Topic: Meeting Agenda

Order Description Jill is the new human resource manager at the company. She is thirty-eight years old, with thirteen years of previous experience in a similar organization. However, for the five years prior to being hired, she raised a family. She applied for this position after reading an announcement in the local paper. Jill supervises five individuals: Ed Bigwig Director 14 years service John Bishop Employment Specialist 9 years service Mary King Benefits Specialist 7 years service Tom Prince Payroll Specialist 3 years service Donna Queen Clerk probationary The previous supervisor worked in this office for nineteen years and was very popular with most of the employees. In fact, he was "best" friends with John, Mary and Ed. He recently retired. Upon his retirement, John and Mary sent a letter on behalf of the office staff to the COO asking that Ed be appointed to the then-vacant position, a request the organization decided not to accept. It was understood by Mary, John and the administration that Ed wanted the job and would accept it if offered. Also, during the interview process the COO told Jill about the letter and the staff's request that Ed be appointed. She also told Jill that Ed was quite disappointed at not having received the promotion. (In fact, that was true. Ed had met with the COO to plead his case and left quite unhappy.) Regardless, given Ed's length of service, the company decided that he should be retained in his present position. In planning for the new appointment, management was concerned that the office had not progressed as far as it might have during the past several years because of the "buddy buddy" atmosphere. The office had exhibited a high absenteeism rate for the past five years, and despite strenuous efforts from administration, little action was taken to correct the problem. A recent audit also indicated that the office files were a mess. Over fifteen percent of the files the auditor requested could not be produced within one hour. Nonetheless, the HR office had always scored well on performance evaluations. It had issued checks, including overtime payments and other payroll changes, for over six months without an error. HR's reputation with staff was also quite high. Frequently, the company would receive letters from production managers commending the office for the initiatives it had taken to recruit and retain quality employees. In her final interview the COO told Jill that the organization expected her to improve the filing system and absenteeism rate of the unit significantly without reducing the high quality of its day-to-day activities and the excellent relationships it had developed with staff. "We don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water," she said. In considering the situation in which Jill finds herself, one can reasonably assume that staff will at least initially be angry at her appointment, and probably unlikely to want to accept her as a "leader." Of course, she, nonetheless, is their manager. Assignment: Jill has decided that she should meet with the entire staff on her first day at work. • Based on your understanding of the situation, create an agenda to guide Jill at the meeting. • Explain why each agenda item would be important to discuss at that time (i.e., the first day of Jill's tenure). • If Jill conducts the meeting consistent with your advice, will the employees be inclined to reassess her as a "leader"? Please explain. In discussing this issue, please use whatever research findings you believe are relevant from this and/or previous lessons which are part of this class. The Agenda and explanations should be no less than 1500, no more than 2000 words.