Case analysis: choose a case from the end of any chapter of the course text for analysis
Chapter l6r The Supervisor, Labor Relations, and Legal Issues 537
Using the information found in the U.s. chamber of commerce,s Report ,,A survey of social Media rssues Before the NLRB,' - trtip":/tites.ati-aba.org/fires/coursebooks/pdf/ VCT1 01 7_cha pter _02.pd1, answer the following questions:
1. What should you do in this situation? 2' Shourd your company have a sociar media poricy governing what emproyees can post on sociar media,sites_about the company or its emproyees? Are there rimits on what can be prohibited?
UNITED STATES FREIGHT GROUP:
GOMPANY BACKGROUND
United Stares Freighr Group (USFG) was founded in tne mrd-1960s as a small bulk carrier in the trans_ p.ortation industry. Through internal growth, acqui_ sitions, and partnerships, the o.gunirutio., hu, g.o* into a diversified transportation company employing over 800 people, 500 of whom ur. driu.rr. The com_ pany operates internationally in the United States, Canada, and Mexico and is .ltt.. ,r*b.. one or in the top five of most market. it .o...rttv .".rr.r. The company is ..quality driven,, ,rra .o_rr1itt"a to meeting customer needs 100 percent of tfr"-iim"_ providing on-time, contaminant_free deliveries, and efficient and accurate biling. Th. .";;;;; off.., u
I1:.rI of ...vices.ranging from dry buli< tr;ns;orta_ uon to remote silo inventory management. Since I990, it has been the recipient of eighr iualiry s".r,i.e
:I-.:d. .,:1.1.:.rdy was designat.l u, ;.rppii", or the year." With such a wide range of ,.*i.". ".rd equipment and a focus on quality,"USfC ha. fro,ren it can handle most client needs.
,,^ll. following situation takes place at one of urrus remote transloading facilities in the south_ eastern United States. Operations at this facility entail unloading materials from railca* ir.,to lrr.L, and transporting these goods to customers in the surrounding area 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Since the customer base is ,.local,i, the drivers tvpl_ cally travel in a 200_square_mile radius of the trans_ roacltng Iacility. This remote location is managed b1. the regional managcr who is pnlr,.otif i".."? ,, . different state, but a hu (HRR) is on-site o"; ;ffii :::il:fi 1:il:T[TH; ,h..oygl Fridar-, to handle the daily a"ii.,'.r.f, ,, scheduling, paperr'ork, and ._prq=. -..iiio.,..
Thus, the HRR provides staff support ,r,iit oui-ji..ct
line authority. Two shifts (6:00 a.u. to 6:00 p.v. and 6:00.p.n. to 6:00 a.u.) are utilized at the facility, with ernployee.s working 12-hour schedules. fie Unn .ets the schedules on a rotation basis, so tfr. p.o.... i. considered fair by the employeer. '- -
THE MODEL EMPLOYEE
ly;s. neamond enjoyed working at USFG. In fact, he rKed rt so much he stayed with the company for over eight years-twice as long as the next .".,io, l_ptoy...
JlT":^1I.0 the company for many ,.u.orr.'i,ii,iuuy, me pay and benefits attracted him. The benefits included medical, dental, and llfe i"s"ranc", u, *"1 as a matching +0-lK plan. The safety incentive pro_ grams, number of holidays, and paid vacations after time in service also made employment at USFG attrac_ tive to fames. Another plus-was tfrut USfC p"ia it. employees on a multitiered commissio, luJ.?a to the number of loads de_livered auri"g ;r, ._pi;y.",, schedule. Drivers made g35 per deliveiy, *f,if.i""a.r. made.$30. If an employee had the "Uifity, t*i"i"e, ura experience to be a loader and a driver,'he .o"ff,'.u* ] up to 965 per delivery by doing borh jobs. Approxi_ mateiy four to five deliveries .orld b. made during a normal 12-hour shift. Usually, the more senior jlliofeel r
ere given the dual a.rignutiol, of "ioaders/drivers." Thus, James was motivat?d .".fy o,
::.:b,il"."Oditional jo.b and safety t.utnirgio gu,,, ,1.,. oual designation and earn the maximim 'u_ou.r,
possible.
