Jack sat at his desk worried about an upcoming meeting with his boss. Would he still have his job at the end of the day? How had things gotten to this point?

Jack has served as the Supervisor of Shipping for a large online retailer for three years. When he first began this position, operations ran quite smoothly. However, after two years on the job, the company had experienced significant growth. Jacks subordinates had grown from eight to twenty, reflecting the significant increase in packages being shipped. Slowly, turnover started to increase and shipping errors began to creep upwards. Moreover, the productivity of the department began to decrease. As the lone supervisor of the twenty employees in the Shipping Department, Jack knew that he would be held solely accountable for the escalating problems. Being a relatively new company that had grown rather quickly, the organizations HR department did little more than handle payroll and benefits. Functions such as hiring, training, performance appraisal, and discipline were handled by the various departments. Trying to be proactive, Jack e-mailed his boss with several suggestions for improving the performance of his department.