MILR Concentration: Human Resources and Organizations
Sample of Live Cases for Class Projects
- Sponsor Company: Merck
Project Title: Scientific/MD Focused Communications Strategy to Improve Merck’s Image as an employer-of-choice
Project Description: Identify the existing value proposition and key messages regarding why scientists/MD’s should join MRL and the most effective strategy and media outlets to deliver this information. The voluntary withdrawal of Vioxx and all of the surrounding media coverage have created an environment where prospective new hires are questioning Merck’s scientific integrity and business strategy. - Sponsor Company: Weyerhauser
Project Title: Employer of Choice Strategies for Diversity Pipeline
Project Description: Looking to understand how Weyerhauser can become an employer of choice, particularly in their attempts to build a diverse/inclusive workforce. The project may potentially include trying to identify best practices, identifying aspects of Weyerhauser that will attract diverse applicants, and creating metrics for assessing impacts of changes to recruitment/selection system. - Sponsor Company: General Electric
Project Title: Why GE for experienced hires?
Project Description: Provide an assessment of the reasons why mid-career or entry-level workers choose a company. The goal is to assess what multiple types of job seekers look for in a company so that GE can do a better job of selling their culture and opportunities to attract top talent. This project will help GE to shape the content of their jobs/careers web pages. - Sponsor Company: General Mills
Project Title: Building a Strong On-Boarding Process for Experienced Employees and Employee Retention
Project Description: (1) Ensure retention by having a welcoming and inclusive on-boarding experience and increase the effective transfer of relevant knowledge and insights from seasoned hires. (2) Determine the most important factors that influence a company’s ability to retain critical talent at different points in an employee’s career. Develop a "Retention Strategy" that takes into consideration and meets the needs of the aging workforce, the new millennials and everyone in-between. The Retention Strategy should include specific recommendations for how General Mills can ensure we retain our top talent in the future. We would be very interested in learning from research data, benchmark data as well as key insights from students. - Sponsor Company: Monsanto
Project Title: Talent Management
Project Description: 1). Research on "Selection Instrument" best practices, including the competencies generally assessed on these instruments (e.g., work values, cognitive abilities, personality characteristics, etc.). 2). What are the "best practices" for selecting candidates other than selection assessments (e.g., assessment centers, behavioral based interviewing, etc)? What is the best process for interviewing candidates, but removing bias from the process? 3). Identify "best practices" in staffing processes (e.g., steps of the process), which can be applied globally. 4). Identify "best practices" from a systems perspective on employee retention practices (e.g., job sharing or phased retirement for those nearing retirement age/ offering retention bonuses for those positions with high competition). For example, what are the compensation and/or benefit options available for retirees who want to come back to work as contractors/consultants/or phased work hours? - Sponsor Company: Sun Microsystems
Project Title: Workforce Planning and Optimization
Project Description: The project involves trying to understand how companies translate attrition trends and succession planning activities into workforce planning, recruitment objectives, and business plans/budgets. If this is not commonly done, how do we build a successful process that integrates these separate initiatives into a cohesive employment/organizational strategy? - Sponsor Company: Cigna
Project Title: Diversity and the Bottom Line
Project Description: The class project involves working in consulting teams to help the sponsor organization understand the potential bottom line impact of diversity and diversity initiatives. Each project team will research the potential impact of diversity on various organizational outcomes, such as productivity, operational excellence, profitability, customer responsiveness, and industry leadership. Through an understanding of the organization and work environment, each team will explore how diversity can influence business processes and outcomes. Each team will provide recommendations for drawing both direct and indirect links between diversity and the bottom line, and for metrics to measure and monitor bottom line impact. The class project involves working in consulting teams to help the sponsor organization develop strategic approaches to meet diversity business challenges with respect to the workforce, the company’s brand (reputation capital and community relationships), supplier diversity and leadership.
