What recommendations would you make to alleviate these conflicts?

HRMG 4202 Needs Assessment Case Study: Strategic Human Resource Management

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Needs Assessment Case Study: Strategic Human Resource Management

The College of Business Administration at Old State University is one of 12 state- supported collegiate business schools in a Midwestern state. It is located in a city with a population of 400,000 with a diversified industrial base. Old State is the only state- supported institution in town. One small private college provides competition to the college. Recently, the college has experienced leadership transition. Dr. George Barnes, Dean of the college since 1978, retired. During his administration, the enrollment had increased from 1,202 undergraduates and 76 MBA students in the 1978–79 academic year to 2,089 undergraduates and 218 MBA students in the most recent academic year.

Dean Barnes was well liked by students, faculty, and the central administration of Old State. However, he had not led the college in any new directions and had basically concentrated on “doing the same things better.” The “same things” meant an emphasis on traditional programs (accounting, marketing, finance, etc.), teaching undergraduate students in the age range of 18–22 in daytime programs, and teaching a small number of full-time MBA students. The latter have been mostly graduates of the college’s undergraduate program who decided they were willing to spend 2 more years on campus to obtain the second degree.

Dean Barnes had also been successful in upgrading the proportion of faculty with terminal degrees from 56% in 1978 to 85% in the most recent year. Exhibit 2.3 provides faculty and student enrollment data for the college for selected years during Barnes’ tenure.

During the most recent academic year, the Dean’s Search Committee (consisting of faculty, students, alumni, central administration, and local business representatives) met frequently, screened over 100 applicants, and personally interviewed six. While the committee arrived at no consensus, the majority supported Mr. Jack Blake for the Deanship. An offer was made and after several weeks of negotiation, Blake accepted the Deanship. His background was an MBA from a prestigious Ivy League business school and executive leadership positions in a variety of U.S. corporations in marketing. He left the position of Vice President of Marketing at a Fortune 500 company to accept the Deanship.

During the screening interviews with the Search Committee, Mr. Blake had made it clear that if he were selected the college would be “moving in new directions and exploring new markets.” It was very clear Blake did not want to be a “paper pusher,” but did want to be an innovator and an entrepreneur. When pressed for specifics, he had indicated he “would have to study the situation in more detail.”

When the new Dean arrived on campus in the fall, he immediately convened a Strategic Planning Committee to (1) evaluate the college’s external environment, opportunities,

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constraints, competitive advantages, and internal environment and (2) recommend a new set of long-term missions, goals, objectives, and programs. The committee consisted of two senior professors, the university’s Vice President for Academic Affairs, one graduate student, one undergraduate student, two prominent alumni, and two local business leaders.

The committee recommended that the college focus on the adult learner since demographic analysis suggested the age group 18–22 was shrinking and would be a declining market over the next decade. Specific recommendations included (1) more evening courses for both undergraduate and graduate students; (2) structuring the schedule so that both degrees could be earned entirely in the evening; (3) offering credit courses in some suburban locations; (4) offering requested noncredit practitioner courses at the college, at the employer’s work site, and in various underserved small cities around the state; (5) exploring the possibility of offering degree programs at these locations; (6) offering new MBA degree concentrations in such areas as management of the arts, health care management, and public sector management, and (7) offering a new “executive” MBA.

The new Dean enthusiastically endorsed the report and distributed copies at the last faculty meeting of the fall semester. Several questions were raised, but it didn’t appear serious opposition existed. However, at a following meeting of Department Chairs, the Dean indicated that his top priority for the next academic year was to fill the five vacant positions with new faculty who would be supportive of the new directions in which the college was moving. Specifically, he asked them to keep several criteria in mind while recruiting and selecting new faculty. These included previous managerial work experience, a willingness to teach night courses, a willingness to travel to other cities to offer coursework, an ability to work with management practitioners on special projects, and previous experience in teaching executives.

