HUMAN RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT
Prepared By:
Group – 3
Aritra Bag – 20BM63016
Dhiyeri P Joy – 20BM63028
Jayadev P – 20BM63036
Melvin Mathew Shaji – 20BM63044
Nandagopal Gopalakrishnan – 20BM63050
 CASE:
WrapItUp: Developing a New
Compensation Plan
Case Brief

Overview of the case

Current State Understanding
• Shawn Jackson and Simon Sethi are the CEOs of WrapItUp, a fast-food restaurant focused on quality with healthy and local
products

• Started the company in their college bedrooms in 2002. By 2011, they managed to open 30 restaurants on the US West coast

• Passion for delivering fresh quality food, focus on “freshness” and special nutritional diets

• All stores are company owned, known for “Hands-on” style of management by CEOs

Main Challenges/Concerns

• High Labour turnover – Frustration among employees at all levels

• Lack of loyalty & motivation from the managers
• Lack of flexibility granted to the managers - Can’t change the menu & can’t get involved in marketing activities
• Difficulty to attract and retain top talents
• Recruitment costs are too high – Disorganized recruiting
• Low customer satisfaction – No change in menu, Regular customers not given any discounts, Manager Turnover

The company has been in this situation since the expansion of the company. The 2 CEOs won’t delegate any power to their
managers. Although, they don’t seem to be able to manage everything & their company is suffering
Question 1

From the case points, how do you see compensation structure to effect turnover?
WrapItUp’s modest HR department was not performing strategically,
especially when it came to compensation. Pay for Store managers in
WrapItUp consisted of weekly salary plus a volume adjustment based on
the average weekly sales of the restaurant
Reyes felt that the current plan was not really incentive based and so she
took responsibility to identify the problems and took two exit interview
from which she incurred the below:

• “Low compensation” was the top reason that managers offered for
their resignations in the exit interviews

• The former store managers conveyed their concerns of being

underpaid and how they were not given a significant share of the
profits because of the inefficient system of volume adjustment

• Exhibit 2 reveals how the store managers and associate managers were
severely underpaid in comparison to the industry benchmark

• People started feeling that they will earn more if they will work in some
other organisation

• If the managers are more motivated and strategically compensated,

they will contribute even more to an organisation which will directly
give better turnover to an organisation
Question 2

Do you see Pay-band structure to be effective?

Existing Pay Structure The idea of introducing a pay band structure was certainly in the right direction to
incentivize sales, however the implementation however required a better approach:
Basic Pay: Below Par with the Industry
• The considerable range of pay band structure allowed those just crossing over into
Variable: Differs w.r.t. amount and the band and those at the very extremities earning the same additional pay
qualifiers
• Lack of incentives and rewards might make employee feel they are under-
5 Bands: Revised on yearly basis compensated or unappreciated and they will start looking for new employment
opportunities
No pay difference between top and
low range of band • Low morale and a lack of motivation for managers who managed higher sales as
compared to others in the same band
No incentive to improve after band is
achieved • One-year recalculation period made a certain disconnect in the manager’s results and
his/her paychecks, offered low flexibility

• Lack of strategic thought of promoting sales as managers were more interested in

reaching a secured band range

The pay-band structure could have been more effective had the bands been narrow and the effective period for
additional pay based on these bands was restricted to shorter duration like a month or at-most over a quarter
Question 3

Help Reyes to make her suggestion to CEOs? Provide support from the data provided in the case?
Santa Monica Costa Mesa
Recommendations/Suggestions

Focused on marketing Focused on cost • Introduce improved incentives and reward system to ensure employees are recognized
strategies reduction strategies and appreciated
Setup social media Renegotiated terms
accounts with suppliers • Give more ownership and freedom in terms of building the business, which will give
New Menu was Usage of alternative managers better control over their businesses and had a sense of belongingness,
designed and cheaper thereby increasing staff engagement and satisfying the customer
ingredients
Offered discount • Introduce some programs in the form of contests for the staff to create ideas for
coupons customer engagement that could be followed at all outlets
Chef appearances and
book signing • Suggest the RepeatIt program to other stores in order to retain customers and build on
customer loyalty programs

• Compensation: More rigid variable pay structure could be implemented - proportional

to the sales of each specific store

The pilot stage of Share It Program had showed • Cost reduction strategy degrades customer satisfaction and hence would not sustain in
some favorable results in terms of improved profit the longer run
(24.47% increase in Santa Monica and 21.75%
increase in Costa Mesa) and higher incentive pay in • Usage of less expensive products or alternatives, diluting brand image must be avoided
both branches
Question 4

Do you see compensation related to motivation and customer satisfaction?

