Chapter 15
Consumerism
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Harvey W. Wiley
o In the late 1800s, Harvey W. Wiley, a professor at
Purdue University, began working with Indiana state
officials to detect adulteration in food products
o A large, highly competitive food industry applied new
food chemistries using preservatives, colorings,
flavorings, texturizers, and other additives
15-2
Harvey W. Wiley
o With few laws to police dishonorable operators,
dangerous, fraudulent, and cheapened products made
their way to market.
o At age 39, Wiley took charge of the Bureau of
Chemistry in Washington, D.C.
15-3
Harvey W. Wiley
o Wiley began to agitate for a national pure food law
o Wiley set up an experiment whose participants were
nicknamed the “poison squad”
o In 1906, Congress finally passed the Pure Food and
Drug Act
o The Bureau of Chemistry evolved into the Food and
Drug Administration, a powerful agency that protects
public health
15-4
Consumerism
o Consumerism:
o A movement to promote the rights and powers of
consumers in relation to sellers
o A powerful ideology in which the pursuit of material
goods beyond subsistence shapes social conduct
o Consumer: A person who uses products and services
in a commercial economy
15-5
Consumerism Rises in America
o In the 1800s, a commercial economy began to
appear
o Consumerism in America began with a confluence of
events at the turn of the 20th century
o Railroads
o Great merger wave of 1896-1904
o Mass production of consumer goods
o Electricity and other new technologies
o Movement of people
15-6
Consumerism in Perspective
o Complaints about consumerism include:
o It leads to commodification of all parts of life
o It encourages unwise, irrational, and unproductive
uses of money
o Heavy consumption is profligate with natural
resources and incompatible with sustainability
o Consuming beyond necessity violates “the idea the
God’s world is already full and complete”
o It distorts our values
o It is a pathology of corporate capitalism
15-7
In Defense of Consumerism
o Successful products either create value for customers
or they fail in competitive markets
o Intense competition between corporations works to
bring consumers more choices, higher quality, and
lower prices
15-8
Consumerism as a Protective Movement
o The idea of collective interest in protecting
consumers dates back to the earliest transactions
between merchants and customers
o 1870s when Populist farmers attacked railroads
o Food and Drug Act of 1906
15-9
Consumerism as a Protective Movement
o The 1960s and 1970s prompted another wave of
legislation to protect consumers and expand their
rights
o Consumer protection is today a major function of
government
15-10
Figure 15.2 - Spending on Consumer Health and Safety by
Federal Regulatory Agencies: 1960–2010
15-11
The Consumer’s Protective Shield
o Besides federal laws and regulations, there are
significant protections at the state and local level
o Every state and local government has extensive
consumer protection laws
15-12
The Consumer’s Protective Shield
o More than 50 federal agencies and bureaus are
active in consumer affairs
o These agencies and bureaus are effective despite
changing ideologies in administrations, powerful
critics, budget restraints, and too little staff to meet
all their statutory mandates
15-13
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
o Evolved out of the authority established by Congress
in the Food and Drug Act of 1906
o Nineteen specific areas of responsibility
o It has authority to:
o Regulate the quality, safety, and labeling of human
food, pet foods, animal feeds, and food additives
o Approve human and veterinary drugs and medical
devices
15-14
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
o Set safety and effectiveness standards for over-thecounter drugs
o Regulate the safety and labeling of cosmetics
o Regulate the marketing, labeling, and ingredients of
tobacco products
o Set safety standards for radiation-emitting products
including microwave ovens, televisions, X-ray
machines, lasers, and sunlamps
15-15
The Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC)
o Created by Congress in 1972
o Has power to:
o Set mandatory or encourage voluntary safety
standards for more than 15,000 consumer products
o Ban the sale of products that expose consumers to
unreasonable risks
o Require manufacturers to recall dangerous products
o Investigate the extent and causes of deaths and
injuries from consumer products
15-16
The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA)
o Created by Congress in 1966 to:
o Mandate minimum safety standards for automobiles,
trucks, and their components
o Set fuel economy standards for cars and light-duty
trucks
o Require manufacturers to recall cars and trucks with
safety defects
o Administer grants for states and cities to promote
highway safety
