1) John is standing in line waiting to punch the time clock at the end of a long, hard

day. Jack, one of the older workers, crowds in front of him saying, “Watch out,

sonny, I belong at the head of the line!”  After this Jack and John refuse to work

together and this interferes with line productivity.  Jack and John workers are sent

to the HRD office for mediation.  How should HRD handle this situation?

 2) Joe, the driver of the truck, always plays the radio too loud and too often.  Chuck

decides to mention this to him.  The situation escalates over time and the two

employees end up in the HRD office.  How should HRD handle this situation?

 3) Betty and Jane have just finished repairing a customers TV and are driving back

to the warehouse.  Betty wants to stop for a drink before clocking out.  Jane does

not think this is right and reports Betty to HRD but wants to remain anonymous. 

How should HRD handle this situation?

4) As Art is pulling out of a customers drive, he scrapes the fender of a car parked

on the street.  Instead of stopping, he pretends it never happened.  Bud, who is

riding with Art, asks him to stop so they can find out whose car it was.   Art replies,

“Why ask for trouble?” Bud reports the incident to HRD.  What should HRD do?

5) Bob is a secretary for the local credit bureau.  He is responsible for keeping good

will between the bureau and its customers.  When he answered the telephone one

day, a man’s voice demanded to talk to the head of the office.  Bob told him that he

was not in the office and asked if he can be of any help.  The man answered in a

loud voice, using abusive language.  Bob put the receiver down with a bang.  The

telephone rang, but he refused to answer.  This is not the first time Bob has done

this and the manager wants to talk with Bob about his behavior with an HRD

representative present.  What should the HRD representative do?

6) As the HRD employee, you are responsible for employee training at a company in

the US. Recently, following a company-wide training session, it became obvious that

a number of employees did not understand much of the training. You realize that

the employees are struggling with company correspondence and other documents

written in jargon or obscure language. This makes it especially difficult for non-

native speakers of English to comply with written instructions and company policy,

and you suspect that many documents are written at a level that even native

speakers do not fully comprehend. This scenario may require services never offered

before, and the company’s not sure where to begin.   You talk with the manager of

the non-English speaking employees and he gets very angry and tells you that

anyone living in the US should know English or go back where they came from. 

What should the HRD employee do at this point?

7) The HRD office has received a call from an American high tech company needing

assistance with a group of employees in Bangkok. These employees are Thai

engineers working for the company. The engineers are well educated and

understand ninety-five percent of the spoken English used in the workplace. The

engineers do not actively participate in team meetings.   HRD has been asked to

talk with the Thai employees and get them to be more active at meetings.  How

should HRD handle this situation?

8) You serve on the staff of the local workforce development board. Recently you

received a call from a high tech manufacturing company that is hiring increasing

numbers of entry-level employees with limited English language skills. Some are

turned away during the hiring process because they cannot pass a test

administered by the company. Those doing the hiring recognize that many of these

individuals possess skills needed by the industry (dexterity, keen attention to detail,

a strong work ethic). Others pass the test, but it soon becomes evident that limited

English proficiency is a barrier to their successful and continued employment.

Management also recognizes that some of its employees do not understand the

culture of the workplace and the company’s employment-related expectations. 

Middle management has suggested that offering English language classes on site

would be an excellent investment of time and money, with an immediate impact on

employees, the production line, and quality control. Middle management has

received approval to establish an onsite ESL class for a new group of employees.

They must participate in the onsite classes and improve their English language

skills in order to remain employed after an initial probationary period. The company

is seeking an appropriate service provider.

What are some of the questions the employer should ask the provider?

What additional information does the provider need?

What support services are critical to the success of a program of this nature?

What is the role of the local workforce development network?

9) John and Mike work in the same department. Mike is a new employee. John has

worked at the company for a long time. John and Mike do the same job. They have

the same job title. They have to work together.

John likes to do things they way they have always been done. He is very vocal.  

Because he’s been there so long, he thinks he knows how to do things.   And he tells

others about it, whether or not they ask.

