Stacie Sowell

MGT 3210
Continuing Cases

Chapter 1/Carter Cleaning

Company
1. Make a list of five specific HR problems you think Carter Cleaning will have to
grapple with.
1. Conducting job analysis – employees need to know what they are to do.
2. Selecting job candidates – Carter needs to hire the best employees available.
3. Planning labor needs – by keeping up with the growth and decline of the company
4. Orientation and training of new employees
5. Managing wages and salaries (Payroll) to assure equity
6. Provide incentive and benefits to retain and motivate employees.

2. What would you do first if you were Jennifer?

If I were Jennifer I would do Payroll first. While planning labor needs, and orientation
and training, incentive and benefits, and job analysis are all very important issues for
Carter Cleaning Company. I would have to say that the extreme dissatisfies to the
employees is payroll. Developing and using an effective payroll is the first problem I
would tackle.

Chapter 2/ Carter Cleaning

Company
1. Is it true, as Jack Carter claims, that “Virtually all our workers are women or
minority members anyway, so no can come in her and accuse us of being
discriminatory”?
Just because the virtually all the workers are women or minority members does not
mean that they cannot be accuse of being discriminatory when they are hiring. First of
all the managers need to have proper training on hiring procedures. They need know

Stacie_Sowell_HR_Management_Continuing_Cases
what questions they can and cannot ask. This will keep them out of the legal word when
it comes to trouble. You cannot ask the question, “who’s going to take care of your
children while you are at work”? This is discrimination towards females. The same goes
for the question to minorities, about arrest records and credit histories. Once proper
training has been set in place I think that they might understand not to ask these type of
questions.
2. How should Jennifer and her company address the sexual harassment charges
and problems?
There are laws against sexual harassment, and Jennifer needs to address these issues
right off. She first needs to show that she is taking this complaint about harassment
seriously. And let her know that under EEOC guidelines, it is their duty to take
affirmative action to maintain a workplace free of sexual harassment. And that the paper
work will be started along with the investigation and then I will explain the entire process
to her.
3. How should she and her company address the possible problems of age
discrimination?
When it comes to the gentlemen that is 73 years old that is complaining about being
paid less than many younger people, I would call him into my office. I would first let him
know that age discrimination was not on pay but it was letting elders go. The law was
passed in 1967 to guard people from being let go from the up and coming younger
generation. 2nd, it is in the policy, that people are not to be talking about each other’s
salaries, so I do not know how you think you are making less than others. I would give
him a pay increase of being a loyal employee of 2% on his pay. Also, these younger
employees have come into the company with more education then he has and if he is
will to h=take more training I am willing to compensate for that.
4. Given the fact that each of its stores has only a handful of employees, is her
company covered by equal rights legislation?
It depends if there handful is over 15 people in all there stores. If not then no is so then
yes.
5. And finally, aside from the specific problems, what other personnel
management matters (application forms, training, and so on) have to be reviewed
given the need to bring them into compliance with equal right laws?
Some of the training I would suggest would be yearly sexual harassment training. This
would cut down on the issues. I would look into the application forms to make user that
questions were not being asked about arrest records, discharge due to garments, I
would make sure that the forms has no height, weight and physical characteristics on it
unless it required it for the job they were doing. I would not give preference to relatives. I
would only test for job related test.

Stacie_Sowell_HR_Management_Continuing_Cases
Another issue I would make sure I addresses since I did have manly females is the
pregnancy discrimination act. I would make sure all my managers were fully trained on
this issue along with age discrimination, civil rights act, American disability act, and
finally, I would make sure that all my managers understood the meaning of sterotyping.

Chapter 3/Carter Cleaning

Company
1. Would you recommend that the Carter expand their quality program? If so,
specifically what form should it take?
Yes, Carter should expand the quality program. It should take the approach of the
employee meeting in terms of utilizing high involvement of organizational practices. The
biggest quality program is human capital is in the purest form is training. While
educating and building awareness about basic standards and procedures you are able
expand on a great quality program.
2. Assume the Carters want to institute a high-performance work system as a test
program in one of their stores. Rite a one page outline summarizing important HR
practices you think they should focus on.
They need to improve quality, productivity, financial performance; methods for job
enrichment; strategies for implement and leverage a team-based.

