1. Who are the stakeholders in the case?
2. What are the immediate issues - problems, challenges or opportunities?
3. Basic issues?
4. Why, the cause of issues, and factors related to the issue?
5. Provide some solutions or alternatives/recommendations on the issues identified in the case?

\"3-006 James Cranstan people-oriented and encourages frequent visits to the operations. My predecessors made infrequent visits. You have to go out at least two or three times a week. I go in with the district managers, look around, sit down with the manager and the assistant manager over a cup of coffee, and talk about their problems. They know the individual client situation better than I do, but in the end I'm responsible for the financial considerations. I talk with these district managers three or four times a week on the phone. There are about 80 accounts in my area. As a company, we do not operate cheaply. We work on client and customer satisfaction. We have to maintain our existing accounts. We are not geared to simply work for less money, but rather to high performance standards. Our clients expect depenclability and quality for our prices, and we have to deliver. We're in demand, so there's something in that strategy. The CFS Performance Appraisal System Colonial Food Services had recently instituted a new performance appraisal form as a part of its overall performance appraisal system (see Exhibit 1). Cranston commented on the overall performance appraisal system: We have a new form out now. We have interviews once a year formally, but I meet with my managers informally every three months. Some of the older guys say they've never been interviewed. We usually just gave a manager his increase and did not talk much in depth. Now, we evaluate them on initiative, leadership, development of their subordinates, cost control, prots, forecasting, and delegation of responsibilities. CFS employees were given a bonus if they were able to make profits higher than their forecasts, but base salary increases were made on a superior's judgment of merit. Cranston remarked: Profit performance figures into the performance appraisal process but not so much in terms of a percent increase. There's a great deal of emphasis around here, of course, on making money, but that's not all of the story. I gave the guy with the best profit performance last year the lowest merit increase. He did great on bonus which depends primarily on profits. A person's management future is correlated with the merit increases because they address the development of management skills. This individual lacked the people skills needed to develop his own career growth. The forecasting process and the achievement of profits are important in an individual's annual review, but many additional factors are also weighed heavily. We have to stress interpersonal skillsthey are the basis of our business. Cranston was also acutely aware that as a young manager he had to be careful of his own interpersonal relationships with older, more experienced subordinates. As Cranston talked about the upcoming interview with Gene Kirby, he touched on many aspects of Kirby's personality and performance. What he said has been organized into the following six major themes. Personality and Sensitivity to Feedback Cranston was concerned as he thought about the upcoming performance appraisal interview with IGene Kirby. He had mixed emotions about Kirby's ability to deal with negative feedback. On the outside, he felt that Kirby was a strong, forceful, and toughened manager, but on the inside, he felt that Kirby was a fragile person who needed a great deal of positive reinforcement and who reacted 2 475-0\" James Crenston He loses his temper and talks when he should be quiet. He tends to be an island unto himself. He has a very short temper. He blows up. He creates malice that l have to clean up. He causes problems. For instance, not all of our employees have responsibility for operations. Most of our line people can deal with the staff when We have problems. Gene often feels that responsibility very heavily and often goes right for the jugular. One time, we had a contract problem with a client, and we were working with a new lawyer in the legal department. The guy was slow, and We had to have the new contract immediately. After several revisions the new lawyer sent a copy of the origami draft directly to the client instead of routing it through Gene as he should have. The client was surprised and called Gene and said, "Wait till you see what they're sending me now.\" Now, rather than talk to the lawyer, Gene called him on the phone, gave a tirade, and wiped him out, I mean wiped him outover the phone. So I had to get involved to patch things up with the legal department. The lawyer later left the company. Managing and Developing People Cranston was convinced, however, that Kirby was an asset to the company. Kirby's experience, technical competence, ability to meet his forecasts, and ability to train people were all valuable items in his present job, although Cranston had some concerns about the way Kirby communicated with his managers and the way he moved his people around from client to client. Cranston commented prior to the interview on his assessment of Kirby's performance. Gene is very good with people. He has good patience. He's very protective of his boys. He won't list the bottom third on his regular evaluation sheets. He creates this halo effect around his personnel that they're all so good there is no bottom third. He's a very good teacher. He's a tremendous developer of people. He's very good with the thisds-how=you-do-it part of management. But he opens his mouth and doesn't know when to shut up. Gene is very vocal. It is one of his overwhelming pluses and minuses. He makes the expedient comment and then does not or cannot follow through because of company policy limitations. These expedient remarks are often not well received by his managers. They begin to think that he's blowing smoke at them. He's good with clients, very innovative, and good on working out new contracts. He's a fox. But that can work against you, too. They can think he's a "shrewdy" and manipulative. But he doesn't always see how others perceive him. He's able to squirrel people away to other institutions for later use elsewhere in the company as they grow. But that can make people mad. My two predecessors both had negative input to me about Gene's shrewdness. Some clients