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Scenario 22-D Avoiding the Employee Who Will Be Fired

Carol Wright thinks of herself as an effective manager. In fact, she is the consummate manager because she knows her employees and she knows herself. Carol commands technical expertise, and her interpersonal and social skills are highly developed. Carol has worked for C&S Pharmaceuticals for 15 years. She has received five promotions and is currently responsible for two additional product lines. Carol has been quick to identify personnel problems, and she is instrumental in providing educational and instructional support to resolve those problems.

Carol supervises Joan, who is often uncooperative and rude. Joan makes many mistakes but always seems to meet her work standards and deadlines. As a matter of fact, she seems to improve prior to her yearly performance review, but overall, she is just not a good fit for the department. An unreasonable amount of Carolâs time is spent addressing low morale issues and petty office issues caused by Joan.

Various forms of motivation, education, and administrative support have been offered to Joan in the past. This week, Joan was quite angry and mumbled under her breath that she was quitting. This type of behavior was not new for Joan but rather a repeated pattern. The next day after her comment and the following two days, Joan failed to show up for work without notifying the office. The company policy states that if an employee does not show up for work for three consecutive days without notifying the office by the end of the third business day (5:00 p.m.), the employeeâs employment shall be terminated.

On the third day, some managers may be anxiously waiting for the employee to call and explain the absence, but this was not the case with Carol. Carol had recognized that this employee was nonproductive, noncompliant, and met the criteria for job abandonment. Carol was prepared to terminate Joan because she repeatedly demonstrated a clear disregard for the policy related to reporting to work. Carol no longer had any patience for Joanâs behaviors. Carol was confident that the employee was not going to comply with the policy and this would be an easy termination. So, she completed the termination paperwork, based on job abandonment, at 3:00 p.m. and left it on her desk for the 5:00 p.m. submission to human resources. At 4:30 p.m., the administrative assistant notified Carol that Joan was on the telephone, but Carol did not accept the call. The paperwork was sent to human resources at 5:00 p.m., and Joanâs employment was terminated the next day.

Questions

1. Should Carol have taken the call from Joan?
2. Carol should have taken the call from Joan and followed the next steps of the policies, as appropriate.
3. Were there steps that could have been followed to prevent this situation from occurring?
4. Yes, managers have an obligation to keep employees who meet performance standards and follow time and attendance policies. Managers must treat all employees fairly and consistently; they should act with honesty and integrity and know and follow human resource policies. Likewise, managers have an obligation to address work behaviors that do not contribute to a productive workplace. Co-workers, an important stakeholder in this case, are affected by negative employee behaviors that persist in the workplace. Co-workers may experience a decrease in morale, loss of productivity, and loss of creativity and even voluntarily leave the organization.
5. Should Joan have been fired?
6. Employeesâ personalities and negative interpersonal skills are the most challenging behaviors for a manager to address. A manager cannot use the themes of performance-based judgment calls, social norms, and faulty rules to justify termination. Nor can the manager rationalize that the employer will be better served without this employee. Negative work behaviors, such as poor interpersonal skills, can be considered substandard performance and can be grounds for termination in the workplace if the employee has been properly counselled.