Chapter 4/Carter Cleaning

Company
1. What should be the format and final of the store manager’s job description?
Jennifer should include a standards of performance section in the job description. This
lists the standards the employee is expected to achieve under each of the job
description’s main duties and responsibilities, and would address the problem of
employees not understanding company policies, procedures, and expectations. In
addition, students may recommend that Jennifer instead take a competency-based
approach which describes the job in terms of the measurable, observable, behavioral
competencies that an employee doing that job must exhibit. Because competency
analysis focuses more on how the worker meets the job’s objectives or actually
accomplishes the work, it is more worker focused.
2. Is it practical to specify standards and procedures in the body of the job
description, or should these be kept separate?

Stacie_Sowell_HR_Management_Continuing_Cases
They do not need to be kept separately, and in fact both Jennifer and the employees
would be better served by incorporating standards and procedures into the body of the
description. The exception to this would be if the standards and procedures are so
complex or involved that it becomes more pragmatic to maintain a separate procedures
manual.
3. How should Jennifer do about collecting the information required for the
standards, procedures and job description?
She should first go about conducting the job analysis, collecting information about the
work activities, human behaviors, machines, tools, equipment, and work aids,
performance standards, job context, and human requirements. The best methods for
collecting this information in this case are through interview, questionnaires,
observation, diaries/logs maintained by employees. Also, she should ensure that she is
identifying the essential functions of the job, and the descriptions comply with the law.
4. What, in your opinion, should the store manager’s job description look like and
contain?
The store managers job description should look like it shows a high level of
responsibilities, it has maximum required amount of HR training as well as all other
educations requirements (such as masters level) it should have all training levels
completed for supervisors through store manager, it should have years of experience.

Chapter 5/Carter Cleaning

Company
1. First how would you recommend we go about concerning how turnover in our
stores?
Jennifer can do an analysis on what it costs her to recruit and train a new employee. Every
reduction in employee turnover can be translated to dollars. Also, Jennifer can improve
working conditions without any change in her profit if she pays for improvements from
savings in employee turnover costs. The best source of ideas from improvement may come
from exit interviews by asking questions like ….what could we have done to our work
environment that would have made you more likely to stay? Could we have offered you
more breaks or longer lunches? She also could have suggested if they remained by upping
their pay by deferred compensation or profit sharing.
2. Provide a detailed list of recommendations concerning how applicant so we no
longer face the need to hire almost anyone who walks in the door. (Your
recommendations regarding the latter should include completely worded online
and hardcopy advertisements and recommendations regarding any other
recruiting strategies you would suggest we use.)

Stacie_Sowell_HR_Management_Continuing_Cases
They should go to local colleges , job fairs, post on internet, on the company website,
newspapers, flyers, websites,

Chapter 6/Carter Cleaning

Company
1. What would be the advantages and disadvantages to Jennifer’s company of
routinely administering honesty tests to all its employees?
Polygraph testing raises a large number of legal and moral issues; issues Carter
Cleaning should probably avoid these testing to stay out of problems. They could use
some of these available such as paper and pencil honesty tests may be a possibility. In
general, these have been shown to be reasonably reliable and valid. They are still
controversial. The costs associated with these tests may also make them prohibitive to
a small operation like Jennifer’s.
2. Specifically, what other screening techniques could the company use to screen
out theft-prone and turnover-prone employees, and how exactly could these be
used?
Although background checks are a recommend technique to eliminate potential thieves,
some firms chose to contract this out to a private security agency Cost may be an issue
to Jennifer. However, the company can check if the money it would save from reduced
thefts would pay for the checks. As part of the job preview, Carter must communicate
that jobs in her company are worth keeping; dishonesty and theft will not be tolerated.
Further company policies regarding theft should be clearly communicated to new and
existing employees.
3. How should her company terminate employees caught stealing, and what kind
of procedure should be set up for handling reference calls about these
employees when they go to other companies looking for jobs?
Terminating employees for theft should include the involvement of proper authorities
and should only be done when there is absolute proof of the theft and who committed it.
Such an action will also send a message to the other employees that you will not
tolerate theft of company resources. While many employers are reluctant to prosecute
employees for theft, developing evidence with police and through the courts can be
beneficial in providing future employers of the individual with truthful and factual
information. I believe it sends a powerful message out to the employees and it will
definitely will hinder it from happening again.

