Employer Relationship

Case Outcome           

The classification of a worker either as an independent contractor or employee depends mainly on the nature of their work and its realities, not pre-signed agreements. Although there was no employment agreement between Miri and Keller, the nature of internet installation services qualifies Keller to be treated as an employee with access to all benefits according to federal law. One of the factors to consider is the permanency of the working relationship (Walsh, 2019). Although Miri did not always force Keller to work for him, internet installation sometimes took much of the latter’s time, preventing him from working with other companies. Another reason to support Keller’s claims is the capital investment made while working for Miri. First, Keller used his wife’s car to move around and install internet for customers. This came at a cost, as he had to fuel the vehicle. Also, Keller bought tools for his job, such as drills, wrenches, and installation cables, representing significant economic independence.

Additionally, the opportunity cost incurred working for Miri favors Keller’s employee status claim. Keller may have made more profits had he worked for other companies. However, working at HughesNet forced him to move between installation points, meaning he could not handle more than three daily orders. Keller had the option to subcontract and take more jobs, but that would come at a higher cost. If one sacrifices to work for their current employer, it costs them the profits they would make working with others (Fudge, Tucker & Vosko, 2003).

Moreover, Keller’s roles were integral to Miri’s business. Keller provided satellite-dish installation for Keller, which was an essential part of Miri’s business (Walsh, 2019). That qualifies Keller as an employee, thus entitled to a summary judgment as a matter of law. Employees who perform critical roles in a business have more favor when claiming employment status (De Stefano et al., 2021).

Legal Significance

Based on the Miri versus Keller dispute, the employee status is the best for protecting employee interests compared to the ‘independent contractor’ status. A central decision that should be made in such disputes is whether the firm made or hired a worker (Carlson, 2017). Whenever such conflicts arise, it is the burden of an employer to prove that their workers are independent contractors. On the other hand, an employee only needs to present evidence that demonstrates that the firm treated them as employees.

References

Carlson, R. R. (2017). Employment by Design: Employees, Independent Contractors and the Theory of the Firm. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2919670

De Stefano, V., Durri, I., Stylogiannis, C., & Wouters, M. (2021). Platform work and the employment relationship. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_protect/—protrav/—travail/documents/publication/wcms_777866.pdf

Fudge, J., Tucker, E., & Vosko, L. F. (2003). Employee or Independent Contractor-Charting the Legal Significance of the Distinction in Canada. Canadian Lab. & Emp. LJ, 10, 193.

Walsh, D. J. (2019). Employment Law For Human Resource Practice (6th ed.). Cengage.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Employer Relationship

Unit 1 DB: Employee – Employer RelationshipUnit 1 DB: Employee – Employer Relationship
Keller v. Miri Microsystems LLC involved the disposition of the employee/employer relationship between cable and satellite installers and whether they were correctly classified as independent contracts or should have been classified as employees. After reading the Keller v. Miri Microsystems case study in Chapter 2 of your text, address the following questions in your initial post:
Based on the evidence presented, how would you have ruled in this case? What specific evidence presented in the case study influences your ruling? In crafting your response, consider the application of the economic realities test to this ruling.
Turning to the court’s ruling, what is the legal significance of this case as it relates to the employee/employer relationship and your HR practice?
Evidence is an integral part of academic writing and critical thinking. When crafting your responses, please be sure to use the textbook and resources, as well as any outside research you might conduct, to support your statements.

Communication Skills

After taking the test, the results showed that I am an intuitor. What surprised me the most about this was the tendency to be condescending or arrogant, which was one of the negative characteristics listed under intuition. Having a condescending attitude is one of the most character traits that one can have, in my opinion, and finding out that I could be exhibiting it really caught me off guard and had me rethinking how I communicate with people. In addition, being absent-minded in conversations was also one of the traits listed under intuition. While I often dismiss my zoning out habit as boredom, having it listed here made me realize that I need to work on my communication skills. Having identified some of the crucial areas that I lack when it comes to effective communication, I can now put more work into these areas, like learning how to pay attention and being more respectful in conversations so that I do not come off as arrogant or demeaning.

Practical communication skills are essential in a business because they contribute significantly to its success. For example, through effective communication, employees can understand their terms and conditions of employment, which in turn motivates their loyalty and commitment  (Husain, 2013). Secondly, effective communication brings about satisfaction and more customer engagement and boosts employee morale (Husain, 2013). All these factors lead to improvement in business performance. Thinking of an effective communicator, what comes to mind is being a good listener. One cannot have an effective conversation if they cannot understand each other, and the only way to understand each other is to listen to both verbal and nonverbal communication cues (Shipley, 2010). Therefore, knowing what the other person is saying and understanding the emotions behind their words enables one to respond effectively.

