In today’s hypercompetitive business environment, an organization’s sustainable competitive advantage is largely derived from intangible assets: human, social, and intellectual capital. Intangible assets are produced by skilled, capable workers. Human resource professionals enable current and future organizational competitiveness by maintaining an adequate supply of people
with the skills, knowledge, and abilities needed to produce these resources. Human resource professionals accomplish this through workforce planning, recruitment and selection of top quality talent, and effective employee relations
management.
As a human resource professional, your ability to effectively identify your organization’s need for employees, plan and implement employee recruitment and selection strategies, and manage employee relations will directly contribute to your organization’s success.
Scenario:
You are the newly appointed director of human resource management for the police department of a city in the northeastern United States. Your organization has struggled to hire new police officers for some time. Your predecessor attempted to increase recruitment and selection of new officers by implementing an employee referral plan. However, the number of new officers hired through referrals has fallen short of hiring goals. The need for police officers intensified when your city’s newly elected mayor promised to lower crime by increasing the number of police patrols in highcrime areas. The police department has met the need for increased patrols by assigning existing police officers additional hours and paying overtime wages. As the number of hours worked and overtime payments increased over time, this practice—originally intended to be a short-term remedy—attracted unwanted attention.
A front page  article in your city’s newspaper has revealed that three police officers earned higher annual salaries than the mayor, due to excessive overtime. Stung and embarrassed by this disclosure, the mayor fired your predecessor and put you in his place. Both the mayor and your boss have given orders to “reduce overtime by hiring new police officers immediately!” This mandate requires you to plan and implement new strategies to hire 25 new police officers.
Fortunately, the former director of human resources left behind several documents that will help you perform these tasks. Refer to the following documents as directed when you perform the requirements below: (1) “Memo on Proposed Employee Referral Plan,” (2) “Job Description of City Police Officers,” and (3) “Data on Recruitment Sources and Methods.”
Requirements:
Create a report (suggested length of 5–10 pages)