Mike tries hard to follow company rules. Mike is a very quiet man. He doesn’t talk

much.   He has conservative and traditional values.  Employees must clock in within

5 minutes of the start of their shifts.   They are supposed to clock in at their own

buildings, but there isn’t any way to check this.   John always clocks in at another

building so he won’t be marked as tardy.   He always gets to his work station at

least 10 minutes late.

At least a couple of times each week, somebody asks Mike where John is.   Mike is

tired of covering for John. He has kept it in for a long time.   Finally, one morning,

John is 20 minutes late. Mike has to cover for John 2 times.   When John finally

appears, Mike tells him he’s not going to cover for him anymore.

John says, “Hey, I clocked in. I’ve been doing this for years.   As long as you don’t

say anything, nobody will ever know. Just shut the %&# up and do your job.”   Mike

and John start shouting at each other. The team leader walks in just as it looks like

John is going to hit Mike.   The team leader sends John and Mike to HRD for

mediation.

10) At the ABC Auto Parts Company people work in teams. When a line doesn’t have

enough parts, the workers are sent to other lines.   Sue is a complainer. She whines

all the time.

She is sent to a new line for the day. Andy greets her. Andy smiles and says, “We’re

glad to have you as part of our team today.   We like having people from other

departments help us.”

Sue answers, “This isn’t what I was hired to do. I’m only here because I have to be.”

Andy tries to explain the work on the line. But every time he says something, Sue

whines.

Andy decides to try to make the best of it. On the morning break, several other

team members complain to Andy about how much Sue complains.

Later in the day, the line stops while more parts are brought in.

Sue whines, “This is stupid. Why can’t management get it right? I don’t care if they

pay me to sit here and do nothing.”   When the line gets up and running again, Sue

whines that she was just getting comfortable,

“and there’s only an hour and a half left in the day anyway.” Andy tells her that they

need her back on the line because the customer is waiting for the order.  

Tomorrow, he says, she will be able to go back to her own department and do her

own job. The next day, Sue arrives on Andy’s line again. She starts whining right

away.   Andy can’t take it anymore and goes to HRD for help.

11) Two of your fellow employees are having a verbal argument in your office. They

are fighting over who is responsible for the tasks that the boss has just assigned to

the three of you. How can HRD solve this problem?

12) Five of your fellow employees have just been let go. The workload of the five

employees has been divided up between two other employees. These two employees

continue to complain and are very resentful of the employer. HRD has been

assigned the problem of handling their complaints.

13) David has been working on a team project that is to be presented to your boss

by the end of the week. One of the team members continually makes fun of two

other team members. The two team members have decided that they will not speak

to the woman who continues to make fun of them. All the team members have

remarked about the tension in the workplace. Davis asks HRD for help.

14) You are really sick, but you have an important HRD meeting to attend at work

today. Ironically the meeting is with two employees about calling in sick all the

time.  What do you do? If you call your boss on the phone, what do you say?

15) Mary is a new employee. Mary complains to HRD and states that one of her

coworkers has been rude to Mary from the first day. When Mary asked him for help

because he was the only one around, he pretended not to hear her. When Mary

asked again, he spoke to you in another language that she didn’t understand, even

though Mary knows he speaks English.   What should HRD do?

16) John shows up to work in an outfit that he considers to be “dressed up” . John

notices that most of the other people in your workplace are dressed more “formally”

(less skin showing, less flashy, maybe).  The employee asks for your advice about

the dress code.  What should the HRD employee tell the new employee?

17) You’ve been working in a particular workplace for a couple of weeks (+). You

find that, most days you are doing mostly menial (mindless-physical) work –

sweeping up, cleaning, dusting, packing boxes, putting things on shelves, etc.). You

know that this is part of your job, but you would like to get more experience with

the type of work that your mentor does.

18) You are at your workplace working on your own on some project. While you are

working, two other employees at your site are having a conversation about

something which is inappropriate or which makes you feel uncomfortable (you

decide what the topic is). You’ve only been there a couple of weeks and don’t want

to antagonize your co-workers.

19) You are working in a retail situation. There is a sale going on and the store is

extremely busy. A customer comes to you and asks you a question about a

particular product that you sell. You know a lot about this product, and discuss it

with him/her but, for every question that you answer, the customer comes up with

another one. It is clear that this customer is interested in your merchandise, but

that he/she also is interested in keeping the conversation going. Meanwhile, there

are other customers who need help (checking out, other questions, etc.).  What

should you do?