In addition, he suggested that the Chairs consider those criteria when evaluating the performance of existing faculty and recommending salary increases. Finally, he indicated that one of the faculty positions would be used to recruit a new Assistant Dean for External Affairs who would be his link to the practitioner community. The latter would be involved with helping practicing managers identify their needs, working with faculty to meet these needs, and negotiating contracts for these services.

When word of the Dean’s faculty recommendations spread through the “rumor mill,” the reaction was swift and negative. Many of the “old guard” faculty felt they were hired primarily to teach full-time students on campus during the day. Consequently, they were threatened by the new evaluation criteria. They were also concerned that the Dean was interjecting nonacademic criteria into their departmental faculty recruitment processes and diverting resources to nonacademic activities. These faculty felt the inevitable result would be a declining quality of education in the college.

A group of these faculty members have asked to meet with the Dean to discuss his proposals. The Dean is preparing a justification for both his strategy and his human

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resource management (faculty) recommendations.

EXHIBIT 2.3

Faculty and Student Enrollment Data for the College of Business Administration in Selected Years,

1978–1999

Student Enrollment

Academic Year

Faculty Faculty

with PhD BS MBA Total

1978–79 54 30 1,202 76 1,278

1980–81 58 36 1,289 98 1,387

1985–86 66 46 1,654 134 1,788

1990–91 74 57 1,913 154 2,067

1995–96 78 66 2,065 221 2,286

1999–00 80 68 2,089 218 2,307

Conducting a Training Needs Assessment Procedures: Read the case “Strategic Human Resource Management” and the following update on the College of Business Administration at Old State University. Then conduct a needs assessment. In general, a needs assessment is used to identify any dis- crepancies between desired and current performance behaviors. Although the outcome of the assessment might be the identification of training needs, it could identify other organization development needs that are not necessarily met through training programs.

Part I of the Assignment is the Organization Analysis phase of the needs assessment, which identifies “where” there is a need for improvement within the college and whether there are “system-wide” problems that exist. Factors to be analyzed include any recent or anticipated organization-wide changes and how that will affect the organization’s goals, structure, culture, and/or climate. The result of this analysis is a determination of whether the “problem” (discrepancy) is an organization-wide problem as opposed to an individual training problem. Part II of the Assignment is the Job/Task Analysis, which identifies “what” tasks are in need of improvement and whether there are job-wide problems that exist. Factors to consider here include any recent or anticipated changes in the job demands and how that might affect the nature of the job requirements (tasks, skills), goals, resources, and/or performance opportunities. The result is a determination of whether the “problem” is a job-wide problem as opposed to an individual training problem. Part III of the Assignment is the Person/Performance Analysis and identifies “who” is in need of training and what type of training is needed. The result is a determination of whether the problem is a motivation-related training problem or an ability-related training problem.

As you complete the Week 2 Assignment, think about the implications of your analysis for organization development programs in addition to training programs. During Week 3, you will post a copy of this Assignment to the Week 3 Discussion 1 thread for peer

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review and feedback. Your peers will evaluate your analysis and provide feedback for improving your overall evaluation. Update Since your last visit to the college, the Dean has implemented those changes pertaining to the strategy of focusing on adult learners. Specifically, the college now offers (1) more evening courses for both undergraduate and graduate students, (2) a teaching schedule that accommodates students that want to earn their degree in the evening, (3) credit courses in suburban locations, and (4) MBA concentrations in a variety of areas. In addition, the Dean has implemented a TQM (Total Quality Management) philosophy for the college whereby students are treated like customers and “customer service” is the new goal for faculty to pursue. These changes had been in place for a year when the Dean decided to evaluate their effectiveness. A “customer satisfaction” questionnaire was sent out to recent graduates; the results were disappointing. Of particular concern were the findings that the graduates were dissatisfied with the quality of their education and that they would not recommend that their friends, family, or colleagues attend Old State’s College of Business.

The Dean has hired a consulting team (your group) to develop a training program for faculty in order to improve the quality of teaching in the college. However, your team has decided to first conduct a needs assessment to determine whether there really is a need for faculty training.

Source: Nkomo, S. M., Fottler, M. D., & McAfee, R. B. (2005). Human resource management applications (5th ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western.