Question

Question 1

The Dalton Co. is considering hiring the daughter of one of the vice presidents for the position of administrative manager. The daughter, Joyce McGregor, is as well-qualified for the position as any other person who has been interviewed. The position involves responsibility for planning and controlling areas where services and technology are undergoing great change. The company wants a manager who can“grow with the job,” for the position is expected to grow rapidly in scope and status. Although the company has employed relatives of executives for other managerial posts in the company, there is no consensus that employing a relative for the administrative management job will work equally well. The four executives who have the responsibility for making the final decision have evaluated the situation as follows:

1. Alex McGregor, Joyce’s father, feels that since his daughter is well-qualified for the position, she should be hired.

2. Joan Flores, vice president of human resources, also feels that Joyce should be hired. But Flores is aware that the position is subject to much stress and change. Therefore, she feels that special measures must be taken to see that Joyce’s perform-ance is evaluated objectively and impartially. Flores firmly believes that if Joyce should fail to measure up to the job, she should be replaced immediately.

3. Donna Renz, vice president of finance, feels that nepotism in a situation such as this is too much of a gamble. She sees that McGregor's daughter may not measure up, and as a result, the company will be faced with a messy and extremely unpleasant decision. (Why does she feel that the daughter may not measure up, in your opinion? On what basis do you think she is making this assessment?)4. You, as president of Dalton Co., are trying to reconcile the different points of view and reach a decision.

You hold a great deal of admiration and respect for the ability of Alex McGregor, but you know that this is no guarantee that his daughter will perform equally well. Still, as you realize, there is a family tie here. And if you vote against Joyce, what will be the effect upon the father? You appreciate Flores’ point of view and agree wholeheartedly that if Joyce is employed, her performance must be evaluated objectively, and her rating must not be influenced by the position of her father. But, you ask yourself, how can a relative’s performance be evaluated objectively? Who will be responsible for conducting the performance appraisal for Joyce? Should she be required to complete a goals assessment similar to others? Renz has made a good point, too, for you're call that 10 years ago the former president's son-in-law was hired and turned out to be a misfit. It was a sticky situation, and the company had no alternative but to let the son-in-law “gracefully resign.” After that, things were never the same with the former president up to the day he retired. After listening to Alex McGregor, Flores, and Renz evaluate Joyce’s capabilities and express their viewpoints on nepotism, you realize the next step is up to you.

Answer Questions:

Cast your vote and defend your stand by answering each of the following questions.

1. What is your vote?

2. How would you justify your position to each of the three vice presidents if you were asked to do so?

3. How would you proceed to evaluate objectively the performance of an executive's relative such as Joyce McGregor?

Question 2

Ms. Saikley, AM at International BusinessServices, is wondering whether to vote to have a holiday office party this December. She has just spoken with the sales manager, who told her about an incident that happened at another company last holiday season. It seems that the other organization decided to have an “employees only” office party on Friday night from 5 to 8 p.m. at a local downtown restaurant. Two weeks later, the wife of one of the workers burst into the office area and began shouting accusations at an office worker who she thought was having an affair with her husband. It was embarrassing to everyone in the organization and most agreed it was unnecessary. The tantrum became loud and abusive on both parties parts—the wife making accusations and the office worker denying them. The situation became pretty tense at this point.

Answer Questions:

1. If you were the AM of that organization, how would you have reacted to the situation just described? The office worker would have reported to you, and you were the first manager on the scene.

2. Should a policy be written covering office parties? If so, what would be your input on this policy? Should a policy be written concerning visitors who enter the work-place (even family members) and create a disturbance?

Answer 1

Answer: 1

My vote is against the hiring of Joyce McGregor. I do not agree principally to hire Joyce being the daughter of vice president Alex McGregor.

Answer 2:

We will justify our position to each of the three vice presidents if we were asked to do so as below

· Justification to Alex (VP): I would like to justify to Alex stating that it will be difficult to justify with Joyce role in the company, because being your daughter she will be always seen with different view and will not be judge and analyzed adequately which will be impacting her professional life later.

· Justification to Joan Flores (VP- HR): I would like to justify to Joan (HR VP) that it looks ok from the process point of view but it will be difficult to make the objective assessment for Joyce and it will be impacting the business culture in long run. So we need to avoid such situation as it will have adverse impact on the professional life of Joyce as well.

· Justification to Donna Renz (VP- Finance): I would like to justify to Donna as his view are matching with against Joyce as it will drive nepotism in the business and in long run it will have adverse impact.

Answer 3:

We would proceed to evaluate objectively the performance of an executive's relative such as Joyce McGregor as below

· This will call for writing the work plan for the executive such as Joyce along with the smart objectives and expected measures, which are required to be delivered with the agreed timelines.

· The objective measures will be monitored and analyzed on periodic basis to assess the performance of the executive and it will be communicated to executive along with the stakeholders and managers.