The Mouse That Roared

After examining the material presented in this chapter, consider the situation described below and the questions that follow: Larry Fine recently accepted a new position as human resource manager for the Department of Health and Wellness in a western state. Several years ago, the governor of the state signed into law a bill enacting employment-at-will status for all employees, effective immediately. The intent was to give HR managers the authority to terminate poorly performing employees and to put everyone on notice that all employees would be held accountable for poor performance (i.e., that job security was no longer a given). The legislation also created a new performance appraisal system that was intended to reward superior performance with merit raises. One of the issues Larry has been tasked with is the failure of previous supervisors and HR managers to hold employees accountable for lapses in performance. Larry has been reviewing the past performance of employees and finds that one employee in particular, Pat Smith, has consistently underperformed in her job. Unfortunately, previous supervisors and HR managers never held Pat account- able. They simply gave her a pass each time her evaluation came up. According to Larry’s discussion with supervisors who have worked with Pat, a number of personal issues have affected her work at the office. Pat is a single mother raising two children and works two jobs in order to make ends meet. Larry has been working with Pat over the last few evaluation periods, meeting with her to convey the message that her work has consistently been lacking. In these discussions, Larry set forth a work plan that would provide a road map for Pat to improve her productivity. Initially, the plan seemed to work; colleagues and managers noted a change in Pat’s behavior and performance. Indeed, her first evaluation after the implementation of the road map noted a remarkable improvement in her job performance. Unfortunately, subsequent evaluations have noted a decline in Pat’s performance. For the last few months, Pat has consistently shown up late for work and failed to coordinate work with her peers when she was out of the office for personal matters. Recently, an on-the-job incident has brought the issue to a head. When confronted by a supervisor about her consistently late arrivals, Pat lashed out, causing a major disruption to the work environment. This incident brought Larry back into the matter again. Larry has met with the supervisor, who now feels he can no longer work with Pat and has recommended terminating her. Larry’s superiors are less inclined to terminate Pat and have suggested demoting her as an alternative. Larry is scheduled to meet with Pat in an hour to resolve the issue. Larry is faced with either continuing to give Pat a pass, demoting her, or terminating her.

1. What are the essential talking points for Larry to prepare before he meets with Pat? How might her performance appraisals over the last few periods be used in such a discussion?

2. Given her status as an at-will employee, should Larry simply terminate Pat for consistently underperforming? Legally speaking, Larry may have the right to recommend Pat’s termination, but is this the right thing to do?

3. How might you advise Larry in this matter? Would you recommend sending Pat to continued training and development, demoting her, or terminating her? Are there any other alternatives for Larry to consider?

4. What biases or errors may have occurred in the performance evaluations?

5. What would have been a better course of action for Larry over the course of the entire period described?