o No other agency has such extensive controls over a
single product
15-17
Figure 15.3 - One Effect of Deregulation on
Three Consumer Agencies
15-18
Other Consumer Protection Agencies
o The Federal Trade Commission
o The Environmental Protection Agency
o The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
15-19
Product Liability Law
o Product liability: A doctrine in the law of torts that
covers redress for injuries caused by defective
products
o Tort: A private wrong committed by one person
against another person or her or his property
15-20
Negligence
o A tort involves either an intentional or a negligent
action that causes injury
o Obstacles to consumers in early product liability law:
o Caveat emptor
o Narrow interpretation of the doctrine of privity, which
held that consumers could sue only the party that sold
them the product
15-21
Warranty
o A warranty is a contract in which the seller
guarantees the nature of the product
o An express warranty is an explicit claim made by the
manufacturer to the buyer
o An implied warranty is an unwritten, commonsense
warranty arising out of the buyer’s reasonable
expectations
15-22
Strict Liability
o The doctrine of strict liability established that anyone
who engages in a dangerous activity is liable for
damages to others, even if the activity is conducted
with utmost care
o The key to strict liability is that the injured person
need not prove negligence to prevail in court
15-23
Strict Liability
o Under strict liability an injured plaintiff must prove
only that:
o The manufacturer made a product in a defective
condition that made it unreasonably dangerous to the
user
o The seller was in the business of selling such products
o It was unchanged from its manufactured condition
when purchased
15-24
Perspectives on Product Liability
o The U.S. legal system makes it easier for plaintiffs to
win large damage awards from product makers than
do the systems of other countries.
o Nowhere else in the world has the legal system
created such a favorable environment for product
lawsuits as in the United States.
15-25
Cost and Benefits of the Tort System
o A recent estimate is that the tort system inflicts an
annual economic cost of $835 billion on society,
about 2.2 percent of GDP
o Dangerous products have been either taken off the
market, had their sales restricted, or been
redesigned
o Lawsuit threats and high liability insurance costs
regularly cause companies to drop high-risk products
15-26
Concluding Observations
o Consumerism is a word with two meanings: it refers
both to a kind of society and to a protective
movement
o Consumerism as a way of life is spreading around the
world because the conditions that support it are
becoming more common
15-27
Concluding Observations
o Consumers in the United States are now more
protected from injury, fraud, and other abuses than
in the past because of stronger government
regulation and more consumer-friendly common law
doctrines
15-28
Chapter 16
The Changing
Workplace
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ford Motor Company
o Ford sold 15.5 million Model T’s from 1908 to 1926
o In 1927 failure to observe market trends forced the
plant to close for 7 months while the Model A was
designed
o Henry Ford was a obstinate man, obsessed with
power, iron-willed, dictatorial, and cynical about
human nature
16-2
Ford Motor Company
o Henry Ford’s treatment of his employees led to
unionization in 1941
o In the early 1980s the firm suffered disastrous losses
due to heightened international competition
o Ford tried to change the company culture
16-3
Ford Motor Company
o Taurus rejuvenates profits from 1985 to 1995
o 1994 – Chairman Alexander Trotman instituted a
radical change program to prepare for an even more
competitive global car market
o 1999 – a new CEO, Jacques Nasser, attempts to
remake Ford’s culture yet again
16-4
Ford Motor Company
o 2000 – Ford Explorer tire failures cause disaster
o 2001 – Henry Clay Ford, Jr. restructures
o 2006 – New CEO Alan Mulally announced the need
for one more reorganization
16-5
External Forces Changing the Workplace
o
o
o
o
o
o
Demographic change
Technological change
Structural change
Competitive pressures
Reorganization of work
Government intervention
16-6
Demographic Change
o Population dynamics slowly but continuously alter
labor forces
o Overall labor force growth is slowing
o The number of workers in some demographic
categories is growing faster than in others, producing
incremental but significant changes
16-7
Table 16.1 – Three Snapshots of the
American Labor Force (in thousands)
16-8
Technological Change
o Technical change has many impacts on work
o It affects the number and type of jobs available
o Automation has a turbulent impact on employment
o Automation causes significant job loss in less-skilled
manufacturing and service occupations
16-9
Technological Change
o Will robots help the American worker?
