The Management Training Tool Kit
110
American Management Association / www.amanet.org
Case Discussion:
Confl ict in Customer Service
Summary
Brad Franklin supervised the Customer Service Unit for the Wilson chain of department stores.
When two positions in the unit opened up in March, Brad hired two new employees, Don and Karen.
Don had some prior experience in this work, while Karen, who was a recent community college
graduate, had none. She would be the only woman in the group.
Brad had them sit at adjacent desks for training and support reasons. He spent a lot of time
training them during the fi rst two weeks on the job. After two weeks, he instructed them to answer
the phone and handle customer questions. Shortly thereafter, he noticed that Brad ...