Cases Deal ing with Communication. Cases with Strong Rep re sen ta tion of Topic. Alice s Expense Account. Chemplus Inc. (B) The Auto Fi nance Cen tre

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1 Cases Deal ing with Communication Cases with Strong Rep re sen ta tion of Topic Alice s Expense Account Al ice Bigelow ac cepted a sales po si tion with Bea ver Bas ket Com - pany. The firm was fam ily-owned and Al ice was the first fam ily mem ber since her grand par ents, the found ers, to seek em ploy - ment there. Her con nec tion was not di vulged to other em ploy ees. Af ter her first sales trip, one of the ore ex pe ri enced sales per sons re viewed her ex pense ac count and said that it needed pad ding if she were not to make the rest of the sales force look bad. Al - ice is torn be tween fam ily loy al ties and the need to in te grate well with her peers. Seem ingly, she can not have it both ways. To as sess the rel a tive im por tance among in ter per sonal re la - tionships, personal values and family loyalties. To ex plore a sit u a tion in which eth ics and in for mal group norms are in con gru ent. To rec og nize in for mal group dy nam ics that are at vari ance with com pany val ues and con sider the rea sons for their ex is - tence. Primary Themes: Communication; Culture/Ethics/QWL Secondary Themes: Stakeholders Level of Dif fi culty: Suit able for post-sec ond ary courses in - clud The Auto Fi nance Cen tre This case de picts a loan di vi sion within a larger fi nan cial in sti tu - tion that is be ing mis man aged in re spect of work pro ce dures and human resource policies especially hiring, training and compen - sa tion. While the busi ness of The Cen tre is ex pand ing, the ex pan - sion is it self caus ing pres sures that pro gres sively worsen the al ready bad man age ment prac tices. Due to gen eral job lay offs in the fi nan cial man age ment sec tor, how ever, these prob lems have not, as yet, led to high turn over. This case is particularly useful to illustrate basic leadership and motivational situations. To identify and analyze basic leadership and motivational is - sues. To con sider the link ages be tween mo ti va tion, lead er ship and performance in an uncomplicated organizational setting. To consider how the structural classification of an organization is de ter mined, in part, by lead er ship pol i cies and prac tices, not just by the su per fi cial as pects of struc ture and form. Primary Themes: Communication; Culture/Ethics/QWL Secondary Themes: Stakeholders Level of Dif fi culty: Suit able for post-sec ond ary courses in - clud Chemplus Inc. (B) About six months af ter the events de scribed in the (A) case, Harry Barlow was once again fac ing the pos si ble de fec tion of a se nior sales rep re sen ta tive to the com pe ti tion. Only af ter nu mer - ous tele phone calls and a quick trip was Harry able to ne go ti ate an im proved sal ary to con vince Gary Hill to re main with Chemplus. To com bat this sales en gi neer pi racy, Harry Barlow thought the so lu tion would be an em ploy ment con tract. Its main pro vi sions would be to stip u late a sal ary (ini tially, the one already be ing re ceived) and to pre vent any sales en gi neer who vol un tarily left the firm from ac cept ing a job with a com pet i tor for two years. To ease into it grad u ally, he sent a memo to all con cerned that a dis cus sion of an em ploy ment con tract would be on the agenda at the next gen eral sales meet ing. He of fered no in for ma - tion con cern ing its con tents, but stated that a ben e fits pack age, tied to the con tract, would be in tro duced later. By the time ev ery one gath ered for the meet ing, a con sen sus had formed to op pose it and Bob Elliott, man ager of the To ronto of fice, was cho sen to act as spokes man. As the meet ing be gan,

2 2: Cases Dealing with Communication the firm s ac coun tant, who was un known to all pres ent ex cept Harry, started to dis cuss the need for a con tract out lin ing its ben e - fits and read ing the two-page con tract it self. At this point Bob Elliott rose and stated I guess I was picked to speak for the group. I m afraid we re not in ter ested. There s re ally noth ing in it for us. The ac coun tant rose to re ply to the crit i cism but was in ter rupted by Bob Elliott loudly stat ing I SAID WE ARE NOT INTERESTED. As the ac coun tant be gan to re ply in a sim i larly loud voice, Harry Barlow stood up abruptly, ask ing ev ery one to calm down and stated that fur ther dis cus sion on the con tract would be de layed. Harry con tin ued the meet ing, but for the re main der of that day s dis cus sions, he stared grimly at his pa pers and gen er ally avoided eye con tact with the sales en gi neers. The em ploy ment con - tract was not men tioned again. To dis cuss the pos i tive and neg a tive as pects of an em ploy ment contract. To as sess the way the em ploy ment con tract was com mu ni cated to the staff. To de vise pos si ble so lu tions to the is sues raised in the case. Primary Themes: Motivation; Communication Secondary Themes: Lead er ship; Cul ture/eth ics/qwl; Change/Development The Com mu ni ca tion Taskforce This case is set in a branch of an in vest ment firm, WestCoast Cap i - tal, which ca ters to high-end cli ents. The branch of fers a great deal of au ton omy to port fo lio man ag ers and seems to nur ture an or ganic struc ture and em ployee de vel op ment. How ever, WestCoast and its par ent com pany, the Bank of The Pa cific, are more for mal and bu - reaucratic. A con flict de vel ops within WestCoast when a fe male in vest - ment spe cial ist who as sists two port fo lio man ag ers shows abil ity and is given au ton omy within the team. She wishes to re ceive cor po rate sup port for fur ther ing her job-re lated ed u ca tion, and to at tend a daily meet ing that pro vides valu able in for ma tion for man ag ing the team s cli ents. It seems that both re quests run coun ter to man age - ment s un stated be lief that sup port staff mem bers are of a lesser sta tus, and must re main in that sta tus, re gard less of their abil i ties. To understand the dysfunctional effects of incongruent cultures within the same or ga ni za tion. To assess the effectiveness of communication via different media. To as sess the ef fect on mo ti va tion when there are dif fer ences be tween for mally rec og nized sta tus and the ac tual role of an em - ployee within an au ton o mous workgroup. To as sess whether dis crim i na tion based on for mal sta tus within the organization is functionally effective and ethically correct if the or ganic workgroup en vi ron ment has au ton o mously con ferred a higher sta tus. To ex plore the op tions for an em ployee who may have ex posed an un eth i cal prac tice, affecting his or her fu ture pros pects within the organization. Primary Themes: Perception; Motivation; Communication; Structure/Roles; Culture/Ethics/QWL Secondary Themes: Lead er ship Company K This case de scribes a very mech a nis tic world wide or ga ni za tion with a Ca na dian branch that