Archives for the Month of December 2006 on Nick's Blog
Last Day of Class
On the last day of class, Professor Piderit asked us to share our favorite experience of the class. I shared that I enjoyed the challenge of working with my HR team during the simulation throughout the course of the fall semester. Additionally, I was glad that I had been put in touch with the Career Center as they are an excellent source of information. I hope to further utilize that connection later in my college career.
Although I did not know what to expect from class this semester, I am glad that I had the opportunity to experience it. The different perspectives and methods of analysis of my fellow classmates were an experience in itself, and I am glad to have been a part of it.
The Learning Plan
The completion of the Learning Plan came sooner than I had expected it to. I would think it is one of the more comprehensive papers that I have completed in my college career. I enjoyed the creation of Part II in which we delved into our goals in depth. I thought that was the more exciting, if not difficult, part of the paper. I included my desire to travel to Europe in the near future. I have never been anywhere outside of North America and would definitely jump at the chance to travel. I think it would be an interesting experience to experience cultures and peoples radically different than what I am used to. Also, I would like to travel when I am employed, so what better way to start than now?
HR Simulation Review
The class discussed the pros and cons of the HR simulation in class. While I think that simulation provided a worthy chance for us to work in a management team situation and provided a chance to experience the aspects of HR, it was not without its shortcomings. First, there was significant confusion as to which incident was used for each quarter. Also, the correlations between the various aspects of the simulation (absenteeism, grievances, morale, accident rate, etc.) worked in mysterious ways at times and the significance of decisions was not always abundantly clear. Regardless, I thought it was a positive experience overall and would recommend it with reservations to the next management class.
Tom Mendola Case
We discussed the Tom Mendola case in class, which dealt with a disillusioned youth who was forced out of high school in order to support his family working in a manufacturing facility. The case dealt with how Tom was repeatedly warned about his poor performance on the job and whether or not it would be appropriate for management to let him go given his circumstances. The class was put into two different sections; one pro-firing and the other anti-firing. While my side had to argue against the termination of Tom, I personally felt that Tom had run out of goodwill at his place of work due to his poor work performance. Only so much can be blamed on extenuating circumstances at home and Tom should look into some way to continue his educational pursuits regardless of his work situation.
Terminating an Employee
In class we discussed how to deal with unproductive employees. I related my own personal experience while employed in the restaurant that I worked in as a line cook. One waitress was particularly ineffective as an employee and engaged in inappropriate behavior on the job site. The owner of the restaurant consulted both myself and the head server to gauge how best to deal with this situation. After making repeated warnings to the employee, it was decided it would be best to fire her. Both myself and two other employees (the next senior line cook and floor manager) accompanied me while I informed her that management could not put up with her behavior anymore, and she was thus terminated.
While it was hard to tell someone that they are being fired, in this case, it was appropriate given the employees behavior. Also, it was good to have multiple people there in order to ensure no one could claim any wrongdoing on any of the employees involved.