1 – 2 pages Essay on Hendersson case.
See attached PDF with the case about John Henderson.
In APA Format write a 1 to2page analysis of the case.Start the case with an explanation in your own words of what the case is about.Additionally,in your analysis,include what you think should be done with Henderson.
2008 society for Human Resource Management. alan Cabelly, Ph.D. 3
In August, John Henderson submitted a rsum to the human resource department
of Big Time Computers Inc. in response to an advertisement in the local newspaper
for a senior technical writer. After a short interview process in which three of the
four individuals on the selection committee felt that he should be hired, Laura
Conroy hired him.
Henderson spent a three-week training period learning departmental methods and
procedures, becoming familiar with Big Times products, and preparing for his first
writing assignments. As a senior writer, Henderson was also expected to serve as a
technical publications project leader for one of Big Times product groups. During
the training period, Henderson attended project meetings to meet the employees
from other departments who were involved with that product group and to become
current on what was happening within it.
Following the training period, Henderson started his first writing assignment, the
revision of a software manual to reflect upgraded product software. Henderson went
two weeks beyond the scheduled date for completing the first draft of the revision.
In editing the first draft, Hanson felt that the writing quality and organization were
poor, and suggested extensive changes before the manual was distributed for review.
Henderson implemented these changes and prepared the manual for review. One
week before the review, Henderson sent an advance notice email message to the
reviewers, notifying them of the upcoming review. Mike Simpson, the project leader
for the product described in the manual, pointed out to Laura Conroy that the
message was sloppy, and had misspellings and poor grammar. He expressed concern
that the credibility of the technical publications department was at risk if the quality
of any of the written material that went out to the entire company was poor. Hanson
and Simpson also expressed concern to Conroy about Hendersons writing ability.
Conroy decided to implement some procedures to monitor Hendersons progress
and temporarily give him more supervision. She scheduled weekly meetings with
Henderson during which he was to give her a detailed status report for the week,
with particular emphasis on tracking manual schedules. She also required Henderson
to send his work to the technical editor on a chapter-by-chapter basis, and each week
Hanson would meet with Henderson to discuss his writing. Conroy also decided
to postpone giving project leader responsibilities to Henderson, but she had him
continue to attend project meetings with Miller and planned to give Henderson a
project in the future.
Resentment was starting to develop in the technical publications department due
to Hendersons failure to meet expectations. Several of the writers complained to
Conroy because Henderson had been hired as a senior writer at a higher salary,
Case OverviewCase B
4 2008 society for Human Resource Management. alan Cabelly, Ph.D.
yet his writing skills were apparently inferior to theirs. Miller also expressed
dissatisfaction at having to serve as project leader for two projects when the
expectation was that Henderson would take one of the projects. Hanson fell
behind in his editing assignments because of the extra time he was spending with
Henderson, and the editorial assistants complained about the quantity of cleanup
required because of Hendersons poor work. In private meetings with dissatisfied
employees, Conroy expressed faith in Hendersons abilities and urged patience while
she worked on developing his skills.
Henderson showed signs of improvement in his writing skills and his ability to meet
deadlines under the procedures implemented by Conroy. As a result of this and
because Henderson now had four months experience at Big Time, Conroy assigned
Henderson to write a marketing article on a topic related to his area of technical
expertise. Henderson was to work with a marketing engineer and a marketing
product manager to develop the article by a specified date. When the initial review
of the article was due, Henderson gave the first draft to the marketing department
without any review or edit from within the technical publications department.
Marketing was dissatisfied with the organization and content of the article; Dick
Sanders, marketing product manager, met with Laura Conroy to express this
dissatisfaction. Although Conroy assured Sanders that technical publications could
complete the article to his satisfaction and on schedule, Sanders decided to have the
article written by a marketing employee.
Though his writing skills were slowly improving, lingering resentment continued
about Hendersons status and salary as a senior writer. Morale in the department was
low. Hanson continued to have a difficult time fulfilling his editing responsibilities
because of the extra time he was spending with Henderson, and Miller couldnt meet
manual schedules because of the time spent fulfilling project leader responsibilities
for two projects. Laura Conroy knew that it was time to act.
2008 society for Human Resource Management. alan Cabelly, Ph.D. 5
Technical Publications Department
Big Time Computers inc.
manager of technical Publications
Laura Conroy
Senior technical Writer
John Henderson
technical editor
Clark Hanson
editorial assistants (3)
Senior Writers
Mike Simpson
Craig Miller
Writers (7)
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