is, to a sig nif i cant ex tent, op er at ing as an adhocracy. This incongruency causes a sit u a tion in which in de pend - ent ac tion on the part of a Ca na dian em ployee jeop ar dizes an im - por tant con tract. But who is at fault? Struc tural, lead er ship, mo ti va tional and com mu ni ca tion is sues that arise in this case can be ex plored by both in tro duc tory and ad vanced stu dents. To iden tify types of or ga ni za tions and to un der stand how dif fer - ent types mean sig nif i cant dif fer ences in pro ce dures and op er a - tions. To un der stand the prob lems that can oc cur when a large or ga ni - zation possesses structural and operational inconsistencies among its branches. To un der stand the link ages be tween lead er ship and struc ture. To un der stand how struc ture, lead er ship and com mu ni ca tion can effect a motivational force for dysfunctional behaviour. Primary Themes: Motivation; Communication; Leadership; Culture/Ethics/QWL; Monitoring/Adapting Secondary Themes: Structure/Roles 7 pages Conavia H Stan ley Jack son, an ex pe ri enced avi a tion con sul tant, had risen to be come Se nior Vice Pres i dent, Eco nom ics and Fi nance, of Conavia Can ada Ltd., a Van cou ver-based con sult ing firm spe cial iz ing in avi - a tion plan ning. Stan ley had a 25% in ter est in the com pany and he re ported to the pres i dent George Markov, the sur viv ing founder of the firm who had a ma jor ity in ter est of 52%. Very sud denly, in early 1988, George ad vised Stan ley that he had ac cepted an of fer from Jet BC and would be re lin quish ing his role as pres i dent of the com pany. He asked Stan ley to take over the lead er ship of Conavia, at least on a tem po rary ba sis, as Ex ec u tive Vice-Pres i dent, and re - as sured him that he was cer tain that Stan ley could han dle the ad di - tional re spon si bil i ties. Also, he in di cated to Stan ley that he would al ways be at the other end of the phone and that the two would be in con tact on a reg u lar ba sis. George had some 30 years of se nior ex pe ri ence in the Ca na - dian aviation environment, was well connected in political circles, and, as a re sult, ob tained many high-rated pro jects from gov ern - ments. Stan ley, on the other hand, was a hard work ing in di vid ual, but had no po lit i cal con nec tions. Over a pe riod of one year, George be came more and more up set that the com pany was not re - ceiv ing high-rated pro jects from se nior gov ern ment lev els. Stan ley was sat is fied that al though the gross rev e nues had dropped, he had

3 Cases Deal ing with Com mu ni ca tion: 3 man aged to main tain the com pany s busi ness vol ume at sta ble lev - els with no drop in the com pany s prof its. He was also pleased with his suc cess in mov ing the com pany into new busi ness ar eas. In Jan u ary 1989, on his re turn from an ex tended busi ness trip, Stan ley dis cov ered Conavia had a new pres i dent. In con front ing George about Stan ley not be ing pre vi ously ad vised or con sulted, George made a lame ex cuse and went on to ex plain to Stan ley that the new pres i dent, Den nis Wil son, had close ties with the fed eral To ries and was very close to the high est lev els in Ot tawa. Also con - veyed were George s ex pec ta tions that Stan ley con tinue run ning the day-to-day af fairs of the com pany as Den nis could n t pos si bly do that. Den nis Wil son was rarely in the of fice. Af ter a few months, he re quested an ad vance against com mis sions of $12,000. As this prac - tice was not con sis tent with the pol i cies of the firm, Stan ley re fused to is sue the cheque. Six days later, Stan ley re ceived a copy of a di - rectors resolution stating that, with immediate effect, Stanley s cheque sign ing au thor ity was to be trans ferred to Den nis Wil son. Stan ley s first urge was to dash off a let ter of res ig na tion in pro test; in fact, he drafted one. On later re flec tion, how ever, changed his mind and con cluded that, other than these re cent man - age ment de vel op ments at Conavia, he re ally en joyed his job. To as sess the styles of lead er ship em ployed within the or ga ni za - tion. To dis cuss from a mo ti va tional point of view, why re ac tions were so strong to the new pres i dent and his prac tices. To rec om mend pos si ble courses of ac tion. Primary Themes: Communication Secondary Themes: Motivation; Leadership 6 pages Easy-Money Department (A) The or ga ni za tion in volved in this case is a rev e nue-pro duc ing de - part ment of a gov ern ment min is try. The work of the Easy-Money department is functionally departmentalized among four areas, Sys - tems & Plan ning, Pro duc tion, Leg is la tion and Fi nance. The prob - lem in the case in volves one of the larger of fices of the pro duc tion sec tion, the Maidstone Field Of fice. Very high staff turn over, high ab sen tee ism and poor qual ity of work are among the prob lems be - ing ex pe ri enced by the au dit area of the Maidstone Of fice. The case fo cuses on the lead er ship styles and modes of com - mu ni ca tion of the two su per vi sors of the Maidstone Field Of fice, Mr. Fred Jones and Mr. John Smith. It dem on strates how man age - ment/staff intra- and inter-re la tion ships can af fect the task and the mo ti va tion of a new em ployee and how they might be re spon si ble for the cur rent prob lems that the of fice is ex pe ri enc ing. To examine the emotional, informational and behavioural com - po nents of at ti tudes and explain how at ti tudes are formed, the func tions they per form and how they are changed. To un der stand how in ter per sonal re la tions and the at ti tudes of man age ment af fect the task and work en vi ron ment of sub or di - nates. To dis cuss var i ous lead er ship styles and modes of com mu ni ca - tion. To give the stu dent an op por tu nity to de velop an ap pro pri ate set of pol i cies and pro ce dures to better serve the needs of new em - ploy ees. Primary Themes: Learning; Motivation; Communication; Lead - er ship Secondary Themes: (none) 5 pages Easy-Money Department (B) This case con tin ues to dis cuss the Easy-Money De part ment. How - ever, the fo cus is now on the Sys tems and Plan ning sec tion within the branch. Problems with coordination and communication con - tinue to ex ist within the de part ment, but are felt more acutely in the Sys tems and Plan ning sec tion. Non-sup port ive man age ment, a con tin ual de cline in the Sys tems & Plan ning sec tion s per ceived sta - tus, and in ter de part men tal em ployee raids ag gra vate the al ready poor in te gra tion be tween the func tion ally de part men tal ized sec tions within the or ga ni za tion. There is hardly any so cial iz ing among the var i ous sec tions and staff mem bers tend to think in terms of their area of spe cial iza tion and not from a de part men tal per spec tive. Each sec tion iso lates it self from the oth ers, re sult ing in a sus pi cious at mo sphere within the Easy-Money de part ment. Com pound ing mat - ters is the re cently ap pointed de part ment head, who