Compensation is related to employee motivation and customer satisfaction at large

• Compensation is definitely directly related to motivation for store managers:

 People cannot work on passion alone especially when their compensation is well below the industry
benchmark
 Compensation must be competitive enough and must keep in mind the industry standards to have
the best managers and employees work for you
 Good compensation package with performance-based components certainly keeps the staff
motivated for more challenges and effective management

• Customer satisfaction is a part of the manager’s role at most QSRs:

 A manager's policies and presence certainly affect the way your staff and customers interact
 A new manager every now and then hampers the relationship building process with regular
customers
 If the managers are motivated and could continue for longer stints, effort can be put for effective
engagement with the customers and the community at large
 Satisfied employees help produce satisfied customers, increases customer loyalty, and ultimately
drives increased profitability
Question 5

What would you do if you were Jackson & Sethi?

Recommendations

• Diversifying the menu and in doing so, giving freedom to the managers could be a productive approach. The idea of taking orders
through text messages would further help the store to retain its customers

• Hire managers - store and associate managers from different fields so that each of them could use their prior knowledge and
expertise to help make their chain profitable, thereby to get the best of both the worlds.

• Implementing the ShareIt program in other districts/areas where the stores aren't doing that well to get a better understanding
and idea of the driving parameters before asserting the changes

• Rework the compensation plan - introduce a bonus for the number of customers signing up for the RepeatIt program and ordering
frequently by setting a benchmark; employees would get a percentage of revenue of their respective stores

• Devising a metric to measure the employee satisfaction level. This can lead to have better satisfied pool of employees which in
turn would yield high profitability with improved customer satisfaction

• Cost containment approach adopted by the manager at Costa Mesa would not sustain in long run and would lead to customer
dissatisfaction
 CASE:
Southwood School: A Case Study in
Recruitment and Selection
Case Brief

Overview of the case

Current State Understanding
• Southwood School experienced increased employee turnover, and as a result, a higher level of recruitment activity

• A system of recruitment that was used initially had several weaknesses, and some improvements were made after system review
by the HR Manager

• They were earlier using one recruitment method which was found to be insufficient and were not making the most out of the
available recruitment resources

• Southwood continued the use of both formal and informal interview panels, but adopted a more structured approach

• Other schools in the area were using more varied recruitment methods, which may mean they are accessing a larger (and
potentially better) pool of candidates

Main Challenges/Concerns

• The advertisements the school uses for informing candidates about vacancies have few weaknesses and the same needs to be
modified

• Some candidates might be apprehensive because they are also being interviewed by a student panel

• The selection day timetable have certain shortcomings and a new timetable needs to be outlined to further streamline the
selection process
Question 1

Review the advertisement of the organization. Outline the strengths and weakness.

Design an improved version.

Strengths: Weaknesses:
• The advertisement covers the most important basic • Salary information has not been provided for the position
contact information like school address and email Id being applied for
• The skills the teacher should possess have been mentioned • Only very basic criteria are shown and it is not an accurate
representation of the job
• There is little information about the responsibilities that
the successful candidate may have in addition to normal
teaching duties
• There is nothing to sell the school and make people want
to work there
• No graphics or images are used to make the advertisement
stand out
• The non-monetary benefits that the successful candidate
might get have not been mentioned
Question 1

Southwood School
Eastwest Street
London
UK
[email protected]
VACANCY FOR TEACHER OF FRENCH

Southwood School, a leading and reputed school in London is seeking a dynamic

and energetic French teacher to join by September.
Minimum requirements:
• Previous experience of 2 – 4 years of teaching students aged 11-18 years old.
• Basic computer skills including knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint (MS office)
• Speak fluent French
• Ability to encourage students to achieve well
• Ability to work as part of a team

The candidate should be capable to develop high-school curriculum for the holistic growth of students. Familiarity with latest global
trends in child education is a necessity. Training in child psychology and knowledge of UK education law is an added advantage.
Maximum Salary £40k per annum
Other Benefits:
• Free shared/furnished accommodation
• Annual medical card renewal fee

Application can be obtained through an e-mail request to the school e-mail address provided above. Application should reach us
within 5 days from the date of this advertisement.
Question 2

Compose an email to candidates to inform them that they will be interviewed by a

student panel.

