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Shanghai ANE Logistics Co., Ltd., established on June 1, 2010, is a business of road part-load logistics for goods from 5 to 300 kilograms. Mr. Wang Yongjun and his management team have spent five consecutive years building ANE into the biggest part-load franchising network in China, and set up a brand new business model, through integration of traditional transport lines, part-load express network and information technology platform.

The first company under the Amara Raja Group was established in 1984, i.e. Amara Raja Electronics Limited (AREL) followed by Amara Raja Batteries Limited (ARBL). Its founder leveraged the presence of his family in Renigunta, a rural village in South India, and chose to start the industry there to create employment opportunities. Preference is given to local population in all ARG enterprises. Despite its strong people orientation, the HR department/function at ARG got strengthened only after Jaikrishna strived to make it central to business. The department's evolution has been demarcated in three phases. The first and second phase saw few initiatives, and during the third phase the HR department was structured according to the Dave Ulrich Strategic HR Model. While this structure had been successful until now, certain sections in ARG still doubted its sustainability.

The case study aims to investigate human resource management issues of national importance, and specific recruitment issues important to the company.

Students studying, e.g. Human Resource Management/Developing Human Resources as courses within an undergraduate business degree program. The audience is also targeted through courses that include the study of cross cultural management/diversity.

An industrial organization in the United Arab Emirates has a multinational workforce, where many employees are recruited from overseas. The recruitment process necessitates liaison with recruitment agencies at a distance, and locally with the government labor office.

Students will be able to:

• analyze that companies exist in an external environment that impacts on their internal policies;

• describe the importance of quality assurance to the HR function in an organization; and

• explain how the HR department works closely with all departments in an organization.

analyze that companies exist in an external environment that impacts on their internal policies;

describe the importance of quality assurance to the HR function in an organization; and

explain how the HR department works closely with all departments in an organization.

Teaching notes.

The case throws light on performance management in general and performance appraisal in a specific Indian context, its linkages with various other HR systems in an organization and the various issues and challenges attached with it. The case is especially suited for understanding people management in small organizations and organizations in emerging markets.

This case has been tried and tested in the classroom setting with management students pursuing a post graduate diploma in business management (PGDBM). The case has been administered to students in Chennai Business School, Chennai in their core course human resource management (first year PGDBM) and to second year students specializing in HR in their course “Performance management and compensation management” in G D Goenka World Institute, Sohna.

The case is set in the southern part of India in a retailing organization which grew from a small retail store catering to the daily needs of the student community to a four store retail store (Bolts'). Mr Andrew (Head, HR), introduced performance management and appraisal at Bolts'. Since the appraisal was interrelated with various other HR systems like motivation, compensation, training and development and promotions, it generated a lot of excitement among the employees. After implementation of performance appraisal, the organization seems to experience one problem after another. There were complaints from customers, followed by a range of challenges such as discontented employees, unprofessional behavior, low motivation in the organization and loss of profit.

Understand and analyze the performance management in general and performance appraisal in a specific Indian context, its linkages with various other HR systems in organization and the various issues and challenges attached with it. Understand people management in small organizations and organizations in emerging markets. Assess and identify HR practitioners' problems in studying SMEs' HR related problems in an Indian context.

Teaching notes are available to faculty. Please consult with your librarian.

Todd Wilson, manager of partner development at Educational Technology Corp., needed to determine the targeting, positioning, and selling strategy for its innovative Interactive Mathematics software for the college market. This required determining what types of colleges to target and which stakeholders to focus on within institutions. His task was complicated by the unclear objectives of nonprofit institutions and the differing motivations of teachers, students, and college administrators in adopting software-based learning technology. Highlights the difficulties in innovation adoption within large nonprofit institutions and the challenges in marketing to institutions with complex decision-making processes, multiple influencers, and conflicting motivations.

Human resource management, business ethics, public policy.

The case can also be taught in MBA/postgraduate in management programmes in general management or HR classes to give a lesson in organizational conflict and resolution, negotiation skills (strategies, tactics and power in negotiation) towards the middle or end of the course. The course can also be taught in MBA/postgraduate in management programmes in business ethics classes to make students appreciate the various approaches to ethics – end-results, duty, social contract and personalistic ethics. It also helps students learn how to institute ethics into the cultural fabric of the organization. In public policy programmes, it could be taught to illustrate the crucial role and at times unintended outcomes of actions of street level bureaucracies in policy implementation. The course can also be taught in refresher training programmes for executives to give lessons in conflict management, mediation strategies, union negotiations and ethics.

This teaching case is based on a real incident that took place in a defence production factory of India in the year 2009. It succinctly unfolds a small showdown between two officers that acquires a disproportionate size and explosive dimension and vitiates the environment of the entire organization. The case is a narration of a small row that in no time became a full-blown organizational dispute with layers of issues. Two officers, one very senior and the other influential, got entangled in a conflict, unfortunately in the presence of a large audience; dissatisfied workers and officers fanned the sentiments and encouraged them to unethically leverage legal privileges by gaming in the name of caste and sexual harassment to gain power in the messy dispute. The protagonist Ram Sharma, the General Manager (head) of the factory, is in a precarious situation as the conflict not only puts his managerial skills but also his moral standards and ethics to test.