has downplayed the im por tance of the Sys tems & Plan ning sec tion, re - sult ing in a 50% re duc tion in staff, the ma jor ity of whom were trans ferred to the Pro duc tion sec tion. This second case further demonstrates the motivational effect of a man age ment s lead er ship style, job sat is fac tion and the gen eral work en vi ron ment, on em ploy ees. To dis cuss the mean ing of job sat is fac tion and to iden tify the ma jor sources and out comes of job sat is fac tion. To give an over view of the mean ing of com mu ni ca tion in or ga ni - za tions and to iden tify the ba sic el e ments of the in ter per sonal and organizational communication processes. To un der stand how or ga ni za tional struc tures and styles of lead - er ship can in flu ence the mo ti va tional states of both man age ment and employees alike. Primary Themes: Motivation; Communication; Leadership Secondary Themes: Structure/Roles; Culture/Ethics/QWL; Change/Development 5 pages Flex i ble Pack ag ing Inc. This firm pack ages goods for man u fac tur ers and distributers. To jus tify its mod er ately high pric ing, it fo cuses on the pro vi sion of high qual ity pack ag ing goods and ex cel lent cus tomer ser vice. Key to ful fill ment of its mis sion is the per for mance of its pack ag ing and ware house em ploy ees. How ever, the ware house su per vi sor was faced with one or der ful fill ment group that was highly func tion ally mo ti vated, and an other which was dis sat is fied to the point of

4 4: Cases Dealing with Communication intentionally slow ing the work flow. The in for mal lead ers of these groups rep re sented these di a met ri cally op posed val ues openly. Dur ing a pe riod in which the ware house su per vi sor was re - quired to be ab sent for most of sev eral work ing days to at tend cor - po rate plan ning meet ings, the demotivated work group s per for mance and at ti tude wors ened. This left the func tion ally mo ti - vated in for mal leader proud of her group s work but frus trated with the other s bad mouth ing and lazy at ti tude. She left an anon y mous note about the prob lem on the su per vi sor s desk. The su per vi sor, still busy with meet ings, re sponded by post ing a note of chas tise - ment di rected to all or der ful fill ment work ers. This re sulted only in the demotivation of the func tion ally mo ti vated work group. To un der stand the im pli ca tions of the choice of me dium and content on the effectiveness of organizational communications. To appreciate the impact of supervisory attitude on functional motivation. To understand the dynamics of informal group behaviour and lead er ship. To apply equity theory to an organizational situation to better un der stand be hav iour. Primary Themes: Communication; Leadership Secondary Themes: Motivation; Structure/Roles; Culture/Eth - ics/qwl The Hir ing Pro cess There was a re quire ment to fill a va cant Cler i cal/fi nan cial Ser vices Of fi cer po si tion with a fed eral gov ern ment de part ment in Ot tawa. Jennifer Lo gan-smith, an ex ec u tive-level man ager, re quested the ad vi sory ser vices of a Staff ing Of fi cer from the Per son nel De part - ment to as sist her in fill ing this po si tion. It had his tor i cally been staffed by open com pe ti tion. In ac cor dance with Fed eral Gov ern ment reg u la tions, the Pub - lic Ser vice Com mis sion referred the can di dates to the Staff ing Of fi - cer who in turn sent the re sumes of seven to Logan-Smith. Al though she was re quired to con vene a Screen ing Board, Lo - gan-smith with one other Board mem ber pro ceeded to in ter view only three of the seven can di dates. They assessed Mr. John Groats as en tirely suit able for the po si tion, told him he had been suc cess ful and in formed the Staff ing Of fi cer of their de ci sion. The Staff ing Of fi cer felt that the Pub lic Ser vice Em ploy ment Act had been con tra vened in that all seven can di dates should have been as sessed to de ter mine the most qual i fied per son. As Lo - gan-smith did not agree with him and in sisted he pro ceed with the nec es sary pa per work, the Staff ing Of fi cer felt un easy about sign ing the appointment documents. To in tro duce the stu dent to the topic of hu man re source man - age ment, par tic u larly is sues in volv ing per son nel se lec tion. To understand the communication, motivation and leadership fac tors that have con trib uted to the per son nel of fi cer s con flict in the hiring situation. To dis cuss pos si ble courses of ac tion that the per son nel of fi cer may choose so to re solve the con flict he is ex pe ri enc ing be tween loy alty, proper pro ce dure and eth ics. Primary Themes: Motivation; Communication; Structure/Roles Secondary Themes: Culture/Ethics/QWL Mo ti va tion in the Boiler Room This case is a col lo quial nar ra tive by an en tre pre neur, known as Tom, who op er ates a small telemarketing op er a tion that is, at best, on the fringes of il le gal ity. He ad mits that the work ing en vi ron ment is poor; that he hires part-time peo ple who are of ten moon light - ing from their reg u lar jobs; and that he ei ther pays a min i mum wage or fires the peo ple based on their per for mance. How ever, he also feels that he would like to mo ti vate his best em ploy ees to per - form better, and is mys ti fied that they do not. The case ex am ines motivational issues, his methods of operation and ethical implications. To ex am ine and un der stand the im pact of job de sign on mo ti va - tion. To sug gest a job re de sign that would im prove em ployee mo ti va - tion and per for mance. To ap ply eth i cal stan dards to a work sit u a tion and eval u ate its conformance. Primary Themes: Motivation; Communication; Culture/Eth - ics/qwl Secondary Themes: Structure/Roles Multi-Stores Im ag ing De part ment Multi-Store is a large or ga ni za tion whose suc cess is based on in no - va tions. One of its re cent in no va tions was the cre ation of the Multi-Store Credit Corporation. The Multi-Store Credit Cor po ra tion has spent more than a year and much money to adopt the lat est avail able tech nol ogy in its New Accounts Department. This advanced technology features elec - tronic im ag ing to re place pa per doc u ments as well as new soft ware utilizing artificial intelligence to evaluate credit card account appli - cations. In im ple ment ing the new tech nol o gies, the com pany de cided to di vide the New Ac counts De part ment func tion ally. While some of the em ploy ees still dealt di rectly with new ac counts, oth ers were re lo cated into the Im ag ing De part ment as Im ag ing Op er a tors or Verifiers. Hav ing lost their de ci sion-mak ing func tion, there was a gen eral feel ing of dis con tent and lack of mo ti va tion among those hav ing the new role of Im ag ing Op er a tors or Verifiers. Even those em ploy ees who had sup pos edly re tained their de ci sion-mak ing func - tion in the New Ac counts De part ment were af fected by tech no log i - cal change as the new soft ware had taken over many hu man decisions.

