Management Skills Exercises

Learning activities in this section are aimed at helping you develop your human resource management skills.

 Cases

Cisco Recruits the Best Minds in . . . Cisco

“Cisco Recruits the Best Minds in . . . Cisco” (p. 298) and its related Challenge Case Summary were written to help you better understand the management concepts contained in this chapter. Answer the following discussion questions about the Challenge Case to better see how your understanding of managing human resources can be applied in a company such as Cisco.

  1. 10-4. How important to an organization such as Cisco is the training of employees? Explain.

  2. 10-5. What actions besides training must an organization such as Cisco take to make employees as productive as possible?

  3. 10-6. Based on the information in the case, what do you think is the biggest challenge for Cisco management in successfully providing appropriate human resources for the organization? Explain.

How Raising Cane’s Uses Social Media to Attract Candidates

Read the case and answer the questions that follow. Studying this case will help you better understand how concepts relating to recruiting can be applied in a company such as Raising Cane’s.

Recruiting new employees in the restaurant industry has certainly changed in the last 5 to 10 years. Until recently, simply putting a “help wanted” sign on the front door was sufficient to garner candidates for everything from server and busboy to cook and general manager.

But recruiting opportunities are more challenging now, and one restaurant chain that has embraced the latest forms of recruiting is Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers. Founded by Todd Graves, the Louisiana-based company is named after Graves’s pet dog.

Graves’s story is that of the driven entrepreneur. His vision of a restaurant devoted to chicken fingers was met with disdain—even his college professor said it was a terrible idea and gave his business plan the worst grade in the class. Graves, though, held on to his vision. Attempting to raise enough money to start his first restaurant, he took a job as a boilermaker in a refinery and even took on 20-hour workdays for a commercial fishery off the coast of Alaska. Finally, he had enough money and a business plan to convince a lender to advance him the funds to open Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers.

Today, the chain has nearly 100 stores. Keeping all those locations fully staffed is an ongoing endeavor, and as more locations are added to the chain, the recruiting effort becomes even more difficult.

Graves believes strongly that his restaurants need the type of employee he is seeking. He wants individuals who have fun while getting their jobs done. “The people who work behind the register and in the kitchen are a little crazy,” Graves acknowledged. “They love what they do for a living. They work hard and play hard. They take pride in what they do.”49

So how does a successful and growing restaurant chain recruit the best employees it can find? It uses many tactics, but its use of social media is among the most successful in the industry. Utilizing Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, the chain attempts to reach candidates through the venues the candidates use most often.

On Raising Cane’s Facebook page, individuals can readily discover what job opportunities are available. This is an especially successful means of connecting with job candidates because most likely, those people would not be visiting Raising Cane’s Facebook page if they were not already loyal fans of the chain. “It goes without saying,” said Graves, “that I get very excited as more and more people want to know about Raising Cane’s. I love seeing my dream and the dream of our crew, become a reality every day. It’s wonderful bringing great people together to grow something truly great.”50

Also, photos of employees and store locations can be found on the Facebook page. Caniacs—the very loyal fans of the restaurant—make comments on Facebook, praising both good food and great service. All of this serves to blend both marketing and recruiting in a seamless fashion. The idea is that if customers really enjoy the restaurant, they may also want to find a career there.

The chain posts videos on YouTube showcasing not only the menu offerings but also the opportunities to work at the restaurant. One such video is over a minute and a half long and gives a straightforward description of what it is like to work at Raising Cane’s. A casual dress code permitting jeans is emphasized, but so is the opportunity for employees to earn good incomes. Also, the video highlights career path opportunities, including how one can start as a cashier or server and work one’s way to a general manager position. Overall, the YouTube video emphasizes the relaxed and fun working environment of Raising Cane’s and gives specific instructions on how to apply for a variety of jobs with the chain.

