Why was there no single formal complaint about Egans performance evaluation system? (100-word limit, three points) Was Egans retail selling skills training effective or
- Why was there no single formal complaint about Egan’s performance evaluation system? (100-word limit, three points)
- Was Egan’s retail selling skills training effective or not? Please support your argument with evidence (100-word limit, three points).
- Explain about the perplexing results regarding employee absenteeism and turnover (150-word limit, five points).
- Draw your conclusion about the effectiveness of Egan’s performance evaluation system and suggest a solution to improve such system (250-word limit, nine points).
MGMT 6356
Case Study Assignment
Please read this document carefully before submitting your case study report.
Selected Case:
“Case 6: Realigning HR Practices at Egan’s Clothiers” from Integrative Case on pp. 596-8
– Cengage Unlimited purchasers also have access to the integrative cases included at the end of the textbook. If you cannot find the case, ask other students or Cengage.
Case Study Questions:
Answer the following in order.
· Why was there no single formal complaint about Egan’s performance evaluation system? (100-word limit, three points)
· Was Egan’s retail selling skills training effective or not? Please support your argument with evidence (100-word limit, three points).
· Explain about the perplexing results regarding employee absenteeism and turnover (150-word limit, five points).
· Draw your conclusion about the effectiveness of Egan’s performance evaluation system and suggest a solution to improve such system (250-word limit, nine points).
Submission Window:
Jul 25 – Jul 29, 2022. No early or late submissions allowed.
Word Limit, Format & Proofreading:
– The case should be analyzed in approximately 600 words. Papers with less than 500 words or over 750 will receive a five-point penalty.
– The report should be written double-spaced, using 12-pt Times New Roman with normal margins. If you do not follow the format, five points will be deducted as it reflects your inattention to this document.
– Do not use bullet-point styles or number your sentences. Write your paper with multiple paragraphs with complete sentences. Do not ever submit a one-paragraph paper. You will receive five points total if you do not comply with this very basic rule.
– Avoid using vague pronouns to make your writing clear. Rephrase clearly to reflect your ideas. The following examples are from actual student submissions in previous semesters.
“Egan’s Clothier staff established contradictions in their Human Resource practice that if you are seeking to hire experienced individuals then you should not require so much training, thereafter. It presents itself as counterintuitive.”
“Instead of posting feedback daily, they might consider providing feedback on a monthly basis. This gives workers enough time so that the sales process is not rushed. It also opens opportunities for the company to invest in other aspects of the business. This could include going online to lower labor costs.”
– All students, whether you are a native speaker or not, are strongly advised to install Grammarly on your MS Word. Each typo, basic grammatical error, and punctuation mis- (or non-) use will lead to one-point deduction from your total score after the second one.
General Advice:
The things you MUST avoid (Don’ts) are as follows:
1. Do not waste your word count by introducing the summary of the case at the beginning of your report. Do not attach cover pages, headers, footers, appendices, tables or figures; they all count toward the word limit.
2. Do not cite other sources. Do not search for answers on the internet. Do not cite the textbook, either. It is completely unnecessary.
Write your own report as if you were doing it in the classroom with no other recourse except the textbook.
3. Do not make groundless assumptions. Read the case carefully multiple times before you begin to write your paper. Use the facts in the case only and do not fabricate your own facts. If you make an untrue statement, one point will be taken off per each statement.
Examples are as follows:
– The company should use incentive plans at all levels of employees (This is not accurate if the case does not have information on whether executives and upper management do not have incentive plans).
– Training is a total waste of money (Unless the case clearly indicates so, you cannot make this kind of strong statement).
– Suggestions that are so obvious and needless to say
– The company should align their HR practices with its values.
– The company should train its employees.
– The company should comply with laws.
– The company should adopt incentive plans along with a base pay.
– Suggestions without details
– They should change to team incentive – If you argue like this, state a reason, a type and a target of team incentive plans.
– They need other indicators to measure performance – So, what measure?
– Suggestions that do not make sense
– Experienced employees do not need training – Why are so many firms establishing training & development programs?
– Outside the scope of HRM (These are AWFUL suggestions.)
– They need a budget cut.
– The company should focus other aspects of business, except for HR.
– This company needs to reset firm strategies to save costs.
