CASE 39 What a Waste of Time Background Information Nick Graham managed the Operational Support Department at the First Services Corporation. Operational Support did a litle of everything for First Services: customer-account opening and maintenance, records retention, data entry, account servicing, and similar work. There were just over 50 employees in the unit, six of whom were supervisors to the various units, Mary Nelson has been the Procedures Unit supervisor for the past eighteen months. The Procedures Unit was responsible for producing procedural memos, and guidelines and distributing these documents to the field offices and other staff groups. Before becoming the supervisor, Mary worked in the unit as a pro- cedures clerk for three years. As a clerk, Mary performed well. However, as a supervisor, Mary left a Jot to be desired. Nick Graham knew there was a production problem in the Procedures Unit because procedures were often published late and with many errors. Frequently procedures had to be recalled, revised, and reissued. In addition, Nick received periodic reports from employees that Mary's unit had real morale problems. ‘Nick knew that Mary had a difficult time keeping people: the turnover in her ‘unit secmed to be mich higher than for the other units in the department. More- ‘over, there was a definite absenteeism problem. Finally, Nick occasionally had to face Joan Wadsworth, a procedures clerk currently in the unit. Joan joined First Services about six months afier Mary and was a good per- former, Joan often reminded Nick that she thought she deserved the supervisor's, job more than Mary. At first, when Joan complained that Mary was "hard- nosed,” “arbitrary,” and "always threatening to fire us," Nick dismissed the re~ marks as sour grapes on Joan’s part. However, as morale problems continued and production remained low, Nick watched more closely and sadly found these allegations to be true. For example, Mary never met with her employees to explain the goals of First Services. She never spent any time training or coaching her subordinates on the job they were to do. She often chewed ont an employee for making a mistake, in full view of others. Her supervisory attitude seemed to be: "You work as hard as you can at what T give you. Don't dare ask what this work is or why you are to do it. If you serew up, I'll raise hell. Otherwise, don't bother me.” Nick knew something needed to be done, so he contacted the First Services ‘Training Department to enroll Mary in one of the supervisory training programs they offered. Bill Jones, one of the trainers there, was starting a new class, Ad- 391Fiity Case Studies for Management & Supervisory Training vanced Sales Management Techniques, in two weeks. Mary was put in the class, ‘ond received a memo stating that she was to attend the training program. Mary was surprised and confused by the memo. She wondered why she was supposed to attend a program on sales management when she was responsible for operational matters, She thought at first that she may have received the ‘memo by mistake; Then she thought that she was being prepared for some kind of promotion—or demotion. She finally saw Nick later in the morning and showed him the memo. “Look what I got in the mail today," she said. "Do you know anything about aw Nick, in a rush, smiled and said in passing: "Well, I saw they were offering, this course. I thought you might like to attend, so I put in your name." Mary looked back down at the memo, obviously not convinced by what he had said. “Look, top management is on a training kick,” he continued. "Just go and don’t worry about it,” ‘Mary seemed to find that answer more appealing. ‘A few days later, Mary received a second memo from the Training Depart- ‘ment, stating that she needed to do some pre-class reading in a booklet which was enclosed. Near the end of the day, she began to skim through it. Nick, walking by her office, noticed Mary reading and asked what she was doing. "W's some reading I have to do for that training class you put me in,” Mary explained. Nick paused fora moment. “That's home-work, not work-work," be told her. "You've still got a pile of materials to process by next week. Better get buck to work.” After Nick moved ‘on, Mary thought to herself: "If that’s the way you want it, that *homework’ is going to become ‘no-work."" Another week passed, and the starting day for the training arrived. Mary showed up for class, somewhat angry about the interruption to her routine and tense about what the training would be like and what it would cover. She only half-completed the pre-class assignment. She remarked to the person silting next to her: "Lhope this is over soon. I've got to get back to work." For te next week, Mary came to the class regularly. The program, led by a less than inspiring trainer, was mostly lectures, readings, and tests. Most of the material concemed managing, motivating, and coaching field-sales personnel. There were only a few times when the training came close to dealing specifi- cally with some of the concerns she had. Nonetheless, at the end of the week, ‘Mary felt es if she had picked up a few ideas and techniques that she could see using back on the job. Indeed, she was excited about trying a couple. This enthusiasm received a dose of cold water, though, when she returned 10 work the following Monday. There, on her desk, was a pile of papers. docu ments, and one bona-fide emergency. She smiled to herself. "Looks like those training ideas will wait," she thought. Shortly afier lunch, Nick walked by her door. Noticing that Mary was in, he asked in passing: "Glad you'se back. How was vacation?" By the time Mary realized he was serious, he was already gone. 30.2Case 39: What a Waste of Time —— It 100k Mary another two days to get things back under some control. She decided to try out one of her training ideas the next day. When she came in, she started making a daily "to do" list and sorting her work into Critical, Important, and Reserve piles. Nick noticed that she was mov- ing paper around her desk and asked what she was doing. “It's something I leamed in that training program last week. it’s called “work priority management.’ You sce, what you do is—” Nick cut her off. "Yeah, Pm sure it’s interesting but you've got the 48-90 procedure to get to. Let's see shat paper move, not this.” Marty bristled and went out to the floor. After about an hour, she noticed that one of her subordinates was having some difficulty with an operation. Deciding to try some coaching skills she saw in the training, she began working with the employee. Nick, walking through the area, noticed her spending time with the em- ployee. In a mocking tone, he asked her, "What are you doing, Mary? Some ‘more of that training stuff?” The employee heard it too. Macy had enough. "Can [ talk 10 you in your office, Nick?" she asked. He said he only had a few minutes, as they walked to his office. Mary began: "Nick, I don’t know what’s going on. I feel like you're being hostile to me whenever I try something I picked up in the training, What's going on?” Nick thought for a second, "Look, Mary,” he said, "that training stuff ig all theory. This is the real world, with important deadlines. Don’t let that training stuff interfere with your getting the work out. I want you to get back to work, Feeling angry and frustrated, Mary left his office. Shortly before lunch, Joan Wadsworth came to Mary. complaining about an “insane” procedure they had to follow for an upcoming project. Mary. back in her old form, didn’t even look up from the production report she was preparing ‘I don’t want to hear it," she said. "Get back to work, or else.” Two days later, Joan gave Mary her letter of resignation, with a copy for Nick Graham. ‘Mary thought to herself: "So much for training.” Nick thought to himself: "That training was sure a waste of time, And I've still got a lousy supervisor, 39.3Fity Case Studies for Management & Supervisory Training CASE QUESTIONS 1, Was the waining effort that Mary went through success or a failure? How do you know? 2, Identify all the factors that contributed to the result (either success or failure). 3. What actions can be taken before, during, and after a training program, to increase the chances for a suceessful taining experience? 304Case 89: What a Waste of Time CASE DISCUSSIO! What a Waste of Time Summary Nick Graham managed the Operational Support Department. One of the six supervisors reporting to him was Mary Nelson. Mary oversaw the Procedures Unit, She had been in that position for 18 months, after working in the unit as a clerk for three years, While she was a good performer as a clerk, she had real problems as a supervisor. Her attitude as a supervisor was that employees had better do what they were told, and she did little to help them. As a result, there were noticeable production, morale and turnover problems in her Unit. Nick felt she needed training and enrolled her in a class, Advanced Sales Management Techniques, that was part of a supervisiory training program. When Mary received the attendance memo from the Training Departraent, sho asked Nick what was going on. He first replied that he thought she might like o attend, then said that “top management" was on a *Waining kick." A few days later, Mary received a pre-class reading assignment. Nick, noticing her reading the bookles, told her to get back to work. When the training class started, Mary arrived—ready to leave. She did not know whut the program would cover. Nonetheless, she stayed for the full week, ‘The trainer was uninspiring and the program was mostly lecture. There were few topics that dealt specifically with her concerns. Still, at the end of the class, she felt that she had leaned a few things and was ready to try them out. However, her first day back on the job was spent fighting fires. Nick, seeing her back, asked seriously how her vacation was, By midweek, she was ready to try some of the things she leamed in the training. However, each time, Nick made some kind of couuneut that Cuew lier olf her efforts, Mary finally asked Nick what was going on, Nick told her that she needed to work, and not get pre- ‘occupied by all that training “theory.” ‘Mary was angry. She reverted to her old form, and one of her long-term em- ployees quit shortly thereafter. Mary thought to herself that the training was use- less, as did Nick. Answers to Case Questions 1. Was the training effort that Mary went through a success or failure’? ‘How do you know? ‘The final judgment of suecess or failure is not conclusive with the evi- dence provided. However, it does suggest that the training was a failure. The reason is that there appears to be no lasting change in Mary’ s super- visory behavior, and the production and turnover problems still persist 2. Identify al} the factors that contributed to the result (either success or failure). There are two broad classes of reasons why the program failed, 395Fifty Case Studies for Managoment & Supervisory Training First, there were problems with the training itself. For example, Mary aj- tended a program that was irrelcvant to her supervisory duties. She en- tered the program with insufficient preparation, The program itself seemed to have an inappropriate design, relying more on lecture than practice. Back on the job, there appeared to be no follow-through appli- cation of what was learned. ‘Second, there were problems with the supervisory support given by Nick Graham. For example, Nick did a poor job preparing Mary for the pro- ‘gram, By letting work pile up on her desk while she was gone, he made it difficult for her to make a transition back from the training. Finally, Nick sabotaged her efforts to make changes once she retumed. Essen tially, he gave her no support at all. In short, it was the combination of poor taining and poor supervision which sunk this training voyage. 3. What actions can be taken before, during, and after a training program to increase the chances for a successful training experience? First, there should be better standards fer admission into training. Mary should not have attended the Advanced Sales Management Training class. Furthermore, she should have attended a program designed to train her in specific skills she needs to deal with the kinds of common situ- ations she faces. Second, the supervisor needs to be prepared fo support the training. For example, the trainer should conduct a briefing of the managers of all program participants. ‘The briefing should instruct the managers to do the following: L. Before the training begins, the supervisor should meet with the employce to notify him or her of the training and to explain the reasons why the employee should attend. The supervisor should ‘work jointly with the employee to identify specific areas of per- formance improvement and make a learning goals pian. The supervisor should brief the employee on what will be covered in the training and encourage the employee to attend. During the training, the supervisor should do as much as is feasible to prevent the training from interrupting the participant's work routine, Also, the supervisor should try to prevent any pile-up of work. After the training, the supervisor should meet with the employee to review what was learned, The supervisor and the employee should identify what actions the employee will take to apply the skills ac- quired in the training. The supervisor should agree to support and help the employee in those efforts. Finally, the supervisor should watch for evidence of performance improvements and reinforce the employee accordingly. 396