University of Kentucky Human Resources Management in Manufacturing Community Discussion

I’m working on a Business question and need guidance to help me study.

Discussion 1

Welcome to week four. The topic this week centers on employee recruitment. There was a time in business when the owner/manager did the majority of the HRM functions including hiring, setting salary/compensation, etc. Over the years, many organizations have taken on such roles internally by creating their own HR office or outsourcing the functions to another organization such as Kelley Staffing services. The connecting problem that every organization will have is identifying and selecting the correct personnel to hire. The manufacturing field (as a current example) has several job openings available but the problem is finding people who have manufacturing position training or experience. The computer industry suffers much the same fate, thousands of computer related jobs go unfilled because not everyone had been trained in coding, Information systems, information technology and the like.

The town of Peoli, IN suffered a situation where their factories didn’t have enough workers to meet the manufacturing needs/demands. For many generations, they had counted on high school grads to stay in the area and work in the factories as their parents or grandparents had done. The younger generation decided to move away leaving the manufacturing industry severely short of workers. The town’s manufacturing leadership advertised jobs nationally but were unable to attract enough people to fill their needs so orders continued to back up and pile up. Finally, as an act of desperation; they petitioned the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to be allowed to bring up a workforce from Mexico knowing those folks would be grateful and willing to take a job in the U.S. Given the situation, the request was granted.

DISCUSS

Given the issue that the People manufacturing community faced, were they wrong for importing a workforce from another nation essentially offering jobs to foreign workers that should have been filled by U.S. citizens Why…Why Not?

Discussion 2

Welcome to week five of our course. Our thoughts this week turn once again to the recruitment effort. You as the HR specialist or manager will help management to identify ad refer potential employees to fill one or more vacancies. A cover letter and resume may be received as a result of position posting. As I’ve discussed, you may receive 400 applications for one job but; you are not required to hire all 400 people so in some manner, you must find ways to discriminate against most of them. You can review resumes and discard those who don’t meet every requirement, contain glaring spelling and/or composition errors or whatever reasonable criteria you choose.

The valid candidates can then be brought in for an interview. During this process, the interviewer is trying to get to know the interviewee to determine if the person will be a good fit/match for the organization. There’s something known as “the Halo effect” coined by psychologist, Dr. Joyce Brothers that states a person knows within the first 30 seconds of meeting you they know whether or not they like you. You want your initial impression to be a good one so, dress properly, speak with confidence, give a firm handshake and try to make the best impression you can.

The resume is your initial introduction and while it can create interest in you, a cover letter should be sent along as well as your “follow up” sales pitch providing relevant information about your self you may have left out in the resume or find more appropriate to mention in a face to face setting. As you proceed through the interview listen for certain clue /like words that may come up. If you have had job experience, volunteer work or an interest in the topic, use it to your advantage. My friend Harvey MacKay talks about trying to do business with Fidel Castro in Cuba years ago and Fidel wasn’t exactly pro America. Haevey noticed a number of bowling trophies in Castro’s office and at the appropriate time said something about them. Castro’s eyes lit up and asked Havey if he bowled. Harvey remarked we wasn’t very good at it but Castro insisted they go to the alley in the presidential palace and they did. Castro won many of the matches and before he left, Harvey had wound up with more Cuban business than many of his American business counterparts before him.

We have discussed the interview process and sometimes a group interview is used. Here, you are placed with a number of your rivals for the job and given an activity to perform. Observers want to see how you react. Do you be extroverted and make your presence known or lay back as an introvert and let others take charge? The lack of participation may show you to be timid or easily intimidated so, you are not going to be considered. Being aggressive in such an interview may not only get you noticed but land you the job offer.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: As part of the recruitment, selection process, organizations may ask for references, how do you go about choosing your references and why them?

Discussion 3

We’re at week six of our course and the end of our text so, I will provide the course learning content for the remainder of the semester. There is a major issue going on in federal politics right now ”The power of the Presidency”. President Trump recently tweeted his disapproval of the sentencing a federal court handed down to his longtime Friend, Roger Stone. The President felt his punishment as too harsh and stated so and there is concern that he’s attempting to use his office to help his friend get a lesser sentence. Attorney General, William Barr returned a tweet expressing that it’s hard for him to do his job if the President keeps sticking his nose in justice department affairs. See this article for more details: https://nypost.com/2020/02/13/attorney-general-william-barr-calls-out-president-trump/ Barr felt the President overstepped his boundary in this case. Barr’s comments have created a serious problem both constitutionally and politically. “Just how much power/influence does/should the President have when it comes to departmental matters? Let’s remember the President comes into office from the private sector and as a corporate boss, he’s not used to having his decisions challenged so the D.C. bureaucracy is a “different animal” to him as the checks and balances built into the Constitution don’t apply to the business world’s way of operating. While the President may feel his friend was treated wrongly by the court, does he have the power to intervene in such matters? Should he? What we want to consider in this matter much as we would with a private business, does the top leadership have the right to impose its will on their subordinates? Why? Why not?