Schermerhorn & Bachrach Exploring Management 6th edition Instructor’s Manual
Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 10–12
bonuses awarded in the team—no names attached. The idea is that because teammates know one
another best, they also know who deserves to be recognized at bonus time.
Ask students to dicusss whether they have performed peer evaluations in teams and perhaps even
assigned grades to team members. What’s your take on this approach to bonuses? Does it really
dig down to the level of truly rewarding individual contributions to team performance? Or is it a
practice that potentially introduces more problems than it is worth?
Ethics Check: Personality test? Drug test? Social media test?
Many interviewers now ask for access to an applicant’s social media pages. They don’t want just
a quick glance at the public profile; they want access to the private profile, too. It’s time to get
worried when the recruiter says, “Please friend me.” One job candidate turned over a password
Facts to Consider: Human Resource Executives Worry about Performance
Measurement
A survey of human resource executives published in the Wall Street Journal reveals they aren’t
pleased with the way managers in their organizations do performance reviews. Some are so
concerned that they suggest dropping reviews altogether. Among survey findings:
Schermerhorn & Bachrach Exploring Management 6th edition Instructor’s Manual
Hot Topic: Underemployment affects almost one fifth of U.S. workers
The Gallup organization tracks the percent of the U.S. workforce that is underemployed,
meaning either part-time or unemployed people who want full-time work. A recent count showed
18.6% of people over 18 falling into this category. The underemployment figure for recent
college graduates is even higher—44%!
Insight: Conscientiousness is a career booster
Conscientiousness is the degree to which an individual is achievement oriented, careful,
Conscientiousness is a personality characteristic that is positively related to work performance
across a wide range of jobs. Get to Know Yourself Better Just how conscientious are you—not
only in work and school situations but also in your everyday life? Take a conscientiousness test
using the attributes listed in the box. Ask, “How would others rate me on these same
characteristics?” Can your credentials meet a recruiter’s conscientiousness challenge? Why, or
why not?
Quick Case: Athletic director’s dilemma
You are the athletic director at a large private university with a highly comprehensive, highly
competitive intercollegiate athletics program. Most years the football team is ranked in the top
25 and is in the hunt for an NCAA Division I bowl game. The team captain has just presented
you with a petition signed by 70% of the players that requests permission to start the process
leading to unionization. The players aren’t asking to be paid, but they believe it is in their best
Schermerhorn & Bachrach Exploring Management 6th edition Instructor’s Manual
WHAT DO YOU DO?
Before reaching for the telephone to call the football coach and university president, you decide
to make notes on “goals, critical issues, possible outcomes, and next steps.” What’s on your list
and why? How will you handle the implications of this request for the entire football team, other
teams and their coaches, and the university as a whole?
Reflect and React
“Underemployment… minimum wage workers….income inequality” – these are all topics and
buzzwords of our day. In a perfect world where everyone worked for an employer that valued
them and invested in their human capital you’d think these words wouldn’t even be on our
vocabulary lists. But the fact is that they are and that all employers are not “the best.” What’s it
all mean to workers today and to those seeking jobs and careers in the future? How will you deal
with the challenge of finding an employer that values you?
Terms to Define
360O feedback
Affirmative action
Age discrimination
Flexible benefits
Fringe benefits
Gain sharing
Gender Discrimination
Schermerhorn & Bachrach Exploring Management 6th edition Instructor’s Manual
Performance appraisal
Performance review
Person-job fit
Person-culture fit
Schermerhorn & Bachrach Exploring Management 6th edition Instructor’s Manual
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Human resource management is the process of ____________, developing, and
maintaining a high-quality workforce.
2. A ____________ is a criterion that organizations can legally justify for use in screening
job candidates.
3. ____________ programs are designed to ensure equal employment opportunities for
groups historically underrepresented in the workforce.
4. Which of the following questions can an interviewer legally ask a job candidate during a
telephone interview?
5. An employment test that yields different results over time when taken by the same person
lacks ____________.
6. Which phrase is most consistent with a recruiter offering a job candidate a realistic job
preview?
7. Socialization of newcomers occurs during the ____________ step of the staffing process.
8. The assessment center approach to employee selection relies heavily on ____________ to
evaluate a candidate’s job skills.
