Case Questions
1. Discuss. The main issue in the case is the dysfunctional attribute of Mary one of the company employee. She had been performing well but the current trend in case shows that she dropped from her initial productive state to underperformance in the position she held in the work place. Looking at her personal folder Mary had various indiscipline cases beginning with extended lunch and various case of in attendance. By terminating the contract as far as Mary is concerned, she will get to conflict with Employee Agreement Program which stand to defend the initial contract unless a serious misconduct is reported. The employee remains protected under the act and thus could not go free that is why Betty reminds Helen of the act.
2. Helen would consider the steps of passing the warning and giving supportive letters to have evidence of failure to reform. The act had to be used appropriately and terminate the contract under the agreement with Mary over the problems. Or alternatively she could transfer to other department before deciding with the board to terminate her contract. The assistance program would help Mary to decide the course of action useful to be taken in the steps.
3. Helen should have acted sooner to identify the causes and the factors underlying the dysfunctional cases. The initiative could have been to call the board and discuss the concerns and a letter given to Mary inviting her before the board for clarification. Alternatively she would have formed a committee to investigate the causes of underperformance as far as Mary was concerned.
4. The functional HRM areas include the aspects related to the performance of the organization. The related areas are as Training. The training should been applicable in the case to equip relevant skills to Mary in the present job position and development of the employee. Next are the employee and labor relations to spell the legal perspective of the law to the labor. Mary should have been well trained on the legal rules and the constitution of the company.
Outsourcing firm: the quality of working conditions would have been improved and advocate for the objective of transferring responsibilities. Helen was much in the reforming personals in the consulting before.