Human Resources in the Public Sector

MPA6660: Human Resources in the Public Sector

Case Study Assignment #2

Due Tuesday October 13

You are the Human Resources director for the City of Smallville, Kansas.  You have 1200 employees working for the city, of which 119 are unionized sanitation workers.  The city has recently conducted a search for a Personnel Manager for the Sanitation Department.  The final choice is yours.

The EEO office in Smallville has weighed in on the final decision and strongly recommended that you hire a young African American woman named Lana Lang, but the search committee recommended you hire a male applicant,  Jimmy

Olsen, who they believe to be the better candidate.

As background, Smallville has minority populations totaling approximately 35%, and while overall, the City of Smallville has a minority representation of about 38%, racial/ethnic minorities make up only about 8% of management-level positions and women only make up about 6% of management positions.

Following is information gleaned by the search committee:

Lana Lang

• Extremely intelligent but seems to be lacking in “common sense.”
• Master’s Degree in Industrial Relations from Cornell; magna cum laude.
• Three years experience as a assistant personnel manager in Star City, Kansas…a city slightly smaller than Smallville
• No experience in a union environment.
• Mediocre, but nominally positive, references from Cornell and Star City.
• During the interview process, she told the Director of the Sanitation Department that she would “have his job in 3 years.”
• A bit arrogant. First thing she told you and the team during her group interview was, “Let’s be clear: I’m interviewing you; you are not interviewing me.”
• Her colleagues in Star City did not offer any information…positive or negative…when contacted. Simply said she worked there, but were not in a position to comment on her performance.
• She told one member of the search team that if they didn’t hire her, she knew a very good EEO attorney, and might file a complaint.

Jimmy Olsen

• Three years of college at Vanderbilt, but forced to transfer to a small, local liberal arts school for financial reasons. Graduated with with a degree in history in the top third of his class.
• Fiver years experience as assistant personnel manager in Micropolis, a town about the same size as Smallville. For the last 3 years in Micropolis, he has been the management liaison with the union.
• Good references from both his colleges, and excellent references from Micropolis.
• Seems like a nice guy. Colleagues in Micropolis all emphasized his “getting along” skills but never talked about his performance.
• Not very ambitious. Just looking for “a place to work that pays the bills and is a pleasant working environment.”

The advertisement that both responded to stated that the position required a college degree and 3 years experience as an assistant personnel manager.  It did not say anything about the type of degree needed, or anything about union experience as a qualification.  The search team had 9 members, 7 white males, 1 African American male, and 1 Hispanic male.

The retiring personnel manager in the Sanitation department is retiring in 2 months.  You would like to have the new manager work with the retiring manager for at least a month before taking over.

Write a 3-4 page memo to the City Manager giving your recommendation.  Include an outline of your thought process, including any information that you believe is relevant to the decision, including what you think are the positive and negative aspects of each candidate.

Who do you choose? Lana Lang? Jimmy Olsen?  Or……