Reference no: EM132291926

Grading criteria will be the following (all criteria are equal weight): Research and support (factual and logical) for your answers, appropriate application of strategic management concepts and writing grammar, clarity, syntax, and appropriate citations (if necessary).

Can Management Afford to Look the Other Way?

Harry Rull had been with Shellington Pharmaceuticals for 30 years. After a tour of duty in the various plants and seven years overseas, Harry was back at headquarters, looking forward to his new role as vice president of U.S. marketing. Two weeks into his new job, Harry received some unsettling news about one of the managers that he supervised. During a casual lunch conversation, Sally Barton, the director of human resources, mentioned that Harry should expect a phone call about Roger Jacobs, manager of new product development. Jacobs had a history of being “pretty horrible” to his subordinates, she said, and one disgruntled employee asked to speak to someone in senior management. After lunch, Harry did some follow-up work. Jacobs’s performance reviews were stellar, but his personnel file also contained a large number of notes documenting charges of Jacobs’s mistreatment of subordinates. The complaints ranged from “inappropriate and derogatory remarks” to charges of sexual harassment (which were subsequently dropped). What was more disturbing was the fact that the number and the severity of the complaints had increased with each of Jacobs’s ten years with Shellington. When Harry questioned the company president about the issue, he was told,“Yeah, he’s had some problems, SmartStyle Salons Jamika Westbrook takes pride in her position as salon manager for SmartStyle Salon, one of six local hair salons associated with a large retail store chain located in the Southeast and one of five chain store groups under the Gold Group umbrella. She oversees a staff of 30, including hairdressers, a nail technician, receptionists, shampoo assistants, and a custodian. She enjoys a reputation as a manager who works very hard and takes care of her people. Hairdressers want to work for her. Following the salon’s new-hire policy, Jamika began as a shampoo assistant and quickly became a top hairdresser in the company through a combination of skill, a large and loyal client base, and long hours at work. In 2007, retiring manager Carla Weems hand-picked Jamika as her successor, and the board quickly approved. Initially, the salon, located in a suburban mall, managed a strong, steady increase, holding its position as one of the corporation’s top performers. But economic woes hit the area hard, with increases in unemployment, mortgage woes, and foreclosures among current and potential customers. As families sought ways to save, the luxury of regular visits to the hair salon was among the first logical budget but you can’t just replace someone with an eye for new products. You’re a bottom-line guy; you understand why we let these things slide.” Not sure how to handle the situation, Harry met briefly with Jacobs and reminded him to “keep the team’s morale up.” Just after the meeting, Barton called to let him know that the problem that she’d mentioned over lunch had been worked out. However, she warned, another employee had come forward and demanded that her complaints be addressed by senior management. What Would You Do?

1. Ignore the problem. Jacobs’s contributions to new product development are too valuable to risk losing him, and the problems over the past ten years have always worked themselves out anyway. There’s no sense starting something that could make you look bad.

2. Launch a full-scale investigation of employee complaints about Jacobs and make Jacobs aware that his documented history over the past ten years has put him on thin ice.

3. Meet with Jacobs and the employee to try to resolve the current issue, and then start working with Barton and other senior managers to develop stronger policies regarding sexual harassment and treatment of employees, including clear-cut procedures for handling complaints.