Bandag Automotive Case Notes:
This case highlights some of the challenges a growing company faces, in particular
when there is a change in leadership. Bandag Automotive is a family-owned business
that has recently shifted leadership from Jim’s father to Jim. Jim’s focus on the bottom–
line ignores some of the long-term costs of poor human resource (HR) management
practices. In the absence of a leader with HR expertise, Jim faces several employment-
related legal challenges, including those involving the Americans with Disabilities Act
and the Family Medical Leave Act. Jim also cuts benefit offerings in the interest of cost
savings without exploring the impact on the organizational culture and employee
performance.
Questions:
1. Given Bandag Automotive’s size, and anything else you know about it, should we
reorganize the human resource management function, and if so, why and how?
2. What, if anything, would you do to change and/or improve upon the current HR
systems, forms, and practices that we now use?
There are several opportunities for change or improvement in the company’s current HR
processes. Some possible examples:
Customizing the HR forms used to Bandag’s needs instead of using generic
3. Do you think that the employee whom Jim fired for creating what the manager called
a poisonous relationship has a legitimate claim against us, and if so, why and what
should we do about it?
4. Is it true that we really had to put Gavin back into an equivalent position, or was it
adequate to just bring him back into a job at the same salary, bonuses, and benefits as
he had before his leave?
5. Miriam, the controller, is basically claiming that the company is retaliating against her
for being pregnant, and that the fact that we raised performance issues was just a
smokescreen. Do you think the EEOC and/or courts would agree with her, and, in any
case, what should we do now?
6. An employee who is deaf has asked us to be one of our delivery people and we
turned him down. He’s now threatening to sue. What should we do, and why?
7. In the previous 10 years, we’ve had only one equal employment complaint, and now
in the last few years we’ve had four or five. What should I do about it? Why?
Angelo’s Pizza Case Notes:
Angleo’s Pizza explores the importance of establishing human resource (HR) practices
as an organization expands. After success with one store, Angelo opens two new
Questions:
8. My strategy is to (hopefully) expand the number of stores and eventually franchise,
while focusing on serving only high-quality fresh ingredients. What are three specific
human resource management implications of my strategy (including specific policies
and practices)?
There are several important HR implications of Angelo’s growth plans. The three most
important include:
Consistent recruiting and selection practices. Angelo needs to establish new
9. Identify and briefly discuss five specific human resource management errors that I’m
currently making.
There are several errors that Angelo is making, including:
Failing to carefully evaluate applicants and basically hiring anyone that applies.
10. Develop a structured interview form that we can use for hiring (1) store managers,
(2) wait staff, and (3) counter people/pizza makers.
There are several interview questions that would be beneficial to the hiring process of
each of these categories of workers. All interview questions should be related to the
specific job and include questions that are based on job knowledge, situational or
behavioral. Some sample questions for each category:
Store Managers
Store managers are responsible for hiring and training their own staff. Some potential
Wait Staff
The wait staff needs to have strong customer service skills and be able to manage in a
fast-paced environment. Some potential questions for the wait staff include:
11. Based on what you know about Angelo’s, and what you know from having visited
pizza restaurants, write a one-page outline showing specifically how you think
Angelo’s should go about selecting employees.
There are many different strategies that a student could recommend. First, they should
identify several recruiting strategies. As Angelo notes, it is important to cast a wide net
Google Case Notes:
This case highlights the human resource management (HR) practices at Google that
are integral to the company’s long-term success. The case illustrates specific
components of Google’s HR strategy and also provides insights on some of the
challenges Google faces as it continues to grow. Specifically, the case explores the
Questions:
12. What do you think of the idea of Google correlating personal traits from the
employees’ answers on the survey to their performance, and then using that as the
basis for screening job candidates? In other words, is it or is it not a good idea? Please
13. The benefits that Google pays obviously represent an enormous expense. Based on
what you know about Google and on what you read in this text, how would you defend
all these benefits if you’re making a presentation to the security analysts who were
analyzing Google’s performance?
