Module 3: Human Resources Frame

1. Briefly restate situation from Module 1 and your role

From Module 1, the scenario that I decided to use for my personal case study was at a

previous place of employment at a hardware store in California. This hardware store was very

much a local mom and pop style of hardware store that had its fair share of problems. Most of

these problems stemmed from complacent owners and an unwillingness to try new things to

propel the business towards success and to increase revenues. As is common in small businesses,

I wore a variety of hats as the saying goes and performed a wide variety of roles within the

organization. I was a sales associate, cashier, key holder, and window screen repairman all in a

day.

2. Describe how the human resources of the organization influenced the situation.

As with many small businesses, there wasn’t a designated HR team or even HR person,

that would be in charge when it comes to handling complaints and employee concerns within the

workplace. This led to my coworkers and I having to air our grievances or concerns directly to

the owners of the business which made it difficult because the concern or complaint more likely

than not, involved them directly. This discouraged us employees from being open and

communicating problems to the owners, so problems were often left unaddressed or dealt with

employees internally through venting our frustration to each other. In fact, the lack of an HR

department existing was often a running joke within the store even with the owners. While it

isn’t necessary to have a dedicated department in order to have your employees' best interests in

mind, it can make it easier for folks to come forward with concerns.
 Not being able to effectively state our concerns and complaints forced us to bottle them

up or to vent to each other and this had a direct effect on us employees becoming complacent in

the workplace and not enjoying work. As they say, happy employees equal happy customers, and

this was difficult for us to uphold. This also caused us to look for opportunities outside of the

store for employment in order to find a workplace that would be healthier and more supportive.

Pulling directly from our textbook, it states that in order to keep employees, an organization must

reward employees well while also empowering them to be able to discuss what concerns them. It

would be a win-win for us and the company as we would be more inspired and motivated to

work when not being paid minimum wage and the company wouldn’t have to constantly retrain

new hires due to high turnover.

3. Recommend how you would use the human resources for an alternative course of action

regarding your case.

If I were in charge of making changes within the organization, I would place a focus on

hiring and keeping great employees that would be able to contribute to the store and then

thanking them for their contributions by either paying more or using other benefits such as

increased vacation time. Even if the store couldn’t afford paying higher wages, more vacation

time is certainly something that could be used instead at a lower cost. This would raise morale

and reduce the level of complacency that was on display in the scenario I presented. If money

were tight, a 100% free method of empowering employees would be to keep employees

informed while also allowing them to take more pride in their work by encouraging them to

decide how to perform their work in a way that works best for them while also getting the job

done.
 I would argue that in a lot of organizations, the importance of autonomy and keeping

employees informed is underestimated by management and the employees’ morale drops as a

result. In order for me to foster and promote autonomy at the hardware store, the first step is to

hire folks that are ready and able to take this kind of responsibility on and can thrive in that kind

of environment. Managing an organization’s human resources starts with identifying the human

resources that you have and their strengths and weaknesses. Identifying these strengths and

weaknesses allows you to tailor a human resource strategy that best takes advantage of these

strengths in order to increase efficiency, productivity, and overall job satisfaction. As I’m sure

we’ve all seen or experienced when we were children, fitting a square shape into a triangle

shaped hole simply won’t work. The same can be said for not tailoring an effective strategy to

utilize your employees properly.

4. Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned about

this frame.

Knowing what I know now, and had I known this when I was still employed at the

hardware store, I would have made a more concerted effort into pushing for more autonomy and

empowerment in our workplace. As with any movement, it helps if you have support from your

peers. Therefore, I would have made these suggestions first to my coworkers to see their

reactions and the hear their thoughts. As both my coworkers were significantly older than I, their

thoughts and reactions would have been very helpful as they have more experience in

workplaces and in life. Due to this elevated amount of experience, they would likely have been

able to offer honest feedback and help me implement any changes that were approved by the

owners of the store.

 While it can be easy to blame others and the lack of proper human resource management

for the problems in a workplace, but it's important to remember that we control our own state and

how we act within the workplace. Therefore, going back in time I would have made a greater

effort to take more responsibility for my feelings of complacency and disillusionment in my

workplace and work towards changing the culture through effective human resource

management instead. This effort may also be a great way to bring my coworkers out of the same

doldrums that I was experiencing by being part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

From my experience, I find that it can be easy to get caught up into a group mentality when it

comes to negativity. It can make a large difference if one person in that group makes an effort to

break the cycle of the group mentality by offering a different perspective and a plan to improve

the situation.