You are a department supervisor for an adjustments department at an insurance company overseeing a team of 5 people. You have been with the company nearly 5 years and were recently promoted when your former supervisor retired. You are eager to demonstrate to upper management that you were the right choice for this role and aspire to continue moving up within the company. There is some tension among the team because one of your coworkers, Shelly, who has been with the company a year longer than you and is substantially older than you, also interviewed for the job that you got.

You are struggling to navigate these relationships because you were once friends with all of the team members, but now that you are the supervisor, interactions are awkward at best. Shelly and two of her allies seem to enjoy challenging your authority and undermining your decisions. Two other team members claim to be on your side, but lately one of them has been spending a lot of time with Shelly. Your current biggest dilemma is with the last individual on the team, Tom. Tom was hired by your previous manager 6 months ago.

He had a difficult on-boarding and at his 90-day probation review, you advocated for him to stay on board, even though he has made several mistakes which have cost the insurance company to pay out higher amounts than needed. These mistakes hurt the entire team, because as a department you can earn bonuses based on keeping payouts low. You have a vested interest to have Tom succeed not only because you spent a lot of time training him during his first 6 months, but also because he is your ally and without him on your side, Shelly’s influence will get stronger. As you were leaving the office last night, Tom shared with you that he really loves his job. He tells you that he thinks he really has gotten the “hang of things”.

He also confides that he just bought a new car because his wife is pregnant. You leave the office feeling hopeful that Tom will finally start to be able to hold his fair share of the work, which is critical because you know that your department will be getting really busy over the next few weeks. The next morning, shortly after walking into the office, you learn from your supervisor that Tom made another costly mistake that was discovered overnight. Your supervisor tells you that you have to, "step-up and deal" with this.

You are filled with mixed emotions, should you cut your losses and fire Tom and hire someone new? Recruiting and hiring someone new will take time, once hired it will take more time to train them, and they won’t be ready for this busy spurt coming up. Should you give Tom one more try and invest further in him by signing him up for a more comprehensive online training program in hopes that it is what he needs to finally gain full understanding of the job duties (even though it will be yet another cost to the company)?

Required:

A) Describe the process that you would go through to make your decision. Summarize the key facts of the case that you are weighing.

B) What are the motivational and emotional influences on you as you make your decision?

C) What are the ethical factors of fairness and ethics that you are evaluating in your decision?

D) Summarize your decision. Explain how and why you made this decision. Is your decision in line with the examination above, or did you rely on personal “gut” instincts, affective/emotions, personal relationships, or personal values?

E) Are your personal faith, values, and spiritual principles challenged or in line with your evaluation and decision?