Packback Assignment
Packback topic:  Employee Training.
Initial Post due Friday, April 5, 11:59 PM.  Answer the questions posted by two (2) classmates by Sunday, April 7, 11:59 PM.
Case Study
Read “Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company” on pages 228-229 of the Dessler textbook.  Please answer questions 7-18 & 7-20 according to directions provided in the ‘Case Study Information’.  Initial post must be completed by Friday, April 5, 11:59 PM.  Answers shall be posted within the ‘Discussions’ tab on Blackboard.
Colleague or enemy; What to do?
Stacia Carnes has worked at Douglas Industries for twenty-two years. When she was hired, the company had been in existence for roughly five years. In 1994, the year that Douglas Industries was
founded, the company concentrated on the manufacture of kitchen and bathroom faucets along with showerheads. Douglas Industries had 19 employees with gross sales of $13.2 million dollars in Stacia’s first full year of employ with the company. Ken Douglas, founder of Douglas Industries, hired Stacia for her design talents and to assist with the expansion of the custom lighting and cabinets division. By 2010, Douglas Industries was manufacturing countertops, sinks, and showers complete with an on-site showroom and a professional sales team. In 2019 gross sales topped $322 million dollars and the company had a staff of 107 employees. Douglas Industries, to date, has always had a better financial year than the previous year. Year-end employee bonuses have continued to grow over the years as have salaries, wages, and benefits. Stacia’s current salary of $131,000 represents the generosity and appreciation for a loyal employee. Stacia has excellent health care benefits for her family and a retirement plan currently holding $2.5 million dollars. Those funds become available in five years, without penalty (per government regulations and her official retirement), once she turns 59.5 years of age. Her current plan is to retire at age 60 and devote time to traveling with her husband. Retirement also includes spending time with her nine grandchildren who are live throughout the country.
While on the outside it would appear as if Stacia is in the midst of living the dream life while having the dream job, on the inside, she is struggling and wonders if she can make it through the these last five years. Department meetings have become more and more contentious to the point that Stacia has called off work a few times over the past year to avoid them. Katie Garrett, a colleague of 7 years, has become increasingly combative within the workplace and in department meetings which take place every two weeks. When Katie was hired in 2014, she was easy going, pleasant, and seemingly a team player. Over time, she became more and more critical of Stacia’s work. Unfortunately Stacia’s never had any witnesses to those comments. When Stacia approached her boss, Betsy Goff, the VicePresident of Production, about her concerns, Betsy suggested she express her feelings to Katie and ask her to stop. Stacia almost felt as though Betsy did not believe her. In short, Stacia’s problem was never addressed and she continued to ‘grind through’ the situation.
In 2017, Katie was promoted to a manager within the Stacia’s department which meant the two would work closely together. Stacia simply stayed away from Katie unless forced to by her job. While Katie’s comments to her were few and far between, some of her co-workers were not so fortunate. One such co-worker, Barry Tomko, went so far as to file a complaint (in January, 2018) with Human Resources claiming a hostile work environment. It was deemed that Barry’s complaint did not qualify as a hostile work environment so the matter was not pursued further by Human Resources. Betsy did meet with Katie, however, to discuss her relationship with those in the department. After which Katie seemed to have improved relations with her co-workers. By August of that same year (2018) Katie’s behavior once again took a turn for the worse as she screamed at a colleague to, “Shut up right now!” when the two disagreed on a matter. Soon after, Katie was demoted for the behavior.
Katie was punished for her behavior but department meetings still pose a backdrop for her disruptive behavior. Stacia is uncomfortable with attending those meetings as voices continue to be raised. In 2019, an outside mediator was brought in to help all involved cope with workplace conflict. Again, the actions helped for a while, but the positive behaviors were not sustained. Stacia has confided in Brian Stanton, a good friend throughout the past decade at Douglas Industries, on several occasions recently.
He once told her, “Look, I hear what you are saying. I truly get it. The problem is that not everyone is nice. I once worked with a guy at the paper factory who was ten times worse than Katie. I just sucked it up and moved on. Here, I know that at the end of the day, I go home my wife and kids who love me. If I think about the negatives too much, they just bring me down.” Stacia was taken aback by Brian’s words. She felt like he was just allowing the problem to grow larger through acceptance. On the other hand, maybe he is right she thought. Perhaps she needs to “suck it up and move on.” She then sighed and muttered, “five years is a long time.”
What could have Betsy originally done to further help when Stacia approached essentially asked for help?
If you giving advice to Stacia today, what would you tell her?