SCENARIO 1: ALDO PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY (“APC”) Your neighbor, Paul Ryan, was bo

Question

SCENARIO 1: ALDO PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY (“APC”)
Your neighbor, Paul Ryan, was born in 1957; he turned 60 on his birthday last September. He has worked for Aldo Pharmaceutical Company (“APC”) as a “Computer Operations Technician” since 1985. Although the technology has changed somewhat over time, his company continued to use large mainframe servers that needed close daily supervision in case the system went down. In April 2017, he learned that that the rumors about new technology were true: the company had finally decided to move to current enterprise wide software that operates on workstations and laptops. To the extent that servers are required, the company is renting that space from Amazon in California. On or about July 14, 2017, the Computer Operator Technician’s position was eliminated. Life has been good; Paul had been earning roughly $74,000 per year ($36 an hour). He has six weeks’ vacation accrued and if he needs it, up to four weeks’ sick leave. Paul, whose daughter is now a college junior, was able to leverage these good working conditions so that he never missed her soccer games or concerts or plays. APC has a close relationship with the nearby community college where Paul has earned about 35 credits, majoring in general business administration. With the exception of one course in computer-aided design, Paul has not taken any technology courses.

Paul has excellent benefits, including a 401 (k) plan and a provision for health insurance after he retires. However, to keep his post-retirement health care benefits, Paul must work for APC until he is 62. (The value of these accrued premiums when Paul completes 10 years worth of payments, will be roughly $33,500. He can get the $35,000 out before he officially turns 62, but it is unlikely that he would then he able to purchase similar benefits for the same money. NOTE: Any employee among the Computer Technicians who was at least 52 years of age in 2017, has been participating in the “post retirement health insurance benefit.” Paul is well liked and regarded as a “leader” among the employees. Paul has organized and acted as Team Captain for Aldo Company Bike Teams for “the City to Shore MS Ride” over the past five years. Bilingual in English and Spanish, he often is recruited as a translator for problems between the warehouse and management employees. Paul is pretty upset about losing his old job. He and the five other APC computer technicians have been told that they can interview for four “help desk” positions as well as any other positions open at APC. Paul is attracted to the Help Desk job because he loves problem solving and he does not want to sit in a cubicle.
Paul’s former job had nothing to do with the world of PCs and distributive software. Paul feels comfortable with email and looking up the answers to his own questions on
the web. [Yet] his interview went well and he was offered one of the four Help Desk jobs. APC has stated that training will be provided, but he doesn’t think he is qualified
for the job. Paul feels anxious and doubtful at work for the first time in his life. He has expressed these concerns to his new manager, who has tried to reassure him he will
continue to receive training and a chance to succeed. The other employees on the “Computer Operator Team” were affected as outlined below. Four were hired as Help Desk Specialists, but two left the company. Paul Ryan and his remaining four employees are trying hard to contribute to the team.
Name Birth Date Race/ Hire Date Current Current Hourly Rate
Sex Position (Old Rate)
1.Adams, Bert 05/04/58 W/M 06/30/88 Help Desk I $26/38
2.Chan, Lee 08/25/60 A/F 11/12/90 Help Desk I $24/37
3.Ryan, Paul 09/02/58 W/M 09/11/87 Help Desk I $26/36
4.Seiler. Rob 10/12/62 W/M 08/30/83 Help Desk I $26/37
5.Smith, Susan 12/09/53 B/W 03/01/84 (Resigned) $24/34
6.Vega, Joe 11/05/57 W/M 08/30/83 (Resigned) $27/41.

QUESTIONS:
1. When APC made the decision to eliminate the Computer Technician positions, what kind
of legal liability did that decision impose on the company? Please state which law(s) might apply
to this decision and the issue(s) that were created.

2. As you can see from the data about the team, most of the members took a big drop in their
hourly rates to move from “Computer Technician” to “Help Desk Specialist.” When an
employee takes a significant reduction in salary, even for a “good reason,” how can the
company try to keep those employees engaged? Is it possible? Why or why not?
3. Other employees in the company who have heard about the new Help Desk are likely to be
a bit confused: isn’t there a shortage of skilled IT workers? Even though the company probably
won’t publish everyone’s salaries and resumes, will the new Help Desk employees be
misunderstood or resented? What do they have to complain about?
4. Examine the salary and seniority data -- to what extent has APC put itself in potential legal
peril by eliminating the Computer Operator Technician job? Please describe any legal issues as
specifically as possible
5. What course of action should APC have taken from the beginning of this situation to
minimize harm to the company and to fix it?

