1.)”Employee Retention and Performance Appraisals ” Speculate on three (3) reasons that employees may leave and three (3) reasons employees may stay with an organization. Outline a retention strategy that HR could use in order to decrease the three (3) reasons you mentioned that employees may be leaving. Go to the Chron’s Website to read the article titled “The Pros & Cons of Performance Appraisal Methods”, located at http://smallbusiness.chron.com/pros-cons-performance-appraisal-methods-39497.html. Determine three (3) reasons that employees may react negatively to performance appraisals and examine the validity of the employees’ position from the perspective of a manager.
2.) Select one of the following case studies (located in your textbook): Then complete the following: Add your opinion about the choices and decisions being made—if this was your company would you make this choice? What would you do differently?
CASE 4-1 WALMART’S EVERYDAY HIRING STRATEGY: FUELING FUTURE CONSUMER DEMAND WITH PASSION AND TALENT
Case 4-1 Walmart’s Everyday Hiring Strategy: Fueling Future Consumer Demand With Passion and Talent(1) Walmart is the 800-pound gorilla in the retail market, posting the highest sales while being supported by their 2.3 million employees. They are also the number one retailer in Mexico and Canada, with operations that span the globe (Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia), including owning a 95% stake in Japanese retailer SEIYU. Their international division has experienced massive growth accounting for 26% of total revenues with over 6,100 stores. Locally, Walmart manages 655 Sam’s Club warehouses and around 4,570 Walmart stores with the increasing trend toward less extensive store designs.(2)
How can Walmart continue to expand successfully in the United States as well as internationally and offer products to their growing number of customers? The key to business growth for any firm, including Walmart and its more than 2 million employees, is human resource management. How does Human Resources (HR) perform such functions? Job analysis and design are implemented through the company’s hierarchical functional structure. Walmart divides job analysis into two areas: work-oriented and worker-oriented. Work-oriented job analysis is used to analyze salesforce work situations using direct observation and interviewing, and it provides HR with a benchmark of desirable work outcomes. In order to analyze managerial positions and gather data on perceptual, interpersonal, and critical-thinking skills, Walmart developed the Work Profiling System (WPS). This worker-oriented approach focuses on the critical skill set needed to become a successful corporate or store executive. Job descriptions are created from HR’s job analyses and include the following factors for all jobs: Duties Functions Job Factors Job Knowledge Performance Standards Job specifications, on the other hand, are employed for all job descriptions and are divided into desirable and essential worker attributes. Essential attributes change by position. Executives are expected to possess critical-thinking, problem resolution, and investigative skills (KSAs). The sales force is expected to be knowledgeable about the firm’s products and business while possessing excellent communication skills. Desirable traits for one type of job, ironically, are the essential attributes for the other. For example, being social, likeable, and multitasking are desirable skills for managers while a necessity for sales personnel. Forecasting is critical to guarantee that Walmart staffing requirements can shift with consumer demand, making sure that worker surplus is minimized. The three most notable forecasting techniques are bottom-up approach, trend analysis, and Delphi method. The purpose of the bottom-up approach is to guarantee that the organization, from the store employee (the lowest level) to corporate headquarters (top level), has the right people in the right jobs, that frontline employees have the management support they need. The forecasting process starts by HR looking first at the store level
Sample Solution
