CASE 12 Beverly Comes Full Circle

Background Information Beverly Wyman took her job as supervisor very seriously. Though only 33 years
old and somewhat new to the company, she liked her work and believed she did a good job. Beverly was
in charge of the Consumer Credit Sales Group of the First Union National Bank. She was in charge of
seven credit sales representatives (CSR's). Her sales group was formed six months ago to aggressively
sell and market the bank's various car, boat, and other personal loans. Beverly was promoted and
became group supervisor shortly after the group was started, moving up from an assistant manager's
job in the nearby Credit Analysis Section. Some problems in the Analysis Section kept her there longer
than was anticipated, and she joined her sales group after it had already started operating. Even though
she was generally pleased with the progress her sales group was making, she did have a problem: Bob
Watson. As she thought back, she knew why this was so painful now.

Back to Beginning:

Bob Watson Three years ago, when Beverly joined First Union's Credit Analysis Sec-tion, Bob Watson
was the chief credit analyst and her boss. He was then 41 and had been a First Union employee for 18
years. In this position, Bob was responsible for training all new junior analysts. Bob had long been a top
credit analyst: he earned almost twice the net income as the next most productive employee in Credit
Analysis. It was this exceptionally high level of productivity that allowed the division manager to look the
other way whenever Bob had one of his occasional fits of moodiness. Indeed, although Bob was widely
respected for his consumer credit talents, he was just as widely avoided for his unpredictable
temperament and erratic work habits. Beverly learned a lot about credit from Bob, and they got along
well together—at least until Beverly started to equal Bob's record in Credit Analysis. That was about 18
months ago. It was around this same time that Bob seemed to undergo a change. There was a subtle but
distinctive difference in how he worked: He maintained an adequate analytic volume, but he seemed
drained of energy. Some employees thought the change was due to his divorce. Whatever the cause,
Bob's idiosyncrasies now became a real problem and the change in his work became increasingly less
subtle. He was absent from his desk frequently and for long periods. Indeed, it seemed he would put in a
couple of good hours of work a day and then spend the rest of the time listlessly wan-dering around. An
exasperated department manager, Tony lanelli, finally had to act, giving Bob a written disciplinary
notice. Bob's wandering seemed to sub-side, but his underlying attitude apathy, indifference, hostility
became even stronger.

Beverly Becomes Supervisor All these problems with Bob occurred before Beverly was made supervisor.
Tony explained the situation to Beverly before he hired her, because Bob had now been transferred a
second time to the newly formed Consumer Credit Sales group as senior representative. He was given
the temporary duty of running the sales group until the permanent supervisor—soon revealed as being
Beverly arrived. Bob's job was the same kind of position he had filled in Credit Analysis: to train the sales
reps in Beverly's sales group. But now, he was working for Beverly instead of Beverly for him. During the
job interview, Tony told Beverly: "We considered Bob for the credit sales manager's job, but decided we
just didn't think he would work out as a supervisor at this time. We did think that more responsibility
might be what he needs, though, so we made him senior representative." Tony told Beverly that as
senior representative, Bob would have the three newest sales reps work directly for him as trainees.
Thus, Beverly would super-vise Bob and the other three CSR's directly; she would supervise the three
trainee reps indirectly through Bob. The chart below shows the organization of First Union's Consumer
Credit Sales Division.

Four months after Beverly moved into the supervisory position, she was facing a number of problems
with Bob Watson. She believed that Bob could consistently be a top performer if only he could get over
this "attitude problem." She thought that although Bob realized he blew his chance for a management
job because of his erratic performance, he still felt cheated. He applied for other jobs in the bank at
every opportunity. He still did an average job, although his sales performance had been falling for the
past few months. Beverly was also concerned about his work method: He seemed to do the easiest sales
jobs first and then give up too quickly on the more demanding and challenging opportunities. So, while
he still performed fairly well, his work was just not up to his potential. Beverly was experiencing other
difficulties with Bob, too. She was alarmed at the way his attitude was affecting the three trainees that
worked under him. She sensed their resentment of her. A recent incidence was still troubling her. She
had asked Bob to explain to the trainees a new procedure that all the CSR's had to follow. Beverly felt it
was a good system and had hoped that Bob would introduce it well. However, she was distressed to
overhear one of the trainees complain about the "crappy, stupid new procedure" they had to complete.
Bev-erly could only imagine how Bob must have explained it. Another of Beverly's concerns was Bob's
almost total indifference to her. She could remember a number of times that Bob had gone around her
to talk with Tony directly about some questions or concerns. The rest of the time, he seemed to ignore
the plans she and Tony made. When asked for his input, he usually complained that the idea would
never work. In particular, he seemed totally resistant to changing some of his practices and bringing
them into accord with the newly revised Consumer Credit Protection Laws. Potentially this was Beverly's
biggest problem because mistakes un-der this new law could have cost the bank a lot of money in
lawsuits and penalties. She had circulated a flier announcing the changes to all employees, but Bob had
not appeared to pick it up. With his experience and ability, Bob was able to work in the gray area
between super-selling and regulatory violation fairly easily. He did not to seem to appreciate the danger
in which he was put-ting the Bank, though, and his trainees were picking up his questionable tactics.
Altogether, Bob was consuming an enormous amount of Beverly's time and energy. Her productivity was
being hampered by Bob's continual problems. Even worse, Tony lanelli seemed unwilling to take any
drastic action, and Beverly felt her ability to act was limited by Tony's sensitivity to "front-office"
pressure to keep Bob around. Even though she had not yet broached the subject with Tony, firing Bob
did not seem possible. As her fourth month as a supervisor drew to a close, Beverly sat at her desk,
looking at one of Bob's recent sales reports. She shook her head slowly, noticing more of the same
errors. Beverly knew that although the problem was not an emergency, it needed correcting. Beverly
wondered to herself: "What can I do?"

