11-1 Hayward Healthcare Systems, Inc, Bob Jackson is the new operations manager of the distribution center for Hayward Healthcare Systems, Inc. a midsize, nonunion company located in California. The distribution center is an $80-million-a-year operation that has 50 employees, including 15 minorities and 18 females in the workforce. Jackson was transferred from another operations position in the company to fill this position because of some serious performance problems in the distribution center that has resisted all attempts at improvement. The center had experienced a very high level of defects (140 per month) and an unacceptable rate of errors in the orders taken from client's hospitals. Jackson accepted the assignment knowing that top management would expect him to improve the performance of the distribution center in a relatively short period of time. Jackson's first few weeks on the job were revealing, to say the least. He discovered that the five supervisors' that his predecessor had selected to lead the center's workforce had little credibility with the employees. They had each been selected on the basis of their job seniority or their relationship with the previous manager. The workforce was organized into three categories. Pickers identify supplies by code numbers in the storage area, remove packaged items from the shelves, and sort them into baskets. Drivers operate forklifts and electric trucks, moving baskets and boxes of supplies to different locations within the distribution center. Loaders transfer supplies onto and off of the forklifts and delivery trucks. The situation Mr. Jackson Encountered Jackson found that his employees were either demoralized or had tough belligerent attitudes towards management and other employees. Part of the problem he soon learned, was a lax approach to background checks and prior job references. Seven employees were convicted felons who had been imprisoned for violent assaults on their victims. The previous managers had made all of the hiring decision by himself without bothering to check on the applicants' references or backgrounds. Jackson soon discovered that it was not unusual for employees to settle their differences with their fits or to use verbally abusive language to berate people who had offended them. His predecessor had unintentionally encouraged these disruptive activities by saying in his office and not being available to the other workers. He had relied largely on his discredited supervisor to handle their own disciplinary problems. Before long, the employees at the center felt they could handle their own affairs in any way they wanted, without any interference from management. The Loading Dock Incident While sitting in his office, planning to make several policy changes to improve the efficiency of the distribution center, one of Jackson's supervisors entered and reported that two of the leaders had just gotten into a heated dispute, and the situation on the loading dock was tense. The dispute was between Ed Williams, an African-American male employee, and Buddy Jones, a white male employee, and focused on which radio station to play on the loading dock sound system. Williams is the only black employee who works on the loading dock. The company's policy permits employees to listen to music while they work and, in recent years, workers have considered listening to music to be benefits that improves their working conditions. Williams insisted that he couldn't stand to listen to the country music that Jones preferred to play. For his part, Jones claimed that William's choice rap and hip-hop music was offensive to him and made working conditions difficult. An emotional and angry argument developed between the two men over their choices in music, and each yelled racial slurs at the other. Neither the company nor the division [has] a policy governing the choice of music permitted in the workplace. Apparently, whoever gets to work first chooses the music for the day. Both Jones and Williams were known as tough employees who had previous disciplinary problems at Hayward Hospital Supply. Joes had been incarcerated for 18 months prior to being hired by the company. Jackson knew that he should take immediate action to resolve this problem and to avoid a potentially volatile escalation of the conflict. His supervisors told Jackson that, in the past, the previous manager would simple have hollered at the two antagonists in the conflict and then departed with no further action. Jackson's objectives in resolving the conflict included the establishment of his own control in the workplace. He knew that he would have to change \"business as usual\" in the distribution center so that employees would respect his authority and would refrain from any further unprofessional conduct