Attend any 4 case studies. All cases carry equal marks.
CASE 01: The Wal-Mart Story:
Union Files Wal-Mart Complaint:
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Wal-Mart stores Inc. Yesterday, urging federal officials to investigate claims that the retailer’s former head Of U.S. Operations paid people to monitor union activity. The complaint, filed with the National Labour Relations Board, alleges that World-Mart violated federal labour law by “bribing” employees to report on co-workers who favored a union.
Wal-Mart recently ousted board member and formed vice chairman. Thomas M. Coughlin after an internal investigation raised questions about the use of up to $500,000 in company funds-money that Coughlin maintains was spent on anti-union activities. Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, has fired three other employees over the probe and has turned the case over to the U.S. attorney for the western division of Arkansas…………………….
……………………………..
“It’s something that might be harder to walk away from then some of the other units that have had organizing drives,” Jacobi said of the Harrisonville site.
Source: Washington Post, April 13, 2005, Independent/U>K> may 11, 2005 and Kansas City Business Journal, November 9, 2001.
Questions:
1. In the various incidents discussed in these reports, what has been the role of the union?
2. What kind of causes has the union pursued with the management of Wal-Mart?
3. What can you conclude about a country’s culture and the kind of union concerns discussed in these cases lets.
CASE 02: CONSCIENCE OF THE4 COMPETITIVE EDGE:
The plane touched down at Mumbai airport precisely on time. Olivia Jones made her way through the usual immigration bureaucracy without incident and was finally ushered into a waiting limousine, complete with a uniformed chauffeur and soft black leather seats. Her already considerable excitement at being in India for the first time was mounting. As she cruised the dark city streets, she asked her chauffeur why so few cars had their headlights on at night. The driver responded that most dr4ivers believed that headlights use too much petrol! Finally, she arrived at her hotel, a blank marble monolith, grandiose and decadent in its splendor, towering above the bay.
The goal of her four-day trip was to sample and select swatches of woven cotton from the mills in and around Mumbai, to be used in the following season’s youth-wear collection of shirts, trousers and underwear. She was thus treated with the utmost deference by her hosts, who were invariably Indian factory owners of British agents for Indian mills. For three days, she was ferried from one air-conditioned office to another, sipping iced tea or chilled lemonade, pouring over leather-bound swatch catalogues, which featured every type of stripe and design possible. On the fourth day, Jones made a request that she knew would cause some anxiety in the camp. “I want to see a factory”, she declared………………………
……………………………Once Jones returned to the United Kingdom, she considered her position and the options open to her as a buyer for a large, publicity traded, retail chain operating in a highly competitive environment. Her dilemma was twofold; can an ambitious employee afford to exer4cise a social conscience in his or her career? And can career-minded individuals truly make a difference without jeopardizing their future? Answer her.
Questions:
1. What is business ethics? Bring out the ethical dilemmas.
2. Explain the sources of ethics. What are the myths associated with ethics? How do you defined business ethics?
3. What is CSR? Bring out the pros and cons of it.
4. Bring out the role of IHR manager in ensuring ethical behavior and social actors.
CASE 03: “The Culture of Appraisal”
Measuring individual performance and tying consequences to the appraisal will be more acceptable in cultures that are individualistic than in cultures that are collectivist. Employees from countries such as the United States. United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia tend to be more individualistic in their orientation than employees from Egypt, Mexico, India, Japan, France and Venezuela, who are more likely to prefer performance to be measured at an aggregated level, since they believe results require collective effort. This is not to suggest that individualistic cultures are blind to the importance of group results, or that collectivist cultures ignore individual performance and its relationship to group results. Reconciling different perspectives will require the recognition that both individual and collective results are critical to success.
Holding the individual totally accountable for meeting performance standards will be more acceptable in cultures that believe in internal control than in cultures that believe in external control.
Employees from countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands more readily accept personal responsibility for results than would employees from countries such as Venezuela, China, Russia, Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and India, who are more likely to believe outcomes are due to forces at least partially outside of their control. Reconciling differing perspectives requires recognition that both internal and external factors impacted results and that both must be considered in appraisal.
………………….cultures. Employees from the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the United States tend to be more active in the process and challenge the supervisor when there is disagreement performance level, while this would be less likely among employees from countries such as Mexico, Venezuela, France and China.
Questions:
1. List the 5 key learning’s that seem to have been identified as appraisal considerations in a cross-cultural organization.
2. Differentiate between achievement-oriented culture and ascription-oriented culture. Provide examples.
3. With the information give in the case in what 3 dimensions would be you propose for Indian company with operations in 4 US locations in designing a successful performance appraisal system.
CASE 04: CEOs Salary and Inequity.
