131
American Management Association / www.amanet.org
Case 26: Wanted: Good Secretary
Case Discussion:
Wanted: Good Secretary
Summary
Bernard Malinowski supervised the fi ve service representatives and one secretary in the Customer
Service Department at Buford Department Store. The secretarial position provided important support
to all the service representatives. There had been a steady turnover of personnel in this position.
When Bernard hired Betty Lyons two months ago, he thought things might be dif ferent. At fi rst, they
were; he was actually pleased with her work.
However, he was now concerned about her performance: letters looked sloppy, correspon dence
took too long to get out, and fi ling and recordkeeping were behind schedule. Moreover