HR Case Review Assignment
Karen is an administrative assistant to the executive vice president of an organization whose mission is to serve the professional needs of its members. Karen has exceptional computer skills and seems to have a real talent for technology. Not only does she complete each task in record time, she has independently developed spreadsheets, management reports, and other useful documents in impressive formats that are consistently error free. She is an extremely valuable asset to the organization and to her boss. The organization has recently undergone a major computer system conversion, and Karen seems to be one of the few employees who have mastered the new system. She is often called on to troubleshoot for other employees who are experiencing difficulties grasping the new technology. But Karen is often moody, irritable, and brusque with clients and coworkers. She is especially disagreeable when answering the telephone, which she views as a major disruption to her work. Hardly a week goes by that Karen’s boss does not receive complaints about Karen’s interpersonal skills when dealing with clients and coworkers. Karen’s boss has had repeated conversations with Karen about her behavior, but to no avail. Karen’s negative attitude has not discernibly improved, but Karen’s boss is reluctant to press the matter further because she values Karen’s other skills, which make her own work so much easier.
2.1.1 What are the ethical, legal and human resource issues in this case?
2.1.2 What management and/or HR mistakes were made in this case?
2.1.3 What steps can be taken within this organization to remedy these mistakes?
3. Required: Formatting of submissions:
3.1.1 Each question(s) must be repeated in full;
3.1.2 Followed by the group’s narrative response which must include substantively used sources as well as proper APA Style cited and referenced sources; and
3.1.3 Followed by the references used before proceeding to the next question.
4. More than two “External Authoritative Sources” are required in addition to the textbook for maximum points on EACH question.
4.1.1 In addition each paragraph and/or each substantive issue addressed in an answer must have at least one “External Authoritative Sources” cited (not including the text book).
4.1.2 It is unacceptable to have paragraph(s) and/or substantive narrative on issue(s), with zero sources cited and then have one paragraph or answer contain all “external authoritative sources” and the text book.
5. Required: Any direct quote in the narrative must include the page or paragraph number in the citation.
6. Required: It is improper to place a citation/source at the end of a paragraph if material from the source appears before the last sentence in the paragraph.
7. Required: It is improper to place a citation in the middle of a sentence. One can lead with the source in the sentence but cannot use a citation within parenthesis except at the end of the sentence.
8. “External Authoritative Sources” for purposes of this course shall mean: articles from published books, peer reviewed journal articles, education and government sites as well as non-partisan national or international organizations (such as WHO, UNICEF, UNAIDS etc) provided, however the article selected has:
8.1 authors
8.2 In text citations and references to support statements made therein.
8.3 Under no circumstances are newspapers (e.g., the Wall Street Journal), blogs (regardless of source), editorials, panel discussions, definition of terms, “dot com” sites, and text books from the course or other courses to be used. The foregoing are not considered authoritative for this course.
