Identify ten (10) HR elements in the case – These HR elements refer to any HR concepts, theories, terms, topics etc that you can identify. Each HR element must contain a direct reference from the case (using quotation marks) that relate to that HR element. Within 5 years, Paolo's store was a success, and he had opened three other stores and wasconsidering franchising his concept.Eager as he was to expand, his 4 years in business school had taught him the difference betweenbeing an entrepreneur and being a manager. As an entrepreneur/ small-business owner, he knewhe had the distinct advantage of being able to personally run the whole operation himself. Withjust one store and a handful of employees, he could make every decision and watch the cashregister, check in the new supplies, oversee the takeout, and personally supervise the service.When he expanded to three stores, things started getting challenging. He hired managers for thetwo new stores (both of whom had worked for him at his first store for several years) and gavethem only minimal "how to run a store" type training, on the assumption that, having worked withhim for several years, they already knew pretty much everything they needed to know aboutrunning a store. However, he was already experiencing human resource management problems,and he knew there was no way he could expand the number of stores he owned, or (certainly)contemplate franchising his idea, unless he had systems in place to address these problems.There were several issues that particularly concerned Paolo. He'd read the new National SmallBusiness Poll from the National Federation of Independent Business Education Foundation. Itfound that 71% of small-business owners believed that finding qualified employees was "hard."Furthermore, "the search for qualified employees will grow more difficult as demographic andeducation factors" continue to make it more difficult to find employees. Similarly, reading theKiplinger Letter one day, he noticed that just about every type of business couldn't find enoughgood employees to hire.In addition to not finding enough employees, not finding enough honest ones scared him evenmore. Paolo recalled from one of his business school courses that companies in the United Statesare losing a total of well over $400 billion annually in employee theft. As a rough approximation,that works out to about $9 per employee per day and about $12,000 a year lost for a typicalcompany. Furthermore, it was small companies like Paolo's that were particularly in thecrosshairs, because companies with fewer than 100 employees are particularly prone toemployee theft. Why are small firms particularly vulnerable? Perhaps they lack experience dealingwith the problem. More importantly: Small firms are more likely to have a single person doingseveral jobs, such as ordering supplies and paying the delivery person. This undercuts the checksand balances managers often strive for to control theft. Furthermore, the risk of stealing goes updramatically when the business is largely based on cash. In a pizza store, many people come inand just buy one or two slices and a cola for lunch, and almost all pay with cash, not credit cards.And, Paolo was not just worried about employees stealing cash. They can steal your wholebusiness idea, something he learned from painful experience. He had been planning to open astore in what he thought would be a particularly good location, and was thinking of having one ofhis current employees manage the store. Instead, it turned out that this employee was, in a matterof speaking, stealing Paolo's brain - what Paolo knew about customers and suppliers, where tobuy pizza dough, where to buy tomato sauce, how much everything should cost, how to furnishthe store, where to buy ovens, store layout - everything. This employee soon quit and opened uphis own pizza store, not far from where Paolo had planned to open his new store.That he was having trouble hiring good employees, there was no doubt. The restaurant businessis particularly brutal when it comes to turnover. Many restaurants turn over their employees at arate of 200% to 300% per year - so every year, each position might have a series of two to three employees filling it. As Paolo said, "I was losing two to three employees a month." He also said,"We're a high-volume store, and while we should have [to fill all the hours in a week] about sixemployees per store, we were down to only three of four, so my managers and I were really underthe gun"The problem was bad at the hourly employee level: "We were churning a lot at the hourly level,"said Paolo. "Applicants would come in, my managers or I would hire them and not spend muchtime preparing them for the roles and responsibilities associated with her new position, and thegood ones would leave in frustration after a few weeks, while often it was the bad ones who'dstay behind." But in the last 2 years, Paolo's three company-owned stores also went through atotal of three store managers - "they were just blowing through the door," as Paolo put it, in partbecause, without good employees, their workday was brutal. As a rule, when a small-businessowner or manager can't find enough employees (or an employee doesn't show up for work), about80% of the time the owner or manager does the job him or herself. So, these managers oftenended up working 7 days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day, and many just burned out in the end. Onenight, working three jobs himself with customers leaving in anger, Paolo decided he'd never justhire someone because he was desperate again, but would start doing his hiring more rationally.As a local business, Paolo recruits by placing help-wanted ads in two local newspapers, and he'sbeen "shocked" at some of the responses and experiences he's had in response to his help-wanted ads. Many of the applicants left voice mail messages (Paolo or the other workers in thestore were too busy to answer), and some applicants Paolo "just axed" on the assumption thatpeople without good telephone manners wouldn't have very good manners in the store, either.He also quickly learned that he had to throw out a very wide net, even if only hiring one or twopeople. Many people, as noted, he just deleted because of the messages they left, and about halfof the people he scheduled to come in for interviews didn't show up. He'd taken courses in humanresource management, so (as he said) "I should know better," but he hired people based almostexclusively on a single interview (he occasionally made a feeble attempt to check references). Intotal, his HR approach was obviously not working. It wasn't producing enough good recruits, andthe people he did hire were often problematical.Paolo knew that that he could identify many of the traits that his employees needed. As he said,"It's much better to spend time up-front screening out candidates that don't fit than to hire themand have to put up with their ineffectiveness." For example, he knew that not everyone has thetemperament to be a server (he has a small pizza/ Italian restaurant at the back of his main store).As Paolo said, "I've seen personalities that were off the charts in assertiveness or overlyintroverted, traits that obviously don't make a good fit for a waiter or waitress." What was helooking for? Service-oriented courteous people, for one. For example, he'd hired one employeewho used profanity several times, including once in front of a customer. On that employee's thirdday, Paolo had to tell her, "I think Paolo's isn't the right place for you," and he fired her. As Paolosaid, "I felt bad, but also knew that everything I have is on the line for this business, so I wasn'tgoing to let anyone run this business down." Paolo wants reliable people (who'll show up on time),honest people, and people who are flexible about switching jobs and hours as required.Paolo's pizza business has only the most rudimentary human resource management system.Paolo bought several application forms at a local Office Depot, and rarely uses other forms of anysort. He uses his personal accountant for reviewing the company's books, and Paolo himselfcomputes each employee's paycheck at the end of the week and writes the checks. Training isentirely on-the-job. Paolo personally trained each of his employees. For those employees who goon to be store managers, he assumes that they are training their own employees the way Paolotrained them (for better or worse, as it turns out). Paolo pays "a bit above prevailing wage rates(judging by other help-wanted ads), but he thinks it's not enough to make a significant differencein the quality of employees that he attracts. If you asked Paolo what his reputation is as anemployer, Paolo, being a candid and forthright person, would probably tell you that he is asupportive but hard-nosed employer who treats people fairly, but whose business reputation maysuffer from disorganization stemming from his HR issues. He approaches you to ask for advice.

Human resources (HR) is a critical function within an organisation that deals with employee…

Answered: Identify ten (10) HR elements in the…

Understanding Business

12th Edition

ISBN:9781259929434

Author:William Nickels

Publisher:William Nickels

Chapter1: Taking Risks And Making Profits Within The Dynamic Business Environment

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1CE

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