14. If you wanted to hire the brightest people around, how would you go about recruiting
and selecting them?
15. To support its growth and expansion strategy, Google wants (among other traits)
people who are super-bright and who work hard, often round-the-clock, and who are
flexible and maintain a decent work–life balance. List five specific HR policies or
practices that you think Google has implemented or should implement to support its
strategy, and explain your answer.
There are many HR policies or practices that can support its strategy to grow and
expand with the support of super-bright, hardworking employees. Some examples
include:
16. What sorts of factors do you think Google will have to take into consideration as it
tries transferring its culture and reward systems and way of doing business to its
operations abroad?
17. Given the sorts of values and culture Google cherishes, briefly describe four specific
activities you suggest they pursue during new-employee orientation.
Just hiring the right employees will not ensure Google is successful. The onboarding or
new-employee orientation process is important to socialize the employee into the
organization’s culture and help them understand what workplace behaviors will help
Muffler Magic Case Notes:
Muffler Magic examines some of the challenges of a growing company that has multiple
locations. As a company expands, the human resource management (HR) practices
need to adapt to the changing work environment. Growth for Muffler Magic has resulted
Questions:
18. Write a one-page summary outline listing three or four recommendations you would
make with respect to each HR function (recruiting, selection, training, and so on) that
you think Ron Brown should be addressing with his HR manager.
As a growing organization with several management challenges, there are a wide range
of recommendations that could be addressed. Some examples include:
19. Develop a 10-question structured interview form Ron Brown’s service center
managers can use to interview experienced technicians.
Students could provide a wide variety of interview questions in response to this
question. Some of the questions could be introductory to establish rapport. Others may
be situational or behavior-based questions. All questions should correspond to the job
description of a technician.
20 .If you were Ron Brown, would you implement the professor’s recommendation
addressing the presenteeism problem—in other words, start paying for sick days?
Why or why not?
21. If you were advising Ron Brown, would you recommend that he implement the
professor’s skill-based pay and incentive pay plan as is? Why? Would you implement it
with modifications? If you would modify it, please be specific about what you think those
modifications should be, and why.
Overall the skill-based pay and incentive pay plans appear to be a good way to tie pay
to performance and provide some incentive for employees to work productively. Skill–
BP Texas City Case Notes:
This case emphasizes the importance of health and safety in the workplace. The case
shares insights on several safety failures at BP, and in particular at the Texas City
facility. In addition to discussing safety programs, the case explores the role company
leadership plays in creating a safety culture. The case emphasizes the importance of
all aspects of safety from policies and practices to organizational commitment to
creating a safe work environment. The case also introduces the ethical implications of
safety efforts at an organization.
Questions:
22. The text defines ethics as “the principles of conduct governing an individual or a
group,” and specifically as the standards one uses to decide what his or her conduct
should be. To what extent do you believe that what happened at BP is as much a
breakdown in the company’s ethical systems as it is in its safety systems, and how
would you defend your conclusion?
23. Are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s standards, policies, and
rules aimed at addressing problems like the ones that apparently existed at the Texas
City plant? If so, how would you explain the fact that problems like these could have
continued for so many years?
24. Since there were apparently at least three deaths in the year prior to the major
explosion, and an average of about one employee death per 16 months for the previous
10 years, how would you account for the fact that mandatory OSHA inspections missed
these glaring sources of potential catastrophic events?
25. The text lists numerous suggestions for “how to prevent accidents.” Based on what
you know about the Texas City explosion, what do you say Texas City tells you about
the most important three steps an employer can take to prevent accidents?
26. Based on what you learned in Chapter 14, would you make any additional
recommendations to BP over and above those recommendations made by the Baker
panel and the CSB? If so, what would those recommendations be?
27. Explain specifically how strategic human resource management at BP seems to
have supported the company’s broader strategic aims. What does this say about the
advisability of always linking human resource strategy to a company’s strategic aims?