Application Case
Jack Nelson’s Problem
As a new member of the board of directors for a local bank, Jack Nelson was being introduced to all
the employees in the home office. When he was introduced to Ruth Johnson, he was curious about
her work and asked her what the machine she was using did. Johnson replied that she really did not
know what the machine was called or what it did. She explained that she had only been working
there for 2 months. However, she did know precisely how to operate the machine. According to her
supervisor, she was an excellent employee.
At one of the branch offices, the supervisor in charge spoke to Nelson confidentially, telling him that
“something was wrong,” but she didn’t know what. For one thing, she explained, employee turnover
was too high, and no sooner had one employee been put on the job than another one resigned.
With customers to see and loans to be made, she continued, she had little time to work with the
new employees as they came and went. All branch supervisors hired their own employees without
communication with the home office or other branches. When an opening developed, the supervisor
tried to find a suitable employee to replace the worker who had quit. After touring the 22 branches
and finding similar problems in many of them, Nelson wondered what the home office should do or
what action he should take. The banking firm generally was regarded as being a well-run institution
that had grown from 27 to 191 employees during the past 8 years. The more he thought about the
matter, the more puzzled Nelson became. He couldn’t quite put his finger on the problem, and he
didn’t know whether to report his findings to the president.
Questions
1-16. What do you think is causing some of the problems in the bank’s home office and branches?
1-17. Do you think setting up an HR unit in the main office would help?
1-18. What specific functions should an HR unit carry out? What HR functions would then be carried
out by supervisors and other line managers? What role should the Internet play in the new HR
organization?