James had been the faciliq,,s number one loader/
f^:,':^: ,..J-r :f performance, efficiency, and safety
::l^:":: lt:] :i* v,"., He was a moiel emproyee \vnose. recent injurv had a big impacf on the facilitl ,s overall.performance. James was injured on the job when the hose used to transfer ,ir. -u,..iui f."i ,fr. container to the truck ..broke loose,, during l*air,g.
(Cotltinued) 538 Part 6: Nlanaging Human Resources en.1 DiIer irtY
The end of the hose hit fames in the arm, breaking
his arm and causing major nerve damage. The injury
was so severe that even after the break healed and he
completed physical therapy, he continued to experi-
ence "deadness" in his arm due to the nerve damage.
As a result, he could no longer load the trucks. He
could only drive.
Given that James was such a model employee,
USFG welcomed him back in whatever capacity he
could perform. |ames felt equally as blessed to be
back even if it meant only performing part of his old
job. It was less money, but he still enjoyed working at
USFG. The individual-based work was well suited for
his personality. It provided him opportunity to have
time alone, that with a family of five was a precious
commodity. Plus, his previous employer, a local ship-
builder, changed to a team-based culture, that fames
never really felt comfortable with. It was supposed to
be a more positive environment with everyone pulling
together, but he found it to be just the opposite. The
employees tried ways to outshine everyone else to gain
favorable recognition, so James found himself always
having to watch his back. That was the great thing
about USFG, you didn't have to play politics or
worry about dealing with complainers, slackers, or
brownnosers. fust do your job, perform it well, and
get paid, or so |ames thought.
THE MANAGEMENT PROBLEM
Shortly after Iames returned to work, USFG lost a
local contract that represented a significant amount
of work for the transloading facility. Kathy Prunel,
the regional manager, was confronted with the chal-
lenge of how to keep the employees working when
her facility just lost over 25 percent of its business.
This remote location was not a top priority for upper
management, as evidenced by the lack of marketing
efforts for the facility. Without the proper marketing,
the facility's client base and production capacity was
limited. In the short-term, while Kathy explored
marketing opportunities with upper management,
she decided to change the schedule from 12- to
8-hour shifts (7:00 A.M. to 2:00 p.u., 2:00 p.n. to
10:00 p.n., 10:00 p.u. to 7:00 e.lul.) and increase the
amount of "standing time" for each employee on
each shift. "standing time" was time spent in the
yard at the facility performing activities such as
prepping, cleaning, or maintaining the equipment.
Although a certain amount of "standing time" was
necessary during every employee's schedule, three to
four hours became mandatory. This policy change
led to lots of discussion and discord around the
yard, because "standing time" paid $16 an hour, con-
siderably less than one could make loading or
driving.
The workers were told the situation was tempo-
rary. "|ust get through the next several weeks and
things will get back to normal," Kathy told them.
After two weeks, all of the equipment was spotless
and running smoothly, forcing the workers to
spend more time together in the yard. Not everyone
was happy about the increased interaction. Iames felt
like the company was doing what it could to avoid
layoffs, but some of the newer employees, A. J. John-
son in particular, couldn't seem to see an1'thing but
the negative in the situation. Iames had known
others like A. f., always complaining about their sit-
uation and what they were going to do if the com-
pany didn't do right by them.
After several weeks of hearing A. |. spout off, |ames
finally had enough. "If you hate it here so much, why
don't you quit," asked |ames. "I never quit nothin' in
my life, and I ain't startin' nowl" replied A. I. "That
manager better get her act together and start doing
something or she's gonna be hearin' from mel And,
what's it to you an)'way, old man!" barked A. J. The
conversation escalated to such a point that )ames and
A. J. had to be restrained by their coworkers. On his
way to his car, Iames could hear A. I. screaming behind
him, "You're lucky your buddies were here! You better
watch outl Don't let me catch you alone!"
The next day, Cindy Smith, the HRR, was informed
of what transpired between James and A. f. the previ-
ous night. She was concerned. She suspected that A. |.
was the one stealing from the office-supplies, coffee,
sugar, and so on. She knew A. )' was trouble, but as
long as the facility was operating at frrll capacity, he
didn't have an opportunity to interact much with the
other workers. Now, things were differentl Cindy
immediately contacted Kathy Prunel who flew down
the next day with Mike Ebersol, the safety manager,
to meet with Cindy, |ames, and A. |.
