Mary Hite, an employee in the business office, walked into the office of Henry Staffs, business office manager, and asked to talk with him privately. Hite told Staffs that she had been elected by the other employees of the business office to speak on their behalf about practices that they wished would be modified or eliminated. One practice concerned employee evaluations, which they thought were unfair, poorly executed, and used as an excuse for not paying higher salaries. A second practice not accepted well was the arbitrary way in which management determined employee vacation schedules. Hite said that one employee was given a 2-day notice before he had to take his first week of vacation and a 5-day notice before his second week. Staffs listened attentively and told Hite that, because it was so late in the day, he would consider these requests the first part of next week. During the following week, Hite noticed that Staffs was out of town and that no action was taken concerning her remarks. Her fellow employees tended to treat her like a heroine for representing them before Staffs.

When she picked up her check the next Friday afternoon, Hite was shocked to find a discharge notice and 2 weeks' severance pay in the envelope.

QUESTIONS

For the case study:

2. What should Staffs have done when Hite came to see him?
4. What messages did Staffs communicate to Hite and the other employees?
6. What will be the outcome of the action he took?
8. Is there any way that Staffs can improve communication in the business office?