Aswer the questions that follow:

Personnel Director Greenleaf opened the interoffice envelope from F.L.  Case, Secretary, and was surprised to see a copy of the Management Committee minutes enclosed.  In the upper right-hand corner of the first page was penned:  “Thought you’d be interested.  A couple of items are yours.  FLC.”  In his four years with the bank, this was only the second time that Greenleaf had been permitted to see or hold in his hand a copy of the minutes of the most important committee in the bank.  To say that he was “interested” was an understatement.  Case had promised that the Personnel Inventory and Appraisal recommendation would be considered at this meeting.  They’d been holding it over for two months now.  Greenleaf eagerly perused the minutes.  

MINUTES

Management Committee Meeting

April

 

1.Statement of Condition.  Mr. Perman reported on the statistics showing the first quarter results for the bank.  The committee agreed that the report reflected excellent achievements, except for the rise in interest expenses as a result of increased savings account balances and the high personnel salary and benefit costs.  Mr. Perman was complimented for his presentation, his analysis of the data, and the significance of his remarks as related to the bank’s statement of condition.

Chairman Tateman reviewed comparative statistics indication that the bank now was the fourth largest in the city as compared to fifth a year ago.  He commented on the merger of the Premium National and the Metropolitan Commercial, formerly third and fourth in size, into the largest bank in the city.  He expressed concern about the merger trend as evidenced in other cities and stated categorically that our bank was not a merger possibility.  He noted the highly satisfactory profit picture and said that it was his intention to continue his policy of providing stockholders with an attractive return on the investments.  To achieve this, he called for renewed effort to reduce expenses, the addition of new services to attract new business, and improved work procedures.  He also expressed concern with personnel expenses and requested that a special effort be made to hold them down.

 

2. Personnel Report.  Mr. Groming read the Personnel Director’s quarterly statistical report indicating a total clerical staff of 804, an official staff of 72, total annual payroll of $6,400,000, first quarter overtime in the amount of $98,000, 92 temporary employees on payroll, first quarter turnover rate of 17 percent, and 290 salary increases for $73,890 granted during the quarter.  Full discussion followed and the Secretary was instructed to obtain a complete explanation for the overtime and temporary employees.

 

3. Branch Offices.  Mr. Able reported that all ten branches were performing smoothly and that applications were on file with government authorities for four additional locations in new residential neighborhoods.  He noted that rapid expansion had created staffing problems which caused some of the overtime and the hiring of temporary employees reported earlier.  However, he stated that he was in personal contact with a number of senior experienced people in competitive banks and that, if negotiations with them are successful, the personnel situation in the branches would be eased considerably.

 

4. Check-Handling Administration.  Mr. Framer indicated that all check handling now was centralized at the main office and that negotiations were continuing with two major correspondent commercial banks to determine the feasibility of having one of them perform all checking-account bookkeeping on their computers.  He stressed the necessity for culminating those negotiations as soon as possible inasmuch as the volume was increasing more rapidly than anticipated.  This means that present equipment is not suitable for high-volume activity.  As an alternative, Mr. Framer proposed a full study of the possibility of purchasing excess machines from Premium National to fill in the void.  Such an excess exists because of their merger.  Mr. Framer also thought it would be possible to hire some experienced supervisors and machine operators from both merged banks to cope with the increased check volume and the problems resulting from the centralization of check handling at the main office.

 

5. New Business Activities.  A report on a recent survey of correspondent banks to determine their various customer services was made by Mr. Mentsen.  Mixed reactions were given to many of the innovations now in vogue.  All agreed with Chairman Tateman that the basic abilities to service checking accounts and to make loans to assist customers were the vital services for a successful banking operation.  However, since there was some interest in the small loan field, Mr. Mentsen was asked to research this area more fully.  No action was taken to expand the services of the Foreign or the Fiduciary Departments because an increase in services would involve additional physical facilities and personnel. 

Mr. Mentsen announced that he had obtained a new account with an opening balance of $50,000, from Kelleen Corporation.  This was a payroll account for Branch #6.  He anticipated that approximately 300 payroll checks would be cashed at this branch every Friday and requested Mr. Able to alert his staff for the new business.  Mr. Kelleen has indicated that, if he is satisfied with the service, he will consider the possibility of moving his business account to our bank.

 

6. Miscellaneous Matters.  Chairman Tateman announced on a number of miscellaneous matters including:Officer Retirements – 12 officers (Executive Vice-President Mentsen, Vice-President Framer, three branch managers and seven junior officers in Foreign, Fiduciary, Control, and Operations) have indicated a desire to retire as of the end of the year.  He also noted that 22 clerical staff members are 64 years old or over and that some thought should now be given to a definite policy with regard to handling retirements.

