Answer for Case I

1. Introduction
The main issue of the case is how the HR practices and policy of M/s Forex Pharmaceuticals helps the
company to achieve its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) objectives and how HR helps the company
when it faces inside and outside complain and crisis. As indicated, the company has good HR practices
and policies and also it had give emphasis for CSR of undertaking environment-friendly manufacturing
activities. However, the company received a show cause notice from the Pollution Control Board on
account of pollution created by one of the manufacturing units. This information spoiled the company
name and makes employees confused and they started doubting the company’s holy vision and mission
statements and also the credibility of the top management. with regards, the top managements including
CMD, company Head, HR, and PR manager Works together to take responsive action and overcome the
issue by providing interviews to the media and by creating Employee Awareness Groups (EAGs), which
were empowered to inspect the pollution control mechanism being implemented by the company. The
members were expected to tour the neighboring villagers to create awareness among them about the
responsive actions taken by the company.
2. Literature review
2.1. HR practice and policy
HR policies, procedures and practices establish a framework to help to manage people. They cover
everything from how the business recruits its staff through to ensuring employees are clear about
procedures, expectations and rules, are how managers can go about resolving issues if they arise. If HR
executes practices and polices correctly, they will add substantial value to the business and its goals.
2.2. CSR
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a type of business self-regulation with the aim of being socially
accountable. There is no one "right" way companies can practice CSR; many corporate CSR initiatives
strive to positively contribute to the public, the economy or the environment. CSR can be beneficial to a
company in two ways. The first is by improving its brand image. When customers or clients see evidence
of social responsibility, they tend to respond positively. The second benefit relates to employee morale.
Morale tends to be sustainable higher at companies that invest clear effort and resources into ethical and
socially responsible behavior.
2.3. HR practice and CSR
Human resource professionals have a key role to play to help a company achieve its CSR objectives.
Employee involvement is a critical success factor for CSR performance. Human resource managers have
the tools and the opportunity to leverage employee commitment to, and engagement in the firm’s CSR
strategy.HR practitioners can act as translators of the organization’s CSR commitment vertically and
horizontally across departments. The more the HR practitioner can understand their leverage with respect
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to CSR, the greater their ability to pass these insights along to their business partners towards the
organization’s objectives in integrating CSR throughout their operations and business model. Corporate
social responsibility is traditionally broken into four categories: environmental, philanthropic, ethical, and
economic responsibility.
2.4. Value Base Management
Value Based Management (VBM) is the management philosophy and approach that enables and
supports maximum value creation in organizations, typically the maximization of shareholder value.
VBM encompasses the processes for creating, managing, and measuring value. It aligns a company’s
overall aspirations, analytical techniques, and management processes with the key drivers of value. The
three elements of Value Based Management:
• Creating Value. How the company can increase or generate maximum future value. More or less
equal to strategy.
• Managing for Value. Governance, change management, organizational culture, communication,
leadership.
• Measuring Value. It is dependent on the corporate purpose and the corporate values. The
corporate purpose can either be economic (Shareholder Value) or can also aim at other
constituents directly (Stakeholder Value).
3. Answer of the given question
3.1. Do you think that the company believes in practicing what it preaches?
No, because the company promised in its vision and mission statement to perform environment-friendly
manufacturing activities. But they don’t keep their promise or fulfill their commitments. Due to this, they
received a show cause notice from the Pollution Control Board and they lost the neighboring villagers and
employees trust.
3.2. Is the HR department proactive and does it display leadership capabilities in the crisis
situation?
It’s difficult to say the HR is proactive rather it’s reactive because all the management members including
HR manager, they all are reacting after the problem is happening. If the HR manager were proactive
he/she must insist the company to manufacture in environmental-friendly way as per mentioned on their
mission (CSR) before is happen. They should also communicate with employees about CSR of the
company before it happen and work on capacity building activates.
Yes, to some extent they try to show some leadership capabilities; after the crisis happen all the
management member strive to react by clearing the situation in the media, conducting extensive
campaigns by clarifying their environmental concern and making employees a apart of the solution by
establishing Employee Awareness Groups (EAGs).

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 3.3. Do you suggest any additional steps by the HR department to address the challenges?
As mention on the case, a company has innovative HR practices like Culture building exercise that
support self-initiation, openers, honesty and integrity, team work, etc. but in this scenario, the
implementation of this practices doesn’t seen clearly. The HR should be transparent and honest about the
pollution before they get confused about the issue and also is expected to empower the employees to
stand for their company to be more proactive.
3.4. What steps should the HR department adopt to reinforce ‘the value-based management’?
In order to achieving excellence value based management the HR department should perform this
reinforcement steps
1. Assessment: Determine the company’s position on its values culture and figure out what the
values need to be.
2. Improve initiatives: To do this, management must look inward to its knowledge workers for
solutions.
3. Program Development: Company determines where it stands on its selected values, create a
code of conduct that represents the ethical values established during assessment.
4. Program implementation
5. Re-assessment and modification
6. Evaluation