Stacie_Sowell_HR_Management_Continuing_Cases
Chapter 7/Carter Cleaning
Company
1. In general, what can Jennifer do to improve her employee interviewing
practices? Should she develop interview forms that list questions for
management and nonmanagement jobs? If so, how should these look and what
questions should be included? Should she initiate a computer-based interview
approach? If so, why and how?
The company has an inadequate, unstructured way of interviewing and hiring. One
solution to utilize a structured interview guide as a tool that managers could use to
improve their interviewing practices. She could have her managers brainstorm a list of
questions for structured interviews prior to the interview. Computer based approach
does cut down on cost but it does not give you the first impression type of interviews. It
is more of a speed date interview with mulita choice questions. Best choice is panel
interviews, with structured questions. Questions should include only what the job
description has on it and qualifications.
2. Should she implement an interview training program for her managers, and if
so, specifically what should be the content of such a training program? In other
words, if she decided to start training her management people to be better
interviewers, what should she tell them and how should she tell it to them?
Yes, a training program should be designed and delivered. She should educate
managers in the potential pitfalls that come up in the interviewing process and provide
opportunity for practice with mock interviews in the training session so that managers
get an opportunity to use the skills they learn and become comfortable with the process.

Chapter 8/Carter Cleaning

Company
1. Specifically, what should the Carters cover in their new employee orientation
program and how should they convey this information?
They should go over Department attendance procedures and UCSD Medical Center
work time and attendance policy, their job descriptions reviews, annual performance
evaluations, certifications, dress codes, department information, organization
information, depart policy and procedures, equipment and supplies, safety information,
facility information, security information.
2. In the HR management course Jennifer took, the book suggested using a job
instruction sheet to identify tasks performed by an employee. Should the Carter
Cleaning Center use a form look like, say, for a counter person?

Stacie_Sowell_HR_Management_Continuing_Cases
The center should use a form that contains the following information: task list; when and
how often performed; quantity, quality performance standards; conditions under which
performed; skills or knowledge required; and where best learned.
3. Which specific training techniques should Jennifer use to train her pressers,
her cleaner/spotters, her managers, and her counter people? Why should these
training techniques be used?
Pressers operate steam irons and machine presses. They know the qualities of various
textiles, the amount of heat they will tolerate, and the machine press that gives the best
results. In large establishments, Pressers may specialize in wool or silk work. In most
cleaning plants, Pressers do all types of pressing and are called combination pressers.

Spotters inspect garments for stains, identify the stain, and determine which solvent or
solvents will best remove it, and apply the proper chemical solution for removal. The
solvent solution is applied to the stain, and the garment is rubbed with a hand tool until
the stain dissolves. Prior to spot removal, fabrics are often tested in inconspicuous
places to determine whether the solvent solution will damage the dye or the fabric. In
larger plants, Spotters may specialize in particular fabrics, such as wool or silk.

Dry Cleaners sort and weigh garments and fill automatic dry cleaning machines, choose
proper solvents and cleaning times, and set machine controls. In many plants, Dry
Cleaners also do spotting or pressing and may be called combination workers.

Counter Attendants receive clothing to be cleaned. They quote prices, prepare work
tickets, and send the articles to the cleaning department.
They also return the finished articles to the customer, collect the amount due, and may
keep records of cash receipts and articles received and delivered. They may advise
customers regarding cleaning methods and the likelihood of success in stain removal.

Chapter 9/Carter Cleaning

Company
1. Is Jennifer right about the need to evaluate the workers formally? The
managers? Why or why not?
In my opinion, Jennifer is more than right regarding the need for formal assessment of
employees. Mel’s approach based on simple evaluation of timely fulfillment of working
duties by the employees might reduce motivation and lead to high turnover because of
little progress for certain employees. Use of formal criteria of performance evaluation
and provision of well-grounded feedback on the results of performance review is going
to lead to many significant improvements regarding employee compensation,
recruitment, improvement of performance of the whole company. Formal evaluation of
workers will also reduce potential subjectivity bias regarding employee performance. In
case of performance assessment involving elements of 360 degree feedback or similar

Stacie_Sowell_HR_Management_Continuing_Cases
 approaches balanced opinion of the team will be used for performance estimates rather
than personal views of a certain manager.

2. Develop a performance appraisal method for the workers and managers in

each store.

Employee Appraisal
Employee Name Department Position
Date Supervisor Name/title Performance period
Appraisal Criteria Narrative Appraisals Goals Training& Development
1.___________________________
_
2.___________________________
____________________ _______________________________
_
_ _
3.___________________________
_

Employee Job Knowledge

Employee Job Skills
Overall Assessment

Chapter 10/Carter Cleaning

Company
1. What would be the advantage to Carter Cleaning of setting up Career planning
program?
Some advantage would be setting up a career planning program for employees this
would include: increasing their job satisfaction, helping them navigate through the
company, and helping them think about and plan their careers.
2. Who should participate in the program? All employees? Selected employees?
All employees should participate in the program.