An issue there for two decades or more. Five years before Mr. Ahluwalia stumbled upon the debate in the United States, Merrill Lynch, Lucent Technologies, Citigroup, and AT & T axed over 91,000 workers between them. The same year, their four CEOs took home more than $130 million in pay. (Plus more millions in stock options and other sops). Lucent Technologies in fact (AS THE New York Daily News pointed out) reported a $ 17 billion loss and sacked 56,000 workers. Then it gave its CEO a $22 million payoff.
………………………………….
Dr.Krugman argued that it was not simply economic well-being that such levels of inequality threatened. It was democracy itself. In Dr. Krugman’s own nation, long ago, Justice Louis Brandeis said the same thing; “We can have concentrated wealth in the hands of a few or we can have democracy, but we cannot have both”.
CASE 07:
1. Explain why Tom Peters suggests calling CEOs as CDO’s.
2. What role can the government play in regulating salary payouts?
3. In the case let, how is salary inequality compared with ‘democracy’.
CASE 05: Going Home
Back home and yet Katrina Katino had felt more like she had just left home. It had been six long years and India had proved to be a lot more than the land of snake charmers and stone temples she’d read about as she prepared for her first international assignment out of the USA six years age. A technical trainer by profession, she had worked for a leading medical transcription company for four years before they offered her the opportunity for an international assignment to India. It had sounded overwhelming at first when Shawn the HR manager had urged her to apply for the post of Director Training, and assist the company set up its first host unit outside of the US as a 100% captive BPO. The industry was just getting sensitive to the cost and skill advantages available in countries like India and the Board had proactively made a decision to set up its own back-office medical records transcription company in India. The first core team of four senior managers were quickly put together with very limited ‘assessment’ other than the fact that they were each experts at what they did, were willing to relocate for a period of minimum three years and were positively oriented towards India. A lot of the pre-departure training involved personal reading and browsing of India and the Indian cultural differences and the Indian customs of ‘do’s and ‘don’s, and sharing the notes amongst themselves.
…………….., she wanted to make a difference, wanted to contribute to help the company grow. She had enjoyed working here in the past, why was it feeling different now? Who should she approach for help? What should she do with Andrew? Is it right to have him live with the grandparents as it happens in India? What can she share and expect from Rob given his job and his career? These question kept her awake that night.
Questions:
1. What parts of repatriation were missing in relocating Katrina back to the US?
2. What next step do you suggest for Katrina to take on her professional front?
3. What course of action would you propose for Katrina to help her cope with her personal problems?
4. What role could Rob play?
5. Should Katrina heed to her father-in-law’s advice on job change? Why / why not?
CASE 01: The Wal-Mart Story:
Union Files Wal-Mart Complaint:
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Wal-Mart stores Inc. Yesterday, urging federal officials to investigate claims that the retailer’s former head Of U.S. Operations paid people to monitor union activity. The complaint, filed with the National Labour Relations Board, alleges that World-Mart violated federal labour law by “bribing” employees to report on co-workers who favored a union.
Wal-Mart recently ousted board member and formed vice chairman. Thomas M. Coughlin after an internal investigation raised questions about the use of up to $500,000 in company funds-money that Coughlin maintains was spent on anti-union activities. Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, has fired three other employees over the probe and has turned the case over to the U.S. attorney for the western division of Arkansas…………………….
……………………………..
“It’s something that might be harder to walk away from then some of the other units that have had organizing drives,” Jacobi said of the Harrisonville site.
Source: Washington Post, April 13, 2005, Independent/U>K> may 11, 2005 and Kansas City Business Journal, November 9, 2001.
Questions:
1. In the various incidents discussed in these reports, what has been the role of the union?
2. What kind of causes has the union pursued with the management of Wal-Mart?
3. What can you conclude about a country’s culture and the kind of union concerns discussed in these cases lets.
CASE 02: CONSCIENCE OF THE4 COMPETITIVE EDGE:
The plane touched down at Mumbai airport precisely on time. Olivia Jones made her way through the usual immigration bureaucracy without incident and was finally ushered into a waiting limousine, complete with a uniformed chauffeur and soft black leather seats. Her already considerable excitement at being in India for the first time was mounting. As she cruised the dark city streets, she asked her chauffeur why so few cars had their headlights on at night. The driver responded that most dr4ivers believed that headlights use too much petrol! Finally, she arrived at her hotel, a blank marble monolith, grandiose and decadent in its splendor, towering above the bay.
The goal of her four-day trip was to sample and select swatches of woven cotton from the mills in and around Mumbai, to be used in the following season’s youth-wear collection of shirts, trousers and underwear. She was thus treated with the utmost deference by her hosts, who were invariably Indian factory owners of British agents for Indian mills. For three days, she was ferried from one air-conditioned office to another, sipping iced tea or chilled lemonade, pouring over leather-bound swatch catalogues, which featured every type of stripe and design possible. On the fourth day, Jones made a request that she knew would cause some anxiety in the camp. “I want to see a factory”, she declared………………………
……………………………Once Jones returned to the United Kingdom, she considered her position and the options open to her as a buyer for a large, publicity traded, retail chain operating in a highly competitive environment. Her dilemma was twofold; can an ambitious employee afford to exer4cise a social conscience in his or her career? And can career-minded individuals truly make a difference without jeopardizing their future? Answer her.
