Case Study

WANTED: REGIONAL OPERATIONS MANAGER for Washington DC Area. Develops and implements business processes that assure cost-efficient facility operations and minimization of un-planned infrastructure and building systems down-time. Develops and manages local/regional commercial properties. Works with Systems Technicians and Analyst to identify, ensure and improve upon building systems efficiencies and energy usage. Identifies current and future human resources needs (and/or inefficiencies). Develops quarterly, annual, and long-term budgets. Manages and supervises between 70 and (up to) 200 employees.

The VP for HR tells you that the announcement is going out next week and interviews may begin within 20 days or LESS. The VP informs you that a management team is already working to develop TECHNICAL questions ONLY for the position. Based upon resumes, the search team will create a list of 10 final qualified applicants. She wants YOU to identify and create a list of SIX (6) FUNDAMENTAL NON-TECHNICAL BEHAVIORAL TRAITS/QUALITIES the final 10 candidates should all possess. Based upon the SIX KEY and ESSENTIAL personal traits, you must then DRAFT TWO QUESTIONS (2) for EACH TRAIT (i.e. 12 total questions). The committee members will use these questions to gain deeper insight into the identified candidates during interviews. Do not concern yourself with technical or educational qualifications found in the resumes. Also, do not concern yourself with any other matters that can be investigated and verified by Donohoe’s background investigations agency.

Problem 6:

You are the HR Director/VP for ACME Inc. Acme employs 460 people in Winchester, VA and is a Fortune 5000 Company. You have narrowed down 37 total candidates to a final three for the position of “Vice President of Marketing and Community Outreach.” The person who assumes the position will oversee a $7million dollar per year advertising budget and supervise a staff of six associates. The position also includes/required a good bit of travel in the region (VA, NC, SC, WV, and PA). The candidate can expect to be on the road, meeting with current and potential customers about one week per month or more. The candidate qualifications and descriptions are summarized as follows. All are at least minimally qualified or better for the job. All of them “could” do the job with minimal or no additional training.

1. Candidate Xaviera: White Female, Age 42. Xaviera is well qualified for the position. She has an MBA from Texas A&M and is currently working as an Assistant Marketing Director for one of ACME’s competitors, JumboTron LLC (primarily in the Houston, Texas area). Jumbo-Tron has 30% less market-share than ACME, but the company has done reasonably well, despite the challenging market conditions of recent years. She has an impressive portfolio of projects at JumboTron and did well in the two previous entry-level/associate-level marketing positions she held after earning her MBA (but before working at Jumbo-Tron). She has strong letters of recommendation. She understands that her anticipated salary at ACME will be LESS than she is making now with Jumbo-Tron (about 30% less), but her aging parents live in Philadelphia area and she wants to be able to spend more time with them. A back-ground investigation reveals that Xaviera has a previous arrest in 1996 for simple possession of ecstasy (MDMA) at a Madonna concert in Austin. The case was referred to a First-Time Offenders Diversion program so there is no criminal conviction on her record.

2. Candidate Yancey: White Male, age 56. Yancey is exceptionally well-qualified for the position. Until two years ago, he was the Deputy Marketing Director for Ford Motor Corporation in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Before that, Yancey was Director of Marketing for Walt-Disney Cruises in Miami, Florida. For the past two years he has been doing some consulting (very successfully) as well as Adjunct Faculty-Member at the University of Michigan in Ann-Arbor. In his spare time, Yancey finished an undergraduate textbook on “Cyber and On-Line Marketing.” Cengage Learning (a major publisher) is printing Yancey’s textbook and expects the book to do well because there are so few other textbooks in this field. Yancey is interested in the ACME position because he is from Virginia (New Market) and went to Virginia Tech (BS and MBA). He is tired of living in the Detroit area and impressed the hiring committee with his basic outlines on two potential on-line marketing approaches he would seek to initiate immediately at ACME. Yancey’s wife is a Physical Therapist and would have no problem finding work in the area. Their two children are adults and do not live at home.

3. Candidate Zoey: Zoey is a 39-year-old mixed race female (African American and Vietnamese). Zoey has a BS in Business from MIT and an MBA from the University of Nevada focused primarily upon supply-chain management. She is reasonably well-qualified for the position. For the past two years, Zoey has been working in Qatar (Doha University-Al-Hussein College of Business) teaching supply-chain as well as one principles of marketing (BS-301) class per semester. She previously worked for five years as a Fashion Merchandising and Marketing specialist for Polo-Ralph Lauren (PRL). Zoey’s principle activities for PRL were in supply-chain with some marketing experience/responsivities. Zoey apparently has a speech disorder that results in fluctuations in the intensity, volume, and cadence of words and syllables in her sentences. There is really no problem understanding what she is saying, it’s just that her speech patterns and volume goes up and down sometimes. Zoey is a single parent (divorced) with two elementary school age children and said she doesn’t want to raise her children in the Middle East/Gulf States. She researched the schools in the Winchester area and plans to live in the City of Winchester so her children may attend John Handley High School.

Discuss the following Issues:

What additional facts would you like to know about some/all the candidates?

Which person is the best choice?

Which candidate should ACME pick?

What issues or problems do you foresee?

