| Course | MGT 414 Principles of Management |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 6 |
| Paper type | Human resources and diversity paper |
| Length | About 1,089 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MGT 414 Module 6
Who Climbs the Pole Next: Human Resource Practices and Diversity in a Lineworker Workforce Facing Retirement
Student Name
Business Administration Program, Aspen University
MGT 414: Principles of Management
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Who Climbs the Pole Next: Human Resource Practices and Diversity in a Lineworker Workforce Facing Retirement
Ozark Hills Electric Cooperative, a composite member-owned utility in southern Missouri, delivers electricity to about 68,000 homes and farms across a rural territory. Its 240 lineworkers build and repair the lines, often in storms and at night. About 95 of them, roughly 40%, will be eligible to retire within eight years. Becoming a journeyman lineworker takes a four-year apprenticeship, so the cooperative must hire now for the crew it needs in 2034. The workforce is also narrow: 98% of lineworkers are men, and most were hired through referrals from current crew. Management wants HR practices that will fill the coming gap with capable people from a wider pool.
The Hiring Pipeline
| Stage | Last year | Women | Target in three years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applicants | 410 | 16 | 600, with 60 women |
| Passed climbing and strength test | 140 | 2 | 260 |
| Interviewed | 62 | 1 | 90 |
| Hired as apprentices | 18 | 0 | 30 |
| Completed apprenticeship (four-year average) | 11 of 18 | 0 | 24 of 30 |
What the Data Show
Three problems stand out. Few women apply, because the cooperative recruits mainly through crew referrals. Most applicants fail the climbing and strength test on their first attempt, often because they have never climbed a pole. And four of every ten apprentices leave before completing training, most in the first year.
Systems of Practices
Huselid (1995) surveyed close to a thousand companies. Firms leaning more heavily on what he called high-performance work practices, among them rigorous hiring, steady training, formal reviews and pay linked to results, tended to lose fewer employees, produce more per worker and earn better financial returns. His results suggest practices work as a system, not as isolated programs. Ozark Hills has invested in apprenticeship training but not in how it recruits or supports apprentices, so the system is unbalanced.
Why Diversity Perspectives Matter
Ely and Thomas (2001) studied three professional service firms and found three perspectives that guided how groups thought about diversity. Groups holding a discrimination-and-fairness view saw diversity as a matter of equal treatment and freedom from bias. Groups holding an access-and-legitimacy view prized diverse staff mainly as a bridge to diverse markets. Groups holding an integration-and-learning view used members' varied backgrounds to rethink how the core work itself was done. Only the integration-and-learning perspective produced lasting benefits for group functioning. For Ozark Hills, the lesson is that hiring a few women without changing crew practices, such as how apprentices are taught and whether new ideas are welcome, would likely fail. Crews that learn from every member, including about safety practices and equipment fit, gain more.
Bias in Screening
Bertrand and Mullainathan (2004) answered help-wanted ads in two large American cities with about 5,000 invented résumés, attaching names at random that sounded either white or African American. Résumés with white-sounding names received about 50% more callbacks. The experiment shows how informal screening can disadvantage qualified candidates without anyone intending it. At Ozark Hills, interviews are unstructured conversations with crew supervisors who often know the referred candidates, a setting where such bias can operate.
Recommended Practices
For recruitment, the cooperative will create a ten-week pre-apprenticeship with two community colleges, teaching climbing, safety and basic electrical theory, open to anyone and promoted through high schools, veterans' organizations and women-in-trades groups. Graduates will be guaranteed an interview. For selection, the climbing and strength test will be reviewed with an outside specialist to confirm it measures what the job requires, and candidates who fail will be offered practice sessions and a retest. Interviews will follow a fixed set of questions drawn from the lineworker job, asked of all candidates alike and scored by a panel of three. For development, every apprentice will have a journeyman mentor, a check-in with the training coordinator each quarter and equipment fitted to their size, a common complaint among smaller apprentices. Crew leaders will be trained to invite questions from apprentices.
Why Apprentices Leave
Exit interviews with the seven apprentices who left last year pointed to three causes. Several said they felt like outsiders on crews where everyone else had known each other for years, and that questions were met with jokes. Two said the first winter of storm work, with long shifts away from home, came as a shock no one had prepared them for. Two others left for higher pay at a contractor, which the cooperative cannot always match. Mentoring, an honest preview of storm work during the pre-apprenticeship and a raise at each completed year of training address the first two causes and soften the third.
Changing Crew Culture
Ely and Thomas's integration-and-learning perspective requires more than new hires; it asks crews to treat differences as useful. Crew leaders will run a short safety discussion at the start of each job in which every member, including apprentices, names a risk they see. This practice, already used by some utilities, gives newer and different voices a regular place to speak and often surfaces hazards experienced lineworkers have stopped noticing. Crew leaders who build strong apprentices will be recognized in their own reviews.
