Curt’s Cowboy Corner Discussion

Curt’s Cowboy Corner is a chain of 15 stores that sells cowboy boots and western clothing. Curt opened the first store 10 years ago in a small Rocky Mountain town and quickly gained a following of loyal customers. Based on input from customers and friends, Curt decided to expand his business and began opening new stores in nearby towns. He plans to open 10 more stores in the next few years.

Each of Curt’s stores has a manager, three full-time sales representatives, and five or six part-time employees. In the early days, Curt worked closely with each store manager to plan day-to-day operations, helping to make all hiring decisions. He and a secretary also spent many days each month working on payroll. Lately, however, Curt has found that he does not have enough time to interview job candidates and handle several other of his customary tasks. He thinks this might be one reason some of the newer employees aren’t working out so well. In addition, last month, he was two days late completing the payroll, thereby creating numerous problems for employees. Curt knows that he needs to do a better job of delegating tasks. Another of his concerns focuses on the potential liabilities of having a growing workforce. One employee recently told him that she felt uncomfortable about some sexual comments her boss had made to her. Curt spent several hours talking to both the employee and her boss, and although he feels pretty good about how he handled the situation, he acknowledges that he does not have the requisite knowledge or skill to resolve such matters.

Curt’s brother, who owns a number of automobile dealerships in a distant city, has encouraged Curt to hire a human resource professional. But Curt has been reluctant to hire staff members who do not spend time selling in stores. His philosophy has always been those staff members who don’t make sales are an expense without much return. At the same time, Curt knows that he must do something, or else things will get worse. If he is able to grow the business as he plans, he will soon have nearly 100 full-time employees.

Questions:

1. What are some specific tasks that a human resource specialist could do for Curt?
2. Are there any financial benefits that might come from hiring a human resource specialist?
3. How might labor trends affect Curt’s ability to continue expanding his stores?
4. What benefits and problems might result if Curt hires a human resource specialist to provide support to all stores? Would it be better to simply delegate all human resource activities to each store manager?

   Reply:

1. Developing job descriptions to better get the right employees. Discussing needs and qualifications with the employers to better find the right people for the job. Make hiring decisions. Recruiting and interviewing candidates.

2. They will be able to create a more committed staff and create motivation to perform well. This takes less time away from the managers also finding the wrong people so an HR would be able to find people qualified and you wouldn’t have to keep looking for someone to do that job.

3. With today’s times he shouldn’t focus on opening more stores but should focus on getting a website up and running. Then marketing this to all of his loyal customers and in return, he would have a very good website up and running.

4. With the number of employees you would want to hire an HR person for all of the stores. Its going to get harder going forward and will hurt the business if the managers have to keep doing everything. People are often going to be able to talk to HR a lot easier about problems as they don’t work directly in the store. So you would be able to handle problems a lot easier.

Second peer post below

Hello everyone,

What are some specific tasks that a human resource specialist could do for Curt?

A human resource specialist would be able to select better employees. They will be able to be able to hire better candidates and not waste time with employee that will not work out. The specialist would also be better equipped to handle sex assault complaints.

Are there any financial benefits that might come from hiring a human resource specialist?

There is definitely some financial benefits. By having a human resource specialist they will be able to hire better candidates which would result in not having a lot of turn around and they would be able to retrain good employee.

How might labor trends affect Curt’s ability to continue expanding his stores?

Our current labor trend would affect Curt’s ability to expand his stores because he would have a difficult time hiring employees. Currently a lot people are not working because they do not feel safe to work during the pandemic and some are earning more money on unemployment.

What benefits and problems might result if Curt hires a human resource specialist to provide support to all stores? Would it be better to simply delegate all human resource activities to each store manager?

The benefits would be that the specialist would be able to keep track of problems like personal and sexual assault allegations. Curt has expanded further than what he can handle by himself and eventually he will lose the personal touch that has made his customers loyal. A problem that Curt may encounter is that he will not have his hand on each of the decisions. It would not be better to delegate the activities to the store managers because in some cases the manager will also need to redirected. Like when the employee felt uncomfortable with their boss.