1) Four months ago, an outstanding salesperson was transferred from Avondale Industries' headquarters in Arizona to their avionics division in Brisbane, Australia, to help promote and sell a new product being released in the region. Previously, the salesperson had been a high performer, but shortly after arriving in Brisbane he began to miss quotas and became a problem employee. While he was still pleasant to be around, it was apparent he lacked the motivation he had previously exhibited in his job. His manager, who had recruited him to the job because of his previous success, was at a loss and requested help from HR. Which of the following advice might best help the sales manager improve the performance management process for this employee?

• The sales manager needs to have a heart-to-heart talk with the employee, explain that his behavior is not acceptable, that changes must be made, or he will have to return to the US.
• The sales manager should have the employee identify obstacles, get his buy-in on setting goals, set up regular times for feedback, and understand how his contribution affects the firm.
• For the employee to improve in his performance, the sales manager needs to engage the services of a mediator who can act as a go-between to iron out their differences.
• The sales manager needs to motivate the employee. Giving him more work might make him feel more valued and trusted as a contributor to the department.

2) Avondale Industries' training and development office was asked to coach one of the supervisors in the wheel and brake division in the Dallas-Fort Worth site. One of the supervisor's employees was late to work at least once a week, which affected the productivity of the rest of the team. It had come to the attention of HR that the supervisor had really come down hard on the employee during the last performance appraisal about his tardiness. The conversation became quite heated, and the supervisor told him he was tired of him being late, lazy, and inconsiderate and that he'd better get his act together and do better. When the supervisor was confronted about how he had talked to the employee, he said he was just trying to get him to recognize how his actions affected everyone else on the team. How can the supervisor be helped to talk with his employee more effectively about being late as well as other areas in need of improvement?

• The supervisor needs coaching on how to have conversations that are supportive and not confrontational.
• The supervisor needs to be trained on how to talk to employees in order for the company to be protected against potential lawsuits.
• The supervisor needs to learn how to communicate more calmly and effectively but be ready to start disciplinary actions if the employee keeps being tardy.
• The supervisor needs to be coached on how to remove personality from the equation and focus on behaviors and outcomes that can be fixed.

3) Within a month of transferring from Avondale Industries' wheel and brake division in Atlanta, GA, to the Long Beach, CA, wheel and brake site, a supervisor encountered an issue with an employee that required disciplinary action and contacted the HR department to document the start of the process. He was surprised to learn that he could not just set a meeting with the employee to talk about the issue because in California, unlike Georgia, the employees were represented by a union. What is the best reason for the supervisor to involve HR in this disciplinary issue?

• As the supervisor was new to the area, it is a good idea for him to let other people take care of a situation that might get out of hand.
• HR can help the supervisor understand that because it is expensive to hire new employees the goal is to retain the employee and provide constructive criticism.
• The supervisor should involve HR in the disciplinary action so that responsibility for the discipline does not rest on his shoulders. Thus, he is protected should there be problems.
• Because the supervisor had never worked in a union shop, the HR office can provide expertise and training on the steps to take as outlined in the collective bargaining agreement.

4) The abrasive and aggressive director of Avondale Industries' site in Long Beach, CA, had alienated the company's board of directors to the point that they wanted to fire him. However, doing so without just cause would cost the company $1.2 million in a severance package. In his contract, just cause was defined as 1) serious, repeated problematic behavior that was not corrected following warning/notice or 2) highly offensive misconduct. Unfortunately, there was no paper trail for his problematic behavior. Therefore, when the director was out of town, the company searched his email and computer filescompany policy allowed for searches on work computers, something of which the director was aware and acknowledged in his signed contract. In the director's emails, an exchange occurred between him and a vendor that discussed female employees by name and included many inappropriate sexual comments. When the director returned to work, a member of the board handed him a termination letter, a copy of all the emails, and a copy of the company policies on computer use and sexual harassment. Which of the following statements best explains why the company was able to legally search the computer and use the offensive emails to terminate the director?

• The computer was company property, and the director should not have used it for private purposes, especially when those purposes were so offensive.
• The director's comments, even though he thought they were private, made the company open to sexual harassment lawsuits.
• Because the company had no paper trail to document the director's bad behavior, it was necessary for the company to find and provide documentation to justify his termination.
• Because the company had disclosed its privacy policy to the employee, it could legally search his work computer and could use the emails for termination.

5) In the planning and scheduling department of Avondale Industries' unmanned vehicles division in Fort Lauderdale, FL, the manager was ready to fire his assistant, an employee who had been with the company for 17 years. The manager had only been with the department for a year but was extremely frustrated that the employee continually made mistakes and could not learn, even though extensive training had been provided numerous times. Her attitude when her mistakes were discovered was cavalier, and she never apologized. He contacted the HR department to determine what he could do. He discovered the employee had 15 years of poor performance appraisals, but previous managers had not wanted to pursue termination because the employee was a Hispanic woman who was 55 years old. Considering this information, does the manager have the right to terminate his assistant?

• The manager has the right to terminate his assistant but should talk to her again and give her another chance to improve.
• The manager can terminate his assistant, but he needs to ensure that the reasons listed for termination are all related to her poor performance.
• The manager does not have the right to terminate his employee. She is protected from termination because she is a female, belongs to a minority, and is over 40 years of age.
• The manager should enlist the help of other office employees to help address her performance problems and see if together they can help her retain her job.