Reference no: EM133663662

Use the weight-of-reasons framework to decide what you would do next if you were Weber. How does your decision compare with your initial intuition about what Weber should do?

Since the time that companies began to hire full-time diversity managers, they often have tried to make their organizations more hospitable to people of all sexes. Atlantic Information Systems Inc. is a medium- size firm with two complementary lines of business. Its 700 professionals advise other organizations about data storage and processing systems. They also produce and market customized software systems for a variety of business functions. In addition to its professional staff, the firm includes 100 employees whose work is administrative, clerical, or janitorial.

When Lester Barks, the founder and CEO (chief executive officer) of Atlantic, started his business, he recognized that he would require employees with both high-level technical skills and sophisticated communication skills. He recruited well and was able to infuse the staff with his own energy and appetite for work and getting the job done. As a result, the firm grew rapidly, developing a strong reputation for innovative designs and good customer service. From the beginning, Barks had strong beliefs about rewarding people for their work, but he also tried to keep fixed costs to an absolute minimum. Thus, although he had established a generous profit-sharing plan, he tried to hold the line against the expansion of employee benefits programs. This policy had been working reasonably well. As long as the company's young, well-educated employees kept getting their substantial paychecks, they seemed content to solve their own personal and career problems. Bark's view of his company was that it was not a social service agency.

As the firm and its employees matured, however, sentiment toward the firm's personnel policies seemed to shift. The people who have the skills and experience Barks needs to run his business also have young families to care for. The conflicting demands of jobs and families are proving to be problematic for many people. Several employees recently approached Barteau Weber, the vice president for personnel, with a strongly worded request that Atlantic consider opening a company-sponsored child care center. These employees argued that the company should establish and support a high-quality child care center as a way of reducing demands on their time that detract from their ability to focus on their jobs. In addition, they point out that predicted changes in the structure of the work force are likely to make such a center a prerequisite for recruiting and retaining qualified employees in the future. Their company should show empathy toward them, not only as employees but also as people with families and young children for whom they have to care.

Weber knows that this request is not the product of a few overly demanding whiners. Indeed, it has been put together by a self-appointed committee consisting of half a dozen of the firm's most respected employees and has been signed by more than 50 people. Furthermore, Weber knows that, within just the past three months, two highly valued senior systems designers quit rather than returning to work after the six-week parental leave the company allowed. They told Weber that they were unable to arrange for suitable child care and that they thought the company did not give a damn about them. Weber has overheard many informal conversations that echo this view.

Weber understands that many companies have established child care centers, but he has little technical knowledge of how they are structured or how much they cost. Moreover, he wonders if his feeling for these employees should override his feelings for employees who do not have families, who would have to share in the costs of setting up a child care facility at the company. Finally, he is certain that Barks, the company's founder, will resist the idea of getting involved in such a venture. He has never seen Barks express the sentiment that family life should come before the hard work of maintaining the firm and making it financially viable. He feels as if he has a responsibility to bring the matter to Barks's attention, but he is very apprehensive about what will take place.

When he brings the issue to Barks's attention, the CEO immediately blurts out,

I just don't get it. It does not feel right to me. This problem only affects a part of our work force. Some people have no children at all, and others have children they are managing to raise without any help from us. How are these employees going to react if they see the company spending its money on an expensive program that benefits only a few people? I have absolutely no sympathy for these people asking for a child care facility, none. I did not get any special protection from my employers earlier in my life when I worked for others. My gut says to just turn down those who are asking for this benefit and not to let this issue simmer any further. Let's squelch it now before it gets out of hand.