In an effort to improve my communication skills, I will continue learning more about negative traits associated with being an intuition, as shown in the test taken above, so that I can work on them. In addition, I will also work on improving my positive traits; this way, I will continue to improve as an effective communicator.

References

Husain, Z. (2013). Effective communication brings successful organizational change. The Business & Management Review, 3(2), 43.

Shipley, S. D. (2010, April). Listening: A concept analysis. In Nursing forum (Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 125-134). Malden, USA: Blackwell Publishing Inc.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Communication Skills

1. To assess your knowledge of communication skills, complete the following evaluation: Evaluate Your Communication Style: Self-Assessment Exercise.
   • Self-check your responses to the answers at the bottom of the assessment.
2. Consider the results from your self-evaluation and answer the following questions in 275 words, double-spaced:
3. • What answers, if any, surprised you?
   • How will this new information help you when communicating with others?
   • How would you like to improve your communication skills?
   • How can practical communication skills improve your business performance?
   • Who comes to mind when you think of an effective communicator? Why?
   • What steps will you take to improve your communication skills?

Customer Relationships-Kiamarie

Engineered Strategies Kiamarie Might Use to Capture Repeat Sales

Capturing repeat customers is vital in maintaining business sustainability. According to El-Zayaty & Coff (2017), repeat business increases customer retention, word-of-mouth marketing, and customer spending. One engineered strategy that Kiamarie might use to capture repeat sales from past customers is creating a loyalty program. The company might offer exclusive offers for repeat customers, rewards, and bonus points. Customers can be encouraged to redeem their bonus points when purchasing another car. The bonus points can be awarded based on the type of car a customer has purchased at the dealership. The second strategy is offering personalized customer service. For example, customer service can be provided by customer service agents with expertise about a specific car so that one agent addresses a customer’s questions and issues. The third strategy is sending re-engagement emails to get customer feedback on the purchase experience. Customers can also be encouraged to suggest improvement areas.

Effective CRM Strategies and the Ones to Avoid

According to Baran & Galka (2016), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the process of maximizing the value a business or organization proposes to customers through marketing activities founded on customer knowledge established through leverage, management, and collection of customer data and contact history. One of the CRM strategies that I believe is most effective for Kiamarie is using Customer Relationship Management software to track all communications between the company and customers to identify customers’ needs and complaints easily. Another CRM strategy is personalizing the car’s configurations to meet customers’ needs and preferences. The company should avoid automating customer relationship management because it would limit customer engagement because automation includes using a specific set of questions and pre-established responses. Therefore, automation may discourage customers from contacting the company due to the assumption that they will get the same feedback.

References

Baran, R. J., & Galka, R. J. (2016). Customer relationship management: The foundation of contemporary marketing strategy. Taylor & Francis.

El-Zayaty, A., & Coff, R. (2017). Appropriation of value from competitive advantages. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.013.18.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Unit 7 DB: Customer RelationshipsUnit 7 DB: Customer Relationships
its all about relationships
We already know that competition is fierce in most every business sector. This drives smart business owners to add to their competitiveness in the market place. Successful businesses have created strategies to shield their current customers from their rivals.

Customer Relationships-Kiamarie

For example, the Apple brand that has earned the trust of their customers and turned them into raving repeat customers. They offer more than a good product, they offer cool products! Their competitors offer comparable products at much lower price points, but in the eyes of Apple fans… they are not cool! Apple has created thick walls surrounding each of their fans – walls that are nearly impossible for their rivals to penetrate.
Business Scenario
Kiamarie is recently promoted sales manager of a Honda car dealership in Memphis, Tennessee. As a salesperson, she’s consistently been at or near the top of the sales team for over 10 years and has built a large repeat business from her client list.
Now that she’s in the position of sales manager, the owner of the dealership has given her a goal to increase year-over-year sales by 20 percent. Kiamarie intends to roll out a new strategy which is similar to the one she used when she was a salesperson.
Research by the Honda Dealership Network (HDN) indicates that most new car buyers trade-in and/or buy a new car every 3-4 years. Based on this statistic, the owner wants Kiamarie to create a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) plan and asked her to present it him at the end of the month.
Questions
What engineered strategies might Kiamarie use to capture repeat sales from the past customers of the dealership?
What CRM strategies do you think are most effective? Which should be avoided?