5 Cases Deal ing with Com mu ni ca tion: 5 To iden tify the na ture and con se quences of changes in in trin sic and ex trin sic fac tors in a job. To un der stand how as pects of a firm s man age ment prac tices and pol i cies can con trib ute to prob lems in a changed en vi ron - ment. To pro vide the stu dent with prac tice in con struct ing dif fer ent change processes to alleviate motivational problems and improve or ga ni za tional per for mance. Primary Themes: Communication; Leadership; Culture/Eth - ics/qwl; Monitoring/Adapting; Stakeholders Secondary Themes: Motivation; Structure/Roles; Change/Development The New Sales Com mis sion In this case, a cou rier com pany that was strong in in ter na tional and domestic air transportation, but weak in ground transportation, took over an other firm that was strong in the lat ter mode. The sales commission system that accounted for a substantial proportion of the com pen sa tion for the sales staff was rejigged in a way that made it nec es sary to achieve 80% per cent of quota in all three prod uct ar eas. This dis ad van taged the sales staff from the acquired firm, as they had to learn two new mar kets and make the tran si tion to hav ing more of their com pen sa tion de pend ent upon sales per for - mance. It was a much less rad i cal change for the sales staff of the ac quir ing firm, who only had to place a greater em pha sis upon ground trans por ta tion than they had in the past. To examine issues of equity, fairness and motivational consequences dur ing a pe riod of change fol low ing a take over. To un der stand the dif fer ence of out comes that may oc cur be - tween fair prac tices and man a ge rial in ten tions. To as sess the ef fects of or ga ni za tional change that se verely im - pacts work en vi ron ment and out comes. To sug gest an al ter na tive plan for change to avoid dysfunctions. Primary Themes: Motivation; ulture/ethics/qwl; Change/Development Secondary Themes: (none) Ridgway Fur ni ture Lim ited This case in volves a fur ni ture man u fac tur ing com pany who en joys a good rep u ta tion within the fur ni ture in dus try and whose prod ucts are con sid ered good qual ity prod ucts by the gen eral pub lic. The firm is also rec og nized for its own spe cial fur ni ture stylings. The Fur ni ture De sign De part ment is headed by Don ald Car son, a pop u - lar and like able man who has been with the com pany since its in - cep tion. In re cent years, Car son s staff has grown from eight em ploy ees to twenty-one in clud ing two su per vi sors ap pointed to re - duce Car son s work load. At this time, the com pany is plan ning to undertake a major expansion program, creating an additional posi - tion for a vice-pres i dent. The pres i dent has in formed Car son that he would like him to take over the new po si tion. How ever, the ap point ment of the su per vi sors has failed to re - duce Car son s work load and staff re port ing prob lems con tinue to ex ist. Car son re al izes that if he were to move into the vice-pres i - dent s of fice, a gap would be cre ated in the De sign De part ment. In his es ti ma tion, the se nior su per vi sor John Gilbert, is not ready to as sume the re spon si bil ity of de part ment head. To un der stand the na ture and pur pose of role def i ni tions on the struc ture of or ga ni za tions. To ex am ine the ma jor fac tors that af fect the shape and ef fec tive - ness of struc tures. To ex am ine the ef fects of cer tain lead er ship be hav ioural pat terns on subordinate satisfaction and performance. To discuss motivation as one of the determinants of individual per for mance. Primary Themes: Communication; Leadership; Structure/Roles; Change/Development Secondary Themes: Motivation; Culture/Ethics/QWL Robert Bart The case pres ents a sit u a tion in which an em ployee of short ten ure is faced with what he feels is a to tally un fair Per for mance Re view and Ap praisal Re port. Rob ert Bart, a young uni ver sity grad u ate with an ex cep tion ally strong ac a demic back ground has been em - ployed with the Min is try of Con sumer and Cor po rate Af fairs for the past six months. Un der the terms and con di tions of his pro ba - tion ary em ploy ment con tract due to ex pire in the next few months, he would need at least a fully sat is fac tory per for mance re view from his man ager to re main on as a per ma nent em ployee. To Mr. Bart s as ton ish ment, his per for mance re view by Ms. Clark was rated un sat is fac tory in the area of in ter per sonal re la tions and as a re sult his em ploy ment would not be con tin ued. In pro test ing his as sess - ment, he has re fused to sign the as sess ment re port and has stated that Ms. Clark s as sess ment was to tally un fair. To dis cuss is sues re lat ing to su per vis ing and set ting per for mance expectations. To iden tify is sues in man ag ing per for mance de fi cien cies. To perceive the reality of organizational politics, the need to man age one s own ca reer and the im por tance of meet ing goals of the organization. Primary Themes: Perception; Communication; Leadership Secondary Themes: Learn ing

6 6: Cases Dealing with Communication Sandra Beaumont San dra Beau mont was in her first week of em ploy ment as the Ben - e fits man ager for the To ronto Ball Bear ing Com pany when she re - ceived a let ter ad vis ing that the pre mium rates for the com pany s Pre scrip tion Drug Plan would have to in crease by 18 per cent to main tain the same level of cov er age. When San dra had been hired, she had been told that the Ben e fits de part ment had not been very well run in fact, the com pany had been with out a Ben e fits man ager for the past six months. Nor mally, the com pany would hire from within, how ever, San dra s ap pli ca tion im pressed the pres i dent and she was se lected. The pres i dent made it clear that he wanted the best plan that his lim ited re sources could buy but won dered whether he was get ting the best for his money. By the end of the first week San dra no ticed that few man ag ers had dropped by to wel come her to her new job. She sensed some hos til ity when she ap proached a few man ag ers to talk about the ben e fit plan. Also, the few em ploy ees she had ap proached were not very open with her. The Pre scrip tion Drug Plan was very pop u lar with the em ploy ees. It was easy to buy drugs as the phar macy would sub mit the bill di rectly to the in sur ance com pany. As San dra fin ished her first week she won dered what she should do start ing Monday morning. To iden tify the dif fi cul ties faced in re plac ing a man age ment po si - tion in a badly run de part ment. To dis cuss al ter na tive meth ods for build ing good work ing re la - tion ships with fel low man ag ers. To ex am ine pos si ble ways in which to re form ben e fit plans. Primary Themes: Communication Secondary Themes: Structure/Roles; Culture/Ethics/QWL Sig nif i cant, but Less Rep re sen ta tion of Topic in Case Ac tion Re alty Inc. (A) The case pres ents a me dium-sized bro ker age firm spe cial iz ing in the buy ing, sell ing and man age ment of res i den tial and com mer cial real es tate in the city of Van cou ver. The com pany was started four years ago as a part ner ship be tween two li censed real es tate bro kers and cur rently em ploys 200 reg is tered agents of which 50 are full-time and an ad min is tra tive staff of 11 peo ple. Even though the com pany has ex panded rap idly, the same three peo ple still per son - ally over see the op erations of all staff. Ma rie, one of the owner s wife, man ages the ad min is tra tive de part ment in a highly cen tral ized and au thor i tar ian man ner, con trol ling her staff and im pos ing cer tain re stric tions upon them. The mo rale in her de part ment ap pears to be quite poor. The own ers, Paul and Harvey, try to mo ti vate their large sales agent staff by work ing hard and gen er at ing sales them selves. How - ever, it seems that most em ploy ees do not work at their full po ten - tial with at least 75 per cent of the agents not even gen er at ing one sale per year. There ap pears to be a great deal of so cial iz ing among the sales agents with com pany arranged bowl ing and soc cer leagues, bi an nual so cial events and the oc ca sional card play ing in the of fice dur ing af ter noons. To iden tify the in flu ences upon and con se quences of both neg a - tive and positive motivational states. To dis cuss how lead er ship styles and an or ga ni za tional struc ture can ef fect an em ployee s mo ti va tion. To an a lyze dif fer ent types of re ward sys tems and their out comes. Primary Themes: Motivation; Leadership; Structure/Roles; Cul - ture/eth ics/qwl; Change/De vel op ment Secondary Themes: Communication; Monitoring/Adopting 6 pages Action Realty Inc. (B) By late 1990, the Van cou ver real es tate mar ket be came slug gish and com mis sions to both bro kers and sales agents fell sub stan tially. Ac tion Re alty seemed to be feel ing the ef fect of the de pressed state of the mar ket more se verely than many other firms. To make mat ters worse, one of the two own ers, Paul, had de vel oped se vere bron chi tis and was ad vised by his doc tor to re duce his work hours. The hir ing ac tiv i ties that Paul was now not able to carry out were, at first, much missed. Harvey was tra di tion ally re spon si ble for set - ting and at tain ing per for mance goals, not hir ing, and there fore he had not ques tioned or in ter fered with Paul s prac tice of bring ing in any ac quain tance with agent cer tif i ca tion as a new em ployee. Harvey was now be gin ning to won der whether this nearly ran dom method of hir ing was cre at ing dif fi cul ties in the cur rent sit u a tion. Harvey be came in creas ingly con cerned about the de clin ing in - come and poor mo rale of the em ploy ees and he knew that ef fec tive mea sures had to be taken quickly. The op tions he was con sid er ing in cluded:(a) im me di ately ter mi nate all em ploy ees whose pre vi ous year s com mis sions were less than $12,000. and move the firm to smaller pre mises; (b) set re al is tic sales goals for the next two months and ter mi nate those that did n t at tain them; or (c) sim ply try to carry on and hope busi ness im proves. To an a lyze the im pact of poor hir ing prac tices on an or ga ni za - tion.

7 Cases Deal ing with Com mu ni ca tion: 7 To un der stand how as pects of a firm s man age ment and pol i cies can con trib ute to prob lems in a changed en vi ron ment. To identify and evaluate various measures of alleviating the poor performance of an organization. To pro vide the stu dent with prac tice in con struct ing im ple men ta - tion plans to alleviate motivational problems and improve organizational performance. Primary Themes: Lead er ship; Change/De vel op ment; Struc - ture/roles; Monitoring/Adopting Secondary Themes: Motivation; Communication; Culture/Eth - ics/qwl; Au to ma tion in the Book Store The case pres ents a sit u a tion where a me dium-sized re tail out let is un der go ing au to ma tion in re gards to their cash reg is ters. The au to - ma tion in volves the change from a sim ple sys tem us ing a till and a writ ten re cord of sales to join ing with the par ent com pany s com - puter sys tem. The tran si tional pe riod is prob lem atic through out due to poor plan ning and or ga ni za tional skills with re spect to change on the part of man age ment. Lack of fore sight with re spect to goals, communication, training and adaptability result in chaos and em - ployee frus tra tion, costly to the store, in terms of both pro duc tiv ity and employee motivation. To em pha size the need for a well-planned ap proach to change in organizations. To dis cuss al ter na tive ap proaches to planned change. To em pha size the value of a participative ap proach to man ag ing change. To il lus trate both the pos i tive and neg a tive im pacts of tech no log - i cal change on em ploy ees per for mance, mo ti va tion and sat is fac - tion. Primary Themes: Learn ing; Mo ti va tion; Change/De vel op ment Secondary Themes: Communication; Leadership Blossom Inc. Blos som Inc. was founded by Al fred Wong and be gan as a small com pany that as sem bled and sold per sonal com put ers. Over the years, un der Mr. Wong s ex pert guid ance, the com pany flour ished and soon in te grated the man u fac ture of prod ucts into its op er a tion. Blos som Inc. s suc cess was based on the high qual ity of its prod ucts and ser vices. Wong or ga nized the com pany into func tional de part - ments and ex er cised strong cen tral ized con trol. Qual ity was highly stressed. Au thor ity in meet ing cli ents needs rested in se nior man - age ment. This did not au gur well con sid er ing the com pet i tive na - ture of the busi ness. In ad di tion, there ap peared to be a com mu ni ca tion prob lem within the firm. How ever, for a num ber of years, Blos som Inc. was gen er ally suc cess ful. To fur ther en hance and en sure growth, Wong took on si lent part ners. Af ter about eleven (11) years, per for mance of the com pany be gan to suf fer, and it ex pe ri enced con sec u tive quar terly losses. Wong was forced into re tire ment, and Jimmy Bao was hired as the new CEO with a man date to turn around the com pany. Bao pro - posed a plan to re gain a com pet i tive ad van tage. His plan was based on autonomy of subunits, decentralization of authority and sales of price competitive products. However, his plan faced opposition by the part ners who were fear ful that a rapid change would be re sisted by em ploy ees and re sult in poor per for mance. To un der stand the need for the struc ture and pol i cies of a firm to match a chang ing ex ter nal en vi ron ment. To appreciate the