Reference no: EM132770647

Question: It was about 1:30 in the morning when Mike Morrison, night supervisor at HITEC Corpo-ration, a West Coast manufacturer of computer software, finally returned to his office to finishup a report. As he began writing, he heard a strange noise coming from the quality control labdown the hall. He knew that no one was assigned to work in the lab at that time, so he walkeddown to investigate. After knocking, he opened the door and was stunned to see two of hislead employees. Jim Harris, a lead maintenance supervisor, had his back turned to the doorand was pulling up his pants. Mary Bridge, a lead production line supervisor, was next to aninspection bench and was likewise pulling up her pants. Morrison quickly shut the door andreturned to his office, aghast at what he had just witnessed. Given the embarrassing nature ofthe situation, he decided to take no action.Two weeks later, Teya Simpson, the human resource director, was talking to another leadsupervisor when she heard about the incident. Apparently, everyone in the plant knew thestory, except top management, because both Harris and Bridge had spread the word that theywere ''caught in the act'' by Morrison.Simpson immediately called Wayne Purdy, plant manager, to see what action, if any,should be taken. Both recognized that the firm had no work rule that specifically coveredsexual relationships on the job and that the offense had occurred two weeks ago. On the otherhand, both believed that the employees' behavior was highly unprofessional and noted thatboth managers had left their work areas unattended. Furthermore, they were concerned aboutthe effect that this incident might have on future employee behavior if no disciplinary actionwas forthcoming.

Jim and Mary, two lead supervisors, were "caught in the act" by Mike, another supervisor. Mike chose to walk away.

a. Which other action(s) should Mike have taken under the circumstances?

b. What action should Simpson, the HR director, take as far as Jim and Mary were concerned?