50 Case Studies for Management and Supervisory Training

50 Case Studies for Management and Supervisory Training

198

Case 39 (continued)

Case Discussion:

What a Waste of Time

Summary

Nick Graham managed the Operational Support Department. One of the six supervisors reporting

to him was Mary Nelson. Mary oversaw the Procedures Unit. She had been in that position for 18

months, after working in the unit as a clerk for three years. While she was a good performer as a

clerk, she had real problems as a supervisor. Her attitude as a supervisor was that employees had

better do what they were told, and she did little to help them. As a result, there were noticeable

production, morale, and turnover problems in her unit.

Nick felt she needed training and enrolled her in a class, Advanced Sales Management Tech-

niques, that was part of a supervisory training program. When Mary received the attendance

memo from the Training Department, she asked Nick what was going on. He first replied that he

thought she might like to attend, then said that top management was on a “training kick.” A few

days later, Mary received a preclass reading assignment. Nick, noticing her reading the booklet,

told her to get back to work.

When the training class started, Mary arrived—ready to leave. She did not know what the

program would cover. Nonetheless, she stayed for the full week. The trainer was uninspiring and

the program was mostly lecture. There were few topics that dealt specifically with her concerns.

Still, at the end of the class, she felt that she had learned a few things and was ready to try them out.

However, her first day back on the job was spent fighting fires. Nick, seeing her back, asked

seriously how her “vacation” was. By midweek, she was ready to try some of the things she

learned in the training. However, each time, Nick made some kind of comment that threw her off

her efforts. Mary finally asked Nick what was going on. Nick told her that she needed to work,

and not get preoccupied by all that training “theory.”

Mary was angry. She reverted back to her old form, and one of her long-term employees quit

shortly thereafter. Mary thought to herself that the training was useless, as did Nick.

Answers to Case Questions

1. Was the training effort that Mary went through a success or a failure? How do you know?

The final judgment of success or failure is not conclusive with the evidence provided. How-

ever, it does suggest that the training was a failure. The reason is that there appears to be no

lasting change in Mary’s supervisory behavior, and the production and turnover problems still

persist.

2. Identify all the factors that contributed to the result (either success or failure).

There are two broad classes of reasons why the program failed.

First, there were problems with the training itself. For example, Mary attended a program that was

irrelevant to her supervisory duties. She entered the program with insufficient preparation. The

program itself seemed to have an inappropriate design, relying more on lecture than practice. Bac

k

on the job, there appeared to be no follow-through application of what was learned.