1. Banking School Enrollment – Assistant Vice-President Caufield was registered at the State School of Banking for the three-year summer course with the expectation that the exposure would help him to assume new responsibilities in the Operations Department in view of Mr. Framer’s intended retirement.  The registration will be at bank expense for room, board, tuition fees, and texts.  Mr. Caufield will be expected to assume any personal expenses incurred.
2. AIB (American Institute of Banking) and College Enrollments – the AIB bill for 17 students ($780) was approved for payment.  In addition, 14 employees were registered in evening college courses and all have received acknowledgements of their enrollments.  In the case of Mr. Hartley Junet, an executive trainee, full refund of tuition has been paid for his college courses.
3. Maintenance of Bank Premises – in view of their unsatisfactory performance, the contract for building maintenance with Cleaner, Inc., has been terminated and additional porters will have to be hired to properly clean all bank space.
4. Opened and Closed Accounts – ten new commercial checking accounts with opening balances of $100,000 or over were opened (three with proceeds of loans) in addition to the Kelleen Account noted earlier.  Eight accounts with average balances of $10,000 or over were closed.  Reasons given were “more convenient location at another bank,” “inability to provide foreign facilities,” “loan application rejected,” and “dissatisfaction with service.”
5. Loans – the Director’s Loan Committee considers the bank “loaned up” at present, and no new lines or substantial loans ate to be considered without prior approval of Chairman Tateman.
6. Personnel Inventory and Appraisal Program – the Personnel Director’s recommendation that the entire staff be inventoried for the multiple purposes of evaluating performance, determining individual strengths and weaknesses, and identifying areas with manpower shortages would be tabled temporarily until other pressing problems such as approval of new branch offices, correspondent bank check-processing procedure, etc., were solved.

 

 

      Greenleaf slowly laid down the minutes and thought back to that day, four years ago, when he had accepted the appointment as Personnel Director, leaving a similar position at Premium National.  Groming had talked about a dynamic bank, a major influence in the community, the tremendous opportunity to implement a broad and modern personnel program where none now existed, working with management as part of a team, a full vice-presidency within six years.

 

      The minutes disturbed him for other reasons besides the tabling of this particular program.  He saw, for the very first time, a number of new undertakings of which he had no knowledge.  And there were clear-cut infringements on his responsibilities which were being approved by the committee.  Further, he disliked what sounded like unethical tactics being used to recruit new personnel.

      He pulled open his center drawer and removed a paper headed “Score Sheet.”  It was a list of all the major proposals submitted during his tenure.  Opposite each proposal was noted “implemented,” “pended,” “rejected,” or “no response.”  He posted “pended” against the Personnel Inventory and Appraisal program and then reviewed the entire list.

 

Score Sheet

                    1.   Orientation for new employees                                 implemented

                    2.   Standardized vacation schedule                                implemented

 3.   Employee newspaper                                              no response

 4.   Removal of time clocks                                      rejected

5.   Formalized, improved tuition refund program        pended

6.   Improved hospitalization and life insurance plans      implemented

                           7.   Centralized personnel records                                 implemented

                            8.   Clerical recruiting and testing procedures                 no response

                          9.   Temporary help vs. additional employees                 implemented  (with modifications)

                         10.   Salary budgets                                                      pended

                         11. Job evaluation program                                          pended

                         12. Morale survey                                                        rejected

                        13. Implications of turnover statistics                          no response

                        14. Supervisors’ training program                               implemented   (with modifications)

                         15. Organization charts                                                 no response

                        16. Discontinuance of annual bonus                             rejected

                     17. Personnel policies manual                                        implemented (with modifications)

                                         18. Temporary help vs. additional employees, II           pended

                             19. Pension program                                                   no response

                                        20. Implications of turnover statistics, II                       pended

                             21. College recruiting and training program                 implemented (with modifications)

                                        22. Personnel inventory and appraisal program           pended

   Case Questions (Remember to restate the question exactly as it appears in the assignment prior to providing your response.)

1. Audit each section of the Management Committee Minutes to determine if there is a Human Resource Function(s) discussed in that section. Identify the Human Resource Function, if any, in that section. Be sure to label the activity with one of the seven (7) Human Resource Functions.  Be sure that is clear as to which specific item/activity you are applying the HR function.  (30pts)

2. What do the results of question #1 indicate to you about the nature of Human Resource in Organizations? (20pts)

3. Was the Human Resource Function "Strategic" in this organization? Be sure to cite specifics examples to support your conclusion. (20pts)

4. What would you do if your were Greenleaf? (20pts)

5. What would you do if you were the President of this organization? (10pts)