Lab 2 cases – Investing in people, knowledge management and change

Scenario – following the Resurrexit case in the book

Susannah just graduated from her Master in ‘English and Spanish language and culture’ in
Amsterdam. Her dream is to start her own language training business. Currently, she is investigating
her opportunities. Luckily, she was donated sufficient start-up capital by her sugar aunty, which
allows her to take the right decisions to start a successful business. One Saturday evening she met
with a friend in a local pub, who told her about his new job in Brussels. He told her about a fantastic
English course offered by a famous language institute called Resurrexit. He kept on talking about the
good quality of the course and the great commitment of the teachers. Susannah envisions that this
would be her dream come true: to run a language training center similar to Resurrexit.
Once at home she started doing some research on Resurrexit. It appears that it is the leading
language institute in Europe and was founded over 180 years ago. The institute is known for its high
quality- and tailor-made language trainings.
Susannah wonders if she could use the same business concept as Resurrexit. However, it is clear that
Resurrexit’s competitive advantage lies in their human resources, which are not easy to copy. She
wonders what she could do to compete against Resurrexit. It is clear that she needs a clever human
resource management strategy. She decides to call in the help of students in Human Resource
Management.

Task
You are the students who are going to help Susannah decide on her human resource management
strategy for her new company called Languagefirst. Susannah has formulated a number of dilemmas
on which she is looking for specific advice.

Action
Your workgroup teacher will divide you into 4-5 groups, depending on the size of your workgroup,
and assign you a dilemma that Susannah’s facing. Read the assigned dilemma and answer the
questions that will help you to apply the theory to the case using an evidence-based HRM
perspective.

Results
Prepare a short (max. 5-minute) presentation on the dilemma in which you address all questions:
the main aim is to explain to your fellow students what the theory entails and how you derive HR
practices from it that allows you to address the specified problem. Tip: use one slide per question for
your presentation.
Dilemma 1: Recruit and select the right human capital
Susannah wonders how she can recruit and select the right human capital in her new business. Who
should she look for? What are the most important qualities for a language trainer?

1. Consult question: Formulate a consult question for this dilemma using the evidence-based
HRM approach
2. Theory: Briefly explain the human capital theories of Becker and Spearman in your own
words during the presentation.
3. Analyze: Contrast and compare the human capital theories of Becker and Spearman, which
of these theories is most applicable for Susannah’s business?
4. HR practice: Use the selected theory to come up with a suitable HR practice for Susannah’s
problem: Which selection criteria should Susannah focus on? Which selection tools would
you advise Susannah to use?

Dilemma 2: Motivating the language trainers

Susannah wonders what to do after she hires a group of talented language experts into her start-up
organization. How can she ensure that these employees are willing to use their expertise and to put
in extra effort to help her business flourish?
1. Consult question: Formulate a consult question for this dilemma using the evidence-based
HRM approach
2. Theory: Briefly explain social exchange theory in your own words during the presentation
3. Analyze: Contrast and compare the social exchange relationships that are part of social
exchange theory with economic exchange relationships, which of these types of
relationships would be most applicable for Susannah to motivate her employees?
4. HR practice: Use the social exhange theory to come up with a suitable HR practice for
Susannah's problem: How can she motivate employees to go the extra mile?

Dilemma 3: Creating and improving interactions between language trainers

Thanks to the arrival of several new customers, Susannah’s start- up organization has grown to 40
teachers. Susanna wonders what she can do in order to facilitate cooperation between the teachers
so they can work together better.
1. Consult question: Formulate a consult question for this dilemma using the evidence-based
HRM approach
2. Theory: Briefly explain social capital theory in your own words during the presentation
3. Analyze: Contrast and compare the different components of the social capital theory.
Reflect on how these components fit Susannah’s business.
4. HR practice: Use the theory to come up with a suitable HR practice for Susannah’s problem:
How can Susannah encourage the collaboration between teachers?

Dilemma 4: Developing an organization structure to make the best use of knowledge

Susannah understands that her teachers are a valuable asset to her organization. She is also worried
that competitors ‘steal’ her knowledge-intensive business model for doing language trainings. She
wonders which organizational structure would help her to benefit optimally from the knowledge of
her lecturer team for organizational competitive advantage, whilst preventing competitors just
copying her innovative training designs.
 1. Consult question: Formulate a consult question for this dilemma using the evidence-based
HRM approach
2. Theory: Briefly explain the knowledge-based theory in your own words during the
presentation
3. Analyze: Contrast and compare the different types of knowledge and what they mean for
the competitive advantage of the firm. Which type of knowledge is most relevant for this
dilemma?
4. HR practice: Use the theory to come up with a suitable HR practice for Susannah’s problem:
How can Susannah prevent that knowledge easily transfers to competition and to safeguard
that knowledge about the trainings at Languagefirst remains a source of competitive
advantage?

Dilemma 5 : Knowledge creation within Languagefirst

Thanks to the arrival of several new customers, Susannah’s start- up organization has grown to 40
teachers. Susannah wonders how the organizational knowledge could be improved. What could she
best do to foster innovation within Languagefirst?
1. Consult question: Formulate a consult question for this dilemma using the evidence-based
HRM approach
2. Theory: Briefly explain knowledge creation theory in your own words during the
presentation
3. Analyze: Contrast and compare the different axes and processes (mechanisms) of the
knowledge creation theory. Which mechanisms are relevant for Susannah's problem?
4. HR practice: Use the theory to come up with a suitable HR practice for Susannah’s problem:
How can Susannah foster innovation at Languagefirst?

Dilemma 6: Creating a flexible workforce

Susannah knows that every organization should be capable of dealing with (economic) changes.
Imagine Susannah just started her business and thinks that she needs between 10-20 employees.
She wonders how she could best create a flexible workforce to be able to serve all clients and ensure
that everyone has work to do.
1. Consult question: Formulate a consult question for this dilemma using the evidence-based
HRM approach
2. Theory: Briefly explain Atkinson's idea of the flexible firm in your own words during the
presentation
3. Analyze: Contrast and compare organization's adaptive capability that is based on Atkinson's
idea of the flexible firm with the absorptive capability and innovative capability. How do
these dynamic capability processes relate to each other? Which parts are most applicable to
this dilemma?
4. HR practice: Use the theory to come up with a suitable HR practice for Susannah’s problem:
How can Susannah increase the flexibility of her workforce, taking into account that she
wants to remain an attractive employer?