Case Study- A New Boss
The grants management program of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) water division was formed several years ago. The program's main functions are to review grant applications, engineering design reports, and change orders and to perform operation and maintenance inspection of wastewater treatment facilities.
Paul Wagner, chief of the section, supervised four engineers, one technician, and one secretary. Three of the engineers were relatively new to the agency. The senior engineer, Waymon Burrell, had approximately three years' experience in the grants management program.
Because only Waymon Burrell had experience in grants management, Wagner assigned him the areas with the most complicated projects within the state. The other three engineers were given regions with less complex projects; they were assigned to work closely with Burrell and to learn all they could about the program.
At the beginning of the year, Wagner decided the new engineers had enough experience to undertake more difficult tasks; therefore, the division's territory could be allocated on a geographical basis. The territory was divided according to river basins, with each engineer assigned two or three areas.
This division according to geography worked fine as the section proceeded to meet all its objectives. However, three months ago, Wagner was offered a job with a consulting engineering company and decided to leave the EPA. He gave two months' notice to top management.
Time passed, but top management did not even advertise for a new section chief. People in the section speculated as to who might be chosen to fill the vacancy; most of them hoped it would be Waymon Burrell, since he knew the most about the workings of the section.
On the Monday of Wagner's last week, top executives met with him and the section members to announce they had decided to appoint a temporary section chief until a new one could be hired. The division chief announced that the temporary section chief would be Sam Kutzman, a senior engineer from another EPA division. This came as quite a surprise to Burrell and the others in the grants management program.
Sam Kutzman had no experience in the program. His background was in technical assistance. His previous job had required that he do research in certain treatment processes so that he could provide more technical performance information to other divisions within the EPA.
Questions:
1. Do you think Sam Kutzman was a good choice for temporary section chief?
2. How well has human resource planning worked in this situation?