C A S E A N A L Y S I S

Bob's Meltdown

Donna Innella, Director of Operationsfor the Big River Band:It was the mosthumiliating experience of my life. I knewBob Bigsky didn't see eye-to-eye with me,but I never would have imagined that he'dattack me the way that he did. I feltcompletely exposed and violated. Evennow, nearly two days later, I am angry andupset - I can hardly concentrate on my job.

The morning had started out quite well.I met with Alex Wesley, a respectedFunding Service Officer (FSO) assigned toassist the band from the Department ofIndian Affairs (DIAND). It was a veryproductive meeting - Alex was surfacingall sorts of out of the box ideas--and wedecided to continue it over lunch. We hadjust gathered our jackets and stepped outinto the hallway when out of nowheresomeone starts yelling. At first, I had no idea what was going on. I then realized thatBob Bigsky was in the hall by the door,just a few feet from me, and that he wasscreaming at me. I was stunned,speechless. I just stood there while he wenton and on, ranting about how I didn't knowanything and how I was wrecking the bandoffice. It was very personal. He then tookthe file folders that he was holding andthrew them across the hall,passing a footor two in front of me as he quickly stormedout of the band office. I was scared. Isincerely thought he might do somethingphysical.

Needless to say I couldn't eat after that.Alex kindly escorted me back to my office.The rest of the day was a blur. At somepoint after Alex left to return to his office,Nathan Sands, the head of HR, came by totalk to me for a long while, and then JasonGoodvoice, the Band's elected Chief,called me into his office to talk to me.

But to be honest I couldn't remember much

of what either Nathan or Jason had said tome. Obviously, though, they were bothextremely upset with Bob's outburst.

I knew when I started here six monthsago that I'd have a tough time. The BigRiver Band is set in its ways. Many of thepractices and processes have been aroundfor a long time. Many of the employeesdon't understand the new technologies andtechniques of operations and management.Everyone is still working in their functional

silos; there's no cross-unit teaming, nosharing of best practices. Jason told methat he would like to shake things up, as anew councilor - and that's what he hasbeen trying to do. The Friday before thishappened, Jason had approved my proposalto establish a knowledge managementcommittee - the Knowledge ProtocolsGroup- that would bring together the bestand the brightest from across alldepartments in the band office in order tocreate a strategy that would set ateambuilding example to the rest of theoffice departments. I guess that's what setBob off. He must have viewed it as anencroachment on his turf - his preciousfinance department. I have come to believethat there are two types of people inbusiness: the constructive and thedestructive. Destructive people cansucceed for a while if they're smart andcompetent and energetic, but in the end,they'll do far more harm than good to anorganization. I sensed from the start thatBob Bigsky was a destructive person, andnow I am sure of it. He may be animportant member within the community,but I certainly don't see him as a part of the

band office and its future. I don't thinkJason would argue with my recommendation to let Bob go - I know that I cannot stay if Bob stays.Robert Bigsky, Director of Financeand Administration: I'm not making anyexcuses - what I did was totallyunacceptable- but you have to understand I have been under a heck of a lot of pressure.We are two weeks overdue with our annualaudit submission, the auditors are notgiving us the priority we need and we

cannot change auditors at this time.Besides that the Chief and Council havedecided that because we are behind budgeton self-generated revenues from band-

owned operations and a resulting shift in DIAND policy, we needed to do acomplete makeover of our annual strategic

plan and budget - all so far is on track thanks to my people. Three years ago,when they put me in charge of this

department, our financial services were of very poor quality with reporting that was six months behind and expenditure and revenue inputs three months behind. I cleaned the department out and rebuilt it from scratch. I overhauled our processes,brought in trained people, expanded our reporting regimes, and successfully reinvigorated our managerial reports to the Council. This year we have

surpassed our benchmarks on financial

management improvement and have

expanded our services. DIAND has been

exceptionally pleased at the quality and

timing of our reporting - in fact they have

asked me to speak at workshops to present

our successful financial management

system to other bands in the region.