Key points that we included in the e-mail:

• The important role that students play in the school, to explain why they are
involved in such an important process
• This type of activity is indicative of the way the school is run and organized
• Students will provide interesting insights into the school and candidates will be
encouraged to ask the students questions
• The fact that this is only one part of the selection process
• The importance of good relationships between staff and students right from the
beginning
• The chance to provide students with a good development opportunity by taking
part in such activities
• The fact that students receive training so they know how to conduct themselves
and how to compose appropriate questions
• The fact that the importance of confidentiality is reinforced to students
• Highlight feedback from previous candidates who found it a very useful process
Question 2

Subject line: Interview process briefing – Southwood School/ Interview with student panel Southwood School for
the French teacher position

Hi [Candidate_Name] / Dear [Candidate_Name],

Thank you for applying to Southwood School.

This email is with regard to the selection process for the French teacher position. As mentioned in the schedule, there
will also be an interview conducted by the student panel. This was added to the selection process because students
are the primary stakeholders in any school, and hence they should be given an opportunity to understand the
candidates and their teaching techniques to choose the most suited candidate.

Our school is very particular about academics and the future of our students. Therefore, we believe that it is fair to
give them a choice to choose the most suited teacher. The students present in the panel have been given rigorous
training to know how to conduct themselves and how to compose appropriate questions. The interview is also seen
as a chance to provide students with a good development opportunity by taking part in such activities.

Having said so, this is only one part of the selection process. Also, the importance of confidentiality is reinforced to
students.

Would you be available on [date and time – or, range of dates/times]?

Looking forward to hearing from you,

All the best / Kind regards,
[Your name]
[Signature]
Question 3

Review the selection day timetable and outline the changes you would make.

Shortcomings: Improvements:
• Staff panel interviews to be done first to asses the • More interaction with potential colleagues
candidates • Day ends earlier
• Interaction with current school staff must be given more • Reduced the time for student panel interviews
time • Altering the sequence of procedures for greater
• Interviews with the Principal and HR manager must take effectiveness
place at the end and must be based on the feedback
received thus far.
• Back to back interviews could lead to the candidates facing
interview fatigue
• A separate Q&A Session with Principal and HR manager is
redundant
Question 4

Write selection day timetable for the post.

Time Event Location Participants

9:00 am – 9:30 am Welcome to the school Principal’s office Principal, HR manager and Department
Head
9:30 am – 10:00 am Tour of the school Student Representatives

10:00 am – 11:30 am Staff Panel Interviews Office 201 Deputy Principal, Department Head,
Teacher from Department
11:30 am – 11:45 am Refreshments School cafeteria

11:45 am – 1:15 pm Teaching Observations Classroom 101 Selected senior teachers and student
representatives
1:15 pm – 2:00 pm Lunch and interaction with potential School Cafeteria All available staff
colleagues
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Student panel interviews Classroom 104 Four students

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm Individual Interviews with Principal and Principal’s office Principal and HR Manager
Q&A session
 CASE:
Citibank : Performance Evaluation
Case Brief

Overview of the case

Current State Understanding
• James McGaran – Manager, most important branch among 31 branches in the Los Angeles area
• In competitive environment, branches of Wells Fargo​and Bank of America​were located close by- keeping Citibank on its toes
• Branch dealt with vast diversity of customers, ranging from highly sophisticated business customers, mom and pop store owners to less
informed customers
• A new performance scorecard system was introduced by Citibank taking into account both financial and non-final aspects
• James’ financials 20% above target​generating highest revenue and greatest margin contribution.​Easily rated “above par”
• Score “par” to “above par” in criteria- Strategy, Control and People and Standards
• James gave a lot of importance to his job-made sure his branch was at the top through his leadership skills, dedicated PR strategies, working to
improve customer satisfaction while self development(MBA degree)