20) Your mentor is the owner of a business. He/she spends time with you regularly,

but there is also a business manager to whom you are expected to answer. At first,

this is no problem. What this manager asks you to do is reasonable, and he/she

often engages you in conversation. Over time, this manager seems to be getting

more and more “friendly” towards you. He/she never says anything which is clearly

inappropriate, but you begin to feel uncomfortable. After two or three weeks, the

manager asks if you might like to hang out after work sometime. How should you

respond to this situation?

21) Tommy is working in a local solicitor’s office. It is his fourth day and yet again

he has found himself sitting in the staff kitchen with nothing to do. His supervisor

appears to be uninterested in Tommy’s placement, giving him nothing to do and

being quite dismissive when Tommy approaches her for some work.

Discuss what Tommy should do.

22) Ella is thoroughly enjoying her work at the local newspaper’s press office. She

has plenty to do, learning a great deal and everyone is being very friendly.  Her

supervisor, June, always appears to be very busy and on her third day Ella has still

not been shown basic health and safety information that Ella knows she should have

been told.  Discuss what Ella should do.

23) Todd is working in a car mechanics garage. One the seventh day of her work

experience Todd slips on some oil that has been spilled and badly hurts her ankle.

The first aider on site treats her. Discuss what Todd should do now.

24) Ben is working in a high street music store.  Although he is enjoying the work,

he is finding his colleagues unfriendly and there is one person in particular who is

making his life difficult by laughing at his clothes and telling him the wrong things

to do.  Ben is worried that by saying something he will make things worse, but

doesn’t want to continue the rest of his work experience in this way. Discuss what

Ben should do.

25) Jay is working in a local hairdresser and has been asked to prepare some hair

dye for a customer. She asks for some gloves to wear, understanding this to be the

right thing to do.  Jay is told that they do not have any gloves and not to worry as

nobody else bothers.  Discuss what Jay should do.

26) Your friend, Holly, confides in you that Mr. Leech, the yearbook moderator, has

been criticizing her in front of the yearbook staff. Holly is ready to quit the staff

because she’s tired of Mr. Leech calling her stupid and making fun of her. What

should you do?

27) You usually wait outside your school for one of your parents to pick you up after

basketball practice. Lately you observed two of your school’s cafeteria workers

loading boxes of paper and food supplies into a van and driving off. You’ve seen this

occur three or four times, and you suspect they may be stealing. What should you

do?

28) Your friend, John, is a computer whiz, and the principal asked him to help enter

some data into the school computer. Now John is bragging to you that he hacked his

way into the student grade reports. You don’t know if he has changed any grades or

not. What should you do?

29) Your English class has a research paper assignment due tomorrow, and you

haven’t started yours yet. While waiting in line, you overhear a student mention a

great Internet site where you can download a completed research paper on any

topic. You think this might be the solution to your problem. What should you do?

30) You work at an auto repair shop with a co-worker named Dante. Last week Mr.

Perez, the owner, turned down Dante’s request for a raise. Dante told you, “Perez is

going to be sorry he did this.” Today you arrive at work and find broken windows

and graffiti on the walls. What should you do?

31) You and your two friends, Portia and Melanie, work in the same department of a

large discount store. Melanie frequently shows up an hour late for work, looking

tired and bedraggled. You and Portia have been covering for her, but your

supervisor is getting suspicious. What should you do?

32) Lorna is an administrative assistant in the Human Resources Department. Her

good friend, Bill, is applying for a job with the company and she has agreed to serve

as a reference for him. Bill approaches her for advice on preparing for the

interview. Lorna has the actual interview questions asked of all applicants and

considers making him a copy of the list so he can adequately prepare.

33) Emily works in Quality Control. Once a year, her supervisor gives away the

refurbished computers to the local elementary school. No specific records are kept

of this type of transaction and Emily really needs a computer for her son who is in

college. Her supervisor asks her to deliver 12 computer systems to the school.

