North South University
School of Business and Economics
Homework Assignment- 1
Human Resources Management (MGT 351)
Faculty: Md. Al-Amin (Mli)
Semester: Summer 2020
Homework Assignment- 1: Human
Resources Management Practices
Assignment Details:
This assignment has been designed in the context of human resource management
practices covered in the course. Students are required thoroughly studying the
embedded cases and present the answers to the questions. The questions will carry 5
points each and the students need to answer all of them. The assignment is due in by
August 22, 2020, 06:00 pm.
Format of the Write-Up:
Font Size: 12
Font Type: Times New Roman
Line Spacing: 1.5
Citation and referencing: APA
Word Limit:
1000 words (maximum 250 words for each question). Please exclude title page, table
of content, and references towards your word count)
Important Tips:
1. Read the cases thoroughly. Use the case information, relevant theories,
examples and research findings while presenting your answers.
2. Please DON’T copy somebody else’s work. Plagiarism is unethical and a
violation of a basic principle of academic discourse. Paraphrase your work and
use citations accordingly. Use the APA referencing style.
3. Submit on time to avoid any penalties.
4. Do not exceed the word limit.
5. Do not use too many bullet points. Explain the issues briefly instead.
Good luck with the assignment!
Case 1-
Red Lobster operates over 670 casual-dining seafood restaurants in the US and
Canada, employing more than 63,000 people. When Red Lobster developed a new
business strategy to focus on value and improve its image, it established a new vision,
mission, and goals for the company. The restaurant chain simplified its menu with the
highest-quality seafood it could offer at mid-range prices, traded its restaurants’
tropical themes for a crisp, clean look with white-shirt-and-black-pants uniforms for
its employees, and added Northeastern coastal imagery to its menu and Web-site.
Executing the new mission and differentiation strategy required hiring fun,
hospitality-minded people who shared its values.
Although Red Lobster had not had any problem with hiring restaurant managers,
the company felt that the managers it hired did not always reflect Red Lobster’s
strategy, vision and values. The company also realized that their old job descriptions
and specifications did not reflect the passion its new strategy needed from its
employees.
Red Lobster is looking for your advices. The restaurant wants you to answer the
following questions:
Questions-
a. What should the company do to improve the fit between its new management
hires and its new business strategy?
b. What would be role of Strategic Human Resources Management in
successfully executing the new vision and goals of Red Lobster?
Case 2-
Marcus Buckingham has recently been appointed as member of the board of director
for a local bank. The competitive strategy of the bank is “To use superior customer
service to differentiate the bank, and to thereby retain and increase number of
customers, and thus boost revenues and profitability.”
As a new member, Marcus was being introduced to all the employees in the home
office. When he was introduced to Sara Williams, he was quite curious about her
work and asked her what the machine she was using did. Sara replied that she really
didn’t know what the machine called or what it did. She explained that she had only
been working there for two months. However, she did know precisely how to operate
the machine. According to her supervisor, she is an excellent employee.
At one of the branch offices, the supervisor in charge spoke to Marcus, telling him
that, “something is really wrong”, but she didn’t know what. For one thing, she
explained, employee turnover rate (the number of people leaving the organization) is
very high and no sooner had one employee been put on the job than another one
resigned. She had little time to work with the new employees as they came and went.
As the company doesn’t have an HR unit in the home office, all branch supervisors
hired their own employees without communication with the home office or other
branches. When a vacancy developed, the supervisor tried to find out a suitable
employee to replace the worker who had quit.
After touring 22 branches and finding the similar problems in many of them, Marcus
wondered what the home office should do and what action he should take. The more
he thought about the matter, the more puzzled Marcus became. He could not quite put
his finger on this problem.
You need to answer the following questions:
Questions-
a. What recruitment approach does the company use? Would you suggest it
a different approach? Why?
b. What would be the role of HR in reducing the employee turnover rate at
the case organization?
