Review Juanita’s World Parts 1-5, which are found in the Weeks 1 and 2 lectures, and write a 5-7 page paper. Pretend you are Juanita and develop a human resource plan to share with your boss. Develo

It is Juanita’s 4th day on the job and it has been both exciting and scary. The more she learns the more she realizes she has to learn if she is to be successful in this new role. Based on her observations in previous jobs and as an intern at her last non-profit experience, it seemed as if the pace was slow and easy. To her surprise and with great anticipation, she is finding that there is much to be done to help this organization that she is so committed to.

Her passion and commitment runs deep as a first generation Hispanic American in her family. She remembers the trouble her family had finding suitable housing, food, and work when they first came to America when she was just 6 years old. Much has changed for her and her family but not without pain and sacrifice. Juanita is determined to make a difference for those who have little ability to help themselves. And, as far as she is concerned, this applies to all the stakeholders she will serve including the hungry, employees, employer, and the community at large.

Although there is much to do she remembers what her mama taught her….you eat an elephant one bite at a time. Based on this counsel she decides to establish some short term priorities based on what she has learned so far. From what she has heard during her first conversations with managers and what she hears from various employees, it seems the greatest need the organization has is to stabilize the employee base.

Her own job description seems inadequate for what the job will entail and she wonders if this is true of other jobs. She wonders if job descriptions are designed to reflect what is or what used to be when the organization was just getting started. And, how have they historically planned for their needs or have they merely reacted to changing requirements?

Juanita feels she is developing rapport and trust with a number of the people she has visited with. It seems obvious that hiring and retaining the right people is critical to long term success. As she has probed deeper into the issues she has turned up some details on performance appraisals…or lack thereof, a weakness in employee and volunteer development and a significant lack of training.

Given these difficulties she decides the best way to gather information without having to schedule more appointments with people she has already visited is to simply engage in some discussion via email. She builds her group list and then begins to compose her email.

“….thank you for taking the time to help me feel welcome and for sharing your perspective on how HR and I can better help you accomplish your goals as well as the mission that we share. As I continue to meet with various people I find that most challenges we face point back to training and development, our performance evaluation system and related feedback, and a lack of a career track for full time employees. I am hoping you will help me out by responding to a few questions by email so I can keep thinking about these issues without having to make another appointment with you so soon after our initial meeting.”

When Juanita visited with Melissa, the previous HR manager, she felt Melissa was a bit evasive on issues like hiring, firing, and retaining employees and volunteers. It is Day 6 since her hire start date and already she has received two notices of resignation from key personnel. She was hoping that she could analyze the situation before trying to implement solutions. But, Rich, her boss, is applying a lot of pressure because his boss seems to be applying pressure on him.

Although she did not know the two people very well, she did conduct exit interviews. Much of what she was told fit with what she sensed about training and development, compensation, recognition, and career development. Both individuals seemed genuinely committed to the mission of the organization, but expressed frustration with people they work with due to their incompetence and also with the organization, due to its unwillingness to invest in its employees.

As Juanita considers a short-term strategy she considers that it may be best in the short-term to voluntarily separate individuals who are unwilling to perform and replace them with new hires who exhibit an interest in development. As she considers the implications she is certain she will get significant “push back” from Rich and other more tenured managers. Plus, she knows that the organization falls under some federal guidelines for what they can and cannot do.

In preparation for making this issue a priority with an actionable tactical plan, she knows she must be fair, above reproach, and demonstrate grace in order to preserve the dignity of the workers and to attempt to build a system of accountability.

As part of Juanita’s plan to revise her organizations hiring and retention practices she decides to focus on issues that could differentiate their organization from others that have a similar mission.

From her interviews she has learned that most employees who voluntarily separate move to other humanitarian organizations that include employee recognition and some basic benefits. As part of her plan Juanita hopes to convince Rich that they can revamp the entire compensation system to better reward high performance employees and yet continue to hold the costs down to fit the current budget. She feels Rich will think this will be disruptive to the sense of security that employees have but she is convinced that they have been balancing the scales of justice in terms of work output for the small compensation they receive.

At the end of the day Juanita believes pay has been based on equality rather than equity. She believes if performance is to improve they must pay competitively for those who they want to retain.

It has been a year since Juanita finished her degree and about two years since she has been promoted to HR Director status. As part of her training her boss has offered to send her to their HQ in Uzbekistan for one year. The office is staffed with several Americans and English speaking Uzbeks. She has spent some time studying the people and culture and thinks this will be an “adventure of a lifetime”. Of course, she knows that it will be a very different world for her. She intends to be a student of the culture and apply all that she has learned in the last few years.

Juanita has asked for a week to do research on the culture and how it has impacted the way their organization fulfills their mission. This is a former Soviet country that is populated with mostly Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Uzbeks and Tajiks. She has learned that they think of themselves as European but are primarily Muslim in their religious beliefs but motivated by pursuing material wealth.

As she contemplates how little she knows about this country and its people, some anxiety begins to creep in along with the excitement of the challenge of the unknown. To ensure she is reasonably well prepared before she goes, she decides to communicate with the Uzbek Director, Ludmilla Kovalenko.

Ludmilla, is Ukranian and has offered to provide her insights into the areas Juanita is interested in. In her first email she told Ludmilla that she will be sending some emails with questions related to the cultural context and other issues that may impact how work gets done and the mission accomplished.