Explanation / Answer

QUESTIONS:

1. When APC made the decision to eliminate the Computer Technician positions, what kind
of legal liability did that decision impose on the company? Please state which law(s) might apply

to this decision and the issue(s) that were created.

4. Examine the salary and seniority data -- to what extent has APC put itself in potential legal

peril by eliminating the Computer Operator Technician job? Please describe any legal issues as

specifically as possible

Answer to Q1 and Q4

When APC made the decision to eliminate the Computer Technician positions, they opened themselves up to the following legal liabilities :

All of the laws below prohibit the companies from discriminating against employees based on age, health care benefits etc.

Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA)

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act)

Liability to pay for Employee Health Care Costs

The purpose of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) regulation also known by its nick name Obama Care,   was to cover low income families with health or medical insurance that is more comprehensive in nature and more inclusive in nature by covering an additional 20 - 21 million American Citizens to the government health care plan.The affordable care act also requirers employer's to make contribution towards the employee's health care costs.

2. As you can see from the data about the team, most of the members took a big drop in their
hourly rates to move from “Computer Technician” to “Help Desk Specialist.” When an
employee takes a significant reduction in salary, even for a “good reason,” how can the

company try to keep those employees engaged? Is it possible? Why or why not?

Answer :

There are several theories of motivation that help organisations keep their employees motivated and engaged. Gamification is one such method.

Gamification

Gamification is a method of motivation and learning where participants are encouraged to view the tasks that are delegated to them by their organisation or their job roles and their deliverables as a part of a game where they're either competing with fellow employees or other teams and groups of employees within the organisation or different lines of businesses within the same organisation. Gamification is designed around those three theories of motivation. Although it is designed as a game with a point and a team system of ranking with a reward and recognition at the end, it uses those intrinsic factors of motivation to drive or motivate its participants.

Training Programs

Training programs ensures that employees stay relevant to the organisation they work for and benefit both management and employees.

Employees can stay competent by

- Self Improvement

- Adding new skills and qualifications

- A good learning curve

Benefits to the Management from an Employee's competence

When the follower stays competent, he or she is bound to be relevant to the organisation not just today but also in the long run. This builds trust within a follower that he or she has a place in this organization for the foreseeable future. This incentivises followers to perform better.

Benefits to Employees from their own competence

The benefits stretch right form job security to potential career growth and lateral and horizontal career moves. Followers who stay competent open themselves up to a broad stroke of career opportunities.

3. Other employees in the company who have heard about the new Help Desk are likely to be
a bit confused: isn’t there a shortage of skilled IT workers? Even though the company probably
won’t publish everyone’s salaries and resumes, will the new Help Desk employees be

misunderstood or resented? What do they have to complain about?

Answer :

While there is a lot of uncertainty and lack of transparency, it creates mistrust within the organisation. However i do believe that this situation is temporary. The new help desk employees will not be misunderstood or resented. However they might have complaints about the following issues

- The fact that ABC did not notify them about this in advance which created a false sense of job security and

- The lack of organisational will to reverse engineer their skills to

- The drop in their pay

- The company's benefits plan which was a retention strategy had effected them

5. What course of action should APC have taken from the beginning of this situation to

minimize harm to the company and to fix it?

Answer :

It's important to understand that ABC is under going an organisational change. Organisational change management theory is the type of change management focuses on restructuring organisational hierarchy, reporting structures, allocation of resources, job roles and business functions. This model of change management attempts to implement change at an macro level focusing on every aspect, unlike other change management methods which focus on specific business functions or mirco level organisational problems.

ABC wanted to cut costs and improve over all business efficiency and reliability. The best way to implement Organisational change would be John Kotter’s eight-stage model of change consists of the following steps

Creating Urgency

To form a strong coalition

To set a Vision and the need for Change & To communicate the Vision

To get rid of obstacles

To create short term wins

To build on the change to ensure continuity & To Anchor changes in the corporate culture

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