Case American Financial Corporation Betty Powell is the manager of human resources for American Financial Corporation, a large financial services company. When she arrived back in her office Monday after being away for a week, she discovered that a staffing report due the day before was still not finished. The report was for the vice president of the company's brokerage division, and Betty was supposed to give him the report by Wednesday. Six weeks earlier Betty had asked Don Adams, one of her subordinates to collect the information and to write the staffing report. At that time she told him what should be included in the report and when it was due. It is not the first time Don has missed a deadline. His work is careful and meticulous, but he appears to be compulsive about checking and rechecking everything several times to avoid any mistakes. Betty called Don and asked him to meet with her immediately. When Don came into her office, she greeted him and asked him to sit down. The following dialogue occurred. Don, I understand the staffing report for the brokerage division is not completed yet. The division vice president needs that report to prepare his annual budget, and he is putting a lot of pressure on me to get it to him immediately. When I gave you this assignment, you assured me that six weeks was ample time to do it.* I'm sorry that the report wasn't ready on schedule," responded Don, "but it turned out to be much more complex than I initially expected. I had to spend extra time verifying the figures from the branch offices, because they just didn't look right. Just when I thought..." Look Don," interrupted Betty, "this is not the first time you have been late on an important project. You're supposed to be a professional, and professionals plan their work and get it done on time." It would not be very professional to do a report full of mistakes," replied Don. "It's important to me to do quality work that I can be proud of. It's not my fault that the branch managers don't keep accurate records." What types of mistakes did you find when you checked their records?" asked Betty. Well.... I didn't actually find any mistakes," replied Don, looking embarrassed, "but after I entered the information into the computer and did the preliminary analysis, I discovered that the records were missing for one of the branch offices. I lost a week waiting to get the missing information, but without it the report would not provide an accurate picture of the division's staffing needs. It's a good thing I noticed the... Betty interrupted impatiently. "Don, we have interns to do things like checking computer records and making sure they are complete. It sounds to me like you are not very efficient about managing your time. If you delegated some of these simple tasks, you wouldn't get so far behind in your work." The interns were busy working on the new financial reports," Don protested. "I don't get enough clerical support on any of my projects, and that's why they are sometimes late." Why didn't you inform me there were problems that might delay the report?" asked Betty, her voice showing she was becoming very annoyed. "I could have found you some clerical support." Don was now becoming more defensive. "I tried to let you know last week, but you were on the West Coast for the management training workshop. I left a message for you to call me." Don, you have an excuse for everything, and nothing is ever your fault," Betty said sarcastically. "You seem to be incapable of planning the action steps needed to do a project like this one. You should have checked the records before you began the data analysis. As for the missing records, it wouldn't surprise me if they are buried somewhere under the piles of stuff laying around your office. You have the messiest office in the company." Don looked sullen but did not reply. Betty continued her tirade. "Don, your career in this company is going to be very short unless you get your act together. I want that report in my hands by noon tomorrow, and no more excuses." Case Restview Hospital Mary Carter was the accounting manager at Restview Hospital, a large residential health-care facility. The facility administrator, Jack Morelli, explained that he wanted to modernize Restview's system of accounts billing. He asked Mary to investigate available software packages that would be compatible with their computer system. Jack explained that he and the Restview board of directors would like to make a decision about this matter at the board meeting next month. A week later, Jack asked Mary about her progress, and she reported that she had identified two vendors with appropriate software packages. Jack asked why her list of potential vendors did not include Standard Software Systems, the source of the software currently used to process Restview's payroll. Standard had just recently developed a software package for accounts billing as a new addition to their product line, but few hospitals were using it. The preliminary information gathered by Mary suggested that Standard's software package was less appropriate for Restview than the packages offered by the other vendors. However, Mary knew that the president of Standard Software was a personal friend of Jack's, and she agreed to include Standard among the vendors selected for further consideration. During the next two weeks, sales representatives from each vendor were invited to make a presentation at Restview to demonstrate and explain their product. Mary had planned to invite board members to these presentations, but Jack said they were too busy to attend. When the presentations were held, Mary and her office staff asked many questions, but Jack looked bored and said very little. Mary also visited some other hospitals that were already using each type of software package to get firsthand opinions about how well they worked and the difficulties experienced in installing them. During the course of her investigation, she learned that Standard's new software package was less flexible and less user-friendly than the others. All three software packages were about the same price, but the software package from Reliable Computer was clearly the best one for Restview. She prepared a short report to Jack that explained the advantages and disadvantages of each product and included her recommendation. The next day Mary met with Jack to give him the written report and summarize her findings in person. She explained the reasons for her recommendation to purchase the software package from Reliable Computers, and she reviewed the evidence supporting it. Mary also offered to present her findings to the board of directors at their next meeting, but Jack said he could handle it himself. Jack did not send a copy of Mary's report to the board members before the board meeting, and at the meeting the reasons for her preference were not clearly explained to the board. The day after the meeting Jack informed Mary that the board decided to go with the software package from Standard. He explained that they wanted to reward Standard for excellent customer service last year when installing their payroll software at Restview. Two years later, after thousands of dollars of unnecessary expense, the accounts billing software was still not operating smoothly for Restview. Jack told the board that Mary was responsible for the bad decision, and he fired her.