Assignment: No Place for Women in the Maintenance Department

Curt Miller has been a supervisor for the Jefferson City water maintenance department for the past eleven years. He started out in an apprentice program about twenty years ago where his technical skills were among the best. He has attended several supervisory and leadership development courses and various motivational seminars during his tenure as supervisor.

Problems developed two months ago when the city, in an effort to bring more diversity into its workforce, transferred Maria Chavez from the transportation garage. Immediately upon arrival, Chavez entered and won a maintenance skills contest held at the regional vocational center.
Chavez is the single-parent of a six-year-old child, and her mother and father live with her. Catholic Social Services has been instrumental in helping Chavez and her parents. Her parents work as janitors at St. Paul's Catholic Church and are enrolled in an ESL (English as a second language) program.

This morning, Miller was approached by Eddie Elliott, a very opinionated employee. At best, Elliott's performance is marginal, but he knows how to work the system. He has been repeatedly reprimanded for absenteeism, tardiness, violation of safety standards, and other minor infractions of work rules. Three times he has been suspended for short periods of time without pay. But his infractions have never been severe enough to warrant termination.

"Listen, Curt," Elliott began. "We've got a great work group here, but there is no place for a woman in our maintenance department. She ain't cutting it. Just yesterday she lit into Gary for that girlie calendar he has on his tool box. He was this far (spreading his finger and thumb about two inches apart) from punching her out. She isn't a team player. We rely on cooperation to get the work done. She just does her little bit and nothing more. There's just no room for a woman in our department."

A little later in the morning, Gary Simpson asked to speak to Miller, and he echoed similar concerns. "When we need her to work on a project, what do we get? She's running around sticking her nose in stuff that doesn't concern her. The guys on the ninth floor of City Hall (the location of the Mayor's office as well as the Director of Utilities) think she's great 'cause she won some stupid skills award, but she's tearing this group apart."

"What's going on here?" Miller thought to himself, "She's ambitious and has great drive and determination. She helps fulfill the Mayor's commitment to diversity, and she has the potential to be the best maintenance person we've ever had."

Questions

1. What is going on here? Why do you think the men on the team dislike Chavez?

2. If you were Curt Miller, what would you have done differently to manage change and prepare the team for the arrival of a new and very different team member? What would you do now to restore positive morale after getting off to a bad start?

3. As a woman in a predominantly male profession, Chavez will probably face resistance and discrimination more than once. What steps could she take to try to fit into an existing team when she joins a new one? Does this apply to all new members of teams?

Source: This case was adapted with permission from Francine Segars and Ed Leonard of IPFW, "No Place for Women in the Maintenance Department," 2004 Proceedings of the Society for Case Research, pp. 51-59.

Discussion:

• As a supervisor you have a new, promising employee who has strong body odor. In your department your employees come in contact with each other and clients. The employees have been complaining. Discuss how to handle this situation?