Archives for the Month of December 2006 on Christopher Mazzola's Online Journal
Last Day of Class
This week was our last session of Management 250. As our final exercise, Professor Piderit asked each member of the class to mention his or her favorite activity of class this semester. Also, we had to recognize one person in the class that made our experience throughout the semester better. My favorite activity of the class was the mock interview. I felt it gave me a valuable experience into the world of business. It also made me feel more confident in setting up interviews with company’s, who are offering summer internships. I gave recognition to my entire HR simulation group instead of just one person in the class. Our success this semester was a result of each team member’s contribution, and it would not have been fair to recognize only one person.
I am excited that this semester is over, but I will value all the things I learned in Management 250. After our final class ended, I felt that what I have learned in class has provided me with more real world experience that any other business classes I have taken. I am looking forward to next semester and I hope everything goes well in Management 251.
Final HR Simulation Results
On Monday, my HR simulation team met for the last time. The results for the final quarter of our company, Motel 6, were much better than we expected. For example, our company’s morale was at an outstanding ninety-three out of one-hundred compared to the industry average of seventy-eight. Striving for high morale was a goal of our company since the first quarter of the second year, so we were very proud to have done so well. In class on Thursday, Professor Ponamallee recognized the companies with the best overall results in three different categories. Motel 6 earned the award for Highest Productivity but fell just one point shy of earning the award for Highest Morale. This was a great achievement of our HR simulation group and we are hoping to work together next semester.
Employee Termination
Recently in class, we discussed employee termination. This is one aspect of Human Resources that can be a tough issue to tackle and we learned the best way to go about discharging an employee. For cases such as sexual harassment, petty larceny, or assault, firing an employee is an easy choice, because any one of these technicalities are basis for termination. However, sometimes the grounds for letting go of an employee are not so specific. For example, if an employee is incompetent, then there must be clear evidence of this. Also, alternatives to releasing the incompetent worker must be considered. Morale of other employees is another consideration when an employee is discharged. Workers may be fearful that their job is on the line if they are not aware of the reasons for the other employee’s termination. In cases such as these, Human Resources must be very careful as to not hurt worker morale.