Case study: Project team issues BetterU College is a fictitious, small liberal arts school that is l
Case study: Project team issues BetterU College is a fictitious, small liberal arts school that is l
Case study: Project team issues
BetterU College is a fictitious, small liberal arts schoolthat is located in Maryland The HR Director has decided to propose theimplementation of a computerized system for employee performance evaluationsThree of the staff of the HR department, Steven Hansen, Training Manager, KellyWoo, HR Analyst, and Eric Adams, Compensation Manager, have been assigned toperform this task Steven, Kelly and Eric all know each other but normally donot interact much and have not previously worked together on a project
Steven is a long-time employee of the college (20 years) whoworked his way up from janitor to shipping and receiving clerk to officemanager to a recruiter in HR to a Training Specialist to Training Manager Heis 55 years old, has an Associates degree in business, and is very creative buthates having to write reports or deliver presentations
Kelly is relatively new to the college (3 years), havingcome from a rival university She is 27 years old, has 5 years of experienceand has a Masters degree in HR from Georgetown University Kelly likes her jobbut is actively seeking to relocate to Oregon to be closer to her fiancé` Shehasn’t told anyone but she’s hoping to move within the next 4 months and mayeven switch careers Her fiancé’ owns a chain of convenience stores and Kellymight take over the management of one that has been experiencing decliningsales
Eric has been the Compensation Manager at the college for lessthan 6 months He came from an HR consulting firm that had Fortune 100companies as its clients Eric was the VP of HR at the consulting firm but hewas downsized when the firm was bought out by a bigger company Eric’s job atthe college has meant a big pay cut but he’s trying to stick it out Rumor hasit that Mark may be retiring in a few years so Eric plans to apply for his jobas HR Director when it becomes available
Case Objectives:
After analyzing this case, students should be able to:
Outline and discuss key group processes, theories, andmodels that are relevant to this case
Identify the impact of individual actions on the outcome ofteam projects
Discuss attributes that enable teams to function effectivelyand apply them to this case
Discuss the relevance of effective coordination andcommunication in this case
Recommend a course of action to help this team function moreeffectively in the future
Questions – Answer the following 5 questions (each worth 20points) by using/referencing the models and theories you have learned about inclass Please read each item carefully before responding If you have anyquestions, contact your instructor
1 Are Steven,Kelly and Eric a “team?” Why or why not?
2 Identifythe key problems in this case
3 Whatshould Steven, Kelly and Eric have done to avoid the problems that occurred inthis scenario?
4 In thisscenario, it is assumed that Steven, Kelly and Eric are all from the US andare located in the same place (the college) How might your answer to Question# 3 have been different (if at all) if you were told that they were all ofdifferent nationalities? What if they were not all located in the same place?
5 What doyou think Steven, Kelly and Eric should do now to try to salvage the HR projectand their jobs? Explain