After discussion and analysis of this case, the students should be able to: appreciate and evaluate the complexities and multiple facets of an organizational conflict including ethical challenges faced in a real life situation, recommend the options and course of action a manager could resort to in a high stake and time bound situation, learn to develop a basic framework for analysing, negotiations and strategize to resolve a conflict as a manager-mediator in such a situation, learn to handle difficult negotiation bound by complexities of unethical and legal disputes, answer to themselves the criticality of ground level bureaucracy's role in implementation of public policies (optional if the faculty decides to discuss the part provided in the teaching note). For international students, this is a case to learn dynamics of “negotiations in Indian context”. Overall development of critical thinking and analytical skills.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Against the backdrop of IBM Personal Computer Business's acquisition by Lenovo Group, this case introduces the remodeling process of Lenovo's HR organization and development team, during which the company's 5P principle, namely “Plan (think clearly before making promise), Perform (promise is to be fulfilled), Prioritize (company's interest is top priority), Practice (make progress every day in every year), Pioneering (venture any experiment to be a trailblazer), takes shape. After learning about Lenovo's recruitment of internationalized talents, cross-cultural coaches for senior leaders, cultural development in internationalization and risk aversion in international operations, we can understand what Lenovo's HR team does to avoid conflicts in corporate culture and ethnic culture in cross-border mergers and acquisitions and integration, and how to adjust and change the HR management system.

The case is based on heated e-mail conversations connected to the delivery of clean bottled water in the campus of a reputed research institute in southern India. The exchange between Tara Sharma (Programme Manager) and Shreejith Nair (Group Head-Engineering Service and Estate) relate to the quality of services provided. The case highlights the viewpoints of various stakeholders involved in the open conversation. This case focusses on the behaviour of a set of underperforming employees associated with a contractor, the reasons, among others, being lack of training and quality awareness. However, training alone cannot be assumed as the only correct solution for handling underperformance. The stakeholders involved need to ascertain the cause of underperformance by analysing whether it is a “Can't Do” –“Won't Do” problem, and identify the ways of dealing with it.

The blast at Beirut Port on the 4th of August was the cherry on the cake in a series of disastrous governmental failures manifested in the of lack of trust, an unprecedented economic crisis, hyperinflation, financial fallout, political bottle necks, toxic environmental situation and a vertical cleavage between the government and the people. The blast resulted in billions of dollars in losses both at the port and the surrounding Beirut area, destroyed more than 300,000 housing units, displaced their residents, ruined many artifacts of cultural heritage, injured thousands of people and killed hundreds. Definitely, it was a case of negligence in the storage of the Ammonium Nitrate, corruption, irresponsible leadership or all of these together. However, investigations are still underway to pinpoint the responsible individuals and to bring them to justice. This case looks at potential ways that could have prevented the blast, by questioning the reasons behind the non-voicing out of objections against the nature of the material stored unsafely for several years in Container 12 at the Port. Through the lens of Hadi Karim, a fictional character, the authors lead the readers to consider the disaster’s characterization, as well as applicable disaster management frameworks. The case also emphasizes the role of public leadership and leads the readers to consider measures and processes that could have been abided by to prevent the disaster.

Against the backdrop of the recent Beirut Port explosion, this case examines how events unfolded leading up to the tragedy, highlighting how it could have been avoided, as well as the managerial and ethical dimensions involved.

At the end of the case, students will be able to: 1. Characterize the disaster in terms of type and nature. 2. Analyze the blast by referring to the relevant disaster management frameworks. 3. Analyze the critical role of ethical and transformational leaders pre and post disaster. 4. Reflect on the role of employees in preventing disasters mainly through whistleblowing.

Shedding the light on an avoidable disaster, drawing lessons to avoid the occurrence of such events in the future, and raising awareness on disaster management and on whistleblowing as a tool in the ethical leader’s toolbox.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 10: Public Sector Management.

A room attendant in a small hotel with approximately 63 employees undermines her supervisors and disregards authority in deliberate defiance of company policies, rules, regulations and procedures. Disrespect is shown in several behaviours that include interfering with the work of other employees, spreading rumours, gossiping to other room attendants and complaining about unfair treatment.

This case was field researched and the company and individuals are disguised.

This case is suitable for third- or fourth-year undergraduate students. Within human resource management it is suited for use in a course or series of classes on employee relations or performance management. The case could also be used for an organizational behaviour course to explore conflict and struggle in organizations and the range of passive and active resistance practices that occur. In this particular case the context of women and minorities working in low-skilled roles could be examined.

In advance of this case students should have a background in performance management theory and practice, disciplinary systems and practice and the behaviours associated with workplace resistance, insubordination and misconduct.