Here are the do’s:
1. Thoroughly read the case and questions more than twice.
2. Use terms and names consistently and correctly. If you address a person as Mr. Smith, keep calling him Mr. Smith. If you prefer Paul, introduce him as Paul. However, it is less desirable to switch back and forth between Paul and Mr. Smith. Also, Mr. Paul sounds awkward.
3. Spell out the term first and indicate the abbreviation. Then use the abbreviation afterwards.
E.g., I love the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC is the guardian of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (CRA). The CRA is the cornerstone of equality in American society.
4. Write correct sentences. Grammar software may not catch supra-segmental errors. For example, independent clauses should be connected by a coordinating conjunction, which forms a compound sentence. Dependent clauses cannot constitute a sentence by themselves and must accompany an independent clause with a subordinating conjunction to make a complex sentence. Please use appropriate conjunctions or, if you can, divide your clauses and make them separate sentences. In particular, do not write two independent clauses without a conjunction; it never reflects well on you (e.g., I came to work at seven, she was already there).
5. Use appropriate transition words. Indicate whether you are ordering (first, second, third, finally), adding (moreover, additionally, in addition), contrasting (however, on the other hand, in contrast), or reasoning (thus, therefore, so, as a result). Clearly show relationships between sentences or paragraphs.
6. Write clear paragraphs. One paragraph should have only ONE main idea. Your idea should be stated clearly in a topic sentence, not asking the reader to rely on guesswork. In addition, other sentences in the paragraph should support your main idea. When the paragraph is argumentative, you should provide evidence and reasons for your claim. When your paragraph is descriptive, you should add more flesh to the bone of your main description.
7. Please proofread your writing before you hit ‘submit’ for the sake of both of us.
Plagiarism
1. Do not search the internet for answers. Do not ever pay to get answers from study guide websites. The questions I ask are different from what you find in the textbook.
2. If you copy even one clause verbatim, it is also plagiarism. As specified in the welcome document, if you plagiarized your assignment, not only do you receive zero points on the case study, but your letter grade will also be adjusted.
Final Words:
1. Spend a good amount of time and try to answer the questions on your own. Have faith in yourself.
2. Again, do not search for answers on the internet. Questions in the textbook are not identical to the ones I provide. Plagiarism will take a heavy toll on your grade.
3. I do not accept additional explanations of your paper via BB messages or extenuating circumstances unless they are extraordinary. I grade yours based only on what I read.
4. Ask questions, if you have, through BB. I will answer as quickly as possible. Good luck with the assignment.
2
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Case study below
At the end of the fiscal year 2011, revenues at Egan’s Clothiers, Inc, had increased 12 % over 2010 and had increased at a compounded rate of 14% over the past 5 yrs. That is good news. The bad news is that costs have risen at even more rapid rate, thereby shrinking the company’s gross margins. As a consequence, Egan’s profitability has actually fallen by 6% over the past three years. The drop in profitability at Egan’s is particularly worrisome. In fact, according to Egan’s chief financial officer, Richard Coyle, if something is not done immediately control material and labor costs, as well as administrative expenses, the company may need to restructure its operations. In the short run, Coyle, company president Karen Egan, and vice president of HR Pam McCaskey have put an indefinite freeze on all hiring. Further, they are contemplating layoffs of nearly ¼ of Egan sales staff and are weighing the benefits of cutting back on HR-related expenses such as training. Compared to others and the industry, the firm’s labor costs are very high.
Company Background
Gene Egan and Pat Pollock opened their first store in Baldwin, NY, in 1958. The company grew rapidly during the 1980s and now operates a chain of 34 medium-size stores located throughout Connecticut, NY, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Since the beginning, Egan’s customers have been primarily middle-class and upper-middle class families purchasing sportswear, dress wear, and fashion accessories. The company has established a longstanding tradition of quality and customers service. In addition to its 34 stores, the company also maintains two distribution centers and its administrative offices in Stamford, Connecticut. The total employment currently stands at approximately 2,400 people: 15 executives, 40 staff specialists, 40 store managers, 215 sales managers, 250 administrative personnel, 1,600 sales people, and 240 distribution workers. Except for the employees at the distribution centers, the company is not presently unionized. However, it is no secret that Egan’s management has been trying very hard recently to keep current labor organizing activities to a minimum, viewing it as a threat to the company’s success. Egan’s HR department has been called upon to conduct a program audit of various personnel practices utilized at Egan’s. The purpose of this audit is to assess the impact of Egan’s HR policies and practices on employee outcomes. The objective of the audit is to identify specific problem areas where policy adjustments may be necessary. The final report to the executive staff will include the HR department’s evaluation of current problems and the changes it recommends.
