Job Description and Performance Appraisal for Warehouse Manager Position - Beard Boy Mask Co.

Warehouse Woes at the Beard Boy Mask Co.

Instructions

This Word document is provided for your convenience only.  Please upload your responses to the four questions directly to Canvas. The ‘Performance Assignment’ link is in the ‘Module’ tab on Canvas.  Please respect the word limits; gross deviations will be penalized.  You may discuss the assignment with classmates, but every student is responsible for submitting only their own work.  I will employ software built into Canvas to identify overly similar submissions.  You must upload your word documents to Canvas by 5pm on December 2, 2021.  Late submissions will be penalized 10 percent per day, and I will not accept late assignments once I begin returning graded assignments or post the marking key, whichever comes first.  Answer all four questions.  The entire assignment is graded out of 65 marks.

Scenario

Julie and Shan started a business in response to a request from a bearded friend.  One evening at the very start of the pandemic, and while pubs were still open, a group of friends sat around sipping pints of micro-brew, looking sophisticated yet bored, as only the coolest hipsters can do.  scratching his tattooed neck, a friend complained about wearing a mask: “Covid has destroyed my beard.  These masks are creating a permanent crease about halfway between my bottom lip and my chin.”  Grinning, he looked at Julie and Shan and suggested: “You two should start a company and make extra-long masks that won’t mess-up a well-groomed beard.” 

While starting a business during the pandemic was a bit frightening, the two young women were open to a challenge, and they had both just lost their service jobs as restaurants closed inside dinning. At first, they started sewing at home, and were able to produce 10 masks a day. The first batches were sold to friends and family and then word began to spread; a website was created, and they even started receiving bulk orders from barbershops and gentlemen’s clothing stores.

The Beard Boy Mask Co. was launched, and as orders grew, Julie and Shan began outsourcing production, first to friends and then they struck a deal with a manufacturer in Mexico. Once a month, a shipping container full of beard friendly masks arrived.  A warehouse was rented, and the young entrepreneurs began filling orders.  Despite working 14 hours a day, they could not fill all the orders in time.  An employee was hired to work in the warehouse, and then a second and a third.  By the end of the fifth month, six employees worked in the warehouse and Julie and Shan wanted to start focusing on other areas of the business, like designing new products and improving their website and growing blog and discussion board, which had become something of an online hipster hangout.

Warehouse Woes at the Beard Boy Mask Co.

It was clear, that if the entrepreneurs wanted to step away from warehouse duties, they needed to hire a warehouse manager.  Neither Julie nor Shan knew anything about human resource management, so they hired you, as an expert consultant.  After several conversations, you understand more about what the growing business needs.  You realize that they need help defining the warehouse manager job, selecting the best candidate, and they also need help designing a performance management system.  You ask many more questions, make a handful of visits to the warehouse, study the website, and even meet with a large retail customer; you have learned a lot about the business and what is required of the new warehouse manager job.

The following is a collection of what you have learned.  The new warehouse manager will oversee the overall operation of the warehouse.  She will supervise and manage the six warehouse employees.  For the company to continue growing, it is important that masks are received and organized into the warehouse and then orders are filled, boxed and ready for the delivery company to pick-up.  All this needs to happen as quickly as possible to ensure that orders are shipped within one week and that the correct products and quantities are packaged.  The safety of the warehouse is a growing concern; recently a pallet forklift was purchased so that boxes can be stacked on a system of 15-foot-high steel shelving units. There has already been one accident where the forklift driver avoided running into an employee by slamming into a shelving unit causing boxes to tumble to the ground.  Fortunately, no one was injured. At least three years of experience is a safety sensitive job is required.  The manager will need to lift boxes all day, be able to lift 35lbs from ground to overhead and be on his feet all day. In addition, the manager must create the schedule for the six warehouse employees and deal with discipline and performance concerns as they arise.  It is important that the manager creates a welcoming and inclusive work culture while ensuring orders are efficiently processed. Experience as manager in a vibrant welcoming work culture is required. It is important that the manager develops a system to keep track of everything in the warehouse so they can order more products as needed. It is also important that the manager knows where everything is in the warehouse.  Experience and training in warehouse management and logistical management systems is required.

Instructions

Questions

1. Julie and Shan know a lot about the new job, but they need to see all the information properly organized in a useful manner. Start by preparing a job description for the new warehouse manager position.  Using exclusively the information provided in the scenario, be sure to include an overall summary, and the details of the duties and responsibilities and working conditions.  300-word limit. 10 marks

2. After completing the job description, you can present the owners with the job specifications. Be sure to include an explanation of all the required job demands of jobholders including knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics. Again, use only the information presented in the scenario.  250-word limit. 10 marks

3. Now that you have documented the new warehouse manager job with a job description and specifications, the owners would like you to design a performance appraisal process. Exclusively from the information provided in the scenario identify three performance related criteria, each with an accompanying performance measure. Since there is only one warehouse manager, you will employ non-comparative measures, but please explain your choice of direct/indirect measures and objective/subjective measures. Be sure to also explain the frequency of the performance appraisal and how feedback is provided to the jobholder. Your proposed performance appraisal will be assessed based on how practical, realistic, achievable, and meaningful the measures are, as well as an overall connection to the goals of the owners (Julie and Shan).  Be sure to justify your choices according to these metrics.  600-word limit. 40 marks. 

Hint:  Below is an example of an obvious performance criteria and measure.  Please use it to help give you an idea of what I am looking for.  Please don’t use my exact example in your response (you can use efficiency as the performance criteria but come up with your own measure).  Remember that you need to provide three criteria, each with its own measure.

This is an example of an excellent answer.

Performance criteria #1: warehouse efficiency.  The warehouse must run efficiently so that the organization can fill existing orders and allow the company to grow.  Growth will include a higher volume of orders and a more diversified product offering.  Performance measure: the warehouse fills orders correctly and on time for shipping 98 percent of the time. Justification: ultimately the warehouse is measured on its ability to fill orders.  All other efficiency concerns (receiving, organizing, tracking) lead to the ability to fill orders.  Details: The warehouse logistic management system will track orders that are correct and ready for shipping on time and the percentage is calculated every month. This permits small deviations in productivity to account for uncontrolled delays, such as weather or a sick employee but permits sufficient time for the unit to recover and make alternative plans.  A report is generated and one of the owners will review the report with the jobholder and if needed identify areas for improvement.  This is an example of a direct and objective observation since the actual performance is measured by the logistic system.  Warehouse efficiency via a measured order completion rate is realistic to calculate so there is no reason to use indirect and subjective measures.

4. Finally, Julie and Shan have asked you to weigh in on a disagreement that has caused a delay in selecting a candidate to fill the warehouse manager job.  After considering several applications from internal candidates, the owners decided to recruit external candidates, and two applicants stand out.  However, they do not agree on who should be offered the job. The most qualified candidate is perfect, but she is confined to a wheelchair.  The next best candidate is able bodied and would also make an excellent choice.  They have asked for your opinion on whether they should hire the disabled candidate.  You know that the Saskatchewan Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on disability, but you also know that an employer can refuse to make an accommodation (hire the employee) if walking/lifting is a bona fide (legally defensible) requirement of the job.  Provide the owners with your advice.  Please consider the debate from the perspective of the owners who have invested their lifesavings into the business and are fighting to keep the business viable and growing.  There is no right or wrong answer.  Your response is assessed based on the justification for your decision. 350-word limit.  5 marks