50 Case Studies for Management and Supervisory Training

137

Case 28

The Case in Case Analysis

Background Information

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 addi-

tional 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 somewhat, the average standard of pro-

duction was 12 completed cases per week and 4 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 7 cases a

week, with 1 or 2 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 an 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 7 or 8 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 coworkers 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