AD212 American Business and Management

AD212

Fall 2002

Chapt. 10: Attracting and Retaining the Best Employees

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Grensing-Pophal, "Taking Your Seat at the Table"

You have just been brought in to run a struggling building-supply company in Portland, Maine. Without doubt, its biggest asset is its knowledgeable sales people, who deal directly with customers who call on the phone or come into the store. Unfortunately, a number of them have left over the last year to take better-paying jobs elsewhere. This has meant that new, inexperienced sales staff have replaced them. What can you do to retain the remaining experienced people and to improve the effectiveness of the new ones?

Diversity is a fact of life for most American organizations. (Why?) What are some of the important management issues around diversity? How can managing diversity well lead to competitive advantages?

Based on your own experience or that of family and friends, what do you think is the best route to land a good job? Conversely, what is the best way for an organization to find really good people?

What are the pros and cons of internal vs. external recruiting?

To "Take [Their] Seat at the Table" when organizational strategy is being formulated, what must HR managers do, according to the article by Grensing-Pophal? What advantages would this likely have for the organization?