(a) Why is staffing critical to an organization’s effort to gain a competitive advantage in its shared marketplace? (3 points)
(b) Assume your organization wants to pursue a strategic staffing process for acquiring the best talent possible. Explain briefly the staffing activities that your organization would need to create to achieve this goal (4 points)
(c) What essential staffing outcomes should all organizations track in their staffing analytics? (3 points)
Question Two (Chapter Two)
(a)What is the difference between treating employees as assets and as investors? (3 points)
(b) In what situations would position-oriented staffing be preferable to talent-oriented staffing? (3 points)
(c) Discuss the costs and benefits of having an internal staffing focus, then discuss the cost and benefits of having an external staffing focus. Explain the trade-offs between the two approaches. (4 points)
Question Three (Chapter Three)
Case Study: Dealing with Unexpected Test Results
In 2003, the New Haven Connecticut Fire Department had 15 open management positions, 7 for Captain and 8 for Lieutenant. As for many civil service jobs, a “Rule of Three” is used in hiring: the fire department chooses from the three highest scorers on a civil service test. After the test, none of the department’s black firefighters scored high enough to be considered for the open positions. Fearful of a disparate treatment or disparate impact lawsuit, the city invalidated the test results and did not promote anyone. The city was still presented with a civil lawsuit, as 18 firefighters who had passed the exam complained that their civil rights had been violated because New Haven had denied them a promotion based on their race. Of the plaintiff firefighters, 17 were white, and 1 was Hispanic. After the trial court ruled in favor of New Haven, the firefighters appealed their case to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009. The question posed to the Supreme court was whether an employer may intentionally discriminate against employees of one race to lessen the unintentional disparate impact a policy or practice has on another race of employees. In a 5-4 split decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff firefighters. The Court clarified in its written ruling that by disregarding the test results, New Haven had violated the firefighter plaintiffs’ civil rights, discriminating against them based on their race and exposing them to disparate treatment. Essentially, avoiding liability under disparate impact does not excuse disparate treatment. The only way New Haven could have had a strong basis for invalidating the test results would have been to show that the exam was not, in fact, job-related and consistent with business necessity.
(a) Do you agree with the Supreme Court’s decision? Explain Why or why not using evidence from the textbook and another additional reference source. (3 points)
(b)If you were the CHRO at New Haven, what else could you have legally done when you learned about the test’s disparate impact? (10 points)
(c) Recommend proactive actions that New Haven can take to avoid similar situations in the future (7 points)
Question Four (Chapter Four)
(a) Compare and contrast job analysis and job design. In your answer, explain why it is essential for managers to understand both concepts. (3 points)
(b) Discuss how job analysis can be helpful to an organization’s strategic staffing process (3 points)
(c) The two most crucial job analysis metrics are reliability and validity. Using these metrics, compare and contrast two job analysis methods, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of the methods.(4 points)