BUS412 Individual Case Study
Eric Bowen
Questions to Be Answered:
1. Critique the process Natalie went through in her selection of Enigma as an
employer.
Was it a right choice for her? What should she have done differently?
2. Do you think Enigma was right in the approaches it used to recruit Natalie?
Should an employer have a moral obligation to always use realistic
recruitment?
3. Do you agree Natalie should have stayed on job, after the first year? Should
she have been more proactive in considering other employment options at
this point in her career?
4. What do you predict Natalie will do in year 5? What are key factors that may
impact her career/life choices and career outcomes?
1. Natalie really did not have a process. She knew what type of job she wanted
but lacked vetting the companies she was interested in. Enigma was one of
the several she interviewed for. At the time it seemed like the right choice
based off of what the interviewer said, but turns out to be not the right choice
at all. Highly competitive, win at all costs, the company culture, and values do
not match up with her beliefs.
She did not ask the interviewer the right questions, look up articles about the
company, looked at public records, try to determine turnover ratio for jobs
there, what type of HR strategy they had in place, the financials, and even talk
to current employees and watch how they interact with each other. She
should have done some basic research into the company not only financially
but also how they handle customers and their employees. Another thing to
do is to talk to family and friends and see what they think about the
company. Have a sheet of questions you would like answered by the
company and interviewer as well. Then have a contingency plan if it doesn’t
work out. Come up with a plan and process to look for work and a job and
not just interviewing with several companies that might be okay, but several
companies that you truly want to work for.
A good plan of action could have been this:
Step 1: Find the companies she is interested in.
Step 2: Do research on the company, whether financials, employee reviews,
and ask employees what they think and feel about Enigma.
Step 3: Form multiple questions for the interviewer to answer to better give
an understanding how the culture is, their beliefs, morals, attitudes, and
overall feeling of the company.
Step 4: Do the normal interview process and steps.
It is not the best place for her. She is having physical health issues trying to
work for Enigma. It appeared to be a loyal soldier strategy, but it is actually a
bargain laborer strategy. Instead of being employee centric, it is more of
“dog-eat-dog”, survival of the fittest type of culture. So the corporate culture
is very hostile and so are the employees to a degree. The relationships
between employees and boss are not very good. To quote the case, “ Natalie’s
relationships with her boss and her fellow assistant managers were strained,
to say the least.” It is not just one department; it is the entire corporation that
is like this. They have the same culture, values, and so forth. With the
corporate culture the way it is, it does not reflect the same morals, values,
and beliefs that Natalie has.
2. I think the approaches used were misleading. They had people to interview
with and had good candidates like Natalie. However, they should have been
more upfront about what the company culture, values, and beliefs were. That
it was more competitive, not much for building relationships, and not as team
oriented as it was described. It appears that they were dishonest about
saying how it was team oriented instead of what it was. Also how the training
program pitted each employee against each other instead of team building
and building on relationships. The employer does have a moral obligation to
use realistic recruitment. The employee should know everything they should
and have to know to do well and the qualities the employer is looking for. If it
is employee centric, very competitive, team oriented, and so forth. The
employee should know the strategies used and so forth that the company is
using and going for in the short and long run.
3. I think Natalie should have been more proactive on finding new work. She
could possibly have been in a management position by now if she had
switched to a company with a better corporate culture. With switching to a
better corporation she would probably avoided the health issues, stress, and
the overall corporate culture of Enigma. Looking at the chart of whether and
employee should quit or not from in class on retention. She should have been
at the 4th level looking for other work. She was not and stuck it out and now
has a predicament to handle.
4. It is harder to read what Natalie will do. There are only two choices for her
right now. She either takes the advancement or not. If she does not then she
loses out at exploring a new area with many opportunities, greater pay, and
challenging work. If she does then she upsets her fiancé, away from family,
might have to think about childcare outside of the family, and so forth. I
would predict that with the influences of her family, his family, him, the
option of having family help with the possible child in the future, she will stay
and consider trying to open up her own business in the future. Try to collect
as much capital as possible to try it, but for now stay where she is at and
maybe try for a local level advancement if that’s possible.
The key factors to include are, Enigma, family, compensation, childcare,
location of next job, and her fiancé. With all of these to consider, she should
almost do a cost benefit analysis and see if she should go or not. Maybe
establish weights for each one and see if she should move and accept the job
or not.