As a new member of the board of directors for a local bank, Jack

Nelson was being introduced to all the employees in the home office.

When he was introduced to Ruth Johnson, he was curious about her

work and asked her what the machine she was using did. Johnson

replied that she really did not know what the machine was called

or what it did. She explained that she had only been working there

for 2 months. However, she did know precisely how to operate the

machine. According to her supervisor, she was an excellent employee.

At one of the branch offices, the supervisor in charge spoke to

Nelson confidentially, telling him that something was wrong, but

she didnt know what. For one thing, she explained, employee turnover was too high, and no sooner had one employee been put on

the job than another one resigned. With customers to see and loans

to be made, she continued, she had little time to work with the new

employees as they came and went.

All branch supervisors hired their own employees without communication with the home office or other branches. When an opening

developed, the supervisor tried to find a suitable employee to replace

the worker who had quit.

After touring the 22 branches and finding similar problems

in many of them, Nelson wondered what the home office should

do or what action he should take. The banking firm generally was

regarded as being a well-run institution that had grown from 27 to

191 employees during the past 8 years. The more he thought about

the matter, the more puzzled Nelson became. He couldnt quite put

his finger on the problem, and he didnt know whether to report his

findings to the president.

Questions

1-16. What do you think is causing some of the problems in the

banks home office and branches?

1-17. Do you think setting up an HR unit in the main office would

help?

1-18. What specific functions should an HR unit carry out? What

HR functions would then be carried out by supervisors and

other line managers? What role should the Internet play in

the new HR organization?