Reference no: EM133182374
The Case of the Disgruntled Employee
For Jeff Greenwood, the day started out like any other workday. It would turn out to be anything but a normal day. In a few short hours, Jeff would look back and reflect on what had happened and wonder what could have been done differently.
As plant manager, Jeff arrived at the plant around 6:50 a.m. prior to the start of the 7 a.m. first shift. He made a brief tour of the plant, attended a few of the first shift meetings, and then returned to his office to start his daily work, which included a number of meetings.
At 8 a.m. Troy Falk, the plant's Human Resources (HR) manager, came to Jeff's office for a scheduled meeting. Falk brought along a new HR intern, Jason Burns, who had just started earlier that week. Falk was there to discuss the termination of a long-time employee, Dwight James, that would take place later in the day. He thought the meeting would be a good learning opportunity for Burns.
Since the employee was a union employee, the process for termination was fairly well-defined, and Falk had a great deal of documentation to show Greenwood. Once they had reviewed the information, the three of them were joined by Michael Lee and Bill Barnes. Lee was the department manager for James, and Barnes was the union rep. Both James and Barnes had been involved in many of the incidents and meetings that were part of Falk's documentation. The incidents in question took place over several months with progressive discipline consequences.
The incidents ranged from repeated safety violations, to verbal confrontations with coworkers, to suspected use of drugs or alcohol, although those suspicions were not confirmed. Additionally, James' work production and quality had deteriorated over the last few months despite repeated warnings and write ups.
Throughout the lengthy process of documentation and discipline, James had not appeared to make any effort to improve his performance in any of the areas. His lack of effort and multiple issues were also beginning to cause morale problems with his coworkers. After much deliberation and discussion, the company had decided to terminate James. Falk, Lee, and Barnes would meet with him at 2 p.m. just prior to the end of the shift. Falk would also bring Burns to the meeting as a further learning opportunity, and Lee and Barnes had no objections to his attendance.
At 1:45 p.m. Lee told James that he needed to go to the HR office for a 2 p.m. meeting. James said he needed to go to the restroom first and would meet Lee there. When James arrived at the HR office, the Administrative Assistant, Judy Rich, showed him into Falk's office where Falk, Burns, Lee, and Barnes were waiting. When they opened the meeting and began to let James know he was being terminated, James became agitated and began yelling. Lee and Barnes attempted to calm him, to no avail. Finally, Falk calmly told James, "It's over." James shouted, "Yeah, it's over!" and began shooting.
Falk, Burns, and Lee were all killed in the attack. Barnes was shot in the arm and dashed out the door to try to warn others. James followed him and shot him two more times in the back. Then, he turned and shot Rich, who had been too stunned to move. Barnes had been able to get to the production group before collapsing, and people were scrambling to get to a safe place when James ran out of the HR area. The scene looked like one of total chaos. James did not continue shooting at this point and ran towards the shipping dock. Once there, he positioned himself near a doorway, armed with a handgun, before police officers arrived on the scene. During a half-hour gun battle, James wounded four police officers and then turned the gun on himself.
At the end of the day, Greenwood, stunned and shocked by what had transpired, began to ask himself what could have been done differently.
Review the additional information that was discovered during the police investigation of the incident and then answer the questions to determine what else could have been done in this scenario.
Information Found During the Investigation:
- James had been a convicted felon and served time in another state for beating a former girlfriend with a baseball bat.
- James had six arrests with the local Police Department, including arrests for domestic violence and violating a restraining order.
- James also had an arrest in a neighboring town for disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property.
- James had made statements to several coworkers that "If I get fired, I'm going to kill everyone in here." Employees did not report James' threat because they believed that he was always making 'off the wall' statements and, therefore, they were not concerned.
- Employees knew that James had weapons in his car but did not know that he had brought them into the building.
- Although he was a convicted felon and was not allowed to own a gun, his convictions did not show up on the background check, so he was able to buy the gun legally.
Questions:
- Were there any kind of "red flags" with this employee that HR, the manager, and/or the union rep could or should have recognized? If so, what were they and what could have been done to prevent or lessen this situation?
- Do you think the employees were properly trained on what to do in the case of an active shooter? Why or why not?
- What are your recommendations for avoiding this type of incident? For keeping employees protected and safe in the event of an active shooter incident?
- Do you believe your own company has properly prepared to prevent this type of incident? To keep employees protected and safe in the event of an active shooter incident? Why or why not?