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Case application 2-A: KINDERGARTEN FUN

Back ground of the case:

Maybe Robert Fulghum, Author of All I Really Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten

(Ballantine, 1993) has taught individuals in corporate America a thing or two. Eze Castle,

headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, develops software for securities trading. This six year

old company has grown more than 90 employees, with annual revenues exceeding $13 million.

During its first few years, the start-up venture prospered- in part due to the attention paid to

every detail in managing the company. But success appeared to come at a price. Workers

become complacent. Decisions were made with no regard for bottom line. Employees began to

spend their time on activities not related to work. Internet connection fee soared when most

employees download Mp3 files. But two major events changed this. First, within two weeks’

time two key administrative assistants quite. Supplies were no longer possible as stock items

were no replenished. Mail was not delivered. Second, while getting away from it all for a day, a

company official attended his daughter’s kindergarten class. There he witnessed how chores

were divided up among the class mates, and how serving refreshment created time for all student

to socialize. Seeing this, the company official identified eight separate tasks that would make

work more enjoyable for employees. These includes stocking the kitchen, cleaning and

organizing dishes, maintaining the supply closet, storing and distributing mail, cleaning the

kitchen, overseeing the reception area, arranging snack breaks and acting as an ombudsman.

These activities would be done by employees on a rotating basis-typically 3-month assigned

tasks. Thus administrative assistant would not be replaced, saving the company the costs

associated with their salary and benefits. With cookies and milk break at every afternoon at 2:30,

employees from all parts of the company enjoyed socializing. They began to get to know one

another and understand what was happening in the organization and saved administrative salary

monies. One committee has recommended that a company gym be built, and another has been

supporting Boston-area homeless shelters by conducting food drives. These has increase moral

of employees. Teams formed in the organization. One has recommended that Every one turn off

their computers each evening before leaving the building. This suggestion alone is saving Eze

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more than $3000 per month, reducing its electric bill by more than 75 percent. Employees at Eze

learned an important lesson from a kinder garden class: sharing can be good and when people

share, they can be happier.

Answer to the questions provided in this case

Q1: What is your reaction to this “employee plan” implemented by Eze? Do you believe it

is too simplistic? Defend your position.

Ans: As far as my own perception is concerned, my reaction to this employee plan is positive

and acceptable. The reason is that the company official put all the employees of the company at

ease while working in the office. They provide them very friendly and supportive working

environment in which they can Enjoy. Employees can share their problem with each other and

also understand each other. As a consequence of this employee plan they can save their cost

$3000 per month and reduce their electric bill by more than 75 percent.

Regarding its second part, yes I think it is very easy to implement such an environment by

introducing such fun full activities just as introduced in the kids of any kindergarten because this

will increase the moral of the employees because they will fell themselves very comfortable and

happy in their inner self. Implementing this kind of employee plan does not take any extra cost.

Different activities would be done by employees on a rotating basis-typically 3-month assigned

tasks. Thus administrative assistant would not be replaced, saving the company the costs

associated with their salary and benefits. So it’s really simple to implement such employee plan

because it’s very attractive and everyone loves to have fun even while working in their office

hours.

Q2: Do you believe such employee programs as describe in this case can succeed at other

companies? Why or why not?

Ans: Every organization has its own working environment and pattern of performing job

activities. Environment and culture of all organization are not same. To be a successful one every

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organization must need employee program. So, I really go in favor of this statement because

People or the Labor Force is the working hands of any organization, of any business or firm. So

if the company provides them such a friendly, fun full and enjoyable working environment, then

there is no doubt that there would be a lot chances for the success for that particular organization.

Implementing this kind of employee plan does not take any extra cost. When the employees will

have such an attractive, innovative and fun loving environment, they will love to do work and

put their maximum efforts in achieving organizational objectives. They will be working as if

while playing in their offices as the small kids study while playing in the Kindergarten.

Q3: Do you believe special human resource management conditions have to exist for such a

system to work? Explain, How do these conditions are related to motivation?