o https://www.ted.com/talks/martin_ford_how_we_ll
_earn_money_in_a_future_without_jobs#t-40414
16-10
Structural Change
o Structural change is caused by processes of job
creation and job destruction that continuously alter
the mix of productive work in every economy
o Three long-term structural trends:
o The agricultural sector has declined from
predominance to near insignificance as an occupation
16-11
Structural Change
o The percentage of workers employed in the goodsproducing sector is now in long-term decline
o There is explosive growth in the service sector
o Structural change is a critical factor in the decline of
labor unions
16-12
Figure 16.1 - Historical Trends for Employment by Major
Industry Sector: 1800–2018
16-13
Table 16.2 - Comparative Employment Structures in Nations
at Varying Stages of Development
16-14
Competitive Pressures
o Recent trends have intensified competition for
American companies
o Customer demand
o Deregulation of large industries
o Global competition
o By global standards, American workers are extremely
expensive
o Companies in some industries now contract to have
manufacturing done in a foreign country
16-15
Table 16.3 – International Wage Comparison
16-16
Reorganization of Work
o Corporations alter business processes as they adjust
to environmental changes, primarily competition
o As transport costs have fallen, manufacturers more
often separate production from consumption by
sending their manufacturing to low-cost countries,
then shipping products back to customers
16-17
Reorganization of Work
o Because of communication technology, service work
can now be sent to low-cost locations
o Trade in services between nations is growing,
creating fears about job loss from outsourcing
16-18
Reorganization of Work
o Outsourcing: The transfer of work from within a
company to an outside supplier
o Offshoring: The transfer of work from a domestic to
a foreign location or to a foreign supplier
16-19
Figure 16.2 - Quarterly Private Sector Job Gains
and Job Losses: 1993–2010
16-20
Development of Labor Regulation in the
United States
o Historically, a strong laissez-faire current in American
economic philosophy made governments at all levels
reluctant to interfere with the employment contract
o Today, government intervention is extensive and
growing, but this is a twentieth-century trend
16-21
Liberty of Contract
o Before the 1930s, government intervention on behalf
of workers was very limited
o In the late 1800s and early 1900s, strong majorities
on the Supreme Court upheld the liberty of contract
doctrine
o The great flaw in the liberty of contract doctrine was
that it assumed equal bargaining power for all parties,
whereas employers unquestionably predominated
16-22
Waves of Regulation
o First wave – Federal workplace regulation in the
1930s, which established union rights
o Second wave – Between 1963 and 1974, moved
federal law into new areas, protecting civil rights,
worker health and safety, and pension rights
16-23
Waves of Regulation
o Third wave – Between 1986 and 1996, again
broadened the scope of federal law to address
additional, and somewhat narrower, employment
issues
16-24
Figure 16.3 - A Chronology of Major
Workplace Regulations
16-25
Erosion of the Employment-at-Will
Doctrine
o Employment-at-will was traditionally defined as an
employment contract that could be ended by either
party without notice and for any reason – or for no
reason
o Federal and state laws take away the right to fire
employees for many reasons, including union
activity, pregnancy, physical disability, race, sex,
national origin, and religious belief
16-26
Erosion of the Employment-at-Will
Doctrine
o State courts have introduced three common-law
exceptions to firing at will:
o Employees cannot be fired for complying with public
policy
o Employees cannot be fired where an implied contract
exists
o Courts in 11 states limit the employer’s ability to fire
when an implied covenant of good faith is breached
16-27
Work and Worker Protection in Japan
o Elsewhere in the developed world, workers benefit
from similar and even greater welfare guarantees
than in the U.S.
