In: Accounting
What about John?
John is the bookkeeper for Danielle’s Distributing Company, a distributor of soft drinks and juices. Because the company is rather small, John performs all the daily accounting tasks himself. Danielle, the president, and owner of the company supervises the warehouse/delivery and front office staff, but she also spends much of her time jogging, skiing and going to the beauty spa.
For several years profits were good, and sales grew faster than industry averages. Although the accounting system was working well, bottlers were pressuring Danielle to computerize. With a little guidance from a CPA friend and with no mention to John, Danielle bought a new computer system and some accounting software. Only one day was required to set up the hardware, install the software, and convert the files. The morning the vendor installed the computer system, John’s job performance changed dramatically. Although the software company provided two full days of training, he had trouble learning the new system. As a result, Danielle decided he (John) should run both the manual and computer systems for a month to verify the new system’s accuracy.
John continually complained that he lacked the time and expertise to run both systems by himself. He also complained that he did not understand how to run the new computer system. To keep accounts up to date, Danielle spent two to three hours a day running the new system herself. Danielle found that much of the time spent running the system was devoted to identifying discrepancies between the computer and manual results. When the error was located, it was almost always in the manual system. This significantly increased Danielle’s confidence in the new system.
At the end of the month, Danielle was ready to scrap the manual system, but John said he was not ready. Danielle went back to skiing, jogging and going to the spa, and John went on with the manual system. When the computer system fell behind, Danielle again spent time catching it up. She also worked with John to make sure he understood how to operate the computer system.
Months later Danielle was still keeping the computer system up to date and training John. She was at the height of frustration. “I’m sure John knows how to run the system, but he doesn’t seem to want to. I can do all the accounting work on the computer in two or three hours a day, but he can’t even do it in his normal eight-hour workday. John sure looks good in those tight pants, but I think something is wrong with him. Maybe he is having problems at home. What should I do? Perhaps I should force John to come to my house when just the two of us can be alone at midnight. We can get a lot done then.”
Required: A hard decision must be made regarding John. Significant efforts have been made to train him, but they have been unsuccessful. Be prepared to discuss what you would regarding John. Should John be fired? Threatened with the loss of his job? Moved somewhere else in the business? Given additional training? What do you believe is the real cause of John’s resistance to computers? Justify your recommendation.
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