Jessie and Ashton managed to weather the storm around their expansion plans and are now in several

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Question:

Jessie and Ashton managed to weather the storm around their expansion plans and are now in several different locations. It is 5 years later, and they hired an HR person about 2 years ago to help them with future business and employee needs.

As the business has grown, so have certain employee issues. For example, they’ve had to ensure that all employees understand appropriate behaviours toward customers even when customers are rude or aggressive. Jessie suggests that surveillance cameras be installed in all stores to ensure the safety of employees as well as to be able to observe how some managers treat staff. Ashton isn’t sure this is a good idea and suggests that a code of conduct be initiated as well as a disciplined process. He feels a softer approach would work better and not be as intrusive as cameras. Both Ashton and Jessie feel staff need to be informed as to what is occurring and why.

With the assistance of the HR person, Ashton develops a disciplined process that includes an informal meeting with the employee to discuss the issue and a time frame for improvement; a second, more formal meeting to explain that the employee’s behavior must change or more serious discipline would be considered; and a final meeting with the employee where the employee is asked to make a decision to resign or else be terminated. The code of conduct and discipline process are communicated to all employees, including at workshops, to help them understand what it means in practice. Since the implementation of the code of conduct and discipline process, they’ve had a few occurrences when an employee at one location was rude to customers and had to be disciplined. The store manager isn’t confident that the employee’s behaviour will improve.

Consideration for a New Store

Even with the concerns about how to handle certain employee issues, Jessie and Ashton are considering opening a store in a very exclusive part of the city that is not close to any of the existing stores. The other locations are still in shopping malls, and this would be a departure from the current business model. They realize that the actual working location and store environment might be much nicer and more attractive than the mall locations. This has them concerned about how to staff the new location: should they offer everyone an opportunity to express interest and then select the best people, or should they just pick the individuals they feel to have the best skills for the new location, without allowing all staff to be considered?

At the same time that Jessie and Ashton are thinking about opening another store, they’ve received information that some employees at one of the stores are unhappy about how they are treated by their manager and have been speaking with a union representative. This situation, along with the employee discipline, has them concerned about opening another store and what might happen if their staff becomes unionized.

Questions:

PART I:

Assess the company’s current discipline process and approach and make suggestions on how it might be revised and improved (consider concepts of organizational justice (from my video on investigations) and due process as discussed in the text). Also, address how Ashton and Jessie should implement your proposed changes. Provide a rationale for your recommendations. Your response to this question should be at least 800 words in length.

PART II:

Because Jessie and Ashton are concerned about the potential of a union organizing their workers, they have drafted the following memo that they want to send out to their staff. They have asked for your opinion on the content of the document. What advice would you give to Jessie and Ashton about this memo?

Should they send the memo as is, or should it be revised?
If you believe it should be revised, identify what should be changed and why.

A Union? Think about it!

We do not believe that the union will advance the interests of employees. Our business is growing and has been very successful, which has been shared with employees through bonuses and competitive pay. Bringing in a union may jeopardize that success and the opportunities for employees. Be careful when you talk to a union organizer and know what you are signing. Union organizers will tell you that everyone else is signing a union card when in fact that is not the case. Signing a union membership card is a serious step that cannot be undone. We would be gravely disappointed to find employees have signed a membership card without speaking to us first. Remember, when a union gets into a workplace it is impossible to remove the union.