Portion of Questions: Copyright 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

publishing as Prentice Hall

Gardner-Webb University
Final Exam
MGT 400 Human Resource Management
Summer 2014, Section O

Complete the following questions in their entirety within this document. It is expected that you will use the
textbook to support your answers. Please cite your references using APA writing style. Save document first
initial last name fe su2014 (i.e. tblack fe su2014.docx), submit it to Turnitin.com prior to submitting it in
Blackboard under Final Exam Assignment. Use your TAB key to toggle to each question.

I have neither given nor received help on this Final Exam. I am in compliance with the Gardner-Webb University and
GOAL Academic Honesty Policy. The work is my own and proper documentation was utilized, if appropriate.

Student Name: Gwen Moore Date: 7/27/2014

CHOOSE A COMPANY FROM THE FOLLOWING LIST: Ingles

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS USING THE TEXT, THE COMPANYS WEBSITE AS A REFERENCE BUT
INTERJECTING YOUR OWN THOUGHT PROCESS INTO HOW YOU WOULD HANDLE THE SITUATION/ANSWER THE
QUESTION AS THE HR MANAGER FOR THE FIRM.

Questions

1. Write out a one-page summary outline listing three or four recommendations you would make with respect to each
HR function (recruiting, selection, training, and so on) that you think should be addressed with the VP of your
department.
The recommendations I would make to the VP of our department with respect to each HR function are as follows: A.
Recruiting 1)Supervisors should work together with the HR Manager during the recruiting process. 2) Supervisors should
provide the HR Manager with an accurate and detailed job description. 3) HR Manager should ensure the job postings
are available to internal and external applicants. B. Selection 1) HR Managers should work with Supervisors during the
selection process. 2) Supervisors should be prepared with proper interview questions. 3) Supvisors should recommend
selections based on qualifications and skills. C. Training 1) Supervisors should train new employees or assign someone to
assist with training. 2) New employees should be fully trained prior to working in the store. 3) New employees should
understand what their job requirements and duties are. D. Promotion 1) Supervisors should promote employees based
on excellent job performance. 2) Supervisor should recommend promotions based on fairness and show no favoritism
toward employees. 3) Employees should expect promotions based on how well they perform their job. E) Displinary
Actions 1) Supervisors should ensure employees know the store policies and rules. 2) Supervisors should address
professional misconduct immediately. 3) Supervisors should provide employees who fail to follow store policy with a
verbal and written warning prior to termination from employment. Reference: Dessler, G. (2013). Human Resource
Management, 13th (Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ, Pearson Prentice Hall.

2. Develop a 10-question structured interview form the company can use to interview experienced managers.
1) Tell us about your previous management experience and skills. 2) How well do you work with other leaders,
employees, and customers? 3) How do you deal with work-place conflicts and disagreements? Give us an example of
how you handled a work-place conflict at your previous employment. 4) How well do you handle customer complaints?
Give us an example of how you handled a customer complaint at your previous employment. 5) Describe your
management style and leadership philosophy. 6) How you feel about delegating authority? Tell us about a time you
needed to delegate authority at your previous employment. 7) What steps do you take when an employee termination
needs to occur? Tell us what you did when you needed to terminate an employee at your previous employment. 8) Tell
us about your experience working for a large grocery store chain. 9) Why do you think its important to keep employees
informed about staff meetings? 10) Why do you feel you are the best qualified candidate for this management position?
Reference: Dessler, G. (2013). Human Resource Management, 13th (Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ, Pearson Prentice
Hall.

Portion of Questions: Copyright 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
3. Your company only offers 3 paid sick days per yearan additional 3 days are available but are not paid. The CEO is in
favor of a change. What would you propose and why?
I would be in favor of a change and propose our company offer 4 additional paid sick days for a total week per year. I
would propose at least 1 week of paid sick days because our employees will eventually need to use some sick days
during the year. The employees should have this time to use when they or their child is sick. They may also need to use
these sick days for a doctor or dentist appointment for themselves or their child. The additional sick days should include
a use policy to help prevent abuse. The policy should include a requirement for the employees to notify their supervisor
48-hours prior to using a sick day for a medical appointment in order to obtain approval. The employees should also be
required to contact their supervisor at least 2 hours in advance of their scheduled shift if they are sick and need to use a
sick day.

4. What type of pay plans should be utilized in your company and why? Skill-based pay or incentive pay plans or what?
Tier leveled plans? Why?
The type of pay plan that should be used in our company is skilled-based pay with a job performance incentive program.
I think a skilled-based pay plan should be used because it seems like the most appropriate type of plan for this grocery
store chain. Employees should expect to be paid based on their level of job skills, experience, and job performance. I
also think our company should establish a job performance incentive program. I believe this type of program will
encourage and motivate employees to provide a better job performance and strive to meet set goals. Reference:
Dessler, G. (2013). Human Resource Management, 13th (Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Preston Prentice Hall.