At the beginning of the month, the Chief

had called me into his office and laid it on

the line. First, he told me that I was going

to have to expand my services to the band

owned businesses - they have fallen way

off with revenues and that I should go over

there and help them with turnaround.

Second, he told me that a hiring freeze had

been put into effect and my vacant

accounting clerk position would not be

filled this year. Third, he told me that he

was going to take $45,000 out of my

department's operating budget for the year.

So, I was in a vise, as usual. But I didn't

whine about it. I just said "Okay I'll get it

done." The first thing I had to do was

clear: rally the troops. I had arranged a

department meeting with all of my staff in

Regina. We had also wanted to meet with

the Department (DIAND) at the same time

to look at the possibility of finding new

money to help our situation.

While in the meeting, I get a hysterical

message from my wife. Our son, Greg, has

been in a car accident. Everyone's fine but

my wife's new Explorer is totaled, and

Greg has been arrested for driving under

the influence of and possession of alcohol.

It's a nightmare. I am the last person to use

my personal life to make excuses for my

job, but face it: stress is stress. I'm human

like everybody else.

Then comes the last straw. I get into my

office Monday morning at seven, and I've

got a memo from Donna Innella - this

woman Jason brought in six months ago as

our Director of Operations. She announces

that she is introducing a new "knowledge

management" strategy, whatever the hell

that means - saying that she's launching

something called a Knowledge Protocols

Group. And get this, she wants each

department to assign two of their "most

talented lieutenants" (that's a direct quote

in her memo) to the new KPG team. She

says that they should be freed up enough

from their operating duties to devote at

least half of their time to the KPG. I nearly

threw my computer out the window. I

mean squeezing my department to re-do

our annual budget, during our busy annual

audit, while being asked to spend more

time with our business operations, and then 3

throw this nonsense at us. Give me a

break.So when I seen Donna in the hallway

the other day kissing up to the FSO with

that patronizing little smile of hers, I just

lost it. I mean she knows nothing about

this band office She comes in here with her

university MBA and a well-intentionedattitude of helping Indians - she doesn'tbelong here. I don't see why Jason hiredher in the first place. It was a huge

mistake. So, yeah I'm sorry for blowing

up; it was a truly stupid move. But I am

carrying a lot of pressure here and doingthe best I can - that's got to count forsomething.Nathan Sands, Director of Human Resources: We have a set of values in this

organization that we have spent a lot of time creating. Many of the policies on our code of conduct have been developed with the input of the community and our Elders.One of those values is "respect." Our

policy states that we should treat our co-

workers with respect and consideration.

Say whatever you want about Donna -

personally I think she is a breath of fresh

air around here - but one thing is crystal

clear. Bob Bigsky acted in a way that was

totally inconsistent with our community's

values. Screaming at a colleague in public

and acting in a violent manner is outside

the bounds of acceptable workplace

behaviour. If Bob is allowed to get away

with this, it will undermine our values

completely. I mean who is going to take

them seriously if he is going to get a slap

on the wrist?

Frankly, Bob Bigsky has never taken

our corporate values seriously. He wasn't

on board when we developed our mission

and values policies, and I go so far as to

say that he treated the entire process with

contempt. Of course, that's typical for

Bob. He runs his finance department like

his own private kingdom, like it's separate

from the rest of the band office. He

routinely ignores and insults the other

directors here. He is just not a team player,

and as Jason has made it perfectly clear on

many occasions, everyone in this office is

part of a team. I know Bob gets results, but

results aren't the only thing that matter.

Bob is a dinosaur, when you get down to it,

and though I would like to give him the

benefit of the doubt, it wouldn't surprise

me if one of the reasons that he attacked

Donna was because she's a woman. I think

he feels threatened.

