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In June 2021, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Peruvian-based Austral Group S.A.A. (Austral), one of the six largest producers and traders in marine-based foods and ingredients in the Republic of Peru, was concerned about two major ongoing challenges: gender equality and cross-generation employees. In May 2006, Austral merged with and became a subsidiary of Austevoll Seafood ASA (Austevoll), the world-leading Norwegian conglomerate in the fishery and seafood industry. After the merger, Austral improved its foundations of human resources (HR). The newly merged entity built a common organizational culture and created a bond to engage workers in its new culture. In 2007, the company introduced a 10-year plan to drive structural changes in human resource management (HRM). The CEO’s current issue is how to overcome the two outstanding challenges to move the company forward and make it sustainable for the future.

In 2016, MakeMyTrip, a prominent player in the online booking of travel space in India, moved to acquire arch-rival Goibibo (GI) to consolidate market share, build complementary synergies, and enable profitable growth. MMT was a leader in the online travel and premium hotel booking segment. GI penetrated the economy hotel segment and acquired redBus (RB) to diversify into the online bus booking space. Due to the merger, the processes of policies of the three entities in various aspects of business had to be aligned for smooth operations so as to capitalize on the expected synergies of the separate entities. Key priorities during a merger are in engaging and retaining critical talent and aligning human resource management policies and practices, including employer branding, talent acquisition (internal and external), performance management, benefits and policies, and separation and exits. Strategic talent decisions and cultural alignment can significantly influence the capabilities and performance needed of the workforce after a merger and acquisition (M&A). An integration project team had been commissioned for this and was expected to make recommendations to achieve this standardization. The case examines the challenges of identifying all aspects of people systems and processes that influence organizational culture. Alignment and standardization of the disparate organizational policies of the merging entities and communication of the final policies and practices require balancing organizational and employee needs and expectations. The case highlights the need to prioritize the integration of functions based on strategic organizational requirements.

Founded in 1998, Tencent Holdings Ltd. (Tencent) is a pioneer in value-added internet services in China and was listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in June 2004. Tencent's messaging and social networking platforms, WeChat and QQ, are leaders in internet instant messaging. Its business also includes the cloud, industrial internet, and interactive entertainment. The number of employees increased from a few dozen to over 40,000 in 2019, more than half of whom are technicians. They have an average age of 31 years, and 39% of them have a master's degree or above. To facilitate the reasonable and efficient internal talent flow, Tencent established an internal talent flow mechanism called the Huoshui Program (HSP) in 2011. Over the years, many employees and departments have benefited from this program. However, some employees still worry that they will receive an unfair performance rating from their current department before they transfer despite Tencent's continual efforts to improve the job transfer rules. Therefore, many employees choose to apply for the HSP after the annual or semi-annual performance review period. The key questions of this case are: Will this challenge somewhat suppress the vitality of the HSP? What other challenges does Tencent face in implementing the HSP? What efforts are needed in the future to make the HSP more effective?

Wahl Clipper Ningbo Ltd. is a wholly owned company of Wahl Group, a century-old American enterprise, in China. Owing to a crisis in 2008, Wahl (Ningbo) was on the verge of bankruptcy. Qian Moxing was appointed as a general manager at the time of the crisis. In line with the proverbial saying 'new broom sweeps clean', 'A new person makes many changes'. Qian was enlightened with traditional Chinese culture. Therefore, he motivated employees to learn traditional Chinese culture. In addition, the introduction of management reforms to encourage 'working and living happily for common development' resulted in tremendous changes within a few years. This reform led the US-based headquarters to adjust the strategic positioning of Wahl (Ningbo): from a manufacturer to an enterprise integrating independent R&D, production, and sales and from a producer of middle and low-end products for overseas households to a manufacturer of high-end products for Chinese hair salons. Strategic transformation meant opportunities as well as challenges. Though the company's current corporate culture and human resource management aligned with the goals of a happy enterprise, it failed to meet the goals of sales and R&D. Accordingly, this article highlights ways through which Wahl (Ningbo) can enhance the current corporate culture and human resource management to adapt to the new strategic positioning.

Singapore, a young yet developed nation, had a rapidly ageing population as well as a growing shortage of nurses. As a major public healthcare provider, it was imperative for the National University Hospital (NUH) to attract and retain an adequate number of nursing staff to meet the mounting demand in healthcare services and to take on the hospital's plans for service expansion. The LUV-ing Nurses Movement was introduced in 2013 with the strategic intent of creating an energising and engaging practice environment in which nurses would stay and grow with NUH. "LUV", an acronym for "Listen, Understand, and Value", encouraged nursing staff to provide the best "LUV-ing" care to patients.