o Japanese males, called salarymen, enjoy virtual
lifetime employment in major firms
o Japanese workers are very committed and sometimes
work themselves to illness or death
16-28
Work and Worker Protection in Japan
o In Japan, the centuries-old Confucian tradition of
harmony in relationships prevents a labormanagement fissure, therefore unions never grew
strong and unified
16-29
Work and Worker Protection in Europe
o In the aftermath of World War II, many countries
adopted a social welfare model of industrial relations
to protect their populations against the ravages of
depression and unemployment
o Forces of global competition now strain this social
welfare model
16-30
Work and Worker Protection in Europe
o European workers are so expensive to employ that
job-creating investments go elsewhere
o In much of Europe, the results of lavish social safety
nets and protections are persistent, high
unemployment and slowed economic growth
16-31
Labor Regulation in Perspective
o The bare minimum for labor market regulation is
compliance with four core labor standards set forth
in international labor conventions
o Eliminate all forced or compulsory labor
o Abolish child labor
o Eliminate employment discrimination
o Guarantee the right of collective bargaining
16-32
Figure 16.5 - The Tradeoff in Labor
Regulation
16-33
Concluding Observations
o The combined impact of the six forces changing the
workplace creates both uncertainty and opportunity
o Demographic and structural changes are
uncontrollable but also slow and predictable
16-34
Concluding Observations
o Technological change is a disruptive force but it has
always created new jobs to replace the ones it
destroys
o Competition and work reorganization are reshaping
labor markets everywhere
o Experience suggests that workers fortunes will be
mixed
16-35
Chapter 17
Civil Rights,
Women,
and Diversity
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act
o Brooke Waits worked hard and her job was part of
her
o Away from work, Waits was open about being a
lesbian, but at work she sensed that revealing herself
would estrange her from the others
o After being fired, Waits testified before Congress
17-2
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act
o Since the 1970s, supporters in Congress have tried to
pass a law extending workplace protections to
victims of bias such as Waits
o The Employment Non-discrimination Act of 2007
seeks to make it illegal to take any adverse job action
based on sexual orientation
17-3
A Short History of Workplace Civil Rights
The Colonial Era
o Employment discrimination in America can be dated
from 1619
o In the Declaration of Independence, “unalienable”
rights are natural rights
o Natural rights: Rights to which all human beings are
entitled
o The unalienable rights statement in the Declaration
distills a body of doctrine know as the American
Creed
17-4
Civil War and Reconstruction
o In the United States, the issue of slavery rose to a
crisis in the Civil War
o In 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation
o Following the war, Congress passed three
constitutional amendments designed to protect the
rights of former slaves
17-5
Civil War and Reconstruction
o These amendments were supplemented by a series
of civil rights acts passed by Congress
o With little enforcement of these laws, southern
states adopted segregationist statutes called Jim
Crow laws
17-6
Other Groups Face Employment
Discrimination
o Native Americans were widely treated as inferior
o When Mexico ceded Texas, 90,000 Hispanics became
U.S. residents, but were victims of a range of
discriminatory actions
o In 1851, Chinese laborers began to enter the country
to be met by economic and racial discrimination
o The earliest Japanese immigrants found similar
inhospitality
17-7
The Civil Rights Cases
o The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was passed to prevent
racial discrimination.
o There was still widespread discrimination against
freed slaves by business and soon a series of cases
reached the Supreme Court
17-8
The Civil Rights Cases
o These cases were consolidated into one opinion by
the Court in 1883 and called the Civil Rights Cases
o The Civil Rights Cases so narrowed the meaning of
the Fourteenth Amendment that it became
irrelevant to a broad range of economic and social
bias
17-9
Plessy v. Ferguson
o The Separate Car Act was passed by Louisiana in
1890
o On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy, who was 7/8
Caucasian and 1/8 African, was asked to move to the
“nonwhite” coach
o Plessy refused and was taken to a New Orleans jail
17-10
Plessy v. Ferguson
o Plessy brought suit, claiming he was entitled to
“equal protection of the laws” as stated in the
Fourteenth Amendment
o The Supreme Court disagreed
o The ruling completed the destruction of the
Fourteenth Amendment as a mechanism to
guarantee civil rights
17-11
Long Years of Discrimination
o Southern legislators were emboldened
by Plessy
o Jim Crow laws spread
o Black workers faced blatant discrimination
o These customs spread to the north
17-12
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
o In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a new civil rights
movement arose
o The pressures of this movement led to many social
reforms, among them passage of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964
o Its Title VII prohibits discrimination in any aspect of
employment
o Title VII created the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission
17-13
Disparate Treatment and Disparate Impact
o Title VII enforced a legal theory of disparate
treatment
o When Title VII went into effect, employees could no
longer engage in outwardly visible displays of
discrimination
o The flaw in Title VII was that it contained no weapon
to fight disparate impact
17-14
The Griggs Case
o In Griggs v. Duke Power, the Supreme Court held that
diploma requirements and tests that screened out
blacks or other protected classes were illegal unless
employers could show that they were related to job