Schermerhorn & Bachrach Exploring Management 6th edition Instructor’s Manual
Short-Response Questions:
16. Why is orientation important in the HRM process?
17. How does mentoring work as an on-the-job training approach?
18. When is an employment test or a performance appraisal method reliable?
110. How do the graphic rating scale and the BARS differ as performance appraisal methods?
Integration and Application Questions:
20. Sy Smith is not doing well in his job. The problems began to appear shortly after Sy’s job
Schermerhorn & Bachrach Exploring Management 6th edition Instructor’s Manual
As Sy’s supervisor, you face a difficult but perhaps expected human resource management
problem. Not only is Sy influential as an informal leader, he also has considerable experience
on the job and in the company. Even though he is experiencing performance problems using
Self-Assessment 10: Performance Review Assumptions
Instructions
In each of the following pairs of statements, check the one that best reflects your assumptions
about performance evaluation.
2.
(a) a process that is planned for subordinates
(b) a process that is planned with subordinates
4.
(a) a time to evaluate subordinates’ performance
(b) a time for subordinates to evaluate their manager
6.
(a) a time to confront poor performance
(b) a time to express appreciation
8.
(a) only as good as the organization’s forms
Interpretation
In general, the a responses show more emphasis on the evaluation function of performance
Schermerhorn & Bachrach Exploring Management 6th edition Instructor’s Manual
Class Exercise 10: Upward Appraisal
Instructions
Form into work groups as assigned by the instructor. The instructor will then leave the room. As
a group, complete the following tasks:
1. Within each group create a master list of comments, problems, issues, and concerns about the
course experience to date that members would like to communicate to the instructor.
3. Before the instructor returns, the spokespersons from each group should meet to decide how
4. While the spokespersons are meeting, members remaining in the groups should discuss what
they expect to observe during the feedback session.
6. Spokespersons should deliver feedback to the instructor while observers make notes.
Team Project 10: The Future of Labor Unions
Question
What is the future for labor unions in America?
Instructions
2. Analyze the trends to identify where unions are gaining and losing strength; develop possible
explanations.
4. Consider examining data on labor union trends in other countries.
5. Prepare a report that uses the results of your research to answer the project question.
Schermerhorn & Bachrach Exploring Management 6th edition Instructor’s Manual
Practice Critical Thinking: Two Tier Wages: Same Job, Different Pay
When domestic auto manufacturers were hit hard by recession and foreign competition, they
struggled to control costs and maintain profitability. One response was a two-tier wage system
that pays new workers significantly less than existing ones doing the same job. What is the future
for such two-tier wage systems?
“This is not going away,” said Kristin Dziczek, a labor analyst at Ann Arbor’s Center for
Automotive Research. “It has allowed the Big Three to reduce labor costs without cutting the pay
of incumbent workers. Is it good for the health and competitiveness of the companies? Yes. And
is that good for job security? Yes.”
1. DISCUSSION
How do Employee Value Propositions differ for those being paid at different levels in two-tier
wage plans? What are the implications of these differences for each phase in the human resource
management process – attracting, developing, and maintaining a talented workforce?
2. PROBLEM SOLVING
If you were a negotiator for the United Auto Workers Union, what would be your “union”
position management proposal to eliminate the highest tier in the existing two-tier pay system as
senior workers retire? How would you expect the management negotiators to respond to your
Schermerhorn & Bachrach Exploring Management 6th edition Instructor’s Manual
position? Do you see any room or way to negotiate a compromise or trade-offs that could protect
the union’s desire for higher wages and meet management desires to control labor costs? Is there
any way to forge a shared agreement in this situation?
3. FURTHER RESEARCH
Dig into current events, scholarly research, and even financial analysts’ reports for information
on two-tier wage systems and their outcomes in various industries. Find the pros and cons from
both management and union points of view. Look for interviews with workers who express their
real feelings about being on each side of the two-tier system. Create a report that summarizes for
the reader or listener the current status of two-tier plans and what we know about how they work
and what direction we can expect from them in the future.
This could be assigned as a prep report for each side – management and union – in preparing
for the negotiations.
Suggested Team Exercise for Chapter 10
Break the class into teams and have the teams perform the following discussion tasks:
• “Identify five questions that you might ask during an interview process to help obtain a
realistic view of what the company is ‘really like’? “