Successful restaurateurs like Graves have realized the importance of social media, whether for marketing or for recruiting talent. Attracting the right candidates for jobs is critical, especially at a firm that relies so heavily on positive customer experiences. Fortunately, Graves’s enthusiasm permeates everything the company does—opening new locations, overseeing the marketing of the chain, and making certain the best candidates are hired. “This isn’t my job,” said Graves. “It’s my passion.”51

Questions

  1. 10-7. How important is social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in attracting qualified candidates for jobs? Explain.

  2. 10-8. If a company were to rely exclusively on social media as a recruiting tool, what challenges would it encounter? What would you recommend to overcome these challenges?

  3. 10-9. Based on what you just read, is Raising Cane’s the kind of organization for which you would enjoy working? Why or why not?

Experiential Exercises

Determining Training Needs at Wal-Mart

Directions. Read the following scenario and then perform the listed activities. Your instructor may want you to perform the activities as an individual or within groups. Follow all of your instructor’s directions carefully.

Wal-Mart and Dell recently reached an agreement to sell Dell computers in Wal-Mart stores. However, top executives at Wal-Mart and Dell are somewhat concerned because most of Wal-Mart’s sales associates do not have any experience selling computers.

As such, Wal-Mart has contacted your group to help design the training program that will be used in all Wal-Mart locations. Specifically, the executives want you to determine the training needs, which is the first step in the training process. Your group should describe the process you would use to determine these training needs. Assume that Wal-Mart and Dell will give you the resources necessary to implement your process (i.e., access to employees, managers, etc.). Also, rely on your own experiences with purchasing and using personal computers to describe some of the training needs from a customer’s perspective.

You and Your Career

The beginning of this chapter distinguished between appropriate and inappropriate human resources and implied that employees should focus on demonstrating how they contribute to the organization’s goals. The previous section suggested that training can help employees improve their job skills. How might training influence whether your employer (or future employer) considers you an “appropriate” human resource? How might your view of the training process affect your performance as an employee?

Building Your Management Skills Portfolio

Your Management Skills Portfolio is a collection of activities specially designed to demonstrate your management knowledge and skill. Be sure to save your work. Taking your printed portfolio to an employment interview could be helpful in obtaining a job.

The portfolio activity for this chapter is Designing a Human Resource Management Program at Room & Board. Study the information and complete the exercises that follow. 52

Room & Board is a furniture retailer based in Minneapolis. Although the company operates only a limited number of locations, customers have flocked to Room & Board stores to purchase its sleek furniture. Because of customer demand, the company recently introduced an annual “catazine” and a website to fulfill online orders. As a result of the catazine’s and website’s success, a number of investors are encouraging Room & Board’s founder, John Gabbert, to expand the store’s locations quickly.

Despite Room & Board’s success, Gabbert is somewhat concerned that a rapid expansion of the company will damage the company’s human resources policies and procedures. Currently, the organization’s culture is excellent, and the relatively flat organizational structure provides employees with high levels of authority and responsibility, which most find important. Moreover, the company encourages employees to work smarter, not harder, and to work only 40 hours per week.

Gabbert has asked you to provide an analysis of the human resources policies at Room & Board. In particular, he is interested in learning more about how growth will influence his small company’s human resource function. To help him better understand the situation, use the knowledge you have developed throughout this chapter to answer the questions.

  1. 10-10. How will growth influence Room & Board’s recruitment policies?

              

              

              

  2. 10-11. How will growth influence Room & Board’s selection policies?

              

              

              

  3. 10-12. How will growth influence Room & Board’s training policies?

              

              

              

  4. 10-13. How will growth influence Room & Board’s performance appraisal system?

              

              

              

  5. 10-14. Write a job description for a sales associate position at Room & Board.

              

              

              

    MyManagementLab : Writing Exercises

    If your instructor has assigned this activity, go to mymanagementlab.com for the following assignments:

    Assisted Grading Questions

    1. 10-15. Review and describe the different types of tests that organizations might use in the selection process.

    2. 10-16. What are performance appraisals, and why are they important? Use an example from your life to illustrate either an effective or an ineffective performance appraisal.

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