Collegiate Promotions Discussion

1. Do you think the compensation system at Collegiate Promotions is effective?

Collegiate Promotion Company pays employees based on commissions. These commissions are paid on the framework of piece-rate pay. One drawback of this compensation method is that individuals offered commissions may believe they are free agents without commitment to the business (Stewart and Brown 474). If other sales employment is available, turnover might be substantial. Another issue might occur when salespersons concentrate on short-term outcomes to collect commissions (Stewart and Brown 474). Some sales representatives may put efforts into building their accounts over months, yet their work may take time to be rewarded. The sales representatives will only have the motivation to pursue long-term growth if they are assured of immediate rewards.

2. Why would a sales representative try to sell at the top of the price range? Why at the bottom of the price range? Do you predict that most sales are made at the top or bottom of the range of possible prices?

The company’s sales representatives will likely sell at high-end prices. That is because the commission is based not only on sales volumes but also on sales price, hence the motivation to ask for a higher price. As a result, every sales representative’s responsibility is to aim high and sell at a higher price to earn a higher commission. However, some sales agents may be motivated to sell at a lower price range to increase sales volumes.

3. How does the lack of geographically protected sales areas affect salespersons’ behaviour?

Collegiate Promotions has not implemented the geographically protected sales model, making it difficult for sales representatives to determine an effective target audience. In this case, multiple sales representatives at Collegiate Promotions likely target the same clients. Although the company will sell anyway, some salespeople may be disadvantaged if they operate in an area with other sales representatives.

4. How committed do you think the independent contractors are to Collegiate Promotions? What are some positive features of the independent contractor status for the organization? What might be some positive features for the independent representatives? Would you expect sales representatives to have long-term associations with the company?

The sales representatives at Collegiate Promotions operate under the framework of independent contractors. To that end, the employer has limited control over how long they will work for the company or how many hours they may work per day. Organizations that use independent contractors seek to cut labour costs. However, one problem associated with this model is that an organization has limited control over employees’ conduct   (Stewart and Brown 166). Therefore, they are likely to be less motivated, more so if they understand that no financial incentives are forthcoming. On the other hand, independent contractors benefit from the flexibility characterized by their jobs, allowing them to achieve a work-life balance. However, Collegiate Promotions’ sales representatives may not stay long at the company since they are less engaged. They may leave to organizations that assure them of a safety net.

Works Cited

Stewart, Greg L., and Kenneth G Brown. Human Resource Management: Linking Strategy to Practice. Hoboken, NJ, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2019.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Please read the case and answer the questions at the end. Please respond to two of your peers. Do you agree or disagree?
Collegiate Promotions distributes products that are marketed to students and alumni of major universities. High-selling products include coffee mugs and T-shirts that bear collegiate logos. Collegiate Promotions has adopted an independent sales representative model to distribute its products. The sales representatives work for themselves and are not actual employees of Collegiate. They have independent contractor status.

Collegiate Promotions Discussion

Becoming an independent sales representative is easy. An interested person pays a $300 fee to obtain catalogues and other literature needed to advertise and sell the line of products. The sales representative then begins to write orders for products. A sales representative can sell to anyone through any channel. This means there are no protected territories, so several sales representatives often work in the same location. Many representatives also sell through Internet websites.
Collegiate Promotions does not set an absolute price for its products. Instead, it uses a wholesale plus pricing strategy that allows sales representatives to sell within a relatively broad range. The range is normally 30 to 50 per cent higher than wholesale. For instance, if the wholesale price of a coffee mug is $10, then the representative can choose to sell the mug at a price anywhere between $13 and $15. The sales representative receives a commission of half the amount charged over the wholesale price. If the mug sells for $13, the representative receives $1.50. If the mug sells for $15, the representative receives $2.50. Because they are independent contractors, the sales representatives receive no other compensation.
Questions:
1. Do you think the compensation system at Collegiate Promotions is effective?
2. Why would a sales representative try to sell at the top of the price range?
Why at the bottom of the price range? Do you predict that most sales are made at the top or bottom
of the range of possible prices? 3. How does the lack of geographically protected sales areas affect salespersons’ behaviour?
4. How committed do you think the independent contractors are to Collegiate Promotions? What are some positive features of the independent contractor status for the organization? What might be some positive features for the independent representatives? Would you expect sales representatives to have long-term associations with the company?