Human Resources Management History
Over the past 5 years, Egan’s has made several changes in order to implement the best HR practices possible. Partially, this has been to circumvent unionization efforts but primarily it is indicative of Egan’s longstanding belief that success in retailing depends on the competencies and efforts of its employees. The commitment to HR is demonstrated by the fact that in 2011 the company spent $1.3 million on an intranet-based human resources information system (HRIS). The HRIS has successfully automated the company’s employment records and connects each of the retail stores, distribution centers, and executive offices. Also, Egan’s has maintained an ongoing training program for the past 5 years to help salespeople improve their retail selling skills (RSS) and customer service. The annual cost of this program has been roughly $750,000. To further ensure high ability levels in its workforce, the company sets selection standards substantially higher than its competitors. Whereas other retail companies typically hire inexperienced high school students. Egan’s generally requires some retailing or sales experience considering an application for employment. Although this policy increases Egan’s overall labor costs, management has been confident that the added expense is well justified over the long run. However, recently even the strongest proponents of HR have been wondering if it might be a good idea to cut back on training, given the company’s current financial picture. By far the most problematic and volatile HR issues at Egan’s have revolved around promotions and salary increases. Because the company promotes from within distributes raises on a companywide basis, comparisons generally have to be made across employees in different jobs and departments. To Combat arguments of subjectivity and bias pertaining to these decisions. Egan’s links these rewards to objective measures of performance. Specifically, rather than utilizing subjective managerial evaluations of employee performance, ongoing accounts of sales results are maintained for each employee through use of the HRIS. On the basis of this information, each department manager assigns each employee to one of 5 categories.
Superior-Top 10%
Very good-next 20%
Good-middle 40%
Fair-lower 20%
Poor-lowest 10%
Administrative decisions are then made across departments utilizing these standardized distributions. Additionally, to provide constant feedback to each employee about his or her relative performance, data are updated and posted daily. It is hoped that this feedback is motivating to employees. In this way, there are no surprises when the time comes for semiannual performance appraisal interviews. It is interesting to note that since these changes have been made in the performance appraisal system, there has not been one formal complaint registered regarding salary or promotion decisions. However, sales managers themselves have mentioned occasionally that they do not feel as comfortable now that they are required to assign employees to the “fair” and “poor” categories.
HR Outcomes
Despite the concerted efforts of Egan’s management to create a first-rate system of human resources management, there are several troubling issues facing the company. The HR practices are not having their desired effects. For example, there have been recent complaints that employees have not been as patient or courteous with customers as they should be. This was best summarized by Paul Kelly, a store manager in White Plain, NY, who noted “My people are beating up the clientele in order to make a sale-the very opposite of what the RSS program trains them to do. “ This lapse in customer service is frustrating to management since the RSS training has proven effective in the past. Additionally, there seems to be a great deal of competition within departments that is hurting a team effort. Although intergroup rivalries between departments have always been viewed as normal and healthy, the lack of intragroup cohesiveness is seen as a problem.
Additionally, Egan’s has been plagued with increases in lost and damaged merchandise. Management attributes this to the fact that storage rooms are disorganized and unkempt. This is sharp contrast to the selling floors, which have remained fairly well ordered and uncluttered. Nevertheless, inventory costs have been increasing at an alarming rate. Everyone notices something is wrong. But the behavior patterns are perplexing. Absenteeism has decreased by 23 %, but employee turnover has actually increased from 13% to over 29%, Thereby increasing labor costs overall. Unfortunately, many of those who left the company (43%) were rated as very good to superior employees. As executives in the company look at these trends, they are understandably concerned. The success of the company and its reputation for quality and service depend on solid investments in HR to ensure the best possible workforce, However, the expenses are eroding the company’s profits and worse, it now looks like these investments are not paying off
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