operational, communication and motivational dif fer ences be tween cen tral ized and de-cen tral ized or ga ni za tions. To be able to as sess a plan for or ga ni za tional change in terms of its tech ni cal as pects, social as pects, and the time and ef fort re - quired to make it suc cess ful. To de vise an ef fec tive plan for change that bal ances the ur gent need for a turn around in per for mance against the time re quired to implement a successful change. Primary Themes: Structure/Roles; Change/Development; Monitoring/Adapting Secondary Themes: Communication; Leadership Brewmaster Lim ited Brewmaster Lim ited is a broadly based food and bev er age com - pany. The case deals with a sit u a tion con cern ing 300 em ploy ees at the Brewmaster brew ing plant in Cal gary. Al though em ployee al co - hol abuse is ex pe ri enced in most in dus tries Can ada wide, Brewmaster, par tic u larly, has been plagued by this prob lem at its Cal gary brew ery since its early days of op er a tion in Be cause the work ers were pro duc ing beer, man age ment ini tially in sti tuted a policy prohibiting alcohol consumption on the premises. Unfortu - nately, this ex treme ap proach of re stric tion had the ef fect of in - tensely in creas ing the de mand for al co hol. The prob lem be came worse. Pro duc tiv ity and worker mo rale fell while ab sen tee ism re - lated to al co hol abuse rose. To im prove this sit u a tion, a new pol icy was im ple mented which al lowed work ers to con sume beer for 35 min utes af ter their shift had been com pleted. If a su per vi sor de ter - mined that an em ployee may have an al co hol abuse prob lem that was af fect ing pro duc tiv ity or safety, the worker would be re ferred to the med i cal de part ment. This also did not solve the prob lem and the pol icy was slightly al tered in hopes of better com ing to grips with the abuse prob lem. The ad just ment in pol icy in volved a de lay in the avail abil ity of beer to fif teen min utes af ter a shift ended and to have it served by a bar tender who was au tho rized to limit a worker s con sump tion. With the in creas ing se ver ity of this on go ing and per sis tent problem, conflicting opinions between interested parties became readily ap par ent. While the com pany s med i cal de part ment and per - son nel man ager felt that the cur rent al co hol abuse pol icy was an ef - fec tive and com pre hen sive at tempt at deal ing with the prob lem, there was a lack of sin cere co op er a tion from the un ion and the su - per vi sors felt that the pol icy was too gen eral and left too much room for misinterpretation.

8 8: Cases Dealing with Communication To discuss various approaches to human resource management. To dis cuss the ef fects of job char ac ter is tics and qual ity of work life on sub stance abuse. To dis cuss the ex tent of cor po rate re spon si bil ity for non work-re - lated abu sive be hav iour. Primary Themes: Motivation; Leadership, Culture/Ethics/QWL Secondary Themes: Communication; Stakeholders 9 pages Chemplus Inc. (A) Chemplus Inc. provides sophisticated instrumentation and applica - tions en gi neer ing as sis tance to re search lab o ra to ries, chiefly in an a - lyt i cal chem is try and bi ol ogy. The com pany, with an nual sales of about $12 mil lion in 1990, has its head of fice in Mon treal and branch of fices in Hal i fax, Ot tawa Hull, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmon - ton, and Van cou ver. The Pres i dent, Harry Barlow, spends more than one-half of his time in di rect sales ac tiv i ties with cer tain key ac counts which he alone serves, and in su per vis ing two sales en gi - neers based in Mon treal. Vir tu ally all the sales en gi neer ing staff have an ed u ca tional back ground in sci ence usually in chemistry, phys ics, or in en gi neer ing it self. It is Harry Barlow s opin ion that sales train ing can be learned, but that the tech ni cal ed u ca tion re - quired to sell ef fec tively in their mar ket has to be of a level that would en able the sales en gi neer to con verse in tel li gently with re - search ers about their work. When a res ig na tion opened up the re gional man ager s job in the Ot tawa Hull of fice, Marie Benoit, who had been a sales en gi - neer in the Mon treal of fice, was pro moted to man age that of fice. While Ma rie had no doubts about de serv ing the pro mo tion, she won dered about her abil ity to man age an of fice. Only days af ter her ar rival in the Ot tawa area, she was con fronted by the res ig na - tion of the sales en gi neer whom she was to su per vise. To re place the sales en gi neer, Harry Barlow trans ferred Alex Clinton, a tech ni - cian in the Mon treal ser vice de part ment. This de ci sion was made with out prior con sul ta tion and pre vailed de spite the strong doubts Ma rie ex pressed con cern ing Alex Clinton s ca pa bil i ties. Dur ing a short train ing pe riod with Ma rie, Alex was ob vi ously ill at ease in his new sales role. As Ma rie could not see any im - prove ment in his per for mance, she de cided to in form Harry Barlow of these prob lems. Dur ing the dis cus sion, Harry per suaded Ma rie to let Alex go out on sales calls alone as her pres ence may have been a source of ner vous ness on his part. She agreed to this strat - egy. At this time, a quar terly sales fore cast was due. Alex was asked to pro vide an es ti mate for the cus tom ers he had vis ited so far, which he com pleted. Due to his in ex pe ri ence, how ever, Ma rie felt that she should cor rob o rate his data by check ing with some of his key cus tom ers for whom he re ported good sales pros pects. The first few, drew a puz zled re sponse in that they did not re call ex - press ing any pur chas ing in ten tions. A few in di cated that Alex had only been in to see them very briefly in or der to drop off some sales lit er a ture. From the next group of cus tom ers she called, Ma rie re ceived much more star tling re sponses to her in qui ries. Alex had not been in to see them at all! To discuss and understand the communication, motivation and leadership factors that have contributed to the situation. To discuss possible solutions including the revision of personnel se lec tion pro ce dures so that this sit u a tion will not oc cur again. To dis cuss whether the or ga ni za tional struc ture is ap pro pri ate or not and to sug gest pos si ble al ter ations that may be ben e fi cial. Primary Themes: Perception; Learning; Motivation; Leadership Secondary Themes: Communication; Structure/Roles; Cul - ture/ethics/qwl 6 pages Club Chaos Club Chaos was an aptly named pri vate club. Its Gen eral Man ager, An to nio, seemed ne glect ful of his du ties, in com pe tent and with out an ap pro pri ate back ground for his job. He appointed Rocco as Club house Man ager on the ba sis of friend ship. Rocco was equally lack ing in lead er ship