University of Petra

Faculty of Administrative & Financial Sciences

Department of Business Administration

Course: Human Resource Management

CASE STUDY #1
CH.1 Continuing Case:
CARTER CLEANING COMPANY
Introduction
Submitted By: Homam Al Rifai / Uni. ID#201610397
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ABSTRACT

Jack Carters main business started with operating Laundromats, he got 2 by 1998. The main attraction of
these coin laundry businesses for him was that they were capital- rather than labour-intensive. This didnt
require skilful labour in order to get or achieve high success and profits in the market.
Jack turned his mind to relatedly diversify the services provided by adding new services that were related to
and consistent with his existing coin laundry activities such as, dry cleaning and pressing of clothes. He
embarked, in other words, on a strategy of related diversification by adding new services that were related to
and consistent with his existing coin laundry activities. One of the main reasons that turn Jacks mind to go
toward diversification, is to better utilize the unused space in the rather large stores he currently had under
lease. Furthermore, he was tired of outsourcing some service to be provided to his customers instead of doing
it inside the stores and cutting some expenses that can pushing the profits down. To reflect the new, expanded
line of services, he renamed each of his two stores Carter Cleaning Centers and was sufficiently satisfied with
their performance to open four more of the same type of stores over the next 5 years.
 Human Resource Management / Case Study Assignment- Week#1: CARTER CLEANING COMPANY
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Questions:
1. Make a list of five specific HR problems you think Carter Cleaning will have to grapple with.

Answer

Since Jacks point-of-view supports that, the main attraction of coin laundry businesses was that they were
capital- rather than labour-intensive, Carter Cleaning have to grapple against the following human resources
problems:
1- Inability to recruit and maintain a good work force that does constitute the bottleneck for production if
happens.
2- Maintain an efficient and enthusiastic labour force.
3- Rewarding systems and benefits for those employees who perform fairly and reward those who
perform well.
4- Individuals may be placed in positions that do not maximize or utilize their skills, there is a need for
managing employee relations to develop an effective organization we should have regard for the well-
being of the individual and enable them to make the best contribution to its success.
5- Training, orienting, and developing the labour skills to enhance knowledge and skill levels of
employees to benefit organizations performance.

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

Answer

Based on the new strategy of related diversification that Jack has undertaken in his business lately, Jennifer in
my opinion has to identify firstly the labours degree of skills. Such a strategy requires flexible workforce with
high skill levels that enable to cope with any possible diversification that can take place in the business.

After identifying degree of skills, Jennifer has to find the synergy between the employees in different stores
based on individual abilities. This will create a team-based structure which enables managing employee
relations to develop an effective organization we should have regard for the well-being of the individual and
enable them to make the best contribution to its success.

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Page 2 of 2 Done by: Homam Al Rifai / Uni. ID#201610397