- Jason Hubbs was hired as a senior technical writer at Big Time Computers but struggled in his new role, failing to meet deadlines and producing work with poor writing quality. - His manager, Lisa Cavanaugh, implemented procedures to monitor and supervise Hubbs more closely, including weekly status meetings and having another employee mentor him. However, resentment grew among Hubbs's coworkers and performance issues persisted. - Cavanaugh must now decide how to address Hubbs's ongoing problems as well as lingering low morale in the technical publications department.

1. 1
Assignment 2
Please read ALL directions below before starting your final
assignment. INSTRUCTIONS:
• Read the entire case study carefully and then respond to the
seven
Discussion Questions on page 5. Answer all questions and all
parts
of each question.
• Develop each answer to the fullest extent possible, including
citations
from course resources, where applicable, to support your
arguments.
• Submit your assignment as a separate MS Word document in
your
assignments folder. Do not type your answers into the case
study
document.

2. • Include a Cover Page with Name, Date, and Title of
Assignment.
• Do not include the original question. Use the following
format:
Question 1, Question 2, etc.
• Each response should be written in complete sentences,
double-
spaced, and spell-checked. Use 12-point Times New Roman font
with 1-inch margins on all sides.
• Include page numbers according to APA formatting
guidelines.
• Include citations in APA format at the end of each answer.
• You must submit to the assignment link by the due date. A
missing
assignment will be assigned a grade of 0.
© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Alan
Cabelly, Ph.D.

3. 2
Case Overview—Part B
In August, Jason Hubbs submitted a résumé to the human
resource department of Big Time
Computers Inc. in response to an advertisement in the local
newspaper for a senior technical
writer. After a short interview process in which three of the four
individuals on the selection
committee felt that he should be hired, Lisa Cavanaugh hired
him.
Hubbs spent a three-week training period learning departmental
methods and procedures,
becoming familiar with Big Time’s products, and preparing for
his first writing assignments. As
a senior writer, Hubbs was also expected to serve as a technical
publications project leader for
one of Big Time’s product groups. During the training period,
Hubbs attended project meetings
to meet the employees from other departments who were
involved with that product group and
to become current on what was happening within it.

4. Following the training period, Hubbs started his first writing
assignment, the revision of a
software manual to reflect upgraded product software. Hubbs
went two weeks beyond the
scheduled date for completing the first draft of the revision. In
editing the first draft, Hamrick
felt that the writing quality and organization were poor and
suggested extensive changes before
the manual was distributed for review. Hubbs implemented
these changes and prepared the
manual for review. One week before the review, Hubbs sent an
advance notice email message to
the reviewers, notifying them of the upcoming review. Mark
Samson, the project leader for the
product described in the manual, pointed out to Lisa Cavanaugh
that the message was sloppy,
and had misspellings and poor grammar. He expressed concern
that the credibility of the
technical publications department was at risk if the quality of
any of the written material that
went out to the entire company was poor. Hamrick and Samson
also expressed concern to
Cavanaugh about Hubbs’s writing ability.
Cavanaugh decided to implement some procedures to monitor

5. Hubbs’s progress and temporarily
give him more supervision. She scheduled weekly meetings with
Hubbs during which he was to
give her a detailed status report for the week, with particular
emphasis on tracking manual
schedules. She also required Hubbs to send his work to the
technical editor on a chapter-by
chapter basis, and each week Hamrick would meet with Hubbs
to discuss his writing.
Cavanaugh also decided to postpone giving project leader
responsibilities to Hubbs, but she had
him continue to attend project meetings with Murray and
planned to give Hubbs a project in the
future.
Resentment was starting to develop in the technical publications
department due to Hubbs’s
failure to meet expectations. Several of the writers complained
to Cavanaugh because Hubbs
had been hired as a senior writer at a higher salary, yet his
writing skills were apparently inferior
to theirs. Murray also expressed dissatisfaction at having to
serve as project leader for two
projects when the expectation was that Hubbs would take one of
the projects.

