Amrit, has been the department manager for just over eighteen months; not long after she took on the role, she introduced some upgrades to the accounting software and procedures. As she walks around the department, Amrit has noticed Maria has not been able to keep up with these changes and her work has suffered as a result. While she was never the quickest worker in the department, Maria now falls behind on a regular basis and is constantly asking her co-workers for help and advice on how to proceed.

People in the department like Maria but her constant calls for help have become a burden; they have their own work to complete and have started to complain about it. The fact that Maria frequently consults the operating manual and asks questions about routine procedures, is another problem that none of her co-workers seem to be having. Although Mary received her diploma in accounting at the local college, Amrit knows that Maria is the only member of the department without an accounting designation and wonders if that could be part of the problem.

In her first three years at the company Maria's performance was rated by her old manager as "satisfactory" and each year she received a salary increase and a small performance bonus. Since Amrit took over as her manager, Maria's performance has been rated as "below satisfactory" and she has not received a salary increase or a bonus. Six months ago when Amrit and Maria last formally discussed her performance, Amrit pointed out that even with help from her coworkers, Maria was late with 10 percent of her weekly reports and, had an error rate that was 8 percent higher than the department standard. Amrit documented that Maria had not learned the new accounting software and procedures, and that she had not obtained her accounting designation, a new requirement in the department.

Maria committed to improvement at the time but is very unhappy about the way things are going and feels that Amrit doesn't like her and is out to get her. Amrit does seem to have more stringent standards than Maria's previous manager, who was willing to overlook some of her performance deficiencies. Other members of the department seem to be thriving under Amrit's approach, but Maria believes she is underappreciated and unfairly treated. To make matters worse, Maria feels under increased stress as her husband is self-employed and times have been hard in his line of work.

Recently, Amrit has noticed that Maria has developed something of an attendance problem; she seems to miss a day of work every two or three weeks-often it seems, on a Monday or Friday. On several occasions, she has had to leave work early to check on her elderly parents, or so she says. This usually seems to occur in the afternoon, and Maria rarely returns to work.

Amrit feels it is time to meet once again with Maria.

Q1. What evidence does Amrit have that Maria is not performing well? (3 marks)

Q2. What three things do you think are contributing to the problems Maria is having? Why? (3 marks)

Q3. Analyzing the case, how should Amrit proceed? What four things do you think she should do to deal with Maria and her issues? Discuss whether you think Amrit should discipline or coach Maria...or both and explain your rationale. (8 marks)

Q4. How should Amrit deal with the fact that Maria feels badly treated and underappreciated? Explain (3 marks)

Q5. How should Amrit respond to the pressure Maria feels because of her husband's failing business? Why? (3 marks)