1. Why is it important for start-ups to pay attention to people issues?

2. How can having a good HR function help start-ups to grow profitably?

3. How do you think HR differs in large companies like IBM or Goodyear, compared to start-ups like GitHub?

It's very kind of you to read the case and answer all the 3 questions for me, thank you so much!

CASE STUDY 15.3: THE NEED FOR HR AT TECH START-UPS Marc Andreessen, one of Netscape's founders and a venture capitalist in the Silicon Valley, tweeted his version of the Top 10 ways that startups can damage themselves. One way was Refuse to take HR seriously: allow terrible internal manager & employee behavior to catalyze into catastrophic ethical and legal crisis." The San Francisco-based software start-up GitHub exemplifies this potential issue. On an anonymous messaging app, an unnamed user posted, The self-proclaimed Queen of GitHub is leaving her throne. The masses cheer." Julie Ann Horvath, the subject of the post, responded with a flurry of online allegations regarding gender harassment at the company. A month later, company president and cofounder Tom Preston-Werner stepped down, in spite of the fact that he was not associated with the post. He did acknowledge that he had made errors in judgment in how he handled the situation. The situation exemplifies the problems that often plague a freewheeling start-up company. The lack of rules and structure create a culture where people can innovate, but sometimes rules exist for a reason. An absence of rules combined with young people inexperienced in office politics and used to a say-whatever-you-want mindset with regard to social media can create a cauldron in which conflict brews. The company brought in an investigator to explore the substance of the gender harassment and hostile work environment claims. The investigator found no evidence supporting the claims but did find that a culture that blurred personal and professional boundaries exacerbated the conflict between Mr. Preston-Werner and Ms. Horvath. In addition, with the lack of a substantive HR function, the company seemed illequipped to deal with the conflict. Tech start-up GitHub has been forced to grow up, and the 250-person company seems to have taken Mr. Andreessen's advice to heart when it comes to HR. The company now has almost a dozen people devoted to developing leadership training programs, organizational design, and conflict resolution. It also employs an individual formally trained in conflict resolution. In addition, the company has begun developing a formal organizational structure with clear reporting relationships and distinct managerial predictions. Start-up tech firms often resist such moves for fear that the rules, structures, and job descriptions will stifle innovation and cost too much money. However, as the GitHub story shows, such costs often serve as necessary investments to build a successful company over the long term