performance or justified by business necessity
o The Griggs decision, and the legal theory of disparate
impact it created, was necessary for Title VII to work
17-15
The Griggs Case
o In 1978 the EEOC defined illegal disparate impact for
employers with a guideline know as the 80 percent
rule
17-16
Affirmative Action
o Policies that seek out, encourage, and sometimes
give preferential treatment to employees in groups
protected by Title VIII
o The origin of most affirmative action in corporations
is Executive Order 11246
17-17
The Supreme Court Changes Title VII
o The first high-profile challenge came from Allan
Bakke, a white male denied admission to medical
school, claiming reverse discrimination
o The Supreme Court ruled in his favor
17-18
The Supreme Court Changes Title VII
o A white laboratory analyst, Brian Weber, brought suit
against Kaiser Aluminum claiming a promotion
selection procedure violated Title VII
o The Court ruled against him saying Kaiser’s affirmative
action plan embodied “the spirit of the law
17-19
The Supreme Court Changes Title VII
o These rulings established important criteria for
judging the legality of subsequent affirmative action
programs:
o A plan must be designed to break down historic patterns
of race or sex discrimination
o The plan must not create an absolute bar to the advance
of white employees
o The plan must not require the discharge of white workers
o The plan should be flexible and temporary
17-20
The Affirmative Action Debate
o Utilitarian considerations
o Ethical theories of justice raise questions about the
ultimate fairness of affirmative action
o Affirmative action may be debated in light of ethical
theories on rights
17-21
Women at Work
o Around the world more women work than ever
before
o In 2009 there were 1.3 billion women in the global
labor force of 3.2 billion, making up 40 percent of the
total
o Participation rates are high in the least-developed
countries, where poverty pushes women into paid
labor
17-22
Women at Work
o Lowest participation is found in Arab nations
o Wherever women work, they are more likely than
men to be in low-productivity jobs in agriculture and
services and to be paid less, even in the same jobs as
men
17-23
Gender Attitudes at Work
o The new feminist perspective asserted that working
women were entitled to the same jobs, rights, and
ambitions as men
o Men who believed in traditional sex-role stereotypes
thought that women were too emotional to manage
well; lacked ambition, logic, and toughness; and
could not sustain career drive because of family
obligations
o In the U.S. belief in the traditional stereotype has
eroded but proves durable
17-24
Subtle Discrimination
o Many workplace cultures are based on masculine
values
o In blue-collar settings, sexism may be blatant; some
men will openly express biases
o In managerial settings, sex discrimination is usually
subtle, even unintentional
17-25
Subtle Discrimination
o Masculine cultures underlie many kinds of
differential treatment
o Men and women learn different ways of speaking in
childhood
o Later in life these conversation styles carry over into
the workplace, where they can place women at a
disadvantage
17-26
Sexual Harassment
o Many women experience sexual harassment at some
time in their careers
o Men use sex-based harassment to define and
enforce gender distinctions
o The EEOC guidelines define two situations where
harassment is illegal:
o Quid pro quo
o Hostile environment
17-27
Figure 17.2 - The EEOC Guidelines on
Sexual Harassment
17-28
Occupational Segregation
o Women are more likely to work in some jobs than
others
o Within corporations and in the economy as a whole,
female jobs are lower in status and pay than typically
male jobs
o Women have less occupational diversity than do men
17-29
Table 17.1 - The Top and Bottom 10
Occupations in Percentages of Women
17-30
Compensation
o Although the gender wage gap is closing, it is
persistent for three reasons:
o Occupational segregation places women in femaledominated occupations that tend to be lower paying
than male-dominated ones
o Women pay a heavy earnings penalty for child bearing
and child rearing, activities that interrupt careers
o The gap reflects elements of sex discrimination
17-31
Compensation
o The pay gap between men and women is worldwide,
although in most other nations it is lower than in the
United States
17-32
Figure 17.3 - The Narrowing Gap in Weekly
Earnings
17-33
Diversity
o Diversity management: Programs to recruit from
diverse groups, promote tolerance, and modify
cultures to include nonmainstream employees
17-34
Key Components of a Diversity
Management Program
o Leadership from the top is critical
o Change in the organization structure creates focal
points for diversity efforts
o Training programs are very popular
o Mentors can be assigned to women and minorities to
overcome isolation in firms where the hierarchy is
predominantly white and male
17-35
Key Components of a Diversity
Management Program
o Data collection is needed to define issues and
measure progress
o Policy changes establish new rules
o Reward systems encourage managers to achieve
diversity goals
17-36
Concluding Observations
o The first national effort to end workplace
discrimination began during the Civil War
o This visionary effort was defeated by social values
contrary to the laws
o In the 1960s, a second effort began with passage of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964
o Today the accumulated corpus of antidiscrimination
law is massive, complex, and controversial but
overall, it works
o Yet, more needs to be done
17-37
Figure 17.4 - Four Civil Rights Eras
17-38
Hiring and Work Assignments
You're planning to hire a new sales manager and one of
the leading candidates is really homely. You are
concerned about how your customers – and even his
colleagues -- would react to him. The specific job he's
applying for requires extensive customer contact and
his appearance is frankly disconcerting. On the other
hand, his credentials are excellent and he's certainly
qualified for the job.
