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Jeanne Johnson Holmes

Assistant Professor

Haile/US Bank College of Business

Northern Kentucky University

holmesj3@nku.edu
imani96@yahoo.com

Jeanne Johnson Holmes

Assistant Professor

Haile/US Bank College of Business

Northern Kentucky University

holmesj3@nku.edu
imani96@yahoo.com

One that would be good for undergraduates is in Nkomo, Fottler & McAfee "Human Resource Management Applications" 6^th Edition.  It is Exercise #27 Which Employee Should Be Terminated? Pages 91-92. It covers both the decision-making process and the termination interview. It's do-able in one class session with short amount of pre-class prep time on the part of the students.

Aimee Hamilton

Management & Organization Department

Penn State

University Park, PA  16802

Jeanne,

Your hand shakes a lot and your heart runs much faster whenever you are ready to sign the memo that accompanies the plan for a reduction in costs that includes the layoff of a number of employees.  It is very possible that this experience is somewhat faceless for many executives in very large corporations, but not in smaller organizations.  I went through that experience many years ago at a relatively large fire department in South America (about 2000 members). I was in charge of the plan to reduce about 10% on everything!  We cannot replicate in a class exercise the feelings, the emotional conversations with both supervisors and some employees from the affected departments/divisions. I had to include in the list people I knew well. Some of them even helped me develop as a firefighter!  That's what Peter Vaills refers to as being in the world with responsibility! Also related to what Henry Mintzberg talks about. He says that business is a practice and that cannot really be taught.

When I found myself in the situation you are in right now, I make sure that my students know that it is a "dry run" and that it is not totally representing real life.

Thanks,

Ivan

One that would be good for undergraduates is in Nkomo, Fottler & McAfee "Human Resource Management Applications" 6^th Edition.  It is Exercise #27 Which Employee Should Be Terminated? Pages 91-92. It covers both the decision-making process and the termination interview. It's do-able in one class session with short amount of pre-class prep time on the part of the students.

Aimee Hamilton

Management & Organization Department

Penn State

University Park, PA  16802

Dear All, years ago I wanted my OB class to feel what it was like when they saw a friend being fired as a basis for discussion on TO.  Therefore, I arranged with one of their classmates a scenario in which as a result of class interaction, I kicked the student out of my class.  Latter, I brought the student back, debrief the class as to what we had done, but it lead to an interesting discussion about fairness, justice, survivors guilt, etc.

Kim Boal

Jeanne,

Your hand shakes a lot and your heart runs much faster whenever you are ready to sign the memo that accompanies the plan for a reduction in costs that includes the layoff of a number of employees.  It is very possible that this experience is somewhat faceless for many executives in very large corporations, but not in smaller organizations.  I went through that experience many years ago at a relatively large fire department in South America (about 2000 members). I was in charge of the plan to reduce about 10% on everything!  We cannot replicate in a class exercise the feelings, the emotional conversations with both supervisors and some employees from the affected departments/divisions. I had to include in the list people I knew well. Some of them even helped me develop as a firefighter!  That's what Peter Vaills refers to as being in the world with responsibility! Also related to what Henry Mintzberg talks about. He says that business is a practice and that cannot really be taught.

When I found myself in the situation you are in right now, I make sure that my students know that it is a "dry run" and that it is not totally representing real life.

Thanks,

Ivan

One that would be good for undergraduates is in Nkomo, Fottler & McAfee "Human Resource Management Applications" 6^th Edition.  It is Exercise #27 Which Employee Should Be Terminated? Pages 91-92. It covers both the decision-making process and the termination interview. It's do-able in one class session with short amount of pre-class prep time on the part of the students.

Aimee Hamilton

Management & Organization Department

Penn State

University Park, PA  16802

Kim,

I have done this one too, and it is a good approximation to reality.  But you might want to check with the IRB at your university to make sure they do not see anything wrong with that.

Thanks,

Ivan

Dear All, years ago I wanted my OB class to feel what it was like when they saw a friend being fired as a basis for discussion on TO.  Therefore, I arranged with one of their classmates a scenario in which as a result of class interaction, I kicked the student out of my class.  Latter, I brought the student back, debrief the class as to what we had done, but it lead to an interesting discussion about fairness, justice, survivors guilt, etc.

Kim Boal

Jeanne and Listserv Members,

I recently attended a workshop at which a panelist described the following approach to team projects. The instructor divided the class into teams and assigned a semester long project. After the initial portion of the project, the instructor asked each of the teams to fire one of their members. The fired students were then assembled into a new team. The instructor's intent was to instill some sense of accountability to individuals for contributions to their team.  I'm sure this also created a host of emotions for the remaining team members and those who were fired.

I've not yet decided whether I would attempt something like this in my own class. The potential for causing harm seems high. I look forward to any insight that this group has to offer.

Respectfully,

Paul

________________________________________

Paul W. Thurston, Jr., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Management

Siena College

Colbeth Hall 116

515 Loudon Road

Loudonville, NY 12211-1462

Phone: 518.782.6864

Fax:     518.786.5040

pthurston@siena.edu

Siena College is a learning community advancing

the ideals of a liberal arts education, rooted in its

identity as a Franciscan and Catholic institution.

________________________________________

Jeanne,

Your hand shakes a lot and your heart runs much faster whenever you are ready to sign the memo that accompanies the plan for a reduction in costs that includes the layoff of a number of employees.  It is very possible that this experience is somewhat faceless for many executives in very large corporations, but not in smaller organizations.  I went through that experience many years ago at a relatively large fire department in South America (about 2000 members). I was in charge of the plan to reduce about 10% on everything!  We cannot replicate in a class exercise the feelings, the emotional conversations with both supervisors and some employees from the affected departments/divisions. I had to include in the list people I knew well. Some of them even helped me develop as a firefighter!  That's what Peter Vaills refers to as being in the world with responsibility! Also related to what Henry Mintzberg talks about. He says that business is a practice and that cannot really be taught.

When I found myself in the situation you are in right now, I make sure that my students know that it is a "dry run" and that it is not totally representing real life.

Thanks,

Ivan

One that would be good for undergraduates is in Nkomo, Fottler & McAfee "Human Resource Management Applications" 6^th Edition.  It is Exercise #27 Which Employee Should Be Terminated? Pages 91-92. It covers both the decision-making process and the termination interview. It's do-able in one class session with short amount of pre-class prep time on the part of the students.

Aimee Hamilton

Management & Organization Department

Penn State

University Park, PA  16802