| Course | MHRM 6701 Strategic Positioning and Social Change |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 2 |
| Paper type | Direction memo |
| Length | About 590 words, 4 pages |
| Format | Memo, APA 7 citations |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | MS in Human Resource Management |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MHRM 6701 Week 2
Memorandum
To: Vice President of Operations, Allerton Linen Services
From: HR Manager, Cheektowaga Plant
Date: February 9, 2026
Re: Renewal of the overnight agency staffing contract
The Question in Front of Us
The staffing agency contract for the Cheektowaga overnight shift comes up for renewal on March 1. The plant manager has asked to renew it at the current level, about 25 agency workers a night out of a crew of roughly 70. The request is reasonable on its own terms: the agency fills gaps quickly, and the plant has struggled to keep direct hires on nights. I am recommending against renewing at that level. The reason is not cost. It is that the company's own direction, as stated to every hospital client, requires the opposite.
What the Direction Requires
Our client contracts and website promise clean carts on every hospital floor by 6 a.m. the next morning. That promise is what distinguishes us from the regional competitor, which delivers by noon. Collis and Rukstad (2008) describe a strategy as the choices that define what a firm will and will not do to win; ours is the overnight turnaround. Everything the night shift does, from sorting soiled linen at 10 p.m. to loading the last truck at 5:15 a.m., is the strategy being carried out.
A turnaround that tight depends on people who know the work. Sorting errors, such as a surgical drape sent through the wrong wash cycle, cost an hour to fix. Folding machines jam when fed by someone unfamiliar with them. Loading the wrong cart for a hospital floor means a nurse calls at 6:30 a.m. Each of these is far more likely with a new worker.
What the Direction Rules Out
The evidence on mixing temporary and permanent workers is not encouraging. Broschak and Davis-Blake (2006) found that work groups with a heavy mix of nonstandard workers reported poorer relationships with coworkers and supervisors, and permanent employees in those groups were more likely to want to leave. Hausknecht et al. (2009) found that units with more turnover and more newcomers delivered lower service quality. Our overnight crew has both problems: a third of it is agency staff who rotate frequently, and turnover among direct hires is about 70 percent a year.
If the direction is a 6 a.m. turnaround, it rules out a night crew in which a third of the people may be new each week. Agency workers have a place for genuine surges, such as a new hospital client's first month, but not as a permanent third of the shift.
What I Recommend
Renew the agency contract for March and April only, at the current level, while we hire. Post 20 direct overnight operator positions now, at the current $18.50 an hour plus the $1.50 night differential, with a $500 bonus paid after 90 days. Reduce agency staffing to no more than 8 a night by July, kept for surges. Track three measures monthly: on-time cart delivery, direct-hire overnight turnover and the share of the crew with more than six months' experience.
What This Will Cost and What It Will Not Solve
Agency workers cost about $6 an hour more than direct hires, so replacing 17 of them saves money once the positions are filled, though recruiting and training will cost more in the first months. The plan does not solve why direct hires leave nights so quickly. That needs its own answer, and I will bring options, including a partnership with the county's reentry office for referred candidates, next month.
References
Broschak, J. P., & Davis-Blake, A. (2006). Mixing standard work and nonstandard deals: The consequences of heterogeneity in employment arrangements. Academy of Management Journal, 49(2), 371-393. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2006.20786085
Collis, D. J., & Rukstad, M. G. (2008). Can you say what your strategy is? Harvard Business Review, 86(4), 82-90.
Hausknecht, J. P., Trevor, C. O., & Howard, M. J. (2009). Unit-level voluntary turnover rates and customer service quality: Implications of group cohesiveness, newcomer concentration, and size. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(4), 1068-1075. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015898
What the MHRM 6701 Week 2 instructions ask for
Week 2 asks you to connect a strategic direction to a specific HR decision. Begin with the concrete decision in front of the reader, then trace it back to the direction it serves. Explain what the direction requires of the workforce and what it rules out, since a strategy that excludes nothing gives no guidance. Support the link with research. Make a recommendation with numbers, a timeline and measures. Be honest about the cost and about what the recommendation will not solve. Write to an operations leader who cares about delivery, not HR theory. Two pages is usually enough, with each section answering one question the vice president would ask.
How the MHRM 6701 Week 2 example is put together
The memo opens with the agency renewal request and the plant manager's reasonable case for it. A section restates the 6 a.m. promise as the company's strategy, citing Collis and Rukstad, and describes three night-shift errors that cost time. A section states what the direction rules out, citing Broschak and Davis-Blake and Hausknecht and colleagues against the crew's current mix and turnover. The recommendation renews the contract for March and April, posts 20 direct positions with a 90-day bonus and caps agency staffing at 8 by July. A final section addresses cost and names turnover as the unsolved problem. Every figure, from the wage to the agency cap, is specific enough that the vice president could approve or reject it in a single meeting.
Reading the MHRM 6701 Week 2 rubric
Direction memos are graded on whether the strategic link is made concrete. Starting from a real decision earns credit. A clear statement of what the direction requires and excludes shows strategic understanding and is weighted heavily. Operational examples make the requirement believable. Research should support specific claims about the workforce. A recommendation with numbers, dates and measures shows practicality. Acknowledging costs and unsolved problems builds credibility. Memos that discuss strategy abstractly, or recommend change without connecting it to the stated direction, receive less credit. A respectful treatment of the manager who made the original request also matters.
MHRM 6701 Week 2 help from the desk
Pick a routine HR decision coming up, such as a contract renewal, a hiring plan or a schedule change. Ask what the organization has promised its customers and whether this decision helps or hurts that promise. Write down what the promise requires of the people doing the work: their experience, their schedule, their stability. Then ask what the promise rules out. Find one or two studies that link the workforce feature you care about to the outcome the promise depends on. Recommend a specific change with a timeline. Many memos argue from HR principles rather than the organization's own commitments. If you have a decision to frame, send it to us. A memo of about two pages is typical.
Get a MHRM 6701 Week 2 example written to your instructions
Forward the direction memo prompt, its rubric and the organization your section assigns, with any direction that organization has announced. A memo tracing one staffing decision to that direction, VRIO answered in plain sentences, comes back within 24 to 48 hours, and nothing is charged for the first. The linen plant, its contracts and its delivery log are invented for the sample.
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MHRM 6701 Week 2 questions, answered
Where can I find a free MHRM 6701 Week 2 sample paper?
Read the overnight staffing memo here, free.
What decision does the MHRM 6701 Week 2 memo address?
Renewal of an agency contract for about 25 workers a night on the overnight shift.
Why does the memo oppose renewal at that level?
The 6 a.m. turnaround depends on experienced workers, and a crew that is a third temporary works against it.
What does it recommend instead?
Renew for two months, hire 20 direct overnight operators and cap agency staffing at 8 a night by July.
What problem does the memo leave unsolved?
Why direct hires leave the night shift so quickly.