17-39
Performance Management
You were recently promoted to manager of a department with
five professionals and two clerical staff. One of the professionals,
Joe, is a nice guy, but he simply hasn't been able to match the
performance of the others in the department. When he tells you
he has been interviewing for another job in a different part of
your company, you pull his personnel file and see that your
predecessor had rated Joe's performance as "good to excellent."
You frankly disagree. Joe has asked you for a recommendation.
Based on the written appraisals, you could give him a good one - but your personal observation is at odds with the written
evaluations. Joe's prospective manager -- your peer in another
department -- asks for your opinion. What do you say?
17-40
Discipline
Steven is a salesman who reports to you, the regional director of
sales for an office supply company. He has a great track record
and has consistently surpassed his sales targets, but he has one
terrible flaw: he's not on time for anything. He's late for both for
meetings with you and for lunches with clients, and the problem
extends to his paperwork. His expense reports, sales reports -everything is handed in a week late. As his manager, you've
counseled him about his tardiness and he has improved. Now
instead of being 15 minutes late for a meeting, he's only five
minutes late. And instead of submitting his expenses a week late,
they're only two days late. His lateness seems minor in view of
his achievements, but it's driving you and his co-workers crazy.
17-41
Terminations
You're a manager in a large commercial bank. You
discover that Patricia, a loan officer who reports to you,
has forged an approval signature on a customer loan,
which requires signatures from two loan officers. When
you confront Pat with the forgery, she apologizes
profusely and says that her husband has been very ill.
The day she forged the signature, he was going into
surgery and she just didn't have time to find another
loan officer to sign the authorization for the loan. Pat
has been with your bank for 15 years and has a spotless
record.
17-42
Diversity
One of your best customers is a very conservative
organization -- a real "white-shirt" company. Reporting
to you is David, a very talented African-American who
could benefit greatly from working with this customer
account -- and the customer account would benefit
greatly from David's expertise and creativity. The issue
is that David dresses in vibrant colors and wears a kufi,
an African skull cap. Your company long ago recognized
David's brilliance, and his dress within the company
isn't an issue. But you know your customer would react
to David's attire with raised eyebrows.
17-43
Harassment
Your profession has been traditionally a male-dominated one and Marcia is
the only woman in your department. Whenever Sam -- your senior engineer-holds staff meetings, he and the other males in the department compliment
Marcia profusely. They say things like, "It's hard for us to concentrate with a
gorgeous woman like you in the room," or "you've got to stop batting your
eyelashes at us or the temperature in this room will trigger the air
conditioning." They compliment her apparel, her figure, her legs, and her
manner of speaking. Although flattering, their remarks make her feel
uncomfortable. She has mentioned her discomfort to you on several
occasions, and you've told Sam and the others to cut it out. They just laughed
and told you that Marcia was too sensitive. You think that while Marcia was
being sensitive, she did have justification for being upset about her coworkers' remarks.
17-44
Harassment
One of your direct reports, Robert, belongs to an activist church.
Although you have no problems with anyone's religious beliefs,
Robert is so vocal about his religion that it's becoming a problem
with other employees in your department. He not only preaches
to his fellow employees, but he also has criticized the attire of
some of his female co-workers, and continually quotes religious
verse in staff meetings. You've received complaints about his
behavior from several employees. A few weeks ago, you
suggested to Robert that he tone down his preaching, and he
reacted as if you were a heathen about to persecute him for his
beliefs. His behavior has since escalated.
