Susan worked for a national big box store and had recently beenpromoted to a managerial role. Susan is 26 and is working on a bachelor's degree in social sciences. She hasworked for this box store for 9 years and is well-liked by both the management team and the team of staff members.

As she moves into her new role, she assumesleadership over a group of 3 full-time staff members and many part-time staff members.

Her full-time employees are:

• Jessica, 38 years old
• Mike, 42 years old
• Steve, 25 years old

As Susan began to learn more about the role she spent more time with the store Manager, May. May was 59 years old and known for runninga tight ship. May was tough on employees that did not conform to her rules. Susan had always worked well with May and had assumed that as she moved into a management role, she would continue tohave a good relationship with May. However, as Susan began to move forward in her training, she noticed that May became more critical of how Susan was performing her day-to-day tasks and spent time working with Susan to correct how she was performing her tasks.Sometimes May would single Susan out in management meetings, sometimes making jokes about how new managers often make many mistakes.May would also ask other managers to "keep an eye on Susan" as she progressed with her training.

After several months Susan was under constant scrutiny and often the focus of May's verbal assaults. Susan was blamed for errors that were outside of her purview andSusan was beginning to regret her decision to move into a management role.

Susan decided to speak to May about their relationship and how Susan felt that she wasall too often used as an example of bad management, yet, she was completing her tasks, her staff work well with her, and other managers are unable to advise Susan on why she is receiving so much negative feedback from May. When Susan told May what she was experienced May wasincredibly angry with Susan. May said she regrets moving Susan into a management role. May ended the conversation with an ultimatum for Susan to consider. That ultimatum was: "if you don't do better you will be demoted."

Susan had a friend that worked at the store, she was not a manager, but Susan would oftenspeak to her friend about what was happening. And, unfortunately, her friend was speaking to other staff about what Susan was telling her. And, this issue had reached May.Susan found that her friend was sharing all of the confidential information Susan was sharing. One of Susan's staff members who felt sorry for Susan finally told Susan what was happening and said she would have said something sooner but she was afraid to say anything because she was also afraid ofMay.

It turns out that most of the store knew about the problems Susan was having with May because her friend had spread so much gossip.

When Susan confronted her friend, her friend simply denied all involvement and said that Susan was being a bully and would go to May to report her.

At this point, almost all staff members knew about the abuse Susan was experiencing but no one would provide support for Susan.

Susan had confided in the wrong person who could not keep Susan's information confidential and now the person that spread the gossip isgoing to complain to May about Susan being a bully.

May does not trust Susan and at any point in time she can decide if Susan stays or goes.

There are no staff members that are willing to help Susan and she feels alienated from a group of staff members that she has known for years. She does not know where to turn or how to deal with this issue that crept up so quickly in her knew role.

Character Analysis:

Who is involved in the Case Study? What role do they play in the Case Study? What are their characteristics? (E.g., male, female, abuser, victim, health issues, etc.) What Community Supports may be utilized to address issues presented within the Case Study:

Do you need to call 911? Are children at risk? Are other adults? Will addiction or other counselling services be required? Is there a housing issue? A proposed response by each character to their situation as outlined in the Case Study:

What can each character do to change the current situation? What can each character do to change future situations? What role can each character play in solving issues for other characters? A proposal for a plan to attend to presenting issues found within the Case Study:

Collect the responses from each character and formulate a plan that attends to each character's specific needs. Include Government policies and community supports so that your plan resembles a comprehensive response to a volatile situation. Include what you expect to happen once your plan is actioned.