5. The textbook defines ethics as the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group, and specifically as the
standards one uses to decide what their conduct should be. Your company experiences a breach of trust. What would
you do to ensure a breakdown in the companys ethical systems does not cause the company to implode, and how
would you defend your conclusion?
I would conduct a meeting with company leadership to discuss the root cause of the breach of trust. I would recommend
disciplinary actions for the employee if the breach occurred as a result of their negligence or failure to follow company
policies, guidelines and/or code of ethics. I would recommend the Supervisor meet with employees to remind them of
the consequences for causing a breach of trust within the company. I would recommend that proper security measures
are put in place. I would also ensure that privacy guidelines are being enforced through ongoing staff ethics training in
oder to prevent future breaches. I would recommend the company invest in internet security and computer monitoring
software and have it installed on all employee computers. I would ensure that the company code of ethics and policies
are up to date and allemployees are aware of the policies and code of ethics. I would notify the appropriate parties that
were affected by the breach of trust and do my part to rebuild company trust and confidence. Reference: Dessler, G.
(2013). Human Resource Management, 13th (Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Preston Prentice Hall.

6. An Occupational Safety and Health Administrations (OSHA) standard, policy, and/or rule is broken and causes the
injury of production workers in your company. Middle and high level managers were aware of the situation but VP and
CEO were not. How do you address the problem and how would you explain the fact that this problem likely could have
continued for several years?
I would meet with company leadership to discuss how to deal with the employees being injured due to the broken OSHA
standard, policy, and/or rule. I would advise leadership that I will be notifying the VP and CEO about this injury incident
and its cause. I would recommend the VP and/or CEO take disciplinary actions against the department manager in
charge of the injured production workers. I would inform the VP and CEO that the department manager has continued
to disregard the OSHA standard, policy, and/or rule. I would also inform the VP and CEO that the department manager
has continually failed to enforce the OSHA policy by allowing his employees to break the OSHA standard, policy, and/or
rule which resulted in the injury of the production workers. I would also recommend the department manger be
suspended until a full investigation of the incident has been completed.

7. Your company gives an Employee Engagement Survey each year. 5% of the department based responses affect each
employees pay increase for the following year. How do you convince your employees to take the survey honestly
without fear that their responses will impact their pay increase. Consider the response for a housekeeper versus a high
level manager.
Portion of Questions: Copyright 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
I would meet with the VP and CEO about changing the policy so the Employee Engagement Survey will no longer have an
impact on employees pay increases for the following year. If the VP and CEO agrees to change the policy, I would inform
the employees the survey will no longer have a positive or negative impact on their ability to receive a pay increase. I
believe this would be the only way that housekeeping staff will be encouraged to respond with honesty and without the
fear of losing a potential furture pay increase. If the policy was not changed, I think the high level managers would
continue to respond based on what they think the company VP and CEO wants to hear. I dont think they would be
encouraged nor persuaded to answer the survey honestly because they are not going to jeopardize their annual pay
increase.

8. Your company just replaced their word-processing system. What is your high level plan for training for employees.
What would your FIRST step be?
The first step of my high level plan would be to make sure all leadership staff and key employees are trained to ensure
they all know and understand how to properly use the new word-processing system. I would begin scheduling specific
training times for each department to ensure work production and company performance is not negatively impacted. I
would recommend that internet security and computer monitoring is properly installed on all computers to help prevent
abuse of time during training. I would notify leadership training staff and their assistants about the start date and time
of each training session. I would advise the leadership training staff to inform their employees of when they are
expected to attend training. I would require the leadership training team to have a sign in sheet during each training
session to identify employees that have attended the training. This will also help me to verify that everyone received the
word processing system training. The department leaders will be responsible for ensuring all staff is properly trained.
The department leaders will also be responsible for providing additional help to those still needing assistance with the
new word processing system.

Extra Credit:

Please share something you learned in this class that has truly impacted your view of Human Resources at your place of
work or at home.
I really enjoyed this course because this semester I learned a lot of valuable, new, and important information about
human resource management. What had the greatest impact at my place of employment? The information I learned
from Chapter 14 on Ethics And Employee Rights and Disciple. This chapter provided me with very important
information that I could use on my job especially since ethics and training are two key topics that have been focused on
for the last few months. Ethics seems to have become an even greater focus to the facility owners, clinical director, and
clinical supervisor. This focus is primarily due to a few employees being terminated because of unethical behavior. There
was one employee found breaking the company policy and the law for having inappropriate personal contact with a
facility consumer and another for the improper use of the companys internet during work. In this chapter the author
stated that an ethics policy and code is a good way to signal that the company is serious about ethics. The author also
stated that, Ethics training involves showing employees how to recognize ethical dilemmas, how to use codes of
conduct to resolve problems, and how to use personnel activities like disciplinary practices in ethical ways. In addition,
the training should emphasize the moral foundations of the ethical choice and the companys deep commitment to
integrity and ethics. For all practical purposes, ethics training is mandatory. Federal sentencing guidelines reduced
penalties for employers accused of misconduct who implemented codes of conduct and ethics training. An amendment
to those guidelines now outlines stricter ethics training requirements. All references were used from our textbook
Dessler, G. (2013). Human Resouce Management 13th (Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Preston Prentice Hall.