Steelfab Ltd

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Steelfab Ltd.∗By Steven L. McShane, The University of Western AustraliaJackie Ney was an enthusiastic employee when she began working in the accountingdepartment at Steelfab Ltd. In particular, she prided herself in discovering better ways ofhandling invoice and requisition flows. The company had plenty of bottlenecks in theflow of paperwork throughout the organization and Jackie had made severalrecommendations to her boss, Mr. Johnston, which would improve the process. Mr.Johnston acknowledged these suggestions and even implemented a few, but he didn'tseem to have enough time to either thank her or explain why some suggestions could notbe implemented. In fact, Mr. Johnston didn't say much to any of the other employees inthe department about anything they did.At the end of the first year, Jackie received a six percent merit increase based on Mr.Johnston's evaluation of her performance. This increase was equal to the average meritincrease among the eleven people in the accounting department and was above theinflation rate. Still, Jackie was frustrated by the fact that she didn't know how to improveher chances of a higher merit increase next year. She was also upset by the fact thatanother new employee, Jim Sandu, received the highest pay increase (ten percent) eventhough he was not regarded by others in the finance department as a particularlyoutstanding performer. According to others who worked with him on some assignments,Jim lacked the skills to perform the job well enough to receive such a high reward.However, Jim Sandu had become a favoured employee to Mr. Johnston and they hadeven gone on a fishing trip together.Jackie's enthusiasm toward Steelfab Ltd. fell dramatically during her second year ofemployment. She still enjoyed the work and made friends with some of her coworkers,but the spirit that had once carried her through the morning rush hour traffic hadsomehow dwindled. Eventually Jackie stopped mentioning her productivityimprovement ideas. On two occasions during her second year of employment, she took afew days of sick leave to visit friends and family in New Brunswick. She had used onlytwo sick days during her first year and these were for a legitimate illness. Even herdoctor had to urge Jackie to stay at home on one occasion. But by the end of the secondyear, using sick days seemed the "justify" Jackie's continued employment at Steelfab Ltd.Now, as her second annual merit increase approached, Jackie started to seriously scoutaround for another job.

 

1)What symptom(s) exist in this case to suggest that something has gone wrong?

2)What are the causes of these symptoms?

3)What actions should the organization take to correct these problems?