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Case 40

Getting a Fair Hearing

Background Information

Jerry Evans generally liked supervising the Telephone Services Department of the

National Building and Supply Company. Jerry supervised a staff of 10 service rep-

resentatives. The reps averaged almost four years in their current jobs, and Jerry

was pleased with their performance.

“Part of the reason they’re good,” Jerry often thought to himself, “is that I’m such

a stickler for following rules. They get in on time and meet their quotas, or else.

That’s the only way to run things here.”

In the two years that Jerry had been in charge of Telephone Services, he had

never experienced any major problems with the staff. However, he had not been

particularly close to them either, and his relationship with them was a formal one.

One day, shortly after lunch, Bill Hatter, a supervisor in a nearby department,

came to Jerry’s office with information that had the potential to change how Jerry

related to his staff. Jerry liked Bill and they often talked together. He was a fine and

trustworthy colleague.

Jerry was sitting at his desk when Bill walked in and closed the door. Bill wasted

no time in getting to the point: “I just got through hearing an interesting conversa-

tion in the lunch room. It involved four of your employees, and you should hear

what they’re saying about you.”

Jerry looked puzzled and concerned. “What do you mean? I mean, er, how do

you know? How did you hear?”

“Well,” Bill said, “I was sitting at an out-of-the-way booth with my back to them

and was kind of hidden by a poster display someone recently put up. I don’t think

they knew I was there.”

Jerry was growing impatient. “Okay, okay, but what were they saying?”

“I wasn’t paying any attention at first, so I’m not sure quite how things got

started,” Bill replied. “But in any case, when I finally began to listen, it seemed the

first part of the discussion concerned a warning you gave Delores about being late.”

In fact, earlier that day, Jerry had issued a written warning to one of his employ-

ees, Delores Jones, about her periodic lateness. Delores had to take public trans-

portation to get to work and had a tendency to arrive 10 to 15 minutes late on a

regular basis.

Bill continued: “I think at first it was just Delores and April Browner who were

involved. Evidently they were comparing notes about how often each of them was

late and how you treated them. They were joined by two other employees, Chris

Wilkins and Randy Barry.”

Bill explained what happened. The other two employees, learning of the topic,

chimed in. After a while, they were all complaining about how Jerry did not treat

them fairly and how unfairly they were paid. They openly discussed their salaries

50 Case Studies for Management and Supervisory Training

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Case 40 (continued)

and how wrong their job descriptions were. It was a major gripe session, and these

employees were very upset.

“I got the impression that this was not the first time they had this conversation,”

Bill observed. “I also got the impression that a lot of other employees in your unit

felt the same way.”

“The thing that really got my ear, though, was when Delores said something like

‘How much longer are we going to put up with this stuff? We should do some-

thing.’ Everyone there agreed.”

Bill explained that he stayed in the cafeteria longer than he should have and had

to return to his department.

“I tried to be careful when I was leaving so that they wouldn’t see me, but I think

I was noticed. Then I came right here.”

CASE QUESTIONS

1. Does Jerry have a problem? If so, what is it?

2. What actions, if any, should Jerry take?