THE ADJUSTMENT DEPARTMENT

After graduating from a small liberal arts college, Jerry Piatt accepted a position with a large merchandising organization that operated several hundred retail stores and strategically located mail-order houses throughout the country. Attached to the mail-order units were warehouses that held and distributed merchandise for the chain stores. Jerry chose to enter the mail-order division of the firm rather than the retail store organization, and within six months he had completed the junior executive training program for college graduates. During the following three years, he worked in several departments as an operating supervisor, transferring from one assignment to another as prescribed by the training supervisor in charge of the company's job rotation program for managers.

When a chain of promotions and transfers of personnel removed the assistant manager of the adjustment department, Jerry Piatt was selected for the vacancy. Jerry had acquired experience as a line supervisor in the mail and banking departments, three different stock and order filling departments, the packing and shipping department, and finally, the merchandise-exchange unit of the adjustment department. Although some of the older workers in the division felt that Jerry was too young to act as the assistant manager of a major department, it was recognized by most of the management people that he had reorganized and improved the operations in the merchandise-exchange unit. The adjustment of customer complaints had frequently been delayed because of loss or damage to the goods returned for credit. Jerry had developed a new system of identifying and storing returned merchandise and matching the returned goods with customers' complaints. His innovations had noticeably improved the overall adjustment service.

The adjustment department employed approximately 120 people and was organized into eight units, each directed by a supervisor reporting to the assistant manager. Most of the employees in the department were women, except the supervisor and twelve correspondents in the technical-correspondence section, Jerry, and Mr. Swanson, the department manager.

The men in the technical correspondence section were engineers or technical specialists, qualified to analyze customers' complaints and problems pertaining to electrical or mechanical equipment. Each man specialized in a line or merchandise group and was trained to find solutions to technical problems and to handle all correspondence with customers and suppliers related to these problems. Letters composed by the technical correspondents were sent to secretaries in a special group within the central stenographic pool.

The supervisor of the technical correspondence unit, Milton Harvey, was a well-qualified specialist with an engineering education and many years of experience in the mail-order business. Although Mr. Harvey usually devoted considerable time to training new workers in his department, he told Jerry that he considered the twelve correspondents under his supervision to be professionals who could work with little direction. Harvey usually went directly to Mr. Swanson, the department head, for assistance with his problems, and on several occasions Harvey indicated to Jerry that he considered his position as technical correspondence supervisor to be more important than that of the assistant manager. Harvey always attended supervisors' meetings that Mr. Swanson called, but he seldom attended those Jerry called. Nevertheless, Mr. Swanson assigned Jerry the responsibility for the flow of work in the technical correspondence section because requests for information and other services used by all correspondents involved employees under his supervision. Jerry was willing to adjust to this relationship with Milton Harvey because he realized that most of the engineers in the technical correspondence unit were paid higher salaries than he received. Since Mr. Swanson had never prepared a formal organization chart, Jerry visualized the relationships within the department as shown below.

Dept Manager (Mr. Swanson)

Asst Manager (Jerry Piatt)

Technical Correspondence .........Central Stenographic Pool.......Six other Departments

(Milton Harvey)............................................................................(Ms. Bardona)


After several months, Jerry Piatt was confronted with a developing personnel problem that seemed to have affected two or three units within the department. It concerned one of the secretaries, Margie Thompson, and several of her friends. Jerry realized that the latest incident involving Margie called for a thorough review of the case and probably some specific action. In trying to decide what to do about Margie, Jerry reviewed the following facts.

Margie Thompson was considered by all supervisors to be a competent secretary who did neat and efficient work, especially on technical and difficult correspondence. When preparing routine letters, she usually produced above standard and earned bonus payments under the division's incentive wage payment plan. Margie was a personable and vivacious young woman, one of the most popular in the department. She frequently was the center of attention among a small group of women in the department who seemed to enjoy working together. In general, the members of this group did better than average work, but frequently they had disagreements with their supervisor, Ms. Bardona. In the past, Margie had several open quarrels with Ms. Bardona over work assignments, more than any of the other women.

At the same time, Margie appeared anxious to please the manager and the assistant manager of the department. Jerry recalled one occasion: While he was talking with Ms. Bardona, Margie came to him and asked a routine question that could have been addressed to Ms. Bardona. She had said, "Jerry, when does the mail-routing coordinator go home today?" to which Jerry quickly gave her the answer. When Margie had returned to her desk, Ms. Bardona commented that Margie could have obtained the information simply by checking the schedule available on the company intranet. She also said that on numerous occasions she had told Margie and the other women that they should address Jerry as "Mr. Piatt," even though the men in the department did not do so. Ms. Bardona felt that addressing Jerry as "Mr. Piatt" would contribute to a more formal atmosphere among the women in the department.

Jerry was also aware that Margie Thompson frequently had differences of opinion and arguments with members of the technical correspondence unit, especially with the supervisor, Milton Harvey. Because of her recognized proficiency, these men often called on her and two or three other women for preparing special letters, diagrams, and difficult technical reports. The women usually took pride in being asked to do the most difficult work in the department, but several, especially Margie, resented these requests when they interfered with work on standardized correspondence that provided opportunities for extra compensation. Harvey was quick to criticize Margie for the occasional mistakes found in her technical correspondence work. Margie resented this criticism and had engaged in several open arguments with Milton Harvey, which disturbed other members of the department. After one especially stormy argument Harvey had complained to Mr. Swanson that the women in the transcription unit were not cooperative--they were "a bunch of prima donnas, and Margie Thompson was the ringleader of the lot!" Mr. Swanson had replied that he was sorry about the difficulties but that the women in the group were the best secretaries in the entire company.

The latest incident implicating Margie Thompson was the result of her apparent failure to follow one of Ms. Bardona's instructions. Early in the afternoon, Mr. Swanson had asked Jerry to make sure all supervisors checked to make sure there were no letters or e-mails that hadn't been addressed in the last 48 hours. All correspondents and secretaries were instructed to go through their in-baskets and make sure that all two- and three-day old queries from customers were promptly answered before the end of the day. Responses to some of their customers may have been delayed for a number of reasons, but the goal of the organization was clearly to give special attention to any customer concerns that had been delayed. When such instructions were given, it was usually Ms. Bardona's practice to go down the aisle and speak to several of her workers at once. In this instance, she specifically stopped by and asked Margie and the other secretaries to promptly handle the older correspondence, and give her any of the old correspondence that could not be completed during the day. She was later told by the supervisor in the adjoining unit that while in the company lounge she had overheard Margie comment to several of the women, "Who does that old battleaxe think she is? I've made quota today, and I'm not going to bother with those tough cases." At the end of the day after all the secretaries had gone home, Ms. Bardona brought to Jerry's desk the unfinished correspondence that she had collected from Margie's desk and the desks of four women whose desks were close to Margie's. It was obvious that neither Margie nor the other women had endeavored to complete the older correspondence, nor had they brought those items to their supervisor.

Jerry pondered what course of action he should take.

 

 

 

Adapted September 1994 by R. C. Schwab from "The Adjustment Department" in Cases and Policies in Personnel/Human Resources Management by R. L. Hilgert, S. H. Shoen, and J. W. Towle, 5th Edition, 1986, Houghton Mifflin Co.