ROOM NO- 6
CASE STUDY
Submitted by –
Vanshika A16
Mahima A11
Prateek A54
Shubham A
Training for Whom ?
Microelectronics, a California-based electronics defense contractor, has enjoyed a smooth
growth curve over the past five years, primarily because of favourable defense funding
during the Reagan administration's build-up of U.S. military defenses. Microelectronics has
had numerous contacts to design and develop guidance and radar systems for military
weaponry.
Although the favourable funding cycle has enabled. Microelectronics to grow at a steady
rate, the company is finding it increasingly difficult to keep its really good engineers,
Based on extensive turnover analyses conducted by Ned Jackson, the human resources
planning manager, Microelectronics problem seems to be its inability to keep engineers
beyond the "critical" five year point. Apparently, the probability of turnover drops
dramatically after five years of service. Ned's conclusion is that Microelectronics has been
essentially serving as an industry college. Their staffing strategy has always been to hire
the best and brightest engineers from the best engineering schools in the United States.
Ned believes that these engineers often get lost in the shuffle at the time they join the
firm. For example, most (if not all) of the new hires must work on non-classified projects
until cleared by security to join a designated major project. Security clearance usually
takes anywhere from six to ten months. In the meantime the major project has started,
and these young engineers frequently miss out on its design phase, considered the most
creative and challenging segment of the program. Because of the nature of project work,
new engineering often have difficulty learning the organizational culture - such as who to
ask when you have a problem, what the general dos and don'ts are, and why the
organization does things in a certain way.
After heading a task force of human resource professionals within Microelectronics, Ned
has been designated to present to top management a proposal designed to reduce
turnover among young engineering recruits. The essence of his plan is to create a mentor
program, except that in this plan the mentors will not be the seasoned graybeards of
Microelectronics, but rather those engineers in the critical three-to-five year service
window, the period of highest turnover, These engineers will be paired with new
engineering recruits before the recruits actually report to Microelectronics for work.
According to the task force, the programme is twofold : (1) it benefits the newcomer by
easing the transition into the company, and (2) it helps the three-to-five-year service
engineers by enabling them to serve an important role for the company. By performing
the mentor role, these engineers will become more committed and hence less likely to
leave. As Ned prepared his fifteen-minute presentation for top management, he wondered
it he had adequately anticipated the possible objections to the program in order to make
an intelligent defense of it. Only time would tell
(a)Identify the salient issues from HR point of view for this case?
Retention of employees was the major issue in this case
Loss of interest in the actual work as but he time they clear security clearance and join the
project it would have passed the design phase and would be hard to understand.
(b) If you were to study this turnover problem, how would you conduct a needs analysis or
evolve a counselling programme?
In this case the turnover is less due to lack of motivation at work, growth opportunities, "
Mentor ship about the organization structure or a walkthrough in the beginning of joining
even though they higher best talent they do not stay for long the commitment at work is
missing as they are dissatisfied.
c) What are the causes of dissatisfaction and turnover in Microelectronics?
Lost in organizations after joining as there is no directions about work
The all-clearance process takes long so the new hire loses interest in the challenge
When they are assigned, they just finish work, and no challenge is thrown at them to discover
their creativity.
d) Do you find the mentoring programme suitable to reduce turnover? Justify your answer
In my assumption the mentor program will be very help for new recruits as the existing
employee has sense of responsibility to teach organizations culture in his win in more
friendly manner which is help full and new hire.
For all the discussion the all the existing employees will be present, and he passes the
information to his buddy and the growth happens for organisations