Questions:
1. What is business ethics? Bring out the ethical dilemmas.
2. Explain the sources of ethics. What are the myths associated with ethics? How do you defined business ethics?
3. What is CSR? Bring out the pros and cons of it.
4. Bring out the role of IHR manager in ensuring ethical behavior and social actors.
CASE 03: “The Culture of Appraisal”
Measuring individual performance and tying consequences to the appraisal will be more acceptable in cultures that are individualistic than in cultures that are collectivist. Employees from countries such as the United States. United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia tend to be more individualistic in their orientation than employees from Egypt, Mexico, India, Japan, France and Venezuela, who are more likely to prefer performance to be measured at an aggregated level, since they believe results require collective effort. This is not to suggest that individualistic cultures are blind to the importance of group results, or that collectivist cultures ignore individual performance and its relationship to group results. Reconciling different perspectives will require the recognition that both individual and collective results are critical to success.
Holding the individual totally accountable for meeting performance standards will be more acceptable in cultures that believe in internal control than in cultures that believe in external control.
Employees from countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands more readily accept personal responsibility for results than would employees from countries such as Venezuela, China, Russia, Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and India, who are more likely to believe outcomes are due to forces at least partially outside of their control. Reconciling differing perspectives requires recognition that both internal and external factors impacted results and that both must be considered in appraisal.
………………….cultures. Employees from the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the United States tend to be more active in the process and challenge the supervisor when there is disagreement performance level, while this would be less likely among employees from countries such as Mexico, Venezuela, France and China.
Questions:
1. List the 5 key learning’s that seem to have been identified as appraisal considerations in a cross-cultural organization.
2. Differentiate between achievement-oriented culture and ascription-oriented culture. Provide examples.
3. With the information give in the case in what 3 dimensions would be you propose for Indian company with operations in 4 US locations in designing a successful performance appraisal system.
CASE 04: CEOs Salary and Inequity.
An issue there for two decades or more. Five years before Mr. Ahluwalia stumbled upon the debate in the United States, Merrill Lynch, Lucent Technologies, Citigroup, and AT & T axed over 91,000 workers between them. The same year, their four CEOs took home more than $130 million in pay. (Plus more millions in stock options and other sops). Lucent Technologies in fact (AS THE New York Daily News pointed out) reported a $ 17 billion loss and sacked 56,000 workers. Then it gave its CEO a $22 million payoff.
………………………………….
Dr.Krugman argued that it was not simply economic well-being that such levels of inequality threatened. It was democracy itself. In Dr. Krugman’s own nation, long ago, Justice Louis Brandeis said the same thing; “We can have concentrated wealth in the hands of a few or we can have democracy, but we cannot have both”.
CASE 07:
1. Explain why Tom Peters suggests calling CEOs as CDO’s.
2. What role can the government play in regulating salary payouts?
3. In the case let, how is salary inequality compared with ‘democracy’.
CASE 05: Going Home
Back home and yet Katrina Katino had felt more like she had just left home. It had been six long years and India had proved to be a lot more than the land of snake charmers and stone temples she’d read about as she prepared for her first international assignment out of the USA six years age. A technical trainer by profession, she had worked for a leading medical transcription company for four years before they offered her the opportunity for an international assignment to India. It had sounded overwhelming at first when Shawn the HR manager had urged her to apply for the post of Director Training, and assist the company set up its first host unit outside of the US as a 100% captive BPO. The industry was just getting sensitive to the cost and skill advantages available in countries like India and the Board had proactively made a decision to set up its own back-office medical records transcription company in India. The first core team of four senior managers were quickly put together with very limited ‘assessment’ other than the fact that they were each experts at what they did, were willing to relocate for a period of minimum three years and were positively oriented towards India. A lot of the pre-departure training involved personal reading and browsing of India and the Indian cultural differences and the Indian customs of ‘do’s and ‘don’s, and sharing the notes amongst themselves.
…………….., she wanted to make a difference, wanted to contribute to help the company grow. She had enjoyed working here in the past, why was it feeling different now? Who should she approach for help? What should she do with Andrew? Is it right to have him live with the grandparents as it happens in India? What can she share and expect from Rob given his job and his career? These question kept her awake that night.
Questions:
1. What parts of repatriation were missing in relocating Katrina back to the US?
2. What next step do you suggest for Katrina to take on her professional front?
3. What course of action would you propose for Katrina to help her cope with her personal problems?
4. What role could Rob play?
5. Should Katrina heed to her father-in-law’s advice on job change? Why / why not?
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