34) Marvin is the secretary in the Facilities Management Department. He has just

received a new computer and wants to try it out. Though his supervisor has a strict

policy about computer use for business purposes only, he wants to learn the e-mail

software more thoroughly than his training can provide. One good way to do this,

he figures, is to write e-mail messages to his friends and relatives until he Agets the

knack of it.@ He is caught up on all his work and only has 30 minutes left to work

today. His supervisor left early.

35) Richard and Conway are talking in the hallway about the employee benefits

program. Conway, who has had some recent financial trouble, explains to Richard

how the benefits program has a loophole that will allow him to receive some

financial assistance that he really needs to help pay health care costs for his

mother. Cathy, a fellow worker, overhears the conversation. Later, Cathy is

approached by her supervisor who says he heard a rumor that some people were

taking advantage of the company benefits program.

36) Jennie was recently hired to work as a receptionist for the front lobby. As

receptionist, she is responsible for making copies for the associates. Her son,

Bruce, comes in and needs some copies for a school project. He brought his own

paper and needs 300 copies for his class. If he doesn’t bring the copies with him, he

will fail the project. The company copier does not require a security key nor do they

keep track of copies made by departments.

Scene One: First Day On The Job

Sheila felt ready to get to work after her one day job orientation for new employees. When she got to work, however, she was shocked. She was not prepared for the fast pace, sophistication and skill level found in her new department. By noon that day, Sheila felt like she was not cut out for the job. She felt underskilled and under prepared to meet her department's challenges.

On her way to the company cafeteria one of her co-workers, Tammy, caught up with her and they had lunch together. Sheila was glad that Tammy was so friendly to her and she was able to relax a little bit. During lunch Tammy talked about their manager, Mr. Smith. Sheila learned that Mr. Smith was in trouble with his superiors. Next, Tammy told her about James, the computer programmer. She told Sheila that James spread rumors and was not to be trusted. She talked about Mrs. Tyler, the accountant. She said that Mrs. Tyler was an alcoholic and frequently took sips from a whisky bottle in her desk.

Tammy asked Sheila to join her for coffee after work. She said, "Trust me, Sheila. Once you come to understand how screwed up everyone is around here, and get the feel of the place, you'll do fine."

Question: Why would Tammy be so friendly towards Sheila? What might happen if Sheila gets close to Tammy? Have you ever been in a similar situation?

 

Scene Two: What's Your Style?During his first week on the job, John was eager to learn everything and to know everyone in his department. He gave his opinion freely in discussions. He worked overtime and did excellent work. Everyone seemed to like him. One man who had been with the company for a long time said, "You can't help but like John, but you can tell that he'd leave this department in a second if it meant getting closer to the top."

Erica started work on the same day as John. Unlike John, however, Erica kept more to herself. She concentrated on her job and stayed in her area. She made an effort to learn from others and listened to others in order to understand situations before jumping in with suggestions. One of her co-workers said, "Erica is a really nice gal. I think she's going to make a strong employee. I like her."

Question: What do you think the future will be like for John? For Erica? 

Scene Three: Are You Ready?

Just before Doug went home from his job as a cook on Friday night, the restaurant manager informed him that she would be taking the next two weeks off, and that she was appointing Doug to take her place starting Monday.

Although Doug has more seniority than the other employees and is an excellent cook, he doesn't feel confident in being able to handle the manger's job. Doug doesn't feel comfortable dealing with the customers, using the cash register, or handling conflicts that may arise between employees. He feels that he will fail at being able to fill her shoes.

Question: What should Doug do? 

Scene Four: Moving Up, So Fast?Rosa feels really good about her new job. Her supervisor seems happy with her performance. She's learned everything she needed to learn and is all around proving herself to be a good employee.

Most people at the factory are close to one another and seem like a family. Rosa hasn't spent any time getting to know any of them since she has been spending her time learning her new job. Now, she can perform her job as well as or better than any of the other workers.

Lately Rosa's been thinking about the possibility of becoming a supervisor at the factory. She figures that since the job comes so easy to her that she needs a new challenge. She plans on making an appointment with her supervisor next week to discuss what steps she would need to take in order to move up to a supervisory position.

