Reference no: EM132584644

Jerry Brown, 42, was promoted to supervisor of the Case Analysis Unit just three months ago. The Case Analysis Unit was a special investigation group with the city's Department of Social Services. The four employees in this Unit investigated suspected fraud cases and researched various special requests for exemptions and services. The investigations conducted by the case analysis representatives typically began by verifying data obtained from applicants during the intake process. Then, field agents as well as employers or claimants would be contacted as necessary for additional information. The information gathered from all these sources would be reviewed, and a recommendation for either "no further action" or "prosecution" would be issued. While the unit's workload fluctuated some-what, the average standard of production was 12 completed cases per week and four backlogged cases cleared. Jerry believed that everyone in his unit was doing an acceptable job except Frank Harrison. Frank, 46, had been with the department for 22 years, the last eight of which were spent in this unit. Frank's usual rate of performance was seven cases a week, with one or two backlogged cases cleared. Jerry remembered a conversation with Sullivan Hart, the previous supervisor of this unit, whose retirement had opened up the supervisory opportunity for Jerry. The conversation took place about four months before Sullivan's last scheduled day, when they were having lunch together. Jerry had just been named as Sullivan's replacement, and they were discussing different aspects of the transition and the operations of the Case Analysis Unit. Jerry remembered Sullivan's remarks very clearly: "Frank just doesn't have the motivation to do adequate job, and to be honest with you, I'm too close to retirement to rock the boat." Sullivan had paused, putting down his fork. "You know," he continued, "I finally got to the point with Frank that I'd be pleased if I got seven or eight completed cases from him each week. Everyone else ended up taking up the slack." After that conversation, Jerry began to watch Frank more closely. Sure enough, Frank seemed to move more slowly, stop more often, put aside more challenging tasks, and ask for help more frequently than his co-workers in the unit. Otherwise, though, Frank was a model employee. He was seldom absent and arrived at work on time every day. The quality of his work was almost as good as the work done by the other employees. He was polite and considerate, even if he did not socialize as freely as the others did.
Jerry looked in Frank's personnel folder. He found no record of any previous counseling or disciplinary procedures, but did find Frank's most recent performance appraisal, which had been conducted by Sullivan Hart about a month before he left. Jerry was disturbed but not surprised by what he saw: Sullivan had rated Frank as an "above average" employee (a 4 on a scale of 5). According to Sullivan, Frank's productivity was in line with the unit's standards. He had written: "Frank does his job well and has a long history of good performance with the city." There was no indication in the appraisal or in the file that there had ever been a notice given to Frank about work standards or a discussion with him about how he could improve his work performance. Under the city's merit review system, the higher the evaluation rating, the bigger the salary increase an employee was entitled to. For example, employees rated as doing an acceptable job would receive an average increase of about 4 percent; those rated above average, 6 percent; and those rated superior, 8 per-cent. Sure enough, Frank's salary had been adjusted by about 5.5 percent as a result of this last review. Jerry was learning about another problem related to Frank's performance. Shortly after assuming the supervisor's job, Jerry began sensing how much an-ger and hostility the other employees in the unit had toward Frank. At first, he would overhear side comments directed at Frank during meetings or discussions, but recently he had noticed that Frank's co-workers were making these comments more openly. For example, in a recent staff meeting, an initial joke about how slowly an applicant responded to a fraud claim was compared to Jerry's processing of cases. While he sat there, obviously uncomfortable, the others ridiculed him contemptuously. Before Jerry could regain order, there was a lot of psychological "blood" on the floor. As a result of that episode, Jerry became concerned about the long-term effects this situation would have on the morale and performance of the unit if he let the situation continue.

Two years ago, the State Department of Economic Development created the Business Services Group to provide special services to out-of-state businesses that were considering relocating in the state. Another key task of the group was to help those businesses who had recently relocated get settled and operating as quickly as possible. In that two-year period, the Business Services Group put together a good record of helping more than 35 businesses move into the state efficiently. The Business Services Group was staffed with a complement of a department manager and 5 Business Development specialists, along with some secretarial and clerical support. The job of the Business Development specialists consisted principally of contacting and working with appropriate personnel in each business to identify the kinds of information or help they needed, then making sure that the correct assistance arrived. The specialists also served as "troubleshooters" for the business whenever there were problems with the "bureaucracy." Specialists were responsible for keeping these businesses happy and efficient. As such, the specialists needed to be imaginative, persistent, and self-driven. Each specialist had a quota of contacts and services to make each month. Charles Thompson was initially made acting supervisor of the Business Services Group after the hasty departure of the previous Department Manager. After three weeks of keeping things running, he was promoted to manager. Charles originally was hired as a specialist. Six months ago, he was transferred to another, related department to serve as assistant manager. When Charles learned that he was moving back to the Business Services Group, he was very happy because he would be reunited with the people with whom he used to work. In fact, Charles had worked with all five of them to some degree while he was in Business Services. John Willis, now the senior specialist, joined the Business Services Group the same day Charles did. In fact, they had come from the same department to join Business Services. Suzy Harris and Barbara Garrett became specialists shortly thereafter. For most of the time that Charles was in the Group, these four worked together easily and effectively. As the Business Services Group expanded, Tom Rollins was added. Finally, before Charles transferred, he had a chance to orient and train Melanie Bronson, who had been hired as his replacement. As a group, these individuals represented a fairly high level of experience in the business services function. Moreover, based upon their record and reputation, they also performed very well. Charles reviewed the batch of complimentary letters sent to the Business Services Group, some of which had been signed by the governor. They worked effectively and creatively on their own with few personnel problems. In spite of this consistent record, though. Audrey Downs (Charles' new boss, the head of Economic Development) felt there was still room for improvement. She explained her thinking to Charles in a luncheon meeting one day, not long after Charles had been promoted to manager. By that time, Charles had seen enough of the Business Service Group's operations to agree. One of Audrey's major programs for the entire department was to institute a Service Quality Management program, and she wanted to start in the Business Services Group. Charles agreed with the idea. Early the following Monday, Charles called the staff together for a meeting. He told them of Audrey's goal for instituting a Service Quality Management program and that they were selected to begin it. He also told them that in order to move them forward, he was going to do two things. effective immediately: • Raise their service quotas by 20 percent • Submit anyone who failed to meet that quota to a formal disciplinary action the specialists left the meeting without comment, although there was a lot of mumbling in the hallways as they walked back to their desks. Over the next week or so, Charles noticed that they seemed to avoid him and were noticeably cooler to him when he was at hand. He had to make more of an effort to get information and ideas from them, and it seemed that the tone and tenor of the offices became more tense, hostile, and somber. After two weeks, Charles reviewed the performance records of the specialists. Sure enough, Suzy Harris had not met her quota, and as promised, Charles issued a written reprimand to her. Suzy was speechless, though clearly angered by Charles, as he reviewed the reprimand with her. it has been two days since that meeting. Since then, Suzy has filed a grievance in the Personnel Department against Charles. John Willis put in a request for a transfer and Charles heard that Barbara is preparing to request a transfer. None of the employees in the Business Services Group now talk to him at all and simply pass along information in handwritten notes. He also has noticed how services to certain businesses have now slightly slipped. He knows there is a major problem. As he sits at his desk at 5:00 p.m., in an empty office, waiting to make a call to one of the businesses who have complained, he wonders what went wrong and what he should do now.

Q # 1. What are the key issues or problems of the case; strategically how to manage them?

Q # 2. Priorities the issues or problem regarding Human Resource Management aspects.

Q # 3. Is it necessary to identify the cause of the problem in managerial aspects?

Q # 4. Brainstorm the options available according to organizational design and structure.