Reference no: EM132944472

Question

A Manager's Tough Decision: "Planning for Downsizing" COMPANY INFO

Applied Technologies (APTech), with 1000 employees, provides tech support to larger firms. It is a non-unionized environment. When APTech was founded twelve years ago, it faced almost no competition, and the growth possibilities seemed limitless. Over the past five years, the company has experienced slow growth and diminished profitability. As the industry prospered, more companies entered the market and competition increased. In addition, with advances in computer and software technology, fewer companies are requesting tech support from contractors. This has become especially apparent in the computer graphics area. Requests for traditional graphic support services from other companies have declined over 20 percent in the past year alone.

Beverly Myers, APTech's manager for computer graphics and Mike Petersen, the company's founder and owner, recently began meeting to discuss what they need to do to improve the company's performance. Both Meyers and Peterson know that something must change, and after a series of long discussions, they have determined that Meyer's unit must shift its emphasis. Specifically, her unit must move away from providing only computer graphics support and toward providing a greater degree of Marketing/customer service along with some basic computer support.

Myers must restructure her unit and terminate one of her four employees.

YOUR JOB: You are taking on two roles, in this case, one as Meyers and then the other as HR, as you are developing the plan to action the decision taken and provide advice to Meyers.

Acting as Meyers, you now need to determine who will stay and who will be

terminated. This decision is specifically difficult because all four workers are good employees and get along very well with each other and the team. In determining which of the employees will be laid off, Meyers reviews the personnel files:

Paul Doherty is married and has two children in high school. His wife works evenings as an assistant manager at a local department store to help make ends meet. Paul has been with APTech since the beginning and is a good performer. He was hired during a period of growth in computer graphics support. His work is not the best amongst the team, but he is consistent, never complaining about the workload.

Shannon Wall is a single mother with a child in elementary school. Wall came to APTech a year after Doherty as a highly recruited graphic design specialist, after earning both a bachelor's and Master's degree in graphic design from a well-respected university. Meyers has high expectations for Wall, but her performance has slipped in the past 24 months. The rumour around the office is that she has recently gone through a tough divorce and is in counselling to deal with her problems. Despite her decline in performance, Meyers still thinks Wall has the most potential of the four employees.

Teresa Livingstone is a dedicated worker; in fact, everyone says she is "married to her job." She has been known to put in twenty hours of work on weekends to make sure that her work is up to date. Livingstone has a university degree in marketing with a minor in graphic design. Though her computer graphic skills are not as strong as those of the other three employees, she has a comprehensive understanding of the marketing side of the business, is capable of bringing customers, and consistently meets her performance expectations. Teresa has been sharing at breaks that her mother is not well, and she's although she knows she can't live on her own anymore, the choices of having her move in with her or moving to a "home" are daunting.

Greg Stevens came to APTech two years ago directly out of university, where he completed an undergraduate degree in computer graphics. Though Stevens started rather slowly, once he settled into his role at APTech, his performance took off. In fact, he has been the top performer of the four workers for the past year and a half. Although his performance is exceptional, Stevens does not take the marketing side of the role as seriously as he should. In sum, his potential to bring in new business is not as strong as his ability to do the work once the contract has been negotiated. You've heard Greg talking about the bill he just got for his student loan repayment- it's doubling!

After reviewing the personnel information for each of the four employees, Meyers has decided to terminate Paul Doherty. She has committed herself to helping him find another job. Though it was not an easy decision to make, she feels confident that she has made the right one.

In the case above, if you agree with Beverly Meyers's decision for Greg Stevens's termination. Answer these questions:

1- Explain a step-by-step process/plan that you will follow as you get ready for the termination meeting. What do you need, who needs to be involved...Ensure you go right down to the cardboard boxes for the employee to pack up, if they are the one?'