Complete the following TIP exercise from Chapter 2 in the text:

1. Make a list of five companies that you are familiar with. For each company, write down the following:

   1. What is their business-level strategy (cost leadership, focus, or differentiation)?

   2. Does the workforce provide a strategic competitive advantage for the company? Why or why not?

   3. What specific actions should HR take to support the business strategy?

2. Read the Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility for Human Resource Management (under Resources, Number 1). Interview an HR professional and ask them if they ever feel pressured to take any actions that would violate this code. Also, ask them for advice on how to handle these types of situations when they occur.

3. If you are employed, ask your HR department what metrics they track and how they benchmark them. (If you are not employed, then partner with a classmate who is employed for this exercise.) Next, use the benchmarking reports (under Resources 46) to identify how the company compares to the averages.