Ans: Well I don’t think so that any “special” human resource management conditions are

required to implement such an environment. It will be indeed handled by the HRM Department

but they just have to make the environment friendly and comfortable for the employees in which

they can enjoy and have fun. The point is that there’s no need to introduce special conditions for

this environment because it’s not any unique or a strange thing. It should be a part of every

organization because employees are the working hands for any organization.

Now regarding motivation, yes it is directly related to the motivational level of the employees

because this environment will develop a positive thinking in them that our organization is doing

so much for ourselves like they are providing us such a friendly, open, fun full and enjoyable

working environment, so we should also put our maximum efforts and skills for the betterment

of the company. They will be more and more motivated towards the completion of their tasks

and hence it will ultimately result in the increase productivity of the organization. Another thing

is that such an environment will make them punctual as well and the ratio of absenteeism will be

reduced because all the employees will love to reach in such a fun loving environment as soon as

possible. This ting will help the organization in the timely accomplishment of its tasks and the

organization will flourish in its competitive market. So indeed employees are the working hands

of every organization and giving them a very good, convenient, comfortable and fun loving

environment, as Kindergartens, is the main objective of any organization.

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Case application 2-B: TEAM FUN!

Back ground of the case:

Kenny and Norton own TEAN FUN! , a medium-sized company that manufactures and sells

sporting goods and equipment. They are watching a CROSSKATES video about cross-country

roller skates in the LOUGN. Norton says,”I don’t know. This stuff looks dangerous! What do

you think? Remember that bungee-jumping thing we tried? “

Kenny responds, “Enda was out a long time with that knee problem. She sure is a good sport.

Keith said we were lucky not to get sued for that. Do you think employees could sue us if they

are hurt on product-test assignments?

“Let’s ask Tony,”Norton suggest. “That guy you hired as-what did you calls him- director of

human resource?”

Kenny smiles broadly,”Yep. He sure seems to be busy. He’s pulled together all that paper work

for insurance and retirement that Enda used to handle and named her compensation and benefit

manager.”

“He wants to send Joe and Eric to a supervisor’s school for work scheduling, job team

assignments, and project management,”Norton adds. “He started those picnics by the LAGOON

for people to talk about the work condition and issues.”

Kenny asks,”Do you think we should let him hire a full time secretary? I thought Enda could do

that, but tony said he has a full plate. Did you tell him to do that employee bulletin board he

tacked into the web site?”

Norton shakes his head no.

“Me neither,”Kenny muses.”Wonder why he did that? Guess we’d better talk to him.”

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Answer to the questions provided in this case

Q1: Which functional HR process can be identified in Tony’s area?

Ans: We know HR consists of four basic functions. These are staffing, training and

development, motivation and maintenance function. In Tony’s area we can find motivation

function of HRM. Motivation is one of the most important aspects in HRM process. Human

behavior is complex and tried to figure out what motivates various employees. In this case we

see Tony is busy with paper work for insurance and retirement of employees. He also arranged

picnic by the LAGOON for people to talk about the work condition and issues. He wants to

know about working condition, various problem and issues from the employees. He tried to

motivate employees. We know performance of every employee depend on ability and

willingness to do the job. If we can motivate employees properly we can get more work from

them and it increase productivity. In this case we saw Tony as compensation and benefit

manager. Compensation and benefit always motivate employees. He understands that a link

should be established between compensation and performance so that he can get better

performance from the employees. Though insurance, retirement, picnics are external motivator

apart from the nature of the work, they also play an important role tom motivate employees.

Q2: Identify the environmental influences important to TEAM FUN!

Ans: Environment of every organization plays an important role in determining the behavior of

employees toward organization. Every organization has its own environment created by its

employees and evolved across time. Success or failure of any organization highly depends on its

environment.