The meeting went as well as could be expected. The
regional manager hated to involve Mike, but she saw
no other way. Mike was a big man, and he had a way of
presenting a situation such that all parties agreed to act
responsibly. Basically, Mike threatened |ames and A. ).
that if they couldn't resolve their differences amicably
and Kathy had to be brought in again, they would be
(Continued) I
I Chapter l6: The Superuisor, Labor Relations, and Legal Issues 539
real sorry! James left the meeting with an uneasy feel- ing. He didn't think Mike's message had much of an impact on A. f. \Mhat was he going to do when A. /. pushed the envelope? How was he going to react? He went to Cindy and asked her not to schedule him and A. J. on the same shift. Cindy knew /ames was a good person, and she was just as concerned as he was. She agreed.
The next several weeks passed without incident, sort of. Although ]ames and A. i. had no direct contact with each other, thanks to Cindy's scheduling A. l. attempted to agitate |ames indirectly. At the end of his schedule, A. J. would "accidentally" spill coffee on the seat of the front-end loader, so when James came on he would sit in it. He tried soiling the equipment (spitting on the steering wheel), because he knew how much pride James took in keeping his machinery clean. A. |. even went as far as to break the front-end loader so fames would get blamed. Cindy was well aware of his deliberate antics, and she feared lames might even- tually be pushed to the breaking point and retaliate. After much deliberation, she called Kathy. Kathy had not been sure that Mike's approach was going to work, so she was not completely caught off guard by Cindy's call. She thanked Cindy for contact_ ing her and began to develop a plan of action. Kathy realized she didn't have any substantial evidence against A. J. If he and lames got into another alterca_ tion, then both had to be let go for fighting. She decided to do two things. First, Cindy should continue scheduling the work so fames and A. ). didn,t come into direct contact. Second, Cindy would begil imple_ menting a "checklist." The "checklist" was a list of safety, maintenance, and cleaning items that had to be performed by each worker on his equipment prior to the end of each scheduled shift. Kathy believed this to be the perfect means of documenting any inappro- priate behavior that might be grounds for dismissal. Cindy immediately created and distributed the lists, noting the change in policy with the employee3 on the next shift.
When Mike Ebersol heard about the checklist being used at the remote transloading faciliry he thought to himself, "How is Kathy ever going to learn to be a good manager without confronting these problems head on? She always sidesteps issues. Now is the time to force her_to deal with this problem directly." He called Cindy and told her to schedule |ames and A. I. for the same shift for the upcoming Saturday night. "This will force thiags to a head! They'll solve their difibrences one way
or the other, and then Kathy can take action,,, Mike thought to himself.
Cindy was panic strickenl She just knew someone was going to get hurt. A. f. was going to cause trouble for sure, but how was lames going to be able to defend himself with his injured arm. She was unable to contact Kathy who was on vacation for seven days. Without being able to speak with Kathy, she had no choice but to follow Mike's instructions. She scheduled the two for Saturday's night shift.
THE SHOWDOWN
James couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Saturday's schedule. It must be a mistake. He went to talk with Cindy. Cindy was visibly upset and told him what hap_ pened. James went into the yard to begin working and planning how he was going to handle the situation. He was adjusting a piece of equipment on the front-end loader when a coworker approached him and said, "James, what you gonna do man? I saw Saturday,s schedule, and it ain't good. I heard A. l. flap-pin, his gums day before yesterday about how he was gonna be packin' some heat. Said if you. wtrz to get out of line, he'd have to pop you onel you better be real carefril
lames, A. l. is one bad dudel"
EPILOGUE
Trouble began shortly after A. J. and ]ames started their Saturday night shift. A. f. started talking ..smach,, and
|ames couldn't contain himself James verbally defended himself and even went as far as telling A. I. he thought A. /. was responsible for most,.if not all, of the problems at the yard. This bantering back and forth did not end until A. /. went to his car and returned with a .357 mag- num that he fired at /ames. Fortunatety, A. f. missed his intended target-he wasn't as great a marksman as he proclaimed to bel A. |. was immediately fued for leaving his work area and carrying a weapon. USFG is cwrently trying to replace its lost client (and revenues) but has not been able to find another. A. f.'s position has not been filled. Recently, the employees have been able to return to longer shifts with less "standing time."
CASE OUESTIONS ]
l. From a management perspective, why did the com- pany allow the initial childish behavior (coffee on the seat, spit on the steering wheel, etc.) to escalate into employee confrontation? lcortinrrd)
I
