New Boss Incident

1. Do you think Sam Kutzman was a good choice for temporary section chief? Burrell would have been a much better choice for the position than Kutzman. Though both Burrell and Kutzman are senior engineers, Wagner’s departure made Burrell the most experienced with the workings of the grants department. He had better hands-on familiarity and conceptual knowledge than anyone else in the company. On the other hand, Kutzman totally have no experience with grants. From what had been gathered from the incident report, his expertise is on research and technical assistance.
Kutzman’s experience, at most, qualified him to help the team by providing treatment reports but not with leading the team. Unsure of even the most basic concepts of the job, Kutzman will probably end up being coached by Burrell and the junior engineers. Ultimately, his inexperience coupled with the pressure of his responsibilities as section chief will frustrate and even discourage Kutzman, lowering his personal productivity and affecting team and company performance. 2. How well has human resource planning worked in this situation?
Human resource failed in planning for this important position turnover, as well as in their last-minute promotion of the wrong person. Wagner gave the company two months’ notice, but human resource wasted time by not putting any effort in looking for a suitable replacement. In that p of time, Wagner could have transitioned the responsibilities and other important details, like partnerships and people-management specifics, to his replacement. He could have trained Burrell or Kutzman and prepared either for the section chief position.

Had the human resource department moved faster in the replacement search, they could have also lessened or avoided financial and performance costs for the subsequent learning curve of the new hire. Human resource should have also put more thought in selecting the person with right experiences for the job. Their failure in this regard offended a skilled employee by bypassing him and choosing a less inexperienced one. If it turns out that Kutzman cannot actually handle the position or department itself, the company would have to find another replacement, thus doubling recruitment financial and time costs.