Deck 9: Creating and Maintaining High-Performance Organizations

Question 1

What arguments would you make to support better HR planning in an organization you were advising How would you back up your arguments

Answer 1

Planning and execution are like initial and terminal positions. Without planning, no successful execution is possible. Especially when it comes to managing organization, planning becomes an integral part. HR department should be well-versed in its all approaches if company wants productive outcomes.
The following arguments will align with the need of better HR planning in an organization:
• HR department is responsible for overall planning and management of a company, lack of planning in the department itself leads to ineffective management all around.
• HR department prepares members of other department and make them known about the essence of succession planning; without being trained themselves they can pass on some irrelevant information or wrong information to other members leading to obstacles in the company's growth.
• Identifying key roles and people with the right skills can be done by senior executives of HR department as they have the performance graph of all the employees. If these executives suddenly leave the company due to some unavoidable reasons, nobody will be able to take the same role and justify it if no succession planning is there in the department itself.
A person can't be a trainer of that topic which he/she has never studied before. Involvement is necessary. HR department represents the company's culture to the outside world. All the above mentioned arguments focus upon productive outcomes. The company's main aim is to achieve expected goals and targets which is possible only if HR department is totally ready with its training and strategies building program. Hence, better planning is a must in HR department.

Question 2

What are the four broad categories of development methods Why might it be beneficial to combine all of these methods into a formal development program

Answer 2

Development is the act of growing some skills or getting some knowledge so as to grow. By development, one can become more advanced. It is basically a process that helps the employee to grow and meet the requirements all over the business industries.
There are four categories of development methods. These are as follows:
1. Formal education: An organization must help its employees to learn something new. It must help the employee in its development by way of formal educational programs such as MBA or other university courses.
2. Assessment: It is another very important method of development of employees. The superiors must provide feedback to its employees relating to their work.
3. Job experience: Job experiences are the most effective method that helps in the development of the employees. Under various jobs, the employee gets to learn many new things, gets new experiences and also learns to apply those experiences where ever required.
4. Interpersonal relationships: Interpersonal skills help an employee to develop its skills by interacting with the people who are more experienced.
Combining all these elements into a development program will help the employees to learn many new things. With the help of a senior, an employee can learn more about the organization and its working style, customers' needs, product quality etc. Also, he can assess his strong and weak points which will help him to improve his performance.

Question 3

If you were an employee who contributed to preparing an organization's financial statements, would having a CFO who places a high priority on ethical behavior help you meet high ethical standards Why or why not

Answer 3

Money is a thing which can change anybody's mind. The greed of earning more and more money develops gradually if the company's work atmosphere is not ethical. The reverse also happens, if a company follow ethics even in the small things, the employees will observe the same and their greed for money will get suppresses by the value of honesty.
Being an employee who plays an important part in making company's financial statements, it is normal to have some feeling of doing manipulation and make some money for oneself. It is during that situation when an ethical behavior of CFO helps the employee to maintain ethics and not to take a wrong path. Being on such a high designation where he/she has the full power to manipulate the records and generate some additional income; still if he/she behaves ethically, it will surely put a positive impact on the employee who is responsible for making financial records. Junior employees tend to follow their seniors.
Such senior officers leave a memorable imprint on the minds of the new employees. They silently carry the responsibility of ethics and make it as their practice. Leadership and managerial qualities never go waste; they are reflected in the employees' behavior.

Question 4

Do you think these development programs contribute to Toyota's strength as an automaker committed to continuous improvement and high quality If you were an HR executive at a different auto company, would you suggest using similar approaches to development Why or why not

Question 5

How well does Ernst Young's approach to development fulfill the steps and responsibilities of the career management process (see Figure 9.3 ) Besides the efforts described in the case, what else should Ernst Young and its accountants do to fulfill all these steps and responsibilities

Question 6

Recommend a development method for each of the following situations and explain why you chose that method.
a. An employee recently promoted to the job of plant supervisor is having difficulty motivating employees to meet quality standards.
b. A sales manager annoys salespeople by dictating every detail of their work.
c. An employee has excellent leadership skills but lacks knowledge of the financial side of business.
d. An organization is planning to organize its production workers into teams for the first time.

Question 7

How might an HR department help to develop financial executives who are ethical leaders and mentors

Question 8

A company that markets sophisticated business management software systems uses sales teams to help customers define needs and to create systems that meet those needs. The teams include programmers, salespeople who specialize in client industries, and software designers. Occasionally sales are lost as a result of conflict or communication problems among team members. The company wants to improve the effectiveness of these teams and it wants to begin with assessment. How can the teams use 360-degree feedback and psychological tests to develop

Question 9

In an organization that wants to use work experience as a method of employee development, what basic options are available Which of these options would be most attractive to you as an employee Why

Question 10

Which of the four approaches to employee development (see Figure 9.1 ) are described in this case Do you see any approaches that are missing

Question 11

Many employees are unwilling to relocate because they like their current community and family members prefer not to move. Yet preparation for management requires that employees develop new skills, strengthen areas of weakness, and be exposed to new aspects of the organization's business. How can an organization change an employee's current job to develop management skills

Question 12

Why is breaking the glass ceiling a significant business consideration for Ernst Young

Question 13

Many people feel that mentoring relationships should occur naturally, in situations where senior managers feel inclined to play the role. What are some advantages of setting up a formal mentoring program, rather than letting senor managers decide how and whom to help

Question 14

What long-run consequences would you predict in an organization that fails to engage in succession planning for HR leaders

Question 15

What are the three roles of a coach How is each coach different from a mentor What are some advantages of using someone outside the organization as a coach Some disadvantages

Question 16

How does development differ from training How does development support career management in modern organizations

Question 17

Why should organizations be interested in helping employees plan their careers What benefits can companies gain What are the risks

Question 18

In general, how might a senior executive mentor junior employees in behaving ethically

Question 19

What are the manager's roles in a career management system Which role do you think is most difficult for the typical manager Which is the easiest role List reasons why managers might resist becoming involved in career management.

Question 20

What advantages and disadvantages can you identify in Toyota's use of retired employees to coach people who are new in their position

Question 21

What is the glass ceiling What are the possible consequences to an organization that has a glass ceiling How can employee development break the glass ceiling Can succession planning help with this problem Explain.

Question 22

Which approaches to development does Ernst Young use to address the challenges of the glass ceiling

Question 23

Why might an organization benefit from giving employee development opportunities to a dysfunctional manager rather than simply dismissing the manager Do these reasons apply to nonmanagement employees as well