said they didn't want Gene back as their account manager. We try to group accounts around a guy's home so it will be both convenient and efficient. Gene's clients were mostly small prep school accounts in his area. They are a great training ground for new employees. They run a seven-day operation, and if you can get a promising assistant manager in them, they are a fine place to train people. So, the idea is that you train several assistants like this and then shoot them out to more complex situations with a wider range of services, or more consumers, or have them assume the managerial function at one of the smaller accounts. Our region is raided a lot because we have such good training grounds. Well, these schools complained about getting all of these new assistants and having such a high turnover. They desired a greater degree of stability. They felt like there was too much movement, tcm much shifting of the deck. James lEranston 478-006 Operations Management and Results Gene has a very strong operations background. He knows his stuff, and he's a very hard worker. Gene was given two big problem accounts, accounts that other people just couldn't manage. They were supposed to be unworkable. Gene made them work. Gene can go in and put on an apron if he has to and teach the chef; he just has all of the technical skills. He can help with the customer counseling if he has to, and he can talk to the students in the dining room. He can organize the kitchen. He's a very observant guy, too; he looks around him. He's shrewd with the finances; he has an outstanding profit performance record. With profits, Gene always tracks right on his forecast from way back. When he tells me he's going to bring in X dollars, I put it in the bank right then. I believe his forecasts. Often he runs his district out of his home. He needs to get out and get more new accounts. He's never had an account terminate, though. Operationally, he does almost everything right. Potential for Promotion As Cranston considered his upcoming performance appraisal interview with Gene, he knew the promotion issue would come up. Cranston believed that Kirby wanted to continue to rise in the organization, but he had ambivalent feelings about Kirby's potential in the company. He wondered what he should say in the interview and how that might, help Kirby to develop. He commented: Gene has been a district manager for five years. His potential to go up in the organization is limited. He might have regional operations manager potential. Gene desires advancement; he wants more. He has a strong tie to his community. His current income is about 30K with bonuses. The regional operations manager's job is about 36K. Gene could live at any level of income. He appreciates the finer things of life and could find use for the money. A few days before his interview with Gene Kirby, Cranston filled out the corporate performance appraisal form indicating his assessment of Kirby's performance and potential. On the day of the interview, Cranston was visiting another district manager in a city approximately midway between his regional office and Kirby's home. Kirby had agreed to drive to this city to meet Cranston for the interview. The local district manager had a problem, thus Cranston was delayed two hours in meeting Kirby. When Cranston arrived, the two men drove together to a nearby conference room where they sat down for the interview. James Cranston 478-006 defensively to negative feedback. Cranston felt that he would have to be very careful not to hurt Kirby's feelings, if he talked about the employee's shortcomings. Cranston said: He is a most sensitive, emotional personthe most sensitive and emotional manager 1 have. He's a very proud person. He seems to take criticism pretty well, but underneath he's basically an insecure person. You just can't go in and tell him to stop bullying people. Telling him that makes him defensive and protective You have to be careful. Gene reads things into the discussion. Somebody came to him with a job offer recently, and he was all upset thinking that we had arranged it and were trying to transfer him. This was when he had his back problem. Gene needs to listen longer and not get so defensive. He gets red and then he really starts to come back at you. I wouldn't question his loyalty, yet i know if CFS shafted him, he'd confront me. He's no wall flower. Physical Condition Kirby's physical condition was also a matter of concern to the vice president. Cranston felt that Kirby just did not have the physical energy and endurance to handle the demands and stresses of a higher position. Kirby had had a small heart attack several years before, and more recently he had been laid up in bed for three weeks with a bad back. in fact , Cranston felt that Kirby's struggling to keep up with the physical demands of his job had been so much of a source of frustration to lGene that it had contributed to the interpersonal difficulties Kirby had been experiencing recently. Cranston surmised that Kirby had tried to compensate for his own frustrations by bullying people, particularly colleagues and staff personnel at company headquarters. Kirby had an excellent knowledge of the headquarter's staff assignments and was able to use that knowledge to try to get what he felt he needed. Sometimes Kirby offended people at company headquarters with his aggressive style and this bothered Cranston. Speaking about Kirby's physical condition, lCranston said: Gene has had one major heart scare. He's very overweight and smokes to excess. He is in poor physical condition, and he's worried about that. He has endurance limitations. He's well-groomed, well-dressed, and very conscious of his physical appearance. In short, he looks like a professional. Lately, he's been down a while with a bad back. Decision-Making Initiative Cranston also felt that Kirby called on the telephone too often to discuss problems in his district. It was irritating to Cranston that Kirby did not take greater initiative in solving these problems on his own. He made the following comments: He's a good company man. He really supports the next level of management. He's very good at keeping me informed, but he calls too frequently. He needs stroking at times. etattons with Others Cranston felt that Kirby's temper had recently created a number of problems in his relationship with peers and with headquarters. Cranston was very concerned about these problems and talked about them