17-45
Family Issue
One of your direct reports is Ellen, who just returned from maternity leave.
She now has two children -- her infant is four-months-old and her older child
is three-years-old. Ellen is not only a talented worker, but she's also a
wonderful person. Before the birth of her second child, she had no problem
handling the workload and the demands on her time - she had a live-in nanny
who could care for her child regardless of when she returned home. Recently,
however, her live-in left and Ellen is now sending her children to a day care
facility with strict opening and closing times. Although Ellen is very productive
when she's in the office, her schedule no longer has any flexibility -- she must
leave the office no later than 5:00 p.m. This has caused a hardship for all of
her peers who must complete team assignments whether or not she's
present. Although you don't want to cause problems for her, the situation
doesn’t seem fair to her co-workers.
17-46
Honesty is Rule One
Michael is a lawyer who reports to Paula, the corporate counsel
for a chemical company. During one particularly busy period,
Paula asks Michael to prepare a summary of all pending lawsuits
and other legal activity for the company's senior management.
Since Michael has several court appearances and depositions
cluttering his schedule, he assigns the report to one of his
paralegals, who completes the report in several days. Since he's
so busy, Michael simply submits the report to Paula, without
reviewing it. When Paula asks him what he thinks of the report,
he assures her that he's fine with it. The next day, Paula asks
Michael into her office and says that she has found a major
omission in the report. Michael has no choice but to admit that
he didn't have time to review it.
17-47
Standards Go Both Ways
It began when Bruce asked Andy to lie to his wife about his
whereabouts. "If Marcia calls, tell her I'm in Phoenix on a
business trip," he told Andy. Of course, he had also confided to
Andy that in case of an office emergency, he could be reached at
a local golf tournament or at a nearby hotel where he was
staying with another woman. Since Bruce was senior to Andy
and was a powerful contributor in the department, Andy went
along with his request. When Marcia called, Andy told the lie
about Bruce being in Phoenix. Bruce asked several more
"favors" of Andy, and Andy complied. Then Bruce asked for a big
favor: he instructed Andy to inflate monthly sales figures for a
report going to senior management. When Andy objected, Bruce
said, "Oh, come on Andy, we all know how high your standards
are."
17-48
Employment Basics
You've recently been promoted to a supervisory position and are
now responsible for coordinating the work of four other
employees. Two of these workers are more than 20 years older
than you are, and both have been with the company much
longer than you have. Although you've tried to be supportive of
them and have gone out of your way to praise their work,
whenever there is some kind of disagreement, they go to your
boss with the problem. You've asked them repeatedly to come to
you with whatever issues they have; they just ignore you and
complain to other workers about reporting to someone your age.
Design a strategy for dealing with these workers and your
manager.
17-49
Managing a Diverse Workforce
After two years of sales calls and persuasion, a large, multi-national petroleum
company -- Big Oil Ltd. -- decides to sign with your employer, Secure Bank. Since
Big Oil is headquartered in Saudi Arabia and most of the meetings with the client
have been in the Middle East, Secure Bank's senior executive in charge of oil and
oil products companies -- Julie -- has not attended. Although the Secure Bank
employees who have met with the company have told the Big Oil executives that
the lead on their account will be a woman, the news must not have registered,
perhaps because of language difficulties. Today the Big Oil reps are in Chicago to
sign on the dotted line and meet with Secure Bank's senior managers, and of
course, they've met with Julie. A member of the original Secure Bank sales team
calls you to say that Big Oil's senior team member has told him he does not want
Julie to work on their account, period. Because of cultural issues, Big Oil execs are
uncomfortable dealing with women from any country. As Julie's manager, what do
you do?
17-50
Managing Up and Across
As an operations professional, you need to be able to interact
effectively with many internal customers – from corporate
managers to field representatives. One of your peers is Jessica,
who is a talented operations professional, but who is downright
rude to her internal customers. Her attitude is so bad that
people around your company ask specifically to deal with you
instead of Jessica. You’ve heard many tales about her sarcasm
and her unwillingness to deliver anything other than the
absolute minimum to other employees. You’ve thought about
talking to Bruce, the manager to whom both you and Jessica
report – but you and everyone else knows that they’re dating. In
the meantime, your workload is increasing because of Jessica’s
reputation. How do you handle Jessica and Bruce?
17-51
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