Discussion Essay
Your research paper for this class assumes that you are newly hired to work in the human resources department of a small entrepreneurial venture called KATE, LLP. KATE has operated as a small private high school, but new owners decided to offer a full slate of classes online and transform the school primarily into an online high school. The offerings will include all mathematics, sciences, languages, social studies, humanities, foreign languages, and composition classes that would be available in a normal high school. The courses of study will be directed toward students who will be applying to colleges across the country. Consideration is
Target markets include the home school market, as well as Olympic hopefuls. The market for potential Olympic athletes is 50,000 annually. Inroads have been made with the largest home school association and the US Olympic and Paralympics Committee to encourage these students to take courses in KATE. Another market is smaller school public districts and private high schools that cannot justify hiring some specialty teachers like physics instructors. Credit for these classes will transfer seamlessly into the districts’ records for the students. Talks are in progress for dual enrollment classes to be provided by UT Martin. This agreement is expected to add more offerings for KATE.
While these markets appear to be lucrative, plans include development of an online tutoring operation that will employ high school teachers to tutor students online in the afternoons and evenings. These services will provide high quality tutoring for any student whether they are taking online classes from KATE or not. The profit potential for this segment of the company could exceed that of the high school.
The goal for KATE is to grow aggressively and offer an IPO on the NASDAQ in five years. Current financing is available to support these efforts.
These plans are expected to move KATE from a small-town school to a nationally recognized online high school. Exponential growth is expected. Previously, human resource management has been a one-person operation that covered benefit administration and some very basic human resource operations. Strategic management of human resources will be vital to ensure that KATE is successful. Following EEO procedures and guidelines is crucial to having a clean record as the firm approaches the IPO.
Your task is to write a plan that details how KATE will meet EEO guidelines and procedures for KATE. You have a limit of 10 pages, double spaced, 1-inch margins, using 10-point type. References are beyond this limit. Appendices are unlimited. Concentrate your writings on “how” and “what” to accomplish the goal of compliance rather than “why” the components are important.
