Reference no: EM132226847

Negative News Delivery Scenario

As vice president of the accounting department of a local Turlock affiliate of an international manufacturing company (Turlock Brad and Fastener Company), you were advised by your local district manager (Mr. Fred James) that one of your employees (Mr. Y. Ima Cheet) had been selected to represent your department and affiliate at an upcoming world-wide company conference (International Brad and Fastener Company) in Chicago. The topic of the key-note address he was to deliver to the 3,200 attendees, was the cost-effective accounting procedures he had developed for your department.

The district manager (Mr. James) had met with him (Mr. Cheet), congratulated and expressed to him as well as to the entire local affiliate, his admiration and pride in his work and that he would be representing the department and the company at the conference. He had also been told that he and his team would be receiving a bonus of $5,000 for their work and that a promotion would most likely be forthcoming at his next annual review in three months.

That said, the district has just called you in and advised you that this employee, the member of your team you supervise, had “borrowed” these procedures from an intern (Ms. Leslie Smarts) who had concluded a three-month internship with your department six months earlier. In essence, Leslie Smarts, developed these procedures while working on the job and, because she was working closely with your employee, had proposed them to him for incorporation into the operations of the department.

Following her departure, Mr. Cheet reworked them by himself as his own processes and procedures and submitted them to the company as his own work.

A friend of the intern who works in your department became aware of the honor to be bestowed on the employee and while she explained it to the intern, the intern explained to her friend that she was, in fact, the author of the new operational procedures and provided evidence to support her claim.

Upon review, by your local district manager, it was decided that the bonus had to be withdrawn from the team, the invitation for him to speak at the conference had to be retracted and because of the serious breach in trust, your employee was going to be suspended from work for 30 days. His tenure would be then discussed with him upon his return.

Your task:

Deliver the “bad news” in an email (s) to those you believe should be included in the discussion and explain your reasons for your actions at the conclusion of your email (s), as a separate addition.