Reference no: EM134034348

Question

Gerald Mahoney, new sales manager and sole full-time employee of the Oreck vacuum cleaner store of Red Hook (New York), was relaxing watching television in the back office. There were no customers in the store at the time and Gerald was tired of repairing vacuums. There always seemed to be a million machines to repair and the owner of the store, John Timmson, was never around to lend a hand. In fact, John would rather be out playing golf or hanging out with his girlfriend than dealing with his business. John never lent a hand with difficult customers, rarely repaired vacuums, and was always "away" when stock came in and Gerald needed assistance to stack inventory. John refused to complete warranty reports, and most importantly, never, ever cleaned the store. As Gerald nestled himself into the big comfortable couch in the back office and slowly dozed off, he contemplated his 40 (forty) hr, 5 (five) day workweek and the unfairness of the situation. His last fading moments of consciousness were focused on the fact that it just didn't seem right that after 4 (four) months of employment he did all of this work while John was out having a good time.

Those Happy Early Days

"I love my work and I'm only in my first month here," Mr. Mahoney commented to his friend Stephen Hodgetts. "John is purposely never around so I can really run the store the way I like it. I can arrange the store in a manner I think is appealing; sell the way that I know customers would most like to be sold, not like my old boss Mr. Paulson's hard-nosed methods. I never had a chance to accomplish anything but sell and repair vacuums and here I run the entire operation from purchasing to return policies. I have never had such responsibility before, but I am learning on the job and enjoying every minute of it. This is like a dream come true. As long as I continue to sell and the store makes money, what can go wrong with this deal?"

The Honeymoon is Over

A month had passed since Gerald's conversation with Stephen and Gerald was starting to see what could go wrong. For example, Gerald liked the store to be particularly neat and clean and it seemed that on Gerald's days off John would let the store become disheveled. He thought "How can I accomplish my job to the best of my ability if John leaves me all of this extra work? For instance, my rate of completing repairs is way down creating a backlog because of the extra time I have to spend cleaning the store. Customers are starting to complain and I don't know what to tell them!"

John Timmson's Fateful Store Visit

It was 4 months into Gerald's hire and John had regrets. John had talked with Gerald several times about the condition of the store and all that Gerald seemed to do was grumble about the lack of support John was giving him. Gerald was sounding more and more like his last girlfriend than a manager and John was getting fed up with Gerald's "I'm helpless, overworked, underpaid" routine.

Case 7-1. Who is Managing the Manager?

"Unsupportive?" John thought to himself. "As Gerald requested, I reduced his working hours from his old job with Paulson, gave him 2 (two) days off, and allowed him to run the store the best way he saw fit. I gave him a chance to really be a manager, not the dumb flunky that Paulson regarded him as. And what did I get in return? I get a poorly run store, customer complaints, and reduced profits--so much for me being Mr. Nice Guy."

Gerald had let him down and Gerald just had to go but if John fired Gerald then John would be stuck in the store 7 days a week for a while. But what else could he do?

Getting an additional employee to work during the weekdays was not cost-effective-the business just did not generate enough income during the week to profitably handle even a second part-time employee's salary for the days that would have to be covered when Gerald was working.

His current part-time employee did not want to work in the store full time since this employee was "semiretired" and did not want to commit himself to a full-time job.

Subcontracting out the repair work was also not cost-effective since many of the repairs were fairly simple and could be done in 15 min by a salesperson during the week, when the store was not busy.

John did not have any good answers to the problem but hoped that just maybe he and Gerald might work out something. Otherwise John's life would be ruined, at least for the next 3-4 months. John arrived at the store and noticed the untidiness of the store, the poor layout of the displays, and Gerald's slovenly, tired appearance. Repair work from the back office seemed to have invaded the front of the store (meaning there were an ever-growing number of machines to repair) and the tool rack was in total disarray. What a catastrophe! Gerald looked extremely nervous, like a cornered rabbit ready for the hunter to pull the trigger. He must have guessed at what was probably coming and was 'resigning' himself to his fate.

John became furious and highly frustrated with Gerald for not taking better care of the store but decided not to vent his anger. He was the boss and he was not going to let an employee get his goat, especially an employee who seemed short-lived at best. John also knew he had to do something in order to salvage his business, but what? John gathered himself for what was going to be a difficult discussion but a discussion that nonetheless had to occur.

1. Gerald Mahoney's attitude and performance dramatically changed after a few months on the job. What type of training should Mahoney have immediately received from Timmson that might have avoided this?

2. Assuming John Timmson keeps Gerald Mahoney as the store manager, what should be the first step he institutes in the Gerald's training process?

3. Assuming that Timmson and Mahoney agreed to a training program in order to solve the problem, what are some challenges Timmson might face in conducting this training?

4. Gerald Mahoney jumped from being a sales associate under Mr. Paulson to a store manager under Mr. Timmson. How might career planning and development have helped Gerald in making this transition?