Rahul, a first year Master of Business Administration Student in a premier business school in India, encountered a misunderstanding while interacting with his study group, which met online due to COVID-19 restrictions in August 2020. He tried to resolve the misunderstanding, but instead, his attempt resulted in an escalation of the situation. Distressed over the misunderstanding and what he perceived as a breach of trust, he had lost his motivation to work with the group. Now, he is trying to reassess the situation and understand what went wrong, in an attempt to form a plan of action to mitigate the situation.

Rodey Wing, a partner at global management consulting firm Kearney, had to decide what to recommend to a struggling retailer client with over 200,000 employees. With the client's optometry division suffering from an excess of employees partly due to a pandemic downturn, Wing had initially planned to cut 1,500 employees from the division---laying off those with the lowest performance review ratings. However, a disproportionate impact assessment of the plan showed that employees from protected classes would make up a much larger share of terminated employees than expected. Wing had to determine how this information should impact his recommendations to the important client.

The exercise directs students to watch specific scenes from the movie Hidden Figures, which is loosely based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly that tells the story of three African American women who were mathematicians working at the Langley Research Center in Virginia in the 1960s. The women encountered racism and sexism as they attempted to contribute to the Center’s work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its space race with the Soviet Union. The clips assigned to students for viewing portray moments of leadership in the story of the three Black women who were considered “human computers.” The students are expected to view the assigned clips and consider how the scenes portray leadership and what character dimensions the actors demonstrate in their roles.

David Heller began delivering food in Toronto using the UberEATS platform in December 2016. Several months after signing a service agreement with Uber Technologies Inc. (Uber), Heller drove for Uber approximately 40–50 hours every week, generating earnings that ranged from CA$400 to $600 per week, or approximately CA$20,800–$31,200 per year. Uber drivers could not enjoy the rights and protections granted to employees under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act. If a dispute were to arise, Heller would have to pay approximately CA$19,000 to have his dispute with Uber resolved in the Netherlands. According to Uber, the dispute resolution process was to take place in the Netherlands even though Heller was living and working in Toronto. Was this fair? It could be argued that Heller had no bargaining power due to the financial and geographic constraints Uber had imposed. If Heller could convince Ontario’s court that Uber’s dispute regulation was unconscionable, this would change the nature of relationships between workers and companies in the Canadian gig economy.

Pai’s Bakery was a 30-year-old family business based in Belagavi, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. The owner was working on a sales territory realignment plan in response to complaints from the company’s sales team. Sales representatives claimed that their wages were not proportionate to their efforts and that productivity was hampered by poor territory planning and restrictive business policies. The Pai’s Bakery owner wanted to address the sales representatives’ concerns and improve the company’s relationship with all retail outlets to achieve key business objectives. Based on these priorities, she prepared a realignment plan for the sales territories. However, she was surprised by the negative reaction by the sales representatives, who opposed the new plan. Pai’s Bakery had to find a mutually beneficial path forward immediately to avoid serious damage to the company’s business operations.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (Cognizant) was a multinational corporation that operated in the information technology (IT) services sector and provided consulting and business process outsourcing services to its clients. As the world fell into the clutches of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company faced a series of challenges, through 2020 and into the start of 2021, that rocketed its employee attrition rates to an all-time high while also affecting revenue. During early 2021, the company was faced with the herculean task of retaining employees in the face of uncertainty and an extremely competitive market, even if this meant putting a dent in the company’s cash reserves. Cognizant had to determine how to build a better employee value proposition and develop initiatives to both retain and regain employees. Were the measures it had taken sufficient? Amid the scare of the pandemic and the war raging in India for talent, would Cognizant need a more robust human resources (HR) plan? Would it need to improve its measures for promoting the well-being of employees? Was the company too focused on performance and the bottom line?

Stick to evidence-based recruiting.

The global pandemic has been brutal to employees working in certain industries. The authors-consultants with the Boston Consulting Group and The Network-show how disruption to professional lives and incomes has had many questioning what type of work they will do in the future. Indeed, in their survey, almost seven in ten people said they are open to switching to completely different job roles. The authors show that automation, new careers that people favour and individual learning habits have implications for organizations everywhere. They outline six of them and warn that embracing these principles could become a key point of differentiation for companies seeking to attract and retain the best talent.

In 2019, an American couple were travelling the world when they settled in Bali and were employed by Spice Island Cruises (SIC). At the time, SIC was controlled by a venture capitalist who ignored local Indigenous business traditions and measured success with short-term key performance indicators. A collision between the Western and Indonesian organizational cultures resulted, and following a crisis meeting of SIC partners, the venture capitalist sold his share in the company. The American husband was appointed general manager and had only two weeks to prepare an action plan for SIC before taking over. What strategy should he follow to restore the company's reputation and employees' trust and to develop a successful future?

