Don't let her get behind you case study

Don't Let Her Get Behind You Background Information Part 1. Making Adjustments-NOT! Betty Rolander was a supervisor of the Secretarial Support Unit in Monu- mental Services Corporation. The main responsibility of her unit was to provide secretarial support to the three groups making up the Administrative Support Division: the Property Services, Purchasing, and Auditing departments. See the organizational chart below. ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT DIVISION (Bud Fuller) Property Purchasing Auditing Services (Helen Mahan) (Jerry Corder) Leasing Maintenance Secretarial Support (Betty Rolander) TITT (Lynecia Jackson) Betty supervised the four secretaries in the unit, and during her first year as supervisor, she had to face a major personnel problem in the form of Lynecia Jackson. Lynecia, 28, had been with Monumental for almost six years, holding various clerical and secretarial positions during her career there. Lynecia had a "bad attitude problem" that drove Betty crazy: Lynecia was haughty, abrasive, and even antagonistic when dealing with other people. For example, when Betty noted problems or errors with her work, Lynecia would fly off the handle and become very defensive Betty told her friend Bob Erhard about Lynecia one day: "At first, I thought it was just me, you know, that Lynecia just didn't like me. But I checked her Personnel file. Almost everyone of her previous bosses had written complaints about the poor way she dealt with people. But they never did anything about it-and now she's my problem."Part 2. Betty's Ears Were Burning After this confrontation, Betty felt that Lynecia was more belligerent and hostile to her. Furthermore, as Betty found out later, Lynecia started talking about Betty behind her back. For example, Lynecia would complain to others, especially any managers who came by, about Betty's clothes or that she was away from her desk too much or how Betty's ability as a supervisor was poor. In staff meetings, Lynecia would try to sound as if she were speaking for every- one else by making comments such as, "We're really having these problems with you," or "None of us thinks that's a good idea." These remarks were then followed by a discussion of all that Betty was supposedly doing wrong. Betty fi- nally stopped having staff meetings because of Lynecia's tirades and criticism. Lynecia also complained about Betty to Helen Mahan (her old boss and Betty's current boss). Soon thereafter, Helen gave Betty some "friendly ad- vice":Betty should stay closer to her desk. Shaken and unsure, Betty accepted the advice and limited her work to her desk area. CASE QUESTIONS 1. Is Lynecia guilty of insubordination? 2. Given what Betty knows at this point, what should she do?Part 3: The Ice Breaks Part of Betty's job was to support and serve Jerry Corder's Auditing Depart- ment, which in turn depended upon her help a great deal. However, Betty told Corder one day that she could not help him anymore because of complaints about her being away from her desk too much. Corder couldn't believe what he had heard, and marched into Bud Fuller's office with Betty in tow. Fuller lis- tened to Corder's complaint and then asked Betty to explain. She told him about Helen's "advice" and Lynecia's complaint. It was a Thursday afternoon. The following Monday morning, Bud Fuller called a meeting of his manage- ment staff in the Administrative Services Division and made the following an- nouncements: 1. Betty Rolander and her staff no longer reports to Helen Mahan, but di- rectly to Bud Fuller. 2. Betty is the supervisor in charge of that unit and she is not away from her desk too much. 3. If there are problems with Betty, they should be brought first to Betty's attention, and if that is not satisfactory, then to Bud. Both Helen and Lynecia were shocked by the announcements. Lynecia seemed to improve for a week or two, but eventually began criticizing Betty again. During this time, Betty told Lynecia to train the floater-secretary who was going to sit in for Lynecia during her upcoming vacation. Lynecia indicated she could finish the training quickly, but by the end of that week, Lynecia had not yet trained the floater. Indeed, Lynecia simply ignored her. Learning this, Betty canceled Lynecia's vacation leave on the grounds that she did not prepare her replacement as directed. Betty gave Lynecia a chance to regain her vacation, though. If Lynecia could train her replacement in the week before her scheduled vacation, should could have it back. Lynecia finally did this-and did it fairly well. During that week, though, Betty received permis- sion from Bud Fuller to give Lynecia a written disciplinary notice. ASSIGNMENT Given this information, you are to conduct a disciplinary meeting with Lynecia. Prepare a written disciplinary notice and use it during your discussion.The roots of Betty's problem with Lynecia went back to the reorganization that had led to Betty's promotion. Shortly before Betty was made supervisor, about a year ago, the centralized secretarial support system in use at Monument tal's headquarter's office was disbanded and replaced by a more traditional structure. Under the prior, centralized system, all the secretaries in headquarters were hired, managed, and controlled through a single manager Helen Mahan, even though the secretaries worked in other departments. Lynecia Jackson had worked directly for Helen Mahan. They liked each other, got along well to- gether, and Lynecia became a loyal and devoted follower of Helen's. However, recurring problems with this centralized system caused its demise. Under the reorganized system, secretaries were reassigned to each department and reported to the manager of each division. Helen Mahan was reassigned as manager of a newly formed Property Services Department. To take the sting out of this reorganization, Helen retained the management duties of the secretarial staff in the Administrative Services Division. Betty Rolander was made supervi- sor of the secretaries, and reported to Helen Mahan. In reviewing some of the items in Lynecia's personnel file, Betty learned that Lynecia had applied for the supervisory job, but had been turned down. When Betty saw this, she thought it explained Lynecia's hostile behavior. She also hoped that the hostility would subside as they began to work more closely together. Unfortunately, she was wrong. After a few months on the job, the problems with Lynecia grew worse, not better. One of the most significant incidents that confirmed this trend developed when Better received a complaint from Neal Coleman. Coleman was an execu- tive vice president in charge of Monumental's Operations Division. One day, he called Betty directly to complain about the rude way Lynecia had talked to Miriam, his secretary, during a phone call that morning. As he explained it to Betty: "She insulted and argued with her. Mariam became very upset, and I don't blame her. You better do something about her. " He was angry. Betty thanked him for the message, then called Lynecia into her office. Betty told her: "We have a problem, Lynecia. I've just received a complaint from Mr. Colemen about how you spoke to his secretary this morning." "What did you say in reply?" Lynecia shot back. "I said I would take care of it. You just can't talk to people like that," Betty said. "You did what?" Lynecia shouted back. "I can't believe it! I didn't do any- thing! This is your problem. You've got a bad attitude." Betty was surprised at the intensity of Lynecia's reply but continued to ex- plain what Mr. Coleman said and why Lynecia had to improve her phone man- ner. Lynecia continued to deny it forcefully. They argued like this for another five minutes. Throughout the entire discussion, Betty felt like she was the one on the carpet for making a mistake, not Lynecia. The discussion finally ended, but not cleanly or decisively. CASE QUESTION 1. How should Betty have responded to the complaint from Mr. Coleman