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Page 2 9805C002 negotiations and bargained provincewide for all members. In general, the union renegotiated the contract every two years. Despite the provincewide contract negotiation, union/management relations depended largely on the relationship between the faculty, the local union representative and the chair of the department. Each department had one union steward to represent the faculty concerns. Overall, the interactions between the union and management were amicable, although 10 years earlier, college faculties across Ontario had gone on strike for a two-month period. The human resources (HR) department was responsible for a variety of administrative work associated with each employee. In addition, the HR department provided counselling for management at the college and organized a variety of programs for the professional development of the faculty and staff at the college. The professional development area offered outside counselling for staff who had been experiencing difficulty at work. Due to the nature of the educational environment, faculty enjoyed a large degree of autonomy. In the union contract, a performance appraisal by the chair of the department was required once every four years. Each faculty member could also choose whether or not to have a peer performance appraisal at that time. Additionally, faculty members were evaluated at the end of each semester by their students, who ranked faculty on a variety of areas and overall as to their effectiveness as college instructors. Any disciplinary action at Conseco typically followed a three-step program. Most complaints about instructors brought by the students were directed to the student co-ordinators or to the chair. If a faculty member consistently performed poorly, the chair of the department would typically give a written warning. The second step was another written warning with a one-week suspension without pay. Finally, if there was no change in behavior, the faculty member could be terminated. A termination agreement would have to be negotiated. The Computer Studies Department The faculty of computer studies at Conseco was created in the late 1970s. The faculty grew quickly and, by 2004, had 33 full-time and 19 part-time faculty members teaching more than 4,500 students. Hessle, chair of computer studies, reported directly to the vice-president, academic, of Conseco. All faculty members reported directly to Hessle. Three faculty members within the department had the additional responsibility of being student co-ordinators." Computer studies also had one union steward to represent faculty concerns (see Exhibit 1). The computer studies department experienced very little management conflict, with only one grievance being filed between 1998 and 2004. The grievance was filed because an employee felt the standard workload formula' did not accurately represent the amount of work required to mark a programming exam. The administrative work included contract issuance, paycheques and other administrative tasks. The outside counselling was done without the knowledge of management or department chairs. The counselling was never documented on an employee's file. "A student co-ordinator accepted the additional responsibility of helping students with selecting courses and program planning, and they provided an additional outlet for student complaints. A student co-ordinator taught one less section of the course from a full-time workload. Student co-ordinators usually rotated every two years. "The standard workload formula was used to determine the number of students taught by a faculty member. The formula used the number of students, classroom hours and length of time to mark an exam to determine what was an appropriate amount of work for a full-time employee.Page 8 9805C002 Exhibit 2 (continued) Tom, there is no better man for the job, and I consider it a great honour to work in tandem with the likes of yourself and Joseph. Perhaps I can mention a slight concern which I have sensed only lately? and that is that is [sic] that students have come to me to obtain direction when they did not understand certain concepts in the course. Of course that is not unusual in itself, after all, I had taught the course in previous semesters and I have a reputation of being approachable for assistance with any student concerns. Add to that my new (mediatorial) [sic] role as student coordinator and I probably have the explanation as to why this began to occur . As I say, in understating my reaction to being equally yoked with you in pulling the VB cart, I would say that I am very pleased and somewhat daunted by the prospect of working opposite you. This emotion is pacified when I think that you will be patient with me and generous in sharing your wealth off [sic] experience and knowledge. Oh, and thanks again Tom for giving one of my Conseco campus students a job at the brewery near the airport. She has gone on to be a success in data processing combining her strong accounting background with her knowledge of microcomputers (I would remind you that the three year co-op CPA diploma given by Computer Studies was entirely microcomputer based and more bent towardes [sic] programming than our current program) . As I say, she has progressed well and is now working at Nesbitt-Burns (division of the Bank of Montreal that is soon to merge with RBC Dominion Securities) . As in any merger situation, it is incombent [sic] on people to review their current carreer [sic] status and I may offer her some sub-contracting from LEE'S COMPUTER SERVICES - Applications Development [sic] Division. Remember that I am quite willing to make your summer a little bit nicer by teaching in your place any two individual weeks of the May-June period for you. As my business may slow this summer as I refuse work to concentrate on my carreer [sic] at Conseco, I will be freeing up the time necessary [sic] to do this for you. NO CHARGE, FREE, now where else are you going to find a deal like that? Let me know one month in advance and I wil [sic] schedule myself accordingly. I look forward to attending your meeting on Wednesday. Regards, PhilPage 5 9805C002 Hessle wondered what to do for Lee while keeping the college's best interest in mind. She took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair.1. What are the key problems in this case? 2. As Karen Hessle, what are the things she needs to do first to address this problem/s? 3. As Karen Hessle, what alternatives should you consider? what are the risks associated in this alternatives? 