Question: Do you think it would be a good idea for Rosa to move ahead on her desire to become a supervisor? Have you ever been in a similar situation? 

 

Scene Five: Absenteeism

After having spent a great weekend camping, Kyle woke up Monday morning with a fever and a bad stomach ache. He loved his new job, but realized that he would have to call in sick. The others would have to pitch in to do his work. As it turned out staying home Monday wasn't enough. He also had to call in sick on Tuesday and Wednesday. Even after three days at home he still didn't feel well, but figured that he had better get back to work in order not to jeopardize his job. He went to work on Thursday and struggled through until the weekend.

The next Monday Kyle feels in top shape and everyone, including his supervisor, is friendly to him and glad to see him feeling better. Kyle starts telling them all about the fun he had on his camping trip. He could talk of

little else all day. He was so busy talking about his fun weekend that he forgot to thank his coworkers for covering for him. Soon he began to notice tension between himself and his co-workers. His supervisor also seemed more demanding.

Question: What mistake did Kyle make? Is there anything wrong with being absent when you first start a job? 

 

Scene Six: DecisionsAfter one year on the job, Lima was called into her supervisor's office. Lima was nervous and thought back over the last few weeks to see if she had made any mistakes at work. She couldn't think of anything she had done wrong.

Lima was relieved when Mrs. Peterson asked her if she would like to take a higher paying position in one of two departments. As it turned out, both departments had openings and had heard about Lima's excellent skills and work performance. Lima could have her choice between the two departments.

Department A is supervised by Mr. Kent, a long-term employee. Department A has the reputation for promoting its employees faster than any other department. On the other hand, Mr. Kent is known to be highly authoritarian and have a short fuse if things don't go the way he wants. In fact, his employee turnover rate is higher than that of any other department.

Department B is supervised by Ms. Lee, a young manager recently out of college. Under Ms. Lee's supervision people seem to be very productive and have a good time in the process. Many workers envy the people who work in Ms. Lee's department. On the other hand no one has been promoted from Ms. Lee's department in the two years since she's been manager.

Question: What should Lima do? Why? 

Scene One:Maybe Tammy's co-workers have rejected her for some reason, and that's why she talks bad about all of them. She is trying to get Sheila to be on her side. Sheila needs to make her own judgments about her co-workers. If she becomes too close to Tammy too fast, her co-workers may figure that she is just like Tammy and not want to get to know her. Sheila needs to get to know everyone on an equal basis. A close relationship with Tammy may do Sheila more harm than good.

Scene Two:Both John and Erica are doing well. In some environments, John would make more progress due to his outgoing attitude. In others, Erica would come out ahead. Erica's attitude is less threatening than John's. In the long run Erica may do better than John, because she is taking the time to develop stronger relationships with her co-workers.

Scene Three:Doug should call up his supervisor before she leaves on vacation and share his feelings with her. Perhaps she will be able to give some of the responsibilities to other employees, reassure Doug that he will do O.K., or give Doug specific advice on how to handle various scenarios which may arise during her absence.

Scene Four:Rosa's performance probably got her off to a good start with the company. She has underestimated, however, all that it takes to be an excellent employee. In general, moving into a supervisory role requires that the employee has had excellent job performance over a long period of time. Rosa is also unaware of all that it takes to become a supervisor. She should start spending more time getting to know her co-workers and supervisor.

Scene Five:It might seem unfair, but being absent when you first start a job is generally more damaging than being absent later on. When Kyle, or anybody for that matter, starts a new job, he or she is still a big question mark in people's minds. New employees have not "paid their dues" yet. Kyle shouldn't have talked at length about his wonderful camping trip, and he made a big mistake when he didn't thank his co-workers for taking over his workload. Kyle's reputation has been damaged. It will take some time for him to be seen as a responsible person by others.

Scene Six:Lima should get as much information as possible about the two departments from Mrs. Peterson. Mrs. Peterson has seen Lima work, and could possibly predict which department would be better suited to her. She could advise her to go to one department over another. If Lima decides that having an opportunity for quick advancement is important to her, she should go with Mr. Kent. On the other hand, she might become more motivated by Ms. Lee's style and be happier in that department in the long run.