Magic muffler assignment

Running head: COMPREHENSIVE CASE Assignment # 2: “ Muffler Magic” Brenda Sturdivant Instructor: Professor Kimberly Cox Human Resource Management – BUS310 February 27, 2011 “ Muffler Magic” Specify three recommendations about the functions of recruiting, selection, and training that you think Ron Brown should be addressing with his HR manager now. Rob Brown should hold a recruiting planning meeting with the HR manager to discuss strategies used to recruit, select, and train employees. Since he has 25 automobile service centers, it would be a wise to centralize the recruitment and training in one location.

This alone could strengthen his business image. One way to recruit good mechanic is to consult with the technical community colleges to recruit students for entry level jobs. Students can be offered part-time entry level technician positions. The students can be given the opportunity to assist the experienced mechanic and learn automotive work. They can start out by performing basic duties such as cleaning oil spills, maintaining tools and equipment. This can also give the experience mechanic more time to focus on performing quality work to receive high customer satisfaction. For recruiting experience technicians, he can use ads and websites.

In the ads, whether it is newspapers or websites; he needs to make sure to display the advantages of working for his automotive repair service centers. Effective advertisement will make his business appealing and rewarding to work for. This can attract a pool of experienced mechanics and technicians to apply to his business. When HR prescreens the applicants they should make sure the applicants provide education, job experience, job history, and references. This information is vital in determining who is eligible and it can also hold prediction on who will actually succeed on the job.

Background and reference checks should be conducted to confirm the validity of information in the application. In the selection process, it would be beneficial to implement a mechanical test to assess the applicants’ level of skills. This way Ron can ensure that employees can perform the job and is reliable. It is important to use these selection process tools before hiring employees. This process can eliminate low performance. It is relatively expensive to recruit and hire new employees and negligent hiring can cause legal percussions. Since employee safety is a problem, Ron need to provide training on the subject.

Ron’s business may also need a training assessment. By conducting an effective training assessment, the business can verify that training is the appropriate solution to a performance deficiency (Cekada, 2010). A training assessment can help determine current performance. According to Cekada (2010), data is also collected by looking at factors such as absenteeism, safety incidents, lost workdays, turnover rates, customer complaints or other performance problems. The service centers’ managers’ performance reflects on their ability to train new technicians and mechanics effectively.

To cut cost, Ron can inquire on online safety training for current employees and newly hires. Write three questions for a structured interview form that Ron Brown’s service center managers can use to interview experience technicians. What skills and experience can you bring to this business? What can happen to a vehicle if it is not serviced on a regular basis? What are the mechanical tasks you carry out each day in your current job? Explain why, if you were Ron Brown, you would or would not implement the professor’s recommendation to start paying for sick days.

It would be beneficial for Ron Brown to implement paid sick days because sick employees do not work productively. The employees probably feel pressured not to take time off because there are no paid sick leave privileges. Not having paid sick leave creates impediments to job retention and raises turnover cost for employer. Many employees who are sick show up at work anyway; which is the case for Muffler Magic. In one study, 77 percent of the respondents said they go to the office when they are sick, hampering their performance and exposing coworkers to illnesses like the flu (Boone, L. , & Kurtz, D. , 2010).

Paid sick days could reduce cost for employers by increasing productivity, stopping the spread of illnesses in the workplace, and reduce turnover. Recommend and explain your reasons why Ron Brown should or should not implement the professor’s skill-based pay plan in its present form. Ron Brown should implement the professor’s skill-based pay plan in its present form because it identifies the technician’s skills, knowledge, and performance levels. It also motivates other technicians to achieve higher levels. The technicians will become more flexible and productive when they broaden their skill level.

Working in teams under an experienced team leader, strengthen all workers abilities to work in teams. They develop positive attitudes and work together to accomplish goals. According to Hellriegel (2007), employees having highly developed skills and those who develop multiple skills are particularly valuable asset to the organization. Team building and change are often based on mastering a number of individual skills. Skill base helps employees to learn and grow. Recommend and explain your reasons why Ron Brown should or should not implement the professor’s incentive pay plan in its present form.

The professor’s incentive pay plan should be implemented in its present form. Displaying the technician productivity totals is a way to communicate and keep the technicians informed on their accomplishments. Feedback is very important and the technicians will have a positive attitude because the business is acknowledging them. This can help motivate the technicians to perform highly. Instead of sitting around when business is low, the technicians an focus on ways to improve or strengthen certain skill abilities.

Incentives can help workers to pull together to accomplish goals. Implementing an incentive pay plan can benefit the employees and Ron Brown. Ron Brown’s business will have high performing productive employees which can result in success and profitability for all. References Boone, L. , & Kurtz, D. (2010). Contemporary Business. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons Inc. Publisher. Cekada, Tracey L. (2010). Profession Safety, Vol. 55 Issue 3, p. 28-33, 6p. Hellriegel, D. , & Slocum, J. W. (2007). Organizational Behavior. Ohio: Thomson Learning, Inc. Publisher.