In this case we see a friendly environment exists among the employees of the organization. At

the start of the case we saw that they are watching a CROSSKATES video about cross-country

roller skates in the LOUGN since it is a medium-sized company that manufactures and sells

sporting goods and equipment. We saw some friendly conversation among the employees. They

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arranged picnics. Through picnics they exchanged their opinion about the working condition of

the organization and they discuss various issues. They want to talk about various problems they

have faced. By discussing their problem they want to establish a good communication among the

employees. Healthy and favorable environment have a deep impact over the employees. So

organization must ensure a safe and healthy environment. Employees may have various kinds of

problem in their personal life or in the organization. Such a friendly environment deals with

stressful life situation. Good relation and communication among the employees kept them well

informed. So environmental influences is very important to TEAM FUN!

Q3: How do its HR functional area line up with the overall HR process?

Ans: We know HR consists of four basic functions. These are staffing, training and

development, motivation and maintenance function and all are equally important to every

organization. In this case we found motivation function of HRM. Motivation is one of the most

important aspects in HRM process. All functions of HR are related and depend on each other.

First function of HR is stuffing function. It means activities of HRM concerned with seeking and

hiring qualifies employees. If any organization failed to hire qualified employees, they did not

get good performance. To perform every job successfully employees need specific knowledge,

skills and ability. HRM identifies the essential job qualification through job analysis. After

advertising a job application have come in. Analyzing applications HRM select best possible

candidate person for the job. Second function is train and develops employees. After hiring

employees they need to adopt their new surroundings. Employee training is designed to assists

employees in acquiring better skills for their current job. There are four phases of employee

training and development. These are employee training, employee development, career

development and organization development. Through these employees able to perform their

current job successfully. If that is attained HRM turns its attention to finding ways to motivating

employees. First design the job carefully. If job is poorly designed employee will perform below

their capabilities. The next step in motivation process is to understand the implication of

motivational theories and apply them carefully. In this case we find insurance and retirement

plan used to motivate employees. The last phase of HRM process is maintenance function. It

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refers activities in HRM concerned with maintaining employees’ commitment and loyalty to the

organization. HRM must ensure a safety and healthy working environment. HRM must also

realize that any problem an employee faces in his personal life will ultimately be brought into the

work place. Employee assistant program help individuals deals with stressful life situation.

HRM must operate appropriate communication program in the organization to keep them well

informed.

From the above discussion we see that all functions of HRM are related to each other. If any

organization wants success they need to perform all HRM function properly.

Q4: Which motivation theorists have tony applied to TEAM FUN!?

Ans: Motivating employees is one of the most important tasks of every organization. Some

motivational theories are well known to most practicing managers. Tony applied some

motivational theories to TEAMFUN!. Abraham Maslow introduces five needs rank in a

hierarchical order from lowest to highest: physiological, safety and security, belonging, esteem

and self-actualization. In this case we see Tony is busy with paper work for insurance and

retirement of employees. According to Abraham Maslow insurance and retirement plan of

employees are economic security need. Tony arranged picnics are fall into belonging need.

Every people want economic security and belong to society. So Tony applied theory of Abraham

Maslow.

Frederick Herzberg in the 1950s develops a two factor model of motivation. These are

maintenance and motivational factors. Here insurance, retirement plan and vacation are external

motivators that occur apart from the nature of the work. External motivators provide no direct

satisfaction at the time the work is performed but these are able to motivate employees. So Tony

also applied here Herzberg’s motivational theory.

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Q5: Does Tony need to do anything else to set up a strategic HR function?

Ans: Strategic HR function has been defined as “The linking of human resource management

with strategic goals and objectives in order of improve business performance and develop

organizational cultures that faster innovation and flexibility.” Organization’s employees can

assists in gaining organizational goal and maintaining a competitive advantage. HRM require

policies and practices to support business strategy. HRM must also serve the organization by

determining lowest-cost strategies. It looks for ways to reduce personnel cost and find more

effective means of offering employee amenities.

In this case we saw Tony is busy with paper work for insurance and retirement plan of

employees. He also likes employees to work in team. He can do something more as a strategic

HR function. Such as, he can set up a performance level for employees according to their

position. If any employee can achieve their level get reward. It helps to increase productivity or

the organization. He may take attempt to train employees for better performance, skill and

knowledge. He can design a communication program that help to increase employee loyalty and

commitment to organization. Employees can exchange their opinion to each other and also with

the top management.