Human Resources
MOTORS AND MORE, INC. – A PROGRESSIVE HR CASE STUDY
By Don McCain, Ed.D.
Learning Objective(s)
Upper-level undergraduate students will work through issues associated with developing and sustaining
an HR department to support an organization facing labor shortages and high product demand. At the
end of the study, students learn how to:
1. Align HR initiatives with corporate strategy.
2. Develop a complete HR organization structure, including roles and responsibilities, and then
adjust the structure to support the organization.
3. Develop a basic staffing plan.
4. Develop a basic training plan.
5. Determine and support a pay and benefits plan.
6. Determine future HR requirements.
CASE OVERVIEW
You are hired as the HR director for the fictitious Motors and More, Inc. Motors and More, a business-tobusiness
sales company, manufactures small motors and accessories for industrial and home products.
The industry is highly competitive, and the company follows a prospector strategy.
A prospector strategy takes advantage of new markets and products (Gomez-Mejia, Galkin and Cardy,
2001). Organizational emphasis is on growth, innovation and new product development. A prospector
wants to be first to market. To respond to competitive and rapidly changing markets, prospectors have
flexible, flat and more decentralized organizational structures.
Motors and More is headquartered in a small southern town of 28,000 people, with a low unemployment
rate of 3.1 percent. This means that demand for workers exceeds the labor supply. There is a technical
school and a community college within 50 miles of Motors and More. Motors and More’s president is
former military and is highly patriotic. He is committed to staying in the community. Recently, several
other local companies have experienced labor organizing activities.
Motors and More employs 116 people. Until you were hired, there was no HR department. Recently, the
organization’s employee turnover rate has been higher than normal. The marketing and sales department
continues to sell products to an expanding market. Because of this increased product demand, output
must be increased by 96 percent.
Eighty-eight percent of Motors and More employees are Caucasian. With the exception of one female
supervisor in the customer service department, the president and all other managers are Caucasian men.
Management promotions have been based on seniority. The local labor market population is
approximately 48 percent minority. There is a growing Hispanic and Kurdish population that have not
been accepted into the community.
All the employees in manufacturing (including quality control), customer service and operations
(responsible for shipping and receiving; distribution of raw materials, components parts and finished
goods inventory; and maintenance and cleaning) have at least a high school degree or GED. The
organization provides some skills training courses. Please refer to the organizational chart in Fig