6. © 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Alan
Cabelly, Ph.D.
3
Hamrick fell behind in his editing assignments because of the
extra time he was spending with
Hubbs, and the editorial assistants complained about the
quantity of cleanup required because of
Hubbs’s poor work. In private meetings with dissatisfied
employees, Cavanaugh expressed faith
in Hubbs’s abilities and urged patience while she worked on
developing his skills.
Hubbs showed signs of improvement in his writing skills and
his ability to meet deadlines under
the procedures implemented by Cavanaugh. As a result of this
and because Hubbs now had four
months’ experience at Big Time, Cavanaugh assigned Hubbs to
write a marketing article on a
topic related to his area of technical expertise. Hubbs was to
work with a marketing engineer
and a marketing product manager to develop the article by a
specified date. When the initial

7. review of the article was due, Hubbs gave the first draft to the
marketing department without
any review or edit from within the technical publications
department. Marketing was dissatisfied
with the organization and content of the article; Dennis Smith,
marketing product manager, met
with Lisa Cavanaugh to express this dissatisfaction. Although
Cavanaugh assured Smith that
technical publications could complete the article to his
satisfaction and on schedule, Smith
decided to have the article written by a marketing employee.
Though his writing skills were slowly improving, lingering
resentment continued about
Hubbs’s status and salary as a senior writer. Morale in the
department was low. Hamrick
continued to have a difficult time fulfilling his editing
responsibilities because of the extra time
he was spending with Hubbs, and Murray couldn’t meet manual
schedules because of the time
spent fulfilling project leader responsibilities for two projects.
Lisa Cavanaugh knew that it was
time to act.

8. © 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Alan
Cabelly, Ph.D.
4
Big Time Computers inc.
Technical Publications Department
© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Alan
Cabelly, Ph.D.

9. 5
Answer the following:
1. Evaluate the effectiveness of the process of onboarding
Hubbs. What elements of the
new hire orientation and onboarding processes would be
particularly important to his
successful performance?
2. Assume the role of the manager in this case. How do you
handle a new employee who
lacks the specific skills that were presented during the selection
process? How do you
determine if additional training is the solution and how much
training is reasonable or
expected? How would you know if training is not the solution?
3. Discuss the risks versus the benefits of the manager’s
decision to have Hamrick mentor
Hubbs. Overall, do you think this decision was effective? If
you do not agree, who do
you think would have been a more suitable mentor for Hubbs
and why?

10. 4. Evaluate the manager’s process of handling Hubb’s
performance problems. Was it
effective or could it have been handled differently? Was
anything overlooked? What
other factors besides lack of skills or ability could have
contributed to Hubb’s poor
performance? How could the manager have mitigated some of
these factors?
5. Consider the performance issue with the marketing
department. What happens when
poor performance by a team member affects a department’s
reputation and credibility?
What options should the manager consider in rectifying the
situation?
6. The manager needs to act. What are her options and what
factors and/or additional
information must she consider before making a decision? What
are the implications of
this decision for the team?
7. Review Case A and reflect on the recruiting and selection
processes used to hire Hubbs.

11. • How could the recruiting and/or selection processes been
improved to mitigate the
new hire’s performance issues?
• What effect could the recruiting and/or selection processes
have had on Hubbs’s
subsequent performance and his team’s perceptions of his
performance?
© 2008 Society for Human Resource Management. Alan
Cabelly, Ph.D.
6
Assignment 2: Case Study 1 Part B: Onboarding and
Performance
Management
Worth up to 25 points and 25% of course grade

12. The purpose of the activity is for you to explain and evaluate
different recruiting, selection,
onboarding, and performance management methods.
Assignment alignment with Course Competencies:
• Recommend recruiting, selection and performance
management solutions or initiatives to
address dynamic customer and stakeholder needs.
• Interpret HR recruiting, selection and performance
management issues and challenges to
develop strategic solutions and interventions.
• Critique recruiting, selection and performance management
initiatives to ensure
alignment with HR and organizational strategies.
Deliverable:
1. Read the entire case study carefully and then respond to the
seven Discussion Questions
on page 5. Answer all questions and all parts of each question.
2. Develop each answer to the fullest extent possible, including
citations from course
resources, where applicable, to support your arguments.
3. Submit your assignment as a separate MS Word document in

13. your assignments folder.
Do not type your answers into the case study document.
4. Include a Cover Page with Name, Date, and Title of
Assignment.
5. Do not include the original question. Use the following
format: Question 1, Question 2,
etc.
6. Each response should be written in complete sentences,
double-spaced and spell-checked.
Use 12-point Times New Roman font with 1-inch margins on all
sides
7. Include page numbers according to APA formatting
guidelines.
8. Include citations in APA format at the end of each answer.
9. You must submit to the assignment link by the due date. A
missing assignment will be
assigned a grade of 0.