Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

Lou Livingston opened his first laundromat ten years ago, and opened a second laundromat 2 years later. The main attraction of these coin laundry businesses for him was that they were capital rather than labor intensive. Thus, once the investment in machinery was made, the stores could he run with just one unskilled attendant and none of the labor problems one normally expects from being in the retail service business.

Five years ago, Lou decided to expand the services in each of his stores to include the dry cleaning and pressing of clothes. He added these in part because he wanted to better utilize the unused space in the rather large stores he currently had, and partly because he was, as he put it, tired of sending out the dry cleaning and pressing work that came in from our coin laundry clients to a dry cleaner five miles away, who then took most of what should have been our profits. After a year or so, he was sufficiently satisfied with his stores performance to open four more of the same type of stores.

Each of Lous 6 stores now has its own on-site manager and, on average, about seven employees. Annual revenues for each store are about $500,000. Up until recently, Lou oversaw all operations across the stores. While this was an easily manageable task with just two laundromats, he is now finding it challenging to keep up with the increased demands associated with ensuring the success of all 6 stores, and the fact that he now needs to attract and retain qualified employees for each.

Lou has approached you to serve as a troubleshooter/consultant to help him identify human resource management concepts and techniques for solving the companys problems and facilitating its future growth.

1. Lou knows he has many HR-related issues he will need to address. What is the FIRST thing Lou needs to do to ensure his efforts will succeed?

a) hire an HR consultant to develop policies and procedures for his company.

b) ensure he has a clear understanding of the company's strategy so that he can design HR practices that support company goals.

c) develop a comprehensive plan for attracting, recruiting, and hiring new employees.

d) develop an employee handbook to be used across his 6 stores.

2. When it comes to developing HR practices for his store, Lou will need to consider all of the following EXCEPT

a) developing a marketing plan to attract new customers

b) determining if his pay/benefits strategy is consistent with that of his competitors

c) developing a strategy to find and attract potential candidates

d) outlining clear responsibilities and expectations for employee performance

3. Now that the company has expanded and added new jobs (e.g., managers, cleaners, and pressers), Lou will need to clearly define the tasks and responsibilities of these key jobs and how the work will be performed. Which HR practice does this reflect?

a) job analysis and design

b) performance management

c) recruiting and selection

d) labor law compliance

4. Lou believes strongly in the value of promoting entry-level employees into a management position. In order to do this, he will need to help prepare these individuals for a leadership role. Which HR practice does this reflect?

a) performance management

b) recruiting and hiring

c) employee development

d) benefits administration

5. One of Lou's biggest challenges will be finding potential employees and encouraging them to apply for positions in his laundromats. Which HR function does this reflect?

a) selection

b) recruiting

c) employee relations

d) job analysis

6. Now that Lou has expanded his operations to include dry cleaning services (which involves the use of potentially dangerous chemicals), he needs to ensure that each of his laundromats follows consistent standards to protect employee health and safety. Which HR function does this reflect?

a) workforce analytics

b) labor law compliance

c) performance management

d) training and development