Problem 7:

Julie Newmom is a marketing and direct sales agent at Frog’s Ale Brewing Company in Winchester, VA. Over the past 28 months, Julie has been successful at Frog’s Ale. Her first year, she received a “Successful” annual performance review and the next year received a “Highly Successful” annual review rating. On January 2nd, 2016, Julie told her supervisor, Joe Smoe, that she was pregnant, and the pregnancy was “high risk.” Joe Smoe just made a “squirmy” face (like this was not good news to him). Smoe did not say “congratulations” to Julie about having her baby. All Smoe said was “OK, thanks for letting me know” and then Smoe walked away. At this point, Julie started feeling a bit nervous about her job because one of her co-workers, Tuesday Weld, was pregnant last year and was fired the day after she had her baby. After her conversation with Smoe, Julie made an appointment the next morning with the HR Director. The HR Director expressly told Julie that Frog’s Ale Brewing Company did not offer Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) protection because it does not employ 50 or more workers under the FMLA (Frog’s Ale total number of employees = 30 full-time and 15 part-time workers). Even more surprising to Julie, the HR Director expressly told Julie that she would “probably be terminated when she had her baby or as soon as she had used up any vacation leave or earned sick-days” she might have accumulated over the past 28+ plus months. The same month (January), Julie failed to meet her sales quota (her total sales were down by 30%). Over that month, Julie complained twice to Smoe about not receiving as many sales leads as usual. Her sales leads (contact information sent to her from Customer Representatives and Agents) were about half the usual number she would get in an average month. Each time Julie complained about the number of sales leads, Smoe told Julie: “It’s probably just a slow month after the holidays. Don’t worry, you can make up your quotas next month.” Unfortunately, on February 11th, the HR Director called Julie into her office and told Julie that she was being “Terminated for failing to meet her minimum monthly sales quota in January.” Julie was escorted to her office by the HR Director (to get her personal items) and then she was escorted out of the building by the Security Officer. What legal issue(s) do you see if any? Explain fully. What advice would your offer to Frog’s Ale Management/Leadership.

Problem 8:

ACME Home Healthcare Inc. provides home health care services for disabled and elderly persons in Winchester and Frederick County. 90% of the “Home Healthcare Providers” at ACME are certified “Nurse-Aides.” ACME typically has contracts with 90 nurse-aides. The remaining 10% of ACME personnel (9-10 persons) are either Registered Nurses or Clinical Social Workers. These personnel are full-time regular employees of ACME.

A nurse-aide certificate requires a high-school diploma or GED and 75 contact/classroom hours (about SIX ACADEMIC CREDIT HOURS) training. Most of ACME’s nurse-aides get their certificate from ACME through a two-week “in-house” certification program. ACME runs the certification class at least twice a year. The “teachers” are ACME’s current Registered Nurse Employees. ACME “charges” 500 dollars for the certificate, but the 500 dollars is “refunded” after six months if the person taking the class signs-on with ACME. ACME requires each of these Nurse Aides to sign a “INDEPENDENT HOME HEALTH ASSSISTANT CONTRACT” with the following provisions.

* The Aide agrees that they will work as INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS.

* The Aide agrees to submit a urine sample for drug testing (which ACME pays for).

* The Aide agrees they will receive an IRS Form 1099 and will be responsible for all self-employment taxes and health insurance.

* The Aide agrees to submit total client contact hours by coming by emailing ACME each week and submitting a paper “hours worked” form.

* The Aide agrees to send a short text message to ACME whenever they arrive at the client home and whenever they leave the client home after each visit.

* The Aide agrees to follow and fill-out in pen a 3-page “checklist” of duties they must perform with each client (i.e. cleaning, changing bedlinen, bathing, changing soiled diapers, etc.).

* The Aide agrees to attend a 4-hour “Clinical Skills Update Class” at ACME every 90 days (4 times per year). The aide receives 20 dollars for attending each “Update Class.” Snacks and coffee are provided for aides attending theses classes.

* The Aide agrees to be available (via text or email) for non-routine, unscheduled client assistance visits at least one weekend per month with a response time of not more than 90 minutes from message to being at the client’s home.

* The aide agrees to wear a white “nursing uniform” (either skirt or surgical pants) and medical-type smock (top) with the “ACME-CARES” company logo on the shirt front.

* The aide agrees that his or her duties will be inspected at least weekly by one of the three Registered Nurses or Clinical Social Work ACME “supervisors” and that “surprise/unannounced” inspections will also take place at least every 30 days. (ACME Supervisors are the only full-time employees of ACME).

* The aide agrees to place one square foot (12 inches x 12 inches) magnetic sign on each side of his or her personal car/transportation that says “ACME HOME HEALTHCARE CARES” whenever they are traveling to, parked at, or leaving, a client home.

Everything is going well at ACME until a Winchester Police Detective arrives to question the “President” of ACME about “JUDY SMITH.” Judy is a contracted Healthcare Aide. One of Judy’s regular client’s family called the Police after discovering that someone has withdrawn over $56,000 dollars from an elderly patient’s bank account via ATM card (90 withdrawals over 13 months). The bank ATM cameras identify the person as JUDY SMITH. When the President of ACME calls Judy Smith’s on the phone, she doesn’t answer. The ACME President then calls an alternate emergency contact number. After three rings, Judy’s ex-husband, Larry, answers and says that “Judy has disappeared with her boyfriend.” The Detective asks Larry “What kind of car was she driving?” Larry says a 2016 Buick Regal. The Detective then says “Uh-Oh, that’s the patient’s car that was being stored in the garage. The Detective also mentions that Judy has two misdemeanor “bad check” convictions on her criminal record (1999 and 2007).

The patient’s family is outraged and contacts an attorney about suing ACME.

DISCUSS THE POTENTIAL LEGAL ISSUES IN THE FACT SCENARIO ABOVE. IN YOUR RESPONSE, MAKE SURE YOU ADDRESS WHATSTEPS YOU WOULD, OR WOULD NOT HAVE TAKEN IF YOU WERE SETTING UP THIS TYPE OF BUSINESS.