The owner of Hailey's Handbags, a New England-based online business selling handmade products, had successfully grown her company using a limited-release sales model. However, by early 2019, complaints posted to her business's social media accounts had become abusive and personal. The emotional impact on the owner was severe, and before she could decide how to manage the comments, she needed to first determine whether they represented legitimate complaints or if she had become a target of cyberbullying.

In 2019, an American couple were travelling the world when they settled in Bali and were employed by Spice Island Cruises (SIC). At the time, SIC was controlled by a venture capitalist who ignored local indigenous business traditions and measured success with short-term key performance indicators. A collision between the Western and Indonesian organizational cultures resulted, and following a crisis meeting of SIC partners, the venture capitalist sold his share in the company. The American husband was appointed general manager and had only two weeks to prepare an action plan for SIC before taking over. What strategy should he follow to restore the company's reputation and employees’ trust and to develop a successful future?

Janet Zuccarini, the sole owner and visionary behind the Gusto 54 Restaurant Group (Gusto 54), had leveraged her industry experience to grow the restaurant group into a huge success story. Gusto 54 owned and operated nine restaurant concepts in Toronto and Los Angeles, and rapid expansion plans were underway. In a competitive, low-margin industry, where more than half of new restaurants failed, Gusto 54 had found a way to outperform its peers and consistently achieve its desired profit margins. Gusto 54’s strategy was grounded in innovative growth, the use of technology, and empowerment of all employees to take an entrepreneurial approach to their roles. <br><br>This two-part case allows students to examine in Case A how Zuccarini built an organizational culture that invested in employees and entrusted the leadership team with autonomy. The strategy had been effective in fuelling the company’s present growth, but as Gusto 54 expanded, Zuccarini wanted to ensure that the growth plans did not compromise the family-style culture her employees valued. Case B picks up Gusto 54’s story in September 2020, the restaurant having dealt with the challenges of the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic and a cultural self-examination amid the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. With Gusto 54’s previous expansion plans placing the restaurant in a financially precarious position, could the restaurant’s established culture help the restaurant survive the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic and respond to the cultural crisis raised by the BLM movement?

Ernst & Young (EY) is a global consortium of firms offering advisory, taxation, and audit services across all industries and countries. The People Advisory Services (PAS) team within EY specialized in advising their clients on all people-related systems and processes, including global mobility compensation and taxation. Amarpal Singh Chadha's challenge, as the partner at EY PAS, lay in suggesting the most economical, compliant, and appropriate global compensation structure that adhered to the client's specified budget requirements. Part (A) of the case challenges the students to present the best possible options that address the employees' needs and meet the host countries' processes and compliances. Part (B) of the case introduces taxation complexities that individuals may experience during expatriate and mobility assignments.

Ernst & Young (EY) is a global consortium of firms offering advisory, taxation, and audit services across all industries and countries. The People Advisory Services (PAS) team within EY specialized in advising their clients on all people-related systems and processes, including global mobility compensation and taxation. Amarpal Singh Chadha's challenge, as the partner at EY PAS, lay in suggesting the most economical, compliant, and appropriate global compensation structure that adhered to the client's specified budget requirements. Part (A) of the case challenges the students to present the best possible options that address the employees' needs and meet the host countries' processes and compliances. Part (B) of the case introduces taxation complexities that individuals may experience during expatriate and mobility assignments.

GHCL Ltd. (erstwhile Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Limited), a large chemical manufacturing publicly listed organization with over 6000 employees, had been recognized as a "Great Place to Work" (GPTW) for four consecutive years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted normal manufacturing and supply chain operations, impacting cash flows and challenged business continuity. With its working capital under pressure, the GHCL management team faced significant challenges in managing the costs. As a pre-emptive measure to sustain employee morale, the organization had announced that there would be no retrenchment of employees. With a major digitization effort to pivot the organization to Industry 4.0 standards, large investment decisions were planned, including investing in a cloud-based human resource information system (HRIS). Feedback from the previous year's GPTW survey had thrown up a number of action points that Goswami, the CHRO, wanted to implement. GHCL was focused on sustaining the GPTW accreditation, even during the pandemic. The challenge for Goswami was to work on the various cost levers, minimize HR costs without diluting employee experience and long-term organizational objectives. The virtual environment of working also required higher digitization and stronger communication measures, which were likely to extend even beyond the end of the pandemic. Managing people's decisions in an uncertain business climate is a key learning objective of the case.