Paula Wolf, Band Office Receptionist: I

was sitting at my desk when Bob came

down the hall. He stood at my desk with a

memo in hand - he'd looked like he was

having a bad day. We all love Bob; he is

well respected in the community and he

comes from a big family. He's gruff and

has a temper, but he is a great guy. If you

can get through to him and gain his

friendship, he will be a loyal supporter of

yours and will always be in your corner.

Anyway, I could tell he was in a bad

mood that day. We said hi to each other

and he continued to read his memo as I was

sorting the morning mail. Then all hell

breaks loose. I hear Bob say really, loud,

"You've got to be kidding me." I look up,

and at first I thought that he might be

yelling at me - his face was all red, he was

steaming, and I am thinking, "What did I

do?" - and then I realize he was talking to

Donna who has just stepped out into the

hallway.

Anyway Donna is with some INAC

guy, she stops and just glares at Bob.

"Excuse me?" she says. "Are you talking

to me?" She is just totally shocked.

"This knowledge group thing." Bob

says. "That has to be the most stupid idea I

have ever heard in my life. It's totally nuts.

Do you have any clue what 4

what we do here? Have you looked at our

situation? We are in a financial storm here

and your little idea is ten miles from what

you should be focusing on. You have no

idea what is going on here. You better take

another look at how you are performing

around here." Then he takes the memo and

the file folder that it was in and throws it

across the hall at the garbage can sitting

against the wall. There are papers on the

floor and he stomps out of the band office,

and Donna is just standing there in

complete disbelief. It was crazy. People

have been talking about it ever since.

Everyone is wondering what the Chief is

going to do.

Jason Goodvoice, Chief of the Big River

Band: What a mess. Bob Bigsky is the

best manager I have. Hands down he has

turned around our operations single-

handedly. He understands the business of

band finance, he works tirelessly, and he

gets his people to do unbelievable things.

His people adore him, in fact - at least

those who have had the stamina to work

with him. He is tough, but once on your

side he will bend over backwards for you.

This band has been a financial nightmare

and I need Bob to help with the turnaround

of our own-source revenue operations.

Bob is the only guy we have who can do it,

and he knows it.

But screaming at a colleague in the

hallway? Throwing papers? That's too

much. I don't know where you draw the

line but that's definitely over it. The ironic

thing is that I was probably just about as

angry at Donna's memo as Bob was. I

hadn't given her a green light in setting up

that group; I had just said that it was a good

idea. I felt it would be something to look

at. Now I am really in a box. If I ask

Donna to postpone the initiative, it'll look

like I am sanctioning Bob's behaviour and

that's a message I can't send. We have

worked hard at establishing new mission

statements on corporate values.

I brought Donna in because I was

convinced that the band office needed some

fresh thinking. And I am still convinced

that this is true - we have been operating

with ancient systems and processes. Bob's

department is doing all that they can and

their success has allowed the band to

explore new levels of quality and services

to the community. But there is only so

much our finance department can do. Soon

we will have maxed their services and

things will begin flattening out. We have

to begin improving our systems throughout

the organization. We have to evolve and

review how we are doing things around

here. If we are going to grow we need new

ways of looking at things, we need new

ideas, new strategies, new ways of seeking

financial stability. I am not sure that

Donna fully understands the business we

are in. Managing a band office is not like

managing other organizations - there are

many differences. But I have no doubt

about her skills as a manager and the need

to tap into our people's knowledge - no

doubt at all.

I just don't know what to do. In some

ways I feel I have some of the blame here.

I've been pushing Bob relentlessly. He's

always seemed to thrive on pressure - the

more work you give him the more he

wants. But maybe I went too far.

Everybody has a breaking point.

Please answer the following questions:

1) What is the key problem within the case?

2) Identify and briefly describe THREE courses of action you would take in addressing the problem.

3) Evaluate each alternative by identifying at least three pros and threes cons for each alternative.

4) Which alternative would you choose and why?