Answer for case II

1. Introduction
The main issue of this case is about employees retaining HRM practices deployed by a high-technology
and creative industry; which is Non-compete agreement with key employees. These kind of companies
has a fear of losing their high-potential employees (Key employees) and the intellectual property (such as
trade secrets) that they may take with them, some companies are requiring all employees to sign non-
compete agreements that restrict their freedom to work for a competitor after quitting the organization.
Companies make these non-compete agreement with their key employees is to become safe in the
competitive business.
2. Literature review
2.1. Non-compete agreement (NCA)
NCA is a contract that prohibits an employee from working for or becoming a competitor for a certain
period of time. It enforced when a relationship between an employer and employee ends and the employer
wishes to prevent the employee from competing against them in their next position, whether working for
a competitor in the same market or starting up another business in the same field (and recruiting the
company's workers to leave with them).

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NCA is typically in effect for a certain period of time after employment ends. It is usually are considered
legally binding as long as they have reasonable limitations, such as clear, realistic regions where
employees may or may not work, or an exact amount of time that must pass before an employee may
commence work in the field again and it must be reviewed by legal counsel to make sure they're not
overly restrictive or harmful to the employee.
2.2. Pros and Cons for Non-compete agreement

2.3. Other HR practices to retain key employees

In an increasingly competitive business world, top talent is in high demand. If you aren't making your top
workers happy, another company may come along to steal them away. There are other tips to make sure
employees are around the company for many years.
1. Create the Right Culture: Finding employees who will feel a strong bond with your company
starts with creating an environment that attracts those employees.
2. Hire the Right Employees: look for someone who is interested in growing with your company
rather than getting experience to take somewhere else.
3. Offer Training: offer professionals to arrive fully trained and certified.
4. Pay well: calculate the cost to replace employees.
5. Don't Punish Competence: Managers must make an effort to let top performers know their hard
work isn't going unnoticed.
6. Be More Flexible: Provide flexible working conditions.
7. Offer Benefits: different offer that fulfill employees need.
8. Don't take yourself too seriously: make your company attractive to talented people, the truth is
employees might be leaving because of their bosses.
3. Answer for the given question
3.1. Do you think non-compete agreements are ethical?
I think it depends on the situation, entirely reason for the NCA and the terms of the agreement. We can’t
always say key performance employees are blameless and keep the company secret till death. In the
contrary we can’t also say companies make this agreement to abuse their employees. Therefore, it can
be ethical when it is reasonable based on the specificity of the terms of the agreement, including (i) who
qualifies as a competitor; (ii) what activities would be considered competitive; (iii) where such
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competitive activity should be prohibited; (iv) when competitive activity will be prohibited; and (v) how
the parties reached such an agreement.
 Should a company require all employees to sign them or only high-potential employees?
In my opinion keeping a company secret should be a commitment for all employees and it can be build up
as a culture in the company. Therefore it’s not necessary to make NCA with all employees and make
NCA with high-potential employees if it’s necessary acceptable by both parties (employees and
employers).
 What problems could arise from the use of non-compete agreements?
It reduces the bargaining power of employees, causes losing of potential and existing employees, forces
the employees to depart the field entirely, taking their expertise with them and additional cost to
enforcement.
3.2. Are there other HRM practices that could be substituted for non-compete agreements that
would be likely to improve the retention of high-potential employees?
As mentioned in the literature reviews there are different HR practices (Create the Right Culture, Hire the
Right Employees, Offer Training, Pay more, Don't Punish, Be More Flexible, Offer Benefits, Don't take
yourself too seriously) and also companies can make alternative agreements rather than NCR to protect
their business like:-
A non-solicitation agreement is an agreement that prohibits an employee from soliciting business
from the employer’s customers.
A non-disclosure agreement is when an employee signs a non-disclosure agreement; he/she agrees
not to share confidential information that has been shared with them by their employer.
 Which ones would you recommend?
In my opinion it’s difficult to make a decision on one best HR practice to retain key employees because
key employees retain in the company when their need is fulfilled and it’s different from one other. But I
recommend non-disclosure agreement than NCR because it grants the future freedom for high performing
professionals (Key employees) of the company.

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Reference
HR Zone. (n.d.) Operation good guys: HR and CSR. Retrieved December 23, 2008.
https://growhr.co.nz/human-resource-management/hr-policies-and-practices/
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4679-corporate-social-responsibility.html
https://www.lucintel.com/value-based-management.aspx
Office of Economic Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury. "Non-compete Contracts: Economic Effects
and Policy Implications. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-a-non-compete-agreement-
2062045
https://www.inc.com/john-rampton/10-ways-to-improve-employee-retention.html

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/other/non-compete-agreement/