Costs
The pre-apprenticeship costs about $4,000 per participant, shared with the colleges and partly covered by state workforce grants. Mentoring adds about two hours a week of a journeyman's time per apprentice. The test review costs about $15,000 once. Against these costs, each apprentice who leaves in the first year represents roughly $45,000 in lost training investment, so raising completion from 61% to 80% would pay for the program within a few years.
Legal Considerations
All practices follow federal equal employment law: recruitment is broadened, but selection is based on job-related criteria applied equally, with no quotas.
Who Leads the Change
The vice president of operations will own the plan, with the training coordinator running the pre-apprenticeship and mentoring program. A committee of three crew leaders, two apprentices and an HR specialist will review progress each quarter and suggest changes, giving lineworkers a direct say in the practices built for them.
Measures
The cooperative will track applicants, test pass rates, hires and apprenticeship completion by gender and by source, and will survey apprentices each year about their training experience.
Conclusion
Ozark Hills faces a retirement wave in a trade that takes four years to learn, while recruiting from a narrow pool. Research on high-performance work practices, diversity perspectives and hiring bias points to a system of changes, broader recruiting, fair and valid selection and real support for apprentices, that should both fill the coming gap and build crews that learn from everyone in them.
References
Bertrand, M., & Mullainathan, S. (2004). Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A field experiment on labor market discrimination. American Economic Review, 94(4), 991-1013. https://doi.org/10.1257/0002828042002561
Ely, R. J., & Thomas, D. A. (2001). Cultural diversity at work: The effects of diversity perspectives on work group processes and outcomes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(2), 229-273. https://doi.org/10.2307/2667087
Huselid, M. A. (1995). The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal, 38(3), 635-672. https://doi.org/10.2307/256741
MGT 414 Module 6 instructions, in plain terms
Human resource management and diversity are paired in Aspen's MGT 414, and the paper typically asks students to recommend HR practices that help an organization meet a workforce challenge. The Module 6 wording in your classroom is what counts; the example addresses one employer's trade workforce. Describe the workforce challenge with data. Review research on HR practices and on diversity. Trace the pipeline from recruitment through selection and development, identifying where candidates are lost. Recommend practices at each stage, explaining how they improve both quality and fairness. Address legal requirements in general terms. Set measures, and say what evidence would show the practices are succeeding.
How the MGT 414 Module 6 example is put together
The paper opens with Ozark Hills Electric Cooperative, which employs 240 lineworkers and expects about 95 retirements in eight years. A table traces last year's pipeline: 410 applicants, 62 interviewed, 18 hired and 11 still employed after the four-year apprenticeship, with women 4% of applicants and none hired. Huselid's 1995 study of nearly a thousand firms ties high-performance work practices to keeping more employees and producing more per worker. Ely and Thomas's Administrative Science Quarterly study describes three diversity perspectives and finds only integration and learning produced lasting benefits. Bertrand and Mullainathan's American Economic Review experiment found résumés with white-sounding names received about 50% more callbacks. The plan creates a pre-apprenticeship with two community colleges, replaces informal interviews with structured ones, validates the climbing test and assigns mentors.
Reading the MGT 414 Module 6 grading rubric
Human resource papers are judged on using workforce data, applying research accurately, recommending practices for each stage of the employment cycle and linking diversity to the organization's work rather than treating it as separate. This example measures the pipeline to show where candidates drop out. Huselid's study supports investing in systems of practices, not single programs. Ely and Thomas's perspectives explain why recruiting women alone would not be enough. Bertrand and Mullainathan's experiment justifies structured selection over informal conversations with supervisors who know referred candidates. Recommendations cover recruitment, selection and development, with costs and measures that track every stage of the pipeline by gender and source.
MGT 414 Module 6 help: mistakes that cost marks
Diversity papers often recommend training sessions without changing how people are recruited, selected or developed. Examine each stage of the pipeline with data and change practices where candidates are lost. Another weakness is presenting diversity as separate from performance; connect it to the organization's work, such as filling skilled roles. Use research on selection bias to justify structured methods. Respect legal limits; recruit broadly and select on job-related criteria rather than setting quotas. Plan support for new employees, since retention matters as much as hiring. Finally, measure results across the pipeline, not just the number of hires. Estimate the costs and compare them with the cost of losing trainees.
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MGT 414 Module 6 questions, answered
What does MGT 414 Module 6 usually ask for?
Aspen's MGT 414 covers human resource management and diversity in this module, so recommending HR practices to meet a workforce challenge is typical. Look at your classroom prompt.
What are high-performance work practices?
Systems of practices such as careful selection, training, performance management and incentives, which Huselid associated with lower turnover and better results.
What are Ely and Thomas's three diversity perspectives?
Integration and learning, access and legitimacy, and discrimination and fairness; only integration and learning produced sustained benefits in their study.
Where can I find a free MGT 414 Module 6 sample paper?
The complete paper above rebuilds lineworker recruiting and development at an electric cooperative using research on HR practices and diversity.
Does bias affect hiring?
Bertrand and Mullainathan sent matched résumés and found those with white-sounding names received about 50% more callbacks, evidence that informal screening can be biased.