Stacie_Sowell_HR_Management_Continuing_Cases
3. Outline and describe the career development program you would propose for
the cleaners, pressers, counter people and managers at the Carter cleaning
Centers.
The employees should take training classes annually to include their job
descriptions, they should have a career development plan form that they follow
and that their manager will go over with them annually. With will have on there
appraisals, promotions, knowledge, action plan, training plan, manage training
plan, ect.

Chapter 11/Carter Cleaning

Company
1. Is the company at the point where it should be setting up a formal salary
structure based on a complete job evaluation?
2. Is Jack Carter’s policy of paying 10% more than the prevailing rates a sound
one, and how could that be determined?
He feels that prevailing rates by reducing turnover and fostering employing loyalty. As
well as equality between the duties of pay policies. .
3. Similarly, is Carter’s male-female differential wise? If not, why not?
Not using compensate factors using policy of paying men about 20% more than women
for the same job Jacks explanation “they are stronger and can work harder for longer
hours besides they all have families to support.
4. Specifically, what would you suggest Jennifer do now with respect to her
company’s pay plan?
Yes Jennifer needs to set up a formal salary structure based on job evaluation. To
address issues regarding four forms of compensation equity among employees - high
staff turnover, inconsistent pay rates, different pay rates between male and female
workers,

Chapter 12/Carter Cleaning

Company
1. Should this plan be extended to pressers in the other stores?
No, not in its present form. While the piece-rate plan does make more effective use of
his time and saves the company energy money, the quality control issue is a problem.
There needs to be an included incentive for quality.

Stacie_Sowell_HR_Management_Continuing_Cases
2. Should other employees (cleaners/spotters, counter people) be put on similar
plan? Why? Why not? If so, how, exactly?
Actually, it makes sense for some positions but not for others. Cleaner/spotters are
production employees who could also benefits from a similar plan. It would have to have
a quality incentive that makes sure they actually get the garments cleaned correctly! An
incentive plan that focuses on customer satisfaction makes more sense for the counter
people.

Chapter 14/Carter Cleaning

Company
1. What would you do if you were Jennifer and why?
If I were Jennifer, I would outline a policy that prohibits eating at the front counter
because it is very unprofessional and does not look good to the incoming customers.
The employees would be informed about the policy and the consequences for any
future violations of the new policy. The policy should be mandatory for all employees
and enforced to take place immediately after all employees have been informed.
2. Should a disciplinary system be established at Carter Cleaning Center?
Yes, I definitely think that Carter’s Cleaning Cent
ers should establish a disciplinary system for all employees who fail to follow the Center
Cleaning Centers’ rules, professional business policies and guidelines.
3. If so, what should it cover? How would you suggest it deal with a situation
such as the one with the errant counter people?
The disciplinary system should cover the expected behavior and professional conduct of
all employees. This should include all disciplinary actions that will take place when the
company rules, policies, and guidelines have not been followed. The disciplinary actions
should include a verbal warning, a written warning, and finally a termination of the
employee with a third offense.

4. How would you deal with the store manager?

The manager should be held responsible to ensure the new policy is understood by all
employees. The managers should also be held accountable for enforcing the company
policy to prevent any future violations. They should also be placed on the same
disciplinary system as the employees when company rules, policies, and guidelines are
not being followed.

Stacie_Sowell_HR_Management_Continuing_Cases
Chapter 15/Carter Cleaning
Company
1. Do you think it is important for Carter Cleaning Company to have a formal
grievance process? Why or Why not?
It is most important that this pressing issue is dealt with right away. It is apparent the
fact that the supervisors are engaging in unfair labor practices. They must have a
meeting with the managers immediately to instruct them in what they can and cannot
do.
2. Based on why you know about the Carter Cleaning Company, outline the steps
in what you think would be the ideal grievance process for this company.
Because this is a small company it should be very simple and short. One
suggestion is a twostep process that begins with a written appeal to the store
manager. The second step is to send the appeal to Jennifer and her dad for
review.
3. In addition to the grievance process, can you think of anything else that Carter
cleaning company might do to make sure grievances and gripes like this one are
expressed and are heard by top management?
The grievance procedure is critical. It is important to understand the distributive and
procedural justices. The fairness and justice of the decision’s result (for instance, did I
get an equitable pay raise? is distributive justice. Procedural justice is the fairness of the
process for instance, is the process my company uses to allocate merit raises fair?.
Most employees probably can’t and won’t unscramble what is ethical, fair, or just when it
comes to how you treat them. Discipline and dismissal are both major sources of
grievances.

Stacie_Sowell_HR_Management_Continuing_Cases