers.
The case illustrates how a company can use technology to perform the hiring and
If technology were to be used to perform the hiring processes for companies who seem to
have problems with diversity, EEO, or affirmative action issues, it could reduce the
Managing People
Brown v. Board of Education: A Bittersweet Birthday
Questions
1. While segregation of public schools has been outlawed, the article notes that schools are
not necessarily “desegregating” (i.e., there are still predominantly minority and
predominantly nonminority schools). If students are to work in increasingly diverse
workforces, is the current system failing them? Why or why not?
Student answers may vary, and their responses may depend largely on their own
experiences in the public school educational system in their area. Some students may
2. The black-white gap continues to exist with regard to reading, math, and graduation rates.
What are the implications of this on organizations’ selection systems (i.e., disparate
impact)?
Student answers may vary. Many organizations perform assessments of applicants’
3. Given the lack of a “diverse” educational experience for a large percentage of black
children, and the gap between them and their white counterparts, what must organizations
do to leverage diversity as a source of competitive advantage?
Student answers may vary. Many will say that organizations must embody a culture that
Additional Activities
Teaching Suggestions
Included in this set of activities are four different ways to help the legal aspects of HRM come
alive to students, especially those with limited work experience. The debate on affirmative action
allows students to investigate the different societal perspectives from which individuals may
view a controversial policy. The second discussion exercise takes a disguised, but real, letter that
presents one organization's approach to affirmative action and asks students to look at the
possible positive and negative impacts of implementing such actions. The third suggested
activity provides discussion questions regarding sexual harassment and corporate policy. Finally,
suggestions for short research papers are made. This activity makes your students the experts on
various court cases and gives them experience in reading and interpreting legal arguments.
1. Affirmative Action Debate: Federal contractors are required by Executive Order 11246 to
engage in "affirmative action" in hiring women and minorities. Following are some
discussion questions to spark student debate regarding this issue. This works well as an
informal debate if the instructor assigns "pro" and "con" designations to several groups of
students. Students are expected to find and read several articles, each dealing with
affirmative action, prior to the class when the debate will be held.
a. What is affirmative action? What exactly do you think of when you hear this
term?
b. Is it important to promote the diversity of the work force through the hiring and
promotion of women and minorities? If so, why? If not, why not?
c. How appropriate are each of the following types of affirmative action?
Recruiting from minority colleges and universities.
d. What are the positive consequences of having an affirmative action program?
What are the negative consequences?
e. If a firm does not engage in some type of affirmative action, is it likely that the
firm will end up with a diverse work force? Why or why not?
2. As a second part of the discussion/debate on affirmative action, have the students read the
letter on the following pages that was distributed by the associate provost of a major
university. Ask the students to discuss the content of the letter. Does this letter suggest a
positive HRM approach to minority recruitment and retention? Why or why not?
The following reading may provide the students with good preparation for this
discussion:
3. After students have read the following article, the discussion questions below could be
utilized in class:
"In Japan, It's See No Evil; Have No Harassment" by Andrew Pollack, The New York
Times, May 7, 1996, pp. C1, C5.
a. How should a U.S. corporation deal with the issue of cultural differences and
sexual harassment? What sort of policy should they develop?
b. When U.S. female employees are sent to other countries, what preparation might
be useful relative to the issue of sexual harassment?
a. Should a company be held responsible for the
inappropriate actions of a client towards a female employee? How can a manager
deal with a situation in which one of his or her subordinates is being harassed by a
client or by another manager?
4. This chapter lends itself to short research paper assignments. Two different assignments
might be useful for students. In groups or as individuals, they can be assigned to find in
their library and read the actual court decisions that are covered in the chapter and/or
HRM Failures
Top
1 Case 3: Retaliation under Title VII
A woman working in an Indiana hospital approached her supervisor with a complaint of
The supervisor subsequently spoke to the male employee about the incident. However, she
The employee sued the hospital under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, claiming the
The appeals court reversed the lower court’s decision. It held that a reasonable person could
,nd the timing of the worker’s job elimination after her complaints of harassment suspicious.
According to the court, once the worker lodged her complaint with her supervisor, her
Question
Imagine you are a supervisor whose employee makes a complaint of sexual harassment.
What would you do?
Possible answers
Investigate the employee’s claim, involving the human resource department for
guidance and documentation purposes.
Case: Magyar v St. Joseph Reg’l Med Ctr, 2008 U.S. App. Lexis 19994 (7th Cir Ind Sept 12,
2008).
Source: James E. Hall, Mark T. Kobata and Marty Denis, “Retaliation Claim and Timing of Job
Loss,” Workforce Management, October 6, 2008, http://www.workforce.com