Main Challenges/Concerns

• Bad Customer Satisfaction Rating- James got a “below par” rating in this criteria bringing his overall rating to “par” at most as per the bank
criteria
• Bonus is linked with rating- Incentive is a reward for hard-working, incorrect analysis may cause James to not get what he deserves.
• Flaws in the existing system- Considered criteria beyond the scope of any branch, low pool testing and non-uniform distribution of reviews
• Impact on other employees and Managers- Overall ratings would really demotivate him and impact his work. As he is the reference point
for other managers and backbone of his team and the most important person behind the running of the branch. Concerns about fair
evaluation

Lisa Johnson, California area manager and Frits Seegers, President of Citibank California must find a solution to mitigate the current issues
regarding James as well as device a system to prevent the rating from impacting employees in the future
Question 1

If you were Ms. Lisa what would you do and why?

Proposed Rating that Lisa should make
Lisa should take the following actions based upon the situation:

• Convey the mistakes to the higher authorities like Fritz as soon as possible
and alarm him of the impacts
• If no responses came from higher authorities, she should plan how to
convey the same and ask for suggestions
• In case she has to take rate James on her own, it should be done as follows
including the reasons for it.
• Rating should be done after having a thorough discussion with James and
Frits regard dilemmas of the evaluation, assessing critical points in his
running of the operation in his branch and making an agreement of
improving the overall customer satisfaction ratings in the next two quarters

• Giving an overall rating of par, disregarding his hard work, will lower the
morale of one of the most successful managers and will possibly result in
lower performance in the future, jeopardizing the performance of the #1
branch in the marketplace.
• Valid concern that if James receives an above par score on his evaluation,
employees might think that management disregards non-financial measures.
• Easier to reiterate the importance of non-financial measures than to negate
the effects of low morale in James’ branch
Question 2

What should Mr. Frits do at this instance?

Immediate Action Regarding James: Objectives After Mitigating the Current Issues:
• Verify the given information and discuss with Lisa on James’s report reviewing • Set up a committee to find the drawbacks of the
the overall appraisal form and then go back to discuss each area in detail evaluation
• Jointly decide upon the above ratings with Lisa
• Oversee/ Participate in the scheduled meeting with James to discuss his • Form a team to device a strategy that aligns the
annual appraisal and compare the annual assessment to that of the quarterly performance measurement system better with the
assessments organization goals and strategy
• Make sure that James’s review ended on a good note as he is a manager that
Citibank would want to keep as an employee and the quarterly appraisals • Form a team to design, test and implement the
showed an increase in the fourth quarter for customer service new system
• Identify areas that are of concern and discuss what had been done since the
problem had been identified- dissect each area that was identified as needing
improvement.
• Make an agreement with James towards increasing the customer service
scores for the next two quarters while certifying his Above Par rating and
giving bonus

Steps to take While Solution is Being Found

As President, it is in and Citibank’s best interest to make sure all new employees know exactly what they will be evaluated against -what is considered
acceptable and what is not. What is considered meeting standards and what is above standards. New employees should know what the rewards and
consequences of their actions are, and at what point actions will be taken. A statement must be issued by him on the parameters that have used for
measurement, scales, etc.
Question 3
Mr. James wasn’t convinced on customer satisfaction scoring by the agency? How do you
see Mr. James position on this?
There are reasons that James wasn't convinced of the customer Loopholes of evaluation system
satisfaction scoring by the agency because:

• James was working on the field, he knows what hard work went
into the strategies to improve the customer satisfaction
• To see the inconsistent variation from 66 to 63 to 54 and then
again 72 would obviously make him doubt the rating of his efforts. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION PERFORMANCE MEASURING ONLY 3 RATING BASED SCORE- ONLY 25 PEOPLE
It was only the customer satisfaction ratings that were holding MAY HAVE MISSED
ORGANIZATION STRATEGY
CRITERIA IS HAVING THE
SAME WEIGHT, CAUSING
CARD (BELOW, PAR, ABOVE) –
THIS IS BIG AND UNEVEN AS
INTERVIEWED, VERY SMALL
POOL CONSIDERING THE VAST
him back. POINTS AS IT WAS EXTERNAL ERRORS 0-74 INTERVAL FOR BELOW NO OF CUSTOMERS VISITING
AGENCY BASED PAR IS VERY LARGE WHILE 74- THE BANK
• Thought  that  his  efforts deserved an above par rating, even if 79 FOR PAR WAS TOO SMALL DISTRIBUTION UNEVEN AS
ONLY 1 MOTH WAS
customer satisfaction was somewhat lagging. CONSIDERED FOR AN ENTIRE
QUARTED