4. As Karen, what recommendation/s would you make?Page 7 9B05C002 Exhibit 2 PHILIP LEE'S CORRESPONDENCE From: Philip E. Lee Sent: April 24, 2001 To: Karen Hessle RE : Fwd: Rambling Response to Tom with Targeted Statements Good Morning Karen, Firstly may I thank you for all the new resposibilities you are entrusting to me. I appreciate very much how you give me all the assistance I need but never more than you deem me to require. I appreciate how you lead me into the deeper water and encourage me to swim on my own. You are amongst the very best of managers for whom I haved [sic] worked. No flattery here, just the truth as I see it. Anyway, I am blind copying you on this memo to Tom so that I can keep you aware of how I am going to tackle him and give him assistance at the very same time as I suck as much new learing [sic] from him as I possibly can in the next semester. Perhaps you can find the "cotton-covered darts" in the attached memo? Loyally, Phil From: Philip E. Lee Sent : April 24, 2001 To: Tom Partson RE : Fwd: Rambling Response to Tom with Targeted Statements Tom, I'll be at your meeting. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for playing the role of course coordinator. It is fitting that you should coordinate this course. After all, you first proposed and pioneered this course, you first taught the course giving it a third generation after allowing others to follow in those footsteps, you are the one who altered the basic (no pun intended) direction of course by giving the students the option of handing in assignments based on a third generation Structured [sic] paradigm or using object-oriented principles and objects (sorry for overloading the word object) . - you have traced the strategic developments in the computer industry including close scurtiny [sic] of Microsoft's written and unwritten agendae. Grammar, spelling and typographical errors have not been corrected.Page 4 931151311112 On April 23, one week later, at the department planning meeting, Lee volunteered to charr the meeting.\" However, Hessle noticed Lee seemed unable to concentrate during the meeting and he left the meeting abruptly on several occasions. On one occasion, he left the meeting for almost half an hour and was seen walking around the parking lot outside. Hessle was quite concerned about Lee, but assumed that he may not have been feeling well during the meeting. As a result, she did not mention the incident. When speaking with the staff in the days that followed, Hessle heard that Lee's behavior had been a little out of the ordinary. Although Lee had done nothing wrong, staff noticed that he had become much more assertive and was having trouble concentrating on any one topic. In addition, Hessle had received an unusual email from Lee, which was a twmpage response to whether or not he would attend an upcoming meeting (see Exhibit 2}. As Hessle read the e-mail, she became even more concerned because the typical response by faculty was a \"yes\" or ' o\" to attending any meeting. Despite his changed behavior, there had been no student complaints about Lee. LATE NIGHT CONVERSATION On April 2?, Hessle was working late preparing year'end reports for the vice-president, academic, when Lee suddenly showed up at her office. It was unusual for Lee to be at the school this late in the day because he lived approximately 45 kilometres from the school. Upon his arrival, he announced that he had just cycled to the college from his home and felt great. He exhibited unusual energy, his hands moving everywhere, and he was unable to stand still. Hessle immediately became concerned and wondered whether it was healthy for a 50year-old man to suddenly cycle all that distance. Before Hessle could ask him, Lee started to talk about a female co'worker, what a wonderful woman she was and how beautiful she had become. This conversation made Hessle extremely uncomfortable as it bordered on a sexual perspective and it was very unusual for Lee to talk this way. Before Hessle could stop him, Lee had already changed the subject. He began ranting about how he had stopped taking his medication. At this point, Hessle was extremely confused but proceeded to ask why he had stopped taking his medication. Lee responded, \"I can't feel when I take those stupid drugs. Do you want to live your life without feeling?\" Immediately, he returned to the subject of the female co-worker. The conversation ended shortly thereafter because Lee announced that he needed more exercise and he left to bike home. WHAT TO DIE! After Lee left the office, questions ooded into Hessle's mind. What kind of medication was he on? Was he going to be OK? Why was he acting so differently? Would this behavior affect his students? His co- workers? Were his students or co-workers in danger? Hessle also knew that Lee had been a model employee for It] years, and she wondered whether she should second-guess him at all. Concerned about Lee's health, Hessle wondered whether she should take any action. She was concerned about his students and hoped that Lee had not acted erratically or in a threatening manner in the classroom. At the same time, Hessle realized that she had no proof that Lee had done anything wrong: there had been no student complaints. Authorized for usoonty in educational programs at Fanshawo College until Apr 23, 2022. Han nlrlsidnthqsn naramntnrt: is a r'nnu'rinht vinl'rtinn Richard Ivey School of Business The University of Western Ontario IVEY 9B05C002 CONSECO COLLEGE (A) Stephen Rene Frey prepared this case under the supervision of Elizabeth M.A. Grasby solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. Ivey Management Services prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmittal without its written permission. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Management Services, clo Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, NGA 3K7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail cases@ivey.uwo.ca. Copyright @ 2004, Ivey Management Services Version: (A) 2009-09-28 On April 27, 2004, Karen Hessle, chair of the computer studies department at Conseco College (Conseco), sat at her desk wondering what to do about Phil Lee. There was a growing concern with the work performance of this long-time professor. Lee had just arrived at work at 8 p.m. He had engaged Hessle in a conversation that she found quite disturbing. To her, it was quite obvious that Lee was having trouble concentrating and staying focused. He had also mentioned he had stopped taking his medication. Hessle knew she would have to take some action, but she was unsure of what direction to take. CONSECO COLLEGE In May 1965, the provincial government of Ontario created a provincewide community college system to provide an alternative to post-secondary students who did not qualify for or want to attend university. Four years later, Conseco was founded in a major city of the province. The college, initially offering nine diploma programs, grew quickly and, by 1980, had over 5,000 full-time students and 25,000 part-time students. Growth continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s to an enrolment of more than 50,000 full- and part-time students in 2004. Conseco now offered more than 120 programs of study with primary areas of focus on business administration, arts and computer studies with a variety of diploma and post-graduate studies. Faculty/Union Conseco faculty and staff were members of the Ontario Public Services Employees Union (OPSEU). OPSEU had approximately 100,000 full- and part-time members and was the third largest union in the Province of Ontario with nearly 500 locals and 20 offices.' The union was responsible for contract ""Ontario Public Service: Organizing, " opseuonline: http://wwwopseu.org/Organizing/aboutopseu.htm, accessed May 17, 2004.Page 3 93115811112 the computer studies department was not attected by other departments' interactions with the union1 printarily because the computer studies department was located on its own campus. Before 1995, the computer studies department offered programs at two separate campuses. In 1995. the computer studies department brought all courses and faculty together when the department moved to its current1 separate location. Karon Hessle Karen Hessle graduated from the University of' Waterloo in 19% with a bachelor's degree in computer sciences. Immediately after graduation, Hessle accepted a position at Conseco as a full-time professor. In 1994. she accepted the additional responsibility of being a student co-ordinator and, in September 1998. Hessle became the Chair of Computer Studies. Phil Lee Phil Lee graduated from McGill University with a bachelor's degree in science in 19?]. majoring in chemistry. After nishing his bachelor of science degree1 Lee returned to school to complete his bachelor's degree in education in 191?. While teaching full-time in an elementary school in Montreal. Lee continued his education. pursuing a master's degree in computer science. He had nished two years of a three-year program when he accepted a position at Canadian Industries Limited {CIL}. a large manufacturing company that operated throughout Nonh America. During the next 15 years, Lee held a variety of positions in the computer department of (IL. In 1990. Lee decided to pursue his passion for teaching and accepted a position as a professor at Conseco. Throughout Lee's l l years at Conseco. he consistently received above-average ratings from his students. Lee had also proven to be a very helpful member of the department. He was always willing to help and, in l'il'Elti1 had volunteered to co-teach with a colleague who had been receiving below-average ratings, even though this co-teaching added extra work to Lee's schedule. In Zt}. Lee again volunteered when a student co-ordinator position needed to be filled. Hessle described her relationship with Lee as \"healthy and open." Lee was known for having a laid-back style, and he almost always avoided conflict with co-workers and students. Lee also took a rather complacent stance on the union and did not believe in striking or missing work to fight for small raises in pay. Lee was a family man with four children. was quite active in the community. very involved in his local church and was viewed as a highly ethical person. RECENT EVENTS During a regular monthly union meeting on April Id. 2004. out of the blue, Lee challenged Andrew Korol]. the department's long-time union representative. Lee delivered a stirring and emotional speech that ended in a union vote calling for an election of a new union steward. Lee went so far as to state that \"striking for a raise may be the only route of action for such a persecuted group of people." The speech at the union meeting was unusual for the consistently laid-back Lee. Despite the unusual outburst, Lee won the election and became union steward for his department