LEADERSHIP CASE STUDY PAPER

LEADERSHIP CASE STUDY PAPER

Managers are often faced with various complex management problems that require rational decision making. This expiatory essay is on a case study to determine what decision a manager can make when faced with a specific management problem.

Overview of the case study

In this case study, the manager is tasked with a duty of downsizing a department. The manager has to choose one employee between John and Jim and let the other go. John has worked for the company for an extended period, so he is in the ‘protected class,’ but Jim has more potential than John. After carrying out a performance review of all employees in the company, it is evident that John does not adhere to the company’s vision, goals, and mission statement.  The main challenge that the manager is facing in the downsizing task is to release John without hurting his feeling is because John belongs to the ‘protected class’, and firing a person from the protected class is seen as discrimination. John can sue the company. The manager should find a way of firing John without hurting his feelings.

Exploration of three alternatives

The bank manager can decide to fire John based on his performance. This can be done by carrying out employee performance evaluations. So that John and Jim do not feel as if they were targeted, the manager should ensure that the performance evaluation is done to all the employees in the department (Sattar, Khaliq, & Butt, 2018). The manager can then compare John and Jim’s performance against the set target. Since John has been underperforming, it will be clear that Jim is the more effective employee to be retained by the bank. This alternative will have dealt with the ethical issue of discrimination amongst the ‘protected class’ because John will see that his performance is not as satisfactory as Jim’s. This will be an excellent ground to fire John without hurting his feelings because he will feel that there has been fairness and justice in the firing process.

The second alternative which the manager can choose is to provide incentives (Lazear, 2018). After realizing that the department has to downsize and the most likely member to be fired is from the protected class, the manager can request the bank for an incentive for the employee. This is because, despite his poor performance, John has worked for the company for quite some time, and firing him may bring legal, ethical issues. To avoid this situation, the manager can provide an incentive to John against firing him. This could include a monetary stimulus or any other which may work for John. This may work as compensation for John and also appreciation. It would also ensure that John understands that the bank values him despite having fired him. One of the ethical concerns which may arise is John may perceive the incentive as a way of soothing him out of his job and therefore file a case against the bank (Lazear, 2018).

The third alternative for firing John without feeling discriminated against and being legally wrong is through restructuring the organization and scrapping off his position (Kwon, Oh, & Jeon, 2007). This could be done by merging the roles of John and Jim. Although the bank will suggest that they are eliminating this position, they will be primarily doing that to move John out of the company. Since John has not been adhering to the company’s value, mission, and vision, merging his job and responsibilities will seem to be a reasonable way for the company to increase productivity and increase motivation to the other employees. The ethical issue with this alternative is that in some countries, when an old employee, especially above 40 years, is fired and later replaced by a younger one, this is considered as discrimination. If the bank may need a replacement of the same position, then they should consider renaming the job to avoid ending up in law court.

Implementation of one alternative

The best alternative for the manager to fire John without hurting his feeling and going against the law is using performance scorecards. John has been performing poorly than Jim in achieving the company vision, mission, and goals; this should be a good reason for firing John. This is the best option because all employees in an organization should work towards achieving the set goals. John’s performance towards achieving them is poor compared to Jim; it is ethically right to retain Jim and fire John. This alternative may face one challenge; John can claim this to be a discrimination case because he is from the ‘protected class’; however, his poor performance will help in justifying the firing decision.

Means of evaluation

The firing of an employee does not only an impact on the employee but also all other employees in the organization. This alternative can be evaluated by examining the behavior and performance of the remaining employees. If the employees consider John’s firing unjust and their performance and motivation drops, this will imply that the decision made did not solve the problem. If there is an improvement in the employees’ productivity and performance, it will mean that this alternative worked because they will have taken John’s firing as fair.

The role of power

According to French and Raven’s five forms of power, this case study has used legitimate power. This type of power assumes that a person has the right to make formal demands and expect the employees to be obedient (Elias, 2008). The manager used this power in firing John because he had to be obedient to the manager. This type of power is unstable, and a person loses it when they lose their rank.

Conclusion

Firing an employee is a very vital exercise in any organization. This is because it has an impact on the employees who are left behind. It may bring about tension and anxiety in the organization. Therefore, in the making of firing decisions, managers should consider both the ethical and social impact of the decision on the employees’ performance.

References

Elias, S. (2008). Fifty years of influence in the workplace. Journal of Management History, 14(3), 267–283. doi: 10.1108/17511340810880634

Kwon, D., Oh, W., & Jeon, S. (2007). Broken Ties: The Impact of Organizational Restructuring on the Stability of Information-Processing Networks. Journal of Management Information Systems, 24(1), 201-231. Retrieved January 22, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/40398887

Lazear, E. (2018). Compensation and Incentives in the Workplace. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 32(3), 195-214. Retrieved January 22, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/26473070

Sattar, H., Khaliq, L., & Butt, M. (2018). Effect of Performance Management on Employees Well-Being via Perceived Job Control. Human Resource Research, 2(1), 18. doi: 10.5296/hrr.v2i1.13155