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Human Resource Management

CASE STUDY

Changing attitudes and values

Ben has recently been appointed as an HR adviser for a large supermarket chain. The company employs more than 2000 people in dozens of stores across the metropolitan area and major regional centres. The workforce is extremely diverse, including people from a range of different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. More than 70 percent of the workforce is female, although there are very few women in management roles. The company has a policy that advocates good equity and diversity management principles, but there are no actual programs or measures in place to back this up. Ben’s experience to date is that not many employees are aware of the policy, and of those who are, not many take it seriously. As one manager said to Ben: ‘It’s just one of those warm fuzzy policies that doesn’t really mean anything.’

Ben believes that something more concrete is needed to demonstrate the company’s commitment to equity and diversity. He has put together a proposal for a diversity awareness training program targeted at managers and supervisors. The fundamental objective of the program is to promote understanding of the diverse needs of the workforce, and to help managers overcome any prejudices or misconceptions they might have about people from other cultures or socioeconomic backgrounds.

Ben’s boss, the HR manager, was not really enthused by the proposal. His view was that employee values and attitudes were none of the company’s business, and that it was really only their behaviour that mattered. He also pointed out that the company already had a grievance policy that people could use to pursue complaints of unfair treatment, so in his view there was no need for a program like the one Ben was proposing. Ben was disappointed but realised he hadn’t really argued the case strongly enough or provided enough justification for his idea. He resolved to continue working on it.

Case study questions

1. Given that there seems little real commitment to equity and diversity, why does the company have an equity and diversity policy at all?

2. How might Ben justify his proposal more strongly? What data might help him do this?

3. Is the HR manager right? Are employee values and attitudes any of the company’s business?

4. Is a diversity awareness program the right way to start? Are there any other initiatives that Ben could suggest as an alternative to the program he is proposing?

 
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Balkrishna just started swimming lessons last week. After taking one look at her, Balkrishna’s teacher was convinced that she had the perfect body for swimming, long and lean. And sure enough, six months later, Balkrishna was swimming better than anyone in her class. Yesterday, you met Rebecca. She was wearing jeans, so you automatically assumed that she doesn’t care much about her appearance. Theresa, who is an avid cross-country skier, just met Nitu. Theresa assumes that Nitu must enjoy cross-country skiing as well. Use your knowledge of the barriers to perception to complete the following sentence. Which of the following are self-enhancing techniques of impression management? Check all that apply. Telling your best friend that her decision to become a hairdresser is a great career move Mentioning that the dean of the School of Business is a good friend of your family’s when you talk to your business statistics professor about your poor grade in her class Telling jokes so people will feel comfortable around you, even though you are blind Making sure you look your best when you go in for an interview
 
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Select a print advertisement from a newspaper or magazine or online version of either. Make sure to attach an image of the selected advertisement in your submission. Answer the following questions related to your selected print ad. Number your responses.

  1. Consumer/ Business Market: Discuss the market for your advertised product. It is a business or consumer market? Describe the target buyer in terms of their characteristics (situational, sociocultural, and psychological influences).
  2. Segmenting the Market: Based on your ad, how could you use segmentation (geographic, demographic, psychographic) to reach your target market?
  3. Total Product Offering: Describe what a consumer evaluate when deciding whether or not to buy your product. Determine the tangible and intangible attributes.
  4. Packaging: Describe the packaging in terms of the functions that package provides.
  5. Brand: How is the brand perceived by consumers? How well established is the brand (brand equity)? Is the brand associated with any other brands?
  6. Distribution: How is the product distributed to any retail intermediaries? Explain utility created by the intermediary.
  7. Price: What is the price? Describe the pricing strategy? Why do you think this strategy was used?
 
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There be Light Lamp Shade Company Located 60 miles from Chicago, Illinois, the Let There Be Light Lamp Shade Company, which designs and builds custom lamp shapes and lamp globes, historically derived all of its sales from customers in the United States and Canada Recently, an architectural firm that often contracted with Let There Be Light was commissioned to design several large public buildings in the People’s Republic of China (China). These buildings would require Let There Be Light to supply 8,100 identical lights, and the relevant terms of sale would include delivery to the Port of Shanghai where the architectural firm would take possession. Let There Be Light designed a prototype cylindrical lamp shade that measured 11 inches high and 11 inches in diameter and would be packed into cartons that measured 12 inches by 12 inches by 12 inches. (We refer to these shades as Style A.) The Style A lamp shades would cost $4 each to manufacture and weighed nine pounds each: each carton cost 60 cents and weighed one pound, meaning that each loaded Style A carton weighed 10 pounds. In an effort to reduce packaging costs and also enhance the company’s commitment to environmental logistics. Let There Be Light also developed two prototype lamp shades (referred to as Style B and Style C) in the shape of a cone, rather than a cylinder One advantage to conical shades is that they can be nested that is stacked inside each other, meaning that, unlike Style A multiple lamp shades could be packed into a single carton Moreover, the nested shades would also help protect each other, although a slight bit of padding would be needed between the nested shades. The production costs for the conical lamp shades would be higher than those for the cylindrical shades. Let There Be Light determined that each Style B lamp shade would cost $4.50 to manufacture and could be shipped nested with six lamp shades per carton. The carton dimensions were 12 inches by 12 inches by 40 inches, and when bolding six shades, a carton weighed 62 pounds. Each Style B carton cost $2.00, and this included padding between the shades. Each Style Clamp shade would cost $s to make and could be shipped nested with 10 lamp shades per carton. The carton dimensions were 12 anches by 12 inches by 48 inches and when holding 10 shades a carton weighed 101 pounds. Each carton cost $2.25 including padding between the individual shades The lamp shades would be loaded into intermodal containers and transported by rail to the Port of Vancouver. The transportation cost to Vancouver was $1,400 per 40-foot container, without regard to weight, although the total shipment weight could not exceed 44,000 pounds per container because of highway weight restrictions. The interior dimensions of the intermodal container were 8 feet wide by 8 5 feet high by 40 feet long Insurance costs were 2 percent of the value of the shipment ready to be loaded aboard ship in Vancouver (i.e. all of the company’s costs up to this point). Let There Be Light learned that the transportation cost from the Port of Vancouver to the Port of Shanghai were $800 for a 40-foot container

a) Define logistics for Let There be Light Lamp Shade Company

b) Define supply chain for Let There be Light Lamp Shade Company

c) Explain the role of logistics in Let There be Light Lamp Shade Company’s supply chain
 
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