Page 333 - Business Principles and Management

C HAPTER 12 A SSESSMENT

CASE 12-2: Enforcing Company Policies
Mikayla Fletcher was very upset because she had just suspended one of
the employees she supervised, Dylan Holcomb. Although he was a good
worker, he had begun to develop a problem with coming to work on
time. Once and sometimes twice a week, he was 5 to 10 minutes late.
Although he was usually not very late, the tardiness was frequent and
caused hard feelings among Dylan’s coworkers. They often had to wait
for him to show up before they could continue with an important
project.
The company had a policy on employee tardiness: a half-hour of pay
was deducted for any part of 15 minutes the employee was late. If the
employee was late more than 30 minutes, a verbal warning was given the
first time, a written warning was given the second time, and the employee
would be suspended for one week without pay the third time.
Dylan didn’t seem to mind losing the money when he was late, and he
had never been tardy to the point Mikayla had to issue a warning. How-
ever, because it was a continuing issue, Mikayla decided to talk with him
informally about the problem. Dylan didn’t seem overly concerned and
simply said he would try to do better. Following the conversation, he had
been on time for several weeks. Then, two weeks ago, he was 35 minutes
late one day. Last Thursday he was late by 50 minutes. Following company
policy, Mikayla gave him both a verbal and written warning.
Yesterday the city was hit by a heavy snowstorm. Because roads in
the area were very slippery early in the morning, the company decided
that employees who were late would not be penalized. Mikayla was
surprised when Dylan showed up on time. He said he had used his new
four-wheel-drive vehicle and had fun driving to work through the snow.
Today Mikayla was furious when Dylan walked in 40 minutes late.
She confronted him and told him he was suspended. Dylan accused
Mikayla of being unfair. He said the battery on his new vehicle had
failed; otherwise, he would have been on time. Besides, the company
hadn’t penalized employees for tardiness yesterday when he had been
on time. Because of that, he didn’t feel he should be penalized today.

THINK CRITICALLY

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a policy such as the
one described in the case?
2. Do you believe Mikayla should have suspended Dylan under the
circumstances? Why or why not?
3. Do you believe Dylan was justified in his claim that Mikayla was
being unfair? Support your answer.
4. What do you think Mikayla should do after Dylan returns from his
suspension?

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