Case study of Muffler Magic recruiting, selection, and training practices

Muffler Magic Case Study

Muffler Magic is an auto service center located in Nevada whose chief proprietor is Ronald Brown. It was opened up 20 years ago with a sole aim of repairing mufflers and later on diversified to engine change, brake works and engine repairs. Currently the company boasts of 300 employees and eight managers with Ronald Brown as the president, with others as purchasing director, controller, human resource manager and the marketing director.

The company has faced quite a number of challenges that a service company can face, beginning from service inaptitude, diminishing profitability, the human resource department had major problems with recruitment procedures, untrained and inexperienced technicians started infiltrating the company, lower than expected screening standards, compensation problems mounted, employees safety was wanting bearing the dangerous conditions they were working under among other problems.

As a result, the HR manager ultimately called for a meeting with Ron Brown and a professor of business who used to teach compensation management at a local university in a bid to salvage the situation. After spending a week studying the organization and the challenges, she came up with three recommendations as Presenteeism, Skill-for-Pay plan and Setting up of labor efficiency goals.

1. Specify three recommendations bout the functions of recruiting, selection and training that you think Ron Brown should address with his hr manager now one of the most significant steps to be taken is for the company top management to call for a meeting of the entire management team to look into the performance standards of the entire employee body and a reevaluation of their skills and competence in relation to the position they hold in the company. This will enable the HR to identify those qualified for the job they are holding and those who fall short of the qualification can undergo further training or reference to other departments.

In the process of selection and possibly recruitment, the company should enlist the help of specialized organization in the sourcing of human resource commonly known as 'head hunting' since this will enable the company to recruit the best in the market that have been approved by the specialists in the career field. It will be significant as well to get those with at least some experience in the concerned field since performance is essential in the process of redeeming the image of the organization.

The organization must also provide career development opportunities that are a requirement in every organization and such must be provided on very fair and assisted grounds. There should be opportunities to expand that should be provided to every employee which should be done through appraisals each financial year.

These are not only to be used to offer promotions and pay increment to the deserving but also to identify the development needs in the individual employees. They should also be used to diagnose the organizational problems and short comings so that they can be improved and make the organization a more comfortable lace to work in for each employee as indicated by Susan R. Crandall, (2004).

The other thing that should be done is to identify the personal strengths and weaknesses that exists among the new employees on a one to one basis. This should be done by the HR manager through frequent interaction and conversation with each individual on their careers at least twice a week. Once their personal strengths are known the HR should build on these as they are directed towards utilizing their strengths in the company.

To assist the employees reach higher levels of career fulfillment within Muffler Magic, as well as meeting the goals of the company so as to eradicate the problem of lack of performance bearing that the employee factor is a major concern in the failure of Muffler Magic, the following must be taken into account:

Progressive discipline: This is a process of dealing with job related actions which doesn't meet the expected and required performance levels. The main aim of progressive discipline is to help the employees understand the performance problems or opportunities.

Encourage team work: Team work should be enhanced between the employees; the teams can be project teams, departmental teams with various specific goals to help in improving the corporate goals of the organization since in a team the employees learn from each other.

Promote the spirit of self-discipline: The employees should always remain disciplined though the employees dislike disciplinary actions against them. The disciplinary action can be in form suspension, or even denial of bonuses.

Develop performance improvement plan: These are long-term plans which aim at improving the performance of the employees to help in achieving the corporate goals of an organization. The performance development plan can be in form of training and development and career advancement as well as periodical appraisal (About.com 2011).

There should be consideration given to internal sourcing where people from the company are re-interviewed and appraised to take up more senior and challenging jobs. This will ensure that the viable talent is retained within the organization as well as developing confidence in the already available staff that they are valued and their hard work can pay within the same organization.

Once the recruitment has been done, there is need to Muffler Magic to conduct regular training on the technical team and even the general employees so that each person is constantly informed of their job requirements and are in the most competitive and apt position in the market.

Lastly, the management can thereafter try to implement the Laissez-faire type of leadership among the specialized technicians. Laissez-faire; is the leadership technique that allows the team or the people being led an absolute freedom to make decisions without the direct participation of the leader. It is also known as the High Supportive -- Low Directive style by Peter G.N., (2010, p. 91).

The leader only facilitates by providing the prerequisite materials for the completion of the duty allocated but does not offer commentary on the performance of the members unless his opinion is called for. This style could work out best for Muffler Magic it will be dealing with a team of highly skilled technicians and this style works very well among the highly skilled people who are also motivated and do not need supervision. Ron should as well ensure that this technical team is highly motivated and their spirits to keep their current jobs are highly regarded so as to ensure that this mode of management works out best for the company.

2. Write a 3 question interview structured geared to experienced technicians

Muffler Magic Questionnaire- For technicians

(a). Tell us/me something about yourself as an experienced technician.

(b). Do you have any outstanding hands-on experience that you pride yourself for as an experienced technician.