note: this is a fictional scenario.

I have a friend whose 27 -year-old son (Bobby Joe) just finished his MBA at Wharton and based in large part to that, was hired to head a multi-million-dollar project for a major aerospace corporation. My friend shared that this surprised him and his son, given Bobby Joe's age and that he had only 3.5 years of non-related work experience. As I understand it, Bobby Joe told his dad that there were six men and five women in his team, and that the company gossip was that one of the women and one of the men were considered "company stars" and off limits. However, he told his dad that he did not care and was going to do what needed to be done. His dad relayed that a month or so after starting, the "star" woman began reporting late to work. At first it was just 10-15 minutes, but lately it has been almost an hour. Although it annoyed Bobby Joe, in the name of goodwill and since she was always the last one to leave at night, he decided to just ignore it. Last week, Bobby Joe received an email from his corporate VP that the company had been remanded for not having strict and enforced rules on attendance and work shift hours. As a result of this, the VP wrote, starting immediately, to maintain all current government contracts, all employees were to be at work at 8:00 sharp with no exceptions. Now what? Bobby Joe met with the team and shared the VP's email and told all that they would be expected to meet the new guideline. The very next day, "star" woman was late. He met with her and attempted to "strong arm" her, but the next day she was late again. Bobby Joe knew her work was some of the best and he was not going to lose this valuable employee over such a minor issue. However, the other 10 workers were making not so subtle hints that this "very attractive starlet was receiving some very special treatment." So, what did he do? He started calling her each morning at 6:45 to make sure she was awake. It was working - now she was not late. Problem solved! Not so fast, when the other 10 employees heard about this special arrangement the roof blew off the building, and the employees confronted Bobby Joe. To make matters worse, today Bobby Joe was contacted by Human Resources that the male star had requested a transfer and, although they did not know what he meant, he told them that he was prepared to explain why. And if that is not bad enough, you just heard that the female star is in a "close" relationship with your married supervisor. Now what? Your answer should include information on communication, functions, roles, and skills for Bobby Joe, his supervisor, and the VP