and man age ment abil i ties. In the Ca ter ing De part ment, the su per vi sory de fi cien cies caused a crit i cal sit u a tion. An ill-ad vised fir ing re sulted in the res ig - na tion of Ca thy, the Ca ter ing Man ager, and the po si tion could not be suc cess fully filled. The kitchen staff, un der the su per vi sion of Ca ter ing through the Ex ec u tive Chef, was hav ing a theft prob lem, and most em ploy ees, in clud ing the orig i nal Ex ec u tive Chef, were re placed. Al though the De part ment fre quently had to han dle large ban quets, it be came in creas ingly dis or ga nized. All the while, there was con tin u ing pres sure to in crease rev e nue and keep costs down. To illustrate a situation of extreme mismanagement and some of the con se quences it has for an or ga ni za tion in terms of mo ti va - tion and per for mance. To study the oc cur rence of dys func tional be hav iour (steal ing), and crit i cally as sess the mea sures em ployed to cor rect it. To an a lyze a lead er ship style, and as sess its ef fec tive ness in deal - ing with a critical situation. To de vise and pre dict the likely ef fec tive ness of turn around mea - sures. Primary Themes: Culture/Ethics/QWL Secondary Themes: Motivation; Communication; Leadership; Change/Development Fed eral Air lines Fed eral Air lines, the 19th larg est air line in the world, in a re cent at tempt to im prove its com pet i tive po si tion within the air line in dus - try, has un der taken an ag gres sive $4 bil lion pro gram to up grade fa - cil i ties and equip ment over the next 10 years. One of the pro grams that man age ment has un der taken is a Work Im prove ment Pro gram (WIP) for em ploy ees work ing at the air port main te nance han gar. The pro gram was de signed to in crease la bour pro duc tiv ity and mo - rale and de crease ab sen tee ism and em ployee turn over. A highly re - spected in dus trial psychologist, Jack Miller, was hired to help im ple ment the pro gram. Af ter six months of work with se nior man -

9 Cases Deal ing with Com mu ni ca tion: 9 age ment staff and the un ion, the pro gram was im ple mented with ex cel lent re sults. Other un ions quickly no ticed the ben e fits in terms of em - ployee mo rale that were sur fac ing from the pro gram. One un ion in par tic u lar who saw an im me di ate need for the ser vices, CALEA, ne go ti ated a con ces sion from the com pany which stip u lated that the next de part ment to im ple ment WIP would be their Res er va tions de part ment. How ever, once WIP was in tro duced, prob lems soon started to be no ticed. Not only was the Prompt ness of Ser vice (POS) fac tor man date of 80% not achieved but it fell to 50% from the per for mance level of 65% be fore the im ple men ta tion of WIP. As a con se quence of this and other prob lems, the WIP pro gram was ter mi nated eight months af ter its of fi cial start. Six months af ter the ter mi na tion of WIP, the of fice POS had risen to a sat is fac tory 83%. To dis cuss the im pact of change and ex am ine the tech niques of organizational development. To un der stand the gen eral pros pects and ap pro pri ate re quire - ments for job en rich ment in an or ga ni za tion. To dis cuss both pos i tive and neg a tive as pects in the use of ex ter - nal change agents/con sul tants. Primary Themes: Motivation; Structure/Roles; Change/Devel - opment Secondary Themes: Communication The Geor gian Res cue Squad Dur ing the mid-1970s a res cue squad emerged in Geor gian County. This de vel op ment was partly in re sponse to a few dra matic high way ac ci dents which spawned me dia sto ries of vic tims trapped in ve hi - cles for pro longed pe ri ods of time. Ad di tional stim u lus for the squad came from the de vel op ment by fire equip ment man u fac tur ers of res cue tools which use hy drau lic power to open crushed ve hi cles. Geor gian County is a large (pop u la tion 500,000) ru ral (ur ban pro por tion less than 20%) county lo cated north of To ronto. It con - sists of eight town ships, two of them quite large, and a small city. The county is in the heart of a four sea son va ca tion re gion and strad dles ma jor high way ar ter ies. Be ing in such a lo ca tion, the high - way traf fic in the county is ex tremely heavy. The squad was a group of vol un teers who main tained a truck loaded with equip ment. They be gan with one ve hi cle for the whole county and later added an other to pro vide sep a rate north ern and south ern squads. With plans un der way for an other ex pan sion, money was a prob lem. At first, the money was raised by pri vate do - na tions, but when the equip ment bills in creased, the squad ap - proached var i ous town ships for grants. The squad be gan pre sent ing it self as a new county ser vice even though its ex is tence had never been ap proved by the county or any town ship. The Res cue Squad was anx ious to be fi nan cially sup ported by the County. The head of the Squad would dearly love to make it a full-time job and be able to di vert his en ergy from fund rais ing to res cue work. How ever, the War den of the County wanted none of it. As far as the War den was con cerned, the squad should have a fire fight ing func tion as so ci ated with each Town ship and not be a countywide ser vice. In fact, the War den felt that the vol un teer county squad should be dis man tled and both its func tion and equip - ment trans ferred to the town ships. To dis cover and dis cuss the un der ly ing forces both sup port ing and op pos ing a pro posed change. To give the stu dent prac tice in out lin ing a com pre hen sive plan for or ga ni za tional change; iden ti fy ing the var i ous steps one should take to im ple ment the plan as well as to mon i tor its prog ress. Primary Themes: Leadership; Monitoring/Adapting; Stake - holders Secondary Themes: Communication; Culture/Ethics/QWL; Change/Development 5 pages Greig s Su per mar ket The case pres ents a sit u a tion where the man age ment of a su per - mar ket lo cated in an ur ban area has ini ti ated a sud den change in re gards to cash reg is ter au to ma tion. The hur ried change over in - volved a switch to computerized cash registers that automatically up date in ven tory re cords. Also re de signed within the same three week pe riod were the new ac com pa ny ing check out coun ters which now re quired the cash iers to en ter prod uct codes with one hand while si mul ta neously pack ing the gro cer ies with the other. Elim i - nated was the need for the pack ers who had as sisted the cash iers at the check outs and with whom the cash iers had en joyed so cial iz - ing. The new sys tem was also ca pa ble of re cord ing lev els of in di vid - ual per for mance which now made pos si ble the con stant com par i son of the cash iers. While the ini tial re ac tion was one of cu ri os ity and ex cite ment, with the ac cel er ated pace, in suf fi cient train ing, and ad just ment pe - riod, there were a num ber of com plaints. As the new reg is ters led to in creased ef fi ciency and time sav ing, em ploy ees feared both re - duced hours of work and lay offs. As it turned out, their fears, at least in part, were jus ti fied. To em pha size the need for prop erly planned, de signed and im - ple mented changes in or ga ni za tions. To dis cuss al ter na tive ap proaches to planned change. To em pha size the value of a participative ap proach to man ag ing change. To il lus trate both the pos i tive and neg a tive im pacts of tech no log - i cal change on em ploy ees per for mance, mo ti va tion and sat is fac - tion. Primary Themes: Learning; Motivation Secondary Themes: Communication; Leadership; Culture/Eth - ics/qwl; Change/De vel op ment Hi Style Inc. The Qual ity As sur ance De part ment has a (pre dom i nantly) lais - sez-faire Di rec tor. When one of his sub or di nate man ag ers goes on