• His concerns about the drawbacks of the survey were valid-It was
done by an outsider and hence could have not properly aligned
the questions to match the organization strategy (right hand
image)
• Considers the out of branch factors DIFFERENT COMPETITIVE PARAMETERS MEASURED PEOPLE AND  STANDARDS
• Doesn’t consider the work done by the employee or alternative ENVIRONMENTS FOR THE
DIFFERENT BRANCHES
BEYOND JURISDICTION OF
INDIVIDUAL BANK (ATM,
RATING WAS SUBJECTIVE AS
EVALUATION WAS DONE BY
ONLINE) BRANCH MANAGER
steps like a customer relationship officer that can be appointed in ALSO NO MENTION OF SUPERIOR- MAY GIVE
this case DEMARKATION OF ONLINE UNREALISTIC RESULTS
AND ONLINR FACILITIES
• Not specific but generalized
• The impact of decreasing customer satisfaction in the first three
quarters was not visible in the financial, strategy, control or other
parameters
Question 4

If Mr. James has to be given “Below Par”, How do you communicate this decision to him?
Background of James that justifies the concern of Lisa and Fritz

• From a humble background of an assistant branch manager to managing

the most important branch in California, James had come a long way
demonstrating his domain skills and expertise to becoming one of the
best in the business
Assistant branch manager -> His performance in this office  Delivered impressive 
manager of a small branch -> had exceeded expectations financial results for four years 
 responsibility of managing every single year. in a row. • His review and ratings cannot be given given without proper inspection
the  Financial District office

Explaining the importance of the new balanced scorecard and the reason why he is given below par with a proper explanation will work
here:
• The decision has to be communicated as a one-on-one discussion and come up to an agreement
• Lisa and Fritz should talk to James and explain the dilemma and reason for giving par rating for the current rating
• This would prevent James from losing competent as an excellent manager for the whole company
• The primary purpose of the new balanced scorecard is to set goals and make the managers to perform well in all category
• “As a dedicated and good performer to the bank for past 4 to 5 years, we want to explain and make you understand the importance of the new
scorecard in future performance of our company, If you were given above par rating irrespective of the customer satisfaction criteria, all
managers will also demand the same and which lead them not to take new scorecard seriously, which will be the only reason we are giving
below par to you this time. And we hope you take this positively and focus on the area where you need to improve. Citibank wants your service
much better than before”
• This way we can communicate to James about his performance evaluation
Question 5

Do you want to do any trade off on Organization Strategy vs Performance rating?

Recommended Performance Measurement Strategy

Organization Strategy Performance Rating
• The overall evolution system requires overhauling
An organizational strategy is the Performance rating is the step in
sum of the actions a company the work measurement in which • Grouping based on:
intends to take to achieve long- the analyst observes the worker's • Location
term goals. These actions make up performance and records a value • Number of Active Customers
a company’s strategic plan  against the standard value
• Transaction over a Pre-determined period
• Total Revenue Generated

• Both organization strategy and performance rating are two different

parameters and they are equally important for the wellness of an • Next, the financial parameters should be measured based on
scale on not on absolute figures like amounts and percentage
organization
growth. In this way, a manager’s true abilities can be tested
• Trade off between these two different parameters affect anyone and
that will not be the good decision • Different sections like ATM, services etc.  should be separately
evaluated
• As per the standard protocol of an organization, no such decision will
be taken to compromise one parameters •  Management should make a standard set of questions
applicable to all and take the answers in the form a Likert
• So No trade off can be done between organization strategy and scale for measurement. Space for the subjective analysis may
performance rating be also provided as feedback for areas of improvement