Scenario:You have just started work as the new Human
Resources Manager for Acme Manufacturing, a Fortune 1,000 company. The job has
been vacant for six months now. You have been wondering about this,
especially since reading about employee harassment incidents and fights
recently in the news.
The General Manager (GM) calls
you into his office the minute you arrive. He shuts the door after saying a
quick word of welcome, and begins to tell you about an incident that happened
last week that needs your immediate attention. The company’s manufacturing
operations runs three shifts of production workers so the plant is operating
24/7. Over the past six months hostilities have arisen between employees on the
third and first shifts. What started out as jeering and criticisms by the first
shift, claiming they have to clean up the mess and complete all of the work
left undone by the third shift, has escalated to physical confrontations and
altercations. Although the GM said that aggressive bantering back-and-forth is
common for shift workers in manufacturing, he admitted he was worried after
seeing a gun on one of the employees last week that was concealed, or so the
employee thought, in a shoulder holster under this jacket. The GM said he needs
your help. Specifically, he asked that you:
·
Determine and explain the
appropriate disciplinary action for the employees involved in this situation
and identify motivational alternatives that can help turn the situation around;
·
Draft policies and procedures
that could be used in the guidance and performance management of the shift
workers; and
·
Develop performance standards
for the shift workers, identify appropriate methods of performance appraisal,
and develop appropriate training to help get them back on track.
Feeling overwhelmed by the
enormity of the situation, you go back to your office and begin devising a plan
to help get employee relations back on track, realizing that human resource
policies and practices may help avert potentially dangerous situations in the
future if implemented correctly.
Write a 8-10 page memo to the
GM responding to the three concerns listed above. Be sure to cite any
references used in proper APA format.