CASE DISCUSSION: Beverly Comes Full Circle

Summary Four months ago, Beverly Wyman, 33, was promoted to the supervisor's job of a newly
formed sales group. There were seven people in the sales group re-potting to her, including Bob Watson
(her boss when she first joined the company). Bob was about 10 years older than Beverly. He had been
the highest performer in the company for a number of years, until Beverly began to equal his production
about 18 months ago. Bob had a long history of personal moodiness and erratic behaviors, though.
When Beverly began to equal his performance, Bob's behavior became more problematic. He had finally
been given a written disciplinary notice. Consequently, some of the behaviors changed, al-though the
underlying "attitude" problems of apathy, indifference, and hostility did not. When Beverly was
promoted to head up the sales group, Bob Watson was given the job of supervising three trainees in the
department in addition to sales production tasks. Now, four months later, Bob had developed into a
major supervisory problem for her. Beverly currently had several concerns about Bob's work: • He gave
up on tougher sales chores. • He was infecting his trainees with a negative attitude about her and the
operations of her department. • He ignored her authority and plans, and is not a constructive
contributor to the department. • He circumvented new regulations and laws, putting the company at
risk.

In short, Bob was consuming quite a bit of Beverly's time and attention, while performing far below his
potential. He was continually seeking to find another position in the company. It seemed that the "front
office" would be protective of him; Beverly assumed that they would not allow him to be fired.

Answers to Case Questions 1. Describe the problem(s) Beverly faces as a supervisor. Identify what
specific performance improvement results she should seek. Beverly's problem is how to respond to a
rather unique problem employee: He is a long-term employee who is very knowledgeable and capable.
But his work behaviors are just not acceptable—and may actually be risky to the business. He seems to
be unreceptive to Beverly's super-vision of him. It is generally unproductive to speculate on what Bob's
"motivation" or "psychological" problems are. It is difficult to accurately identify those underlying
motivations when there is limited evidence of what is behind 2. What key rule(s) or principle(s) should
Beverly use in solving the problem(s)? Beverly should keep in mind several rules or principles when
approaching these problems: 1. In the final analysis, it is Bob's responsibility to comply with the
standards of performance set. While Beverly may be experiencing the problem, it is Bob's problem. Both
he and Beverly need to understand that it is his decision about what will happen. 2. Beverly needs to be
clear about what those standards are and what will happen if he does not meet those standards. 3. She
should not make assumptions about what can or cannot be done with Bob. She should prepare the way
for action by initiating discussions with the "front office" to obtain their agreement to support her
actions. This includes reaching an agreement with her boss, Tony IaneIli, regarding stopping his end-run
behaviors. 4. Open and direct communication with Bob is necessary. In that regard, offering support and
assistance is appropriate. 3. Develop at least three different strategies or approaches for resolving this
issue. Them are a number of strategies Beverly could pursue. They are not mutually exclusive. 1. Reach
an agreement with the "front office" about how Bob will be treated. This will involve notifying "them" of
the potential liabilities the company faces and the productivity problems that are likely. She should also
present a plan for dealing with Bob, which could include a transfer if firing is not possible. 2. Meet with
Bob to set expectations and note future consequences. Beverly should make it clear to Bob what her
standards of performance are. She needs to point out that the responsibility for all future outcomes are
his; i.e., he needs to understand that it is now his problem. She needs to state what will happen to him if
he does not meet those standards. This conversation should be noted and kept as a record in her files. It
would be very appropriate to have Tony laneIli sit in on this meeting.

3. Beverly could refer Bob to the firm's Employee Assistance Program if one were available. 4. An
alternative approach to a meeting with Bob would be more of a "counseling" one. In this case, Beverly
could use assertive communication and active listening skills to raise the problems at hand for discussion
purposes. In such a meeting, she could begin by using "I messages" to raise problems she's experiencing,
and then ask for his reaction. By actively listening to him, the underlying reasons for his behavior may
become discussable. Plans could be made to address his concerns. It may be that she could work with
him to make a transfer to another area. Other options may also exist.