Three months ago, Max Enterprises hired a consultant, Stacy Stone, to assist in the design and installation of a new management information system for the company. