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Chapter 10: Managing Employee Retention, Engagement, and Careers 10- 7
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
10-1: Why is it advisable for an employee retention effort to be comprehensive? What
activities would you say is involved in such a program?
This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab. Student
10-2: What is the employee’s role in the career development process? The manager’s role?
The employer’s role?
Employees must understand that it is their role to take charge of their own career
development. The manager should support the employee’s career development needs and
10-3: What are the main decisions employers should address in reaching promotion
decisions?
The decisions to make are: 1) Is seniority or competence the rule? 2) How should we
measure competence? 3) Is the process formal or informal? 4) Is the process vertical,
10-4: Discuss at least four procedural suggestions for managing dismissals effectively.
This item can be assigned as a Discussion question in MyManagementLab. Student
10-5: What would you as a supervisor do to avoid someone accusing you of wrongful
dismissal?
• Have applicants sign the employment application. Make sure it contains a statement that
the employer can terminate at any time.
a wrongful discharge case. For example, delete “employees can be terminated only for
get it signed. Then check out the story.
• If an employee shows evidence of incompetence, give that person a warning. Provide an
opportunity to improve.
notices, and so on.
Chapter 10: Managing Employee Retention, Engagement, and Careers 10- 8
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
Individual and Group Activities:
10-6: Many rightfully offer IBM as an example of an employer that works hard to improve
employee retention and engagement. Browse through the employment pages of IBM’s
Web site (such as www03.ibm.com/employment/build_your_career.html). In this
chapter, we discussed actions employers can take to improve employee retention and
engagement. From the information on IBM’s Web pages, what is IBM doing to
support retention and engagement?
Look for students to integrate the principles in this chapter in the analysis and
10-7: In groups of four or five students, meet with one or two administrators and faculty
members in your college or university and, based on this, write a 2-page paper on the
topic “the faculty promotion process at our college.” What do you think of the
process? Based on our discussion in this chapter, could you make any suggestions for
improving it?
Look for students to integrate the principles in this chapter in the analysis and
10-8: Working individually or in groups, choose two occupations (such as management
consultant, HR manager, or salesperson) and use sources such as O*NET to size up
the future demand for this occupation in the next 10 years or so. Does this seem like a
good occupation to pursue? Why or why not?
Students should be able to support their conclusions with data and information from these
10-9: In groups of four or five students, interview a small business owner or an HR
manager with the aim of writing a 2-page paper addressing the topic “steps our
company is taking to reduce voluntary employee turnover.” What is this employer’s
turnover rate now? How would you suggest it improve its turnover rate?
Look for students to integrate the principles in this chapter in the analysis and
10-10: Appendices A and B at the end of this book list the knowledge someone studying for
the HRCI (Appendix A) or SHRM (Appendix B) certification exam needs to have in
each area of human resource management (such as in Strategic Management and
Workforce Planning). In groups of several students, do four things: (1) review
Appendix A and/or B; (2) identify the material in this chapter that relates to the
Appendix A and/or B required knowledge lists; (3) write four multiple-choice exam
questions on this material that you believe would be suitable for inclusion in the
HRCI exam; and (4) if time permits, have someone from your team post your team’s
Chapter 10: Managing Employee Retention, Engagement, and Careers 10- 9
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
questions in front of the class, so that students in all teams can answer the exam
questions created by the other teams.
10-11: Several years ago, a survey of college graduates in the United Kingdom found that
although many hadn’t found their first jobs, most were already planning “career
breaks” and to keep up their hobbies and interests outside work. As one report of the
findings put it, “the next generation of workers is determined not to wind up on the
hamster wheel of long hours with no play.” Part of the problem seems to be that
many already see their friends “putting in more than 48 hours a week” at work.
Career experts reviewing the results concluded that many of these recent college
grads “are not looking for high-pay, high-profile jobs anymore.” Instead, they seem
to be looking to “compartmentalize” their lives. They want to keep the number of
hours they spend at work down, so they can maintain their hobbies and outside
interests. If you were mentoring one of these people at work, what three bits of career
advice would you give him or her? Why? What (if anything) would you suggest their
employers do to accommodate these graduates’ stated career wishes?
The advice needs to be relevant to the issues surrounding the blending of this world view
10-12: Web sites such as Sporting News occasionally run a story listing what they called the
greatest coaches. Look at this list, and pick out two of the names. Then research these
people online to determine what behaviors they exhibited that seemed to account for
why they were great coaches. How do these behaviors compare with what this
chapter had to say about effective coaching?
Student conclusions should accurately reflect the concepts in this chapter on coaching.
Experiential Exercises: Where Am I Going . . . and Why?
Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to provide you with experience in analyzing your career
preferences.
Required Understanding: Students should be thoroughly familiar with the “Employee’s Role in
Career Management” section in this chapter, as well as using O*NET (which we discussed in
Chapter 4).
How to Set up the Exercise/Instructions: Using O*NET and the “Employee’s Role in Career
Management” section in this chapter, analyze your career-related inclinations (you can also take
the Self-Directed Search for about $10 at www.self-directed-search .com). Based on this
analysis, answer the following questions (if you wish, you may do this analysis in teams of three
or four students).
10-13: What does your research suggest to you about what would be your preferable
occupational options?
Chapter 10: Managing Employee Retention, Engagement, and Careers 10- 10
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
10-14: What are the prospects for these occupations?
10-15: Given these prospects and your own occupational inclinations, outline a brief, 1-
page career plan for yourself, including current occupational inclinations, career
goals, and an action plan listing four or five development steps you will need to take
in order to get from where you are now career-wise to where you want to be, based
on your career goals.
Application Case: Google Reacts
10-16: Without doing any further research than what you learned in this chapter, what
other steps would you suggest Google take to improve employee retention?
Student answers will vary.
10-17: Was there any information in previous chapters of this book that would help to
illustrate other steps Google took to improve retention?
Look for students to pull information from previous chapters (e.g. the selection chapter).
10-18: Use other Internet sources, including Google.com, to finalize an answer to the
question. What other steps should Google take to improve employee retention?
Student answers will vary depending on the Web sites they use.
Continuing Case: Carter Cleaning Company – The Career Planning Program
10-19: What would be the advantages to Carter Cleaning of setting up such a career
planning program?
Some examples of the advantages of setting up a career planning program for employees
include increasing job satisfaction, helping employees navigate through the company, and
10-20: Who should participate in the program, and why? All employees? Selected
employees?
Students should justify why they think certain employees should or should not participate in
10-21: Outline and describe the career development program you would propose for the
cleaners, pressers, counter people, and managers at the Carter Cleaning Centers.
Based on the career planning activities discussed in the chapter, students should design a
Chapter 10: Managing Employee Retention, Engagement, and Careers 10- 11
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
Hotel Paris: Improving Performance at the Hotel Paris – The New Career
Management System
10-22: “Many hotel jobs are inherently ‘dead end’; for example, maids, laundry workers,
and valets, for instance, either have no great aspirations to move up, or are just
using these jobs temporarily, for instance, to help out with household expenses.”
First, do you agree with this statement? Why, or why not? Second, list three specific
career activities you would recommend Lisa implement for these employees.
There are no dead end jobs; every job offers an employee the opportunity to be seen and if
performing successfully, to be considered for other jobs within the organization. Some
10-23: Build on the company’s new system by recommending two more specific career
development activities the hotel should implement.
The hotel should use the performance management system to do specific career counseling.
First, however, a training program to assist supervisors in how to coach employees should be
10-24: What other specific career development activities would you recommend in light of
the fact that the Hotel Paris’s hotels and employees are dispersed around the world?
Answers will vary. Discuss the feasibility of expatriation programs in a hotel environment.
My Management Lab
Students can find the following assisted-graded writing questions at mymanagementlab.com.
Answers to these questions are graded against rubrics in the MyLab.
10-25: You manage a small restaurant in Columbus, Ohio and keeping good employees is one of
your biggest challenges. Most wait staff and kitchen staff last no more than 8-9 months.
Explain what you would do to improve employee retention.
10-26: Explain what you as a supervisor can do to support your employee’s career management
needs.
Key Terms:
Career – The occupational positions a person has had over many years.
Chapter 10: Managing Employee Retention, Engagement, and Careers 10- 12
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
Career Management – The process for enabling employees to better understand and
develop their career skills and interests, and to use these skills and interests more effectively.
Career Development – The lifelong series of activities that contribute to a person’s career
exploration, establishment, success, and fulfillment.
Career planning – The deliberate process through which someone becomes aware of
personal skills, interests, knowledge, motivations, and other characteristics, and establishes
action plans to attain specific goals.
Reality Shock – Results of a period that may occur at the initial career entry when the new
employee’s high job expectations confront the reality of a boring, or otherwise unattractive
work situation.
Mentoring – Advising, counseling, and guiding.
Coaching – Educating, instructing, and training subordinates.
Promotion – Advancement to a position of increased responsibility.
Transfers – Reassignments to similar positions in other parts of the firm.
Dismissal – Involuntary termination of an employee’s employment with the firm.
Insubordination – Willful disregard or disobedience of the boss’s authority or legitimate
orders; criticizing the boss in public.
Terminate at Will – In the absence of a contract, either the employer or the employee can
terminate at will the employment relationship.
Termination Interview – The interview in which an employee is informed of the fact that he
or she has been dismissed.
Outplacement Counseling – A formal process by which a terminated person is trained and
counseled in the techniques of self-appraisal and securing a new position.
Exit Interviews – Interviews with employees who are leaving the firm, conducted for
obtaining information about the job or related matters, to give the employer insight about the
company.
Layoff – An employer sending employees home due to a lack of work; this is typically a
temporary situation.
Downsizing – The process of reducing, usually dramatically, the number of people employed
by a firm.