10 10: Cases Dealing with Communication ma ter nity leave, a well-mo ti vated, non-un ion clerk in sti tutes nu mer - ous changes that help the de part ment to run more smoothly. On her re turn, how ever, the man ager (the clerk s su per vi sor) re sents these changes, re verses them and in sti tutes a war against the in - no va tive clerk. In this con flict she is aided by an other hard-line man ager. The un ion is sug gest ing that it would as sist the clerk and the Di rec tor, who sees that the work flow is now dis rupted, is forced to be come in volved. To un der stand the func tions of lead er ship and the con se quences of these func tions not be ing per formed. To un der stand that a low in ten sity of lead er ship may be dys func - tional in turbulent situations. To ap pre ci ate the need for a well-planned change pro cess and to un der stand the con se quences of not hav ing one. To un der stand sources (for mal and in for mal) of power and in flu - ence and the ways they can be used and abused. Primary Themes: Motivation; Leadership; Structure/Roles; Cul - ture/ethics/qwl Secondary Themes: Communication; Change/Development HK Hand bags HK Hand bags is a store that its owner be gan the busi ness to kill time and keep him from get ting bored. How ever, he was to tally con sumed in the pur suit of lei surely ac tiv i ties and hence failed to take an ac tive in ter est in the day-to-day op er a tions and pro vide guid ance of his or ga ni za tion. He sim ply en sured that there were proper work sched ules and re lied on his store man ager to keep the busi ness run ning smoothly. Store man ag ers, there fore, had the free dom to man age as they saw fit with min i mal guide lines. The or ga ni za tion func tioned well un der one man ager but was thrown into con fu sion and chaos when she ex hib ited un eth i cal be hav iour and an other man ager with a dif - fer ent man age ment style took the helm. This cul mi nated with a valu able em ployee be ing tar geted for op pres sive su per vi sion and a demotivated staff. To understand the motivational environment for a small workgroup. To un der stand the im pact of lead er ship style on the mo ti va tional en vi ron ment of a workgroup and its qual ity of work life. To un der stand the situationally spe cific na ture of be hav iour. To un der stand the im pact of a change in lead er ship. To assess ethical and discriminatory behaviour in a workgroup. Primary Themes: Motivation, Leadership, Culture/Ethics/QWL Secondary Themes: Communication 6 pages The Honourable Head-hunter Bob Mar shall had worked as a head-hunter for the Adanac Em - ploy ment agency in the City of Win ni peg for about a year. The busi ness was fairly straight for ward in that small and me dium sized lo cal busi nesses would hire Adanac to re fer can di dates to them for jobs they had open. The head-hunter would look through Adanac s pool of ap pli cants to find suit able matches and ar range in ter views. Adanac earned a fee when a cli ent se lected one of its can di dates and the head-hunter earned a com mis sion on the same ba sis as if the match had been a sale. The prob lem was giv ing the em ployer what he wants. Bob soon re al ized that to find the per son the cli ent wants some times in - volved a con sid er ation of the can di date s eth nic ity or race. In fact, one of the rea sons for the growth of the em ploy ment agency busi - ness, even as the econ omy slowed, was that the agen cies had taken on a whole new role namely that of a route around the Hu man Rights Act. Em ploy ers were very leery of run ning afoul of the act and there fore were pre pared to pay ex perts to cover for them. De spite nag ging con cerns, Bob had man aged to con vince him - self that while what he was do ing may not be righ teous; if he did not do the job, some one else would. And be sides, the money was ter rific. How ever, Bob fi nally knew it was wrong when a cli ent, George Baker, bluntly told him Don t send me any black ap pli cants. Up un til then Bob s re la tion ship with the em ploy ers had main tained the sub ter fuge of dis crete, even po lite dis crim i na tion, but now the cover was gone and Bob could feel his jus ti fi ca tions fall away. To dis cuss and un der stand the is sues in volved when an em ployee is faced with an eth i cal di lemma at the work place. To dis cuss whis tle blow ing as em ployee be hav iour and the eth i - cal and practical considerations involved. Primary Themes: Learn ing; Mo ti va tion; Lead er ship; Struc - ture/roles; Change/Development; Stakeholders Secondary Themes: Perception; Communication; Culture/Eth - ics/qwl; Monitoring/Adapting 6 pages The John Highfield Com pany The John Highfield Com pany is a large de part ment store that has been in ex is tence for many years. The com pany s main store and head of fice are lo cated in the down town area of one of Can ada s larg est cit ies, but the com pany also op er ates a num ber of branch stores in the sur round ing sub urbs as well as in a num ber of other cit ies. The par tic u lar branch be ing dis cussed in this case is lo cated in a sub ur ban area and has been op er at ing suc cess fully for close to ten years. This store is di vided into twenty dif fer ent de part ments headed by three man ag ers who have joint re spon si bil ity for run ning the en tire store. The em ploy ees in each de part ment re port to their re spec tive su per vi sors but may also re ceive in struc tions from any of the four higher man a ge rial lev els. The de part ment man ager is the only per son from each de part ment to re port di rectly to the three store man ag ers. The Fur ni ture and Ap pli ance De part ment of this store had al - ways main tained a good sales re cord and high level of em ployee per for mance and the de part ment had come to be re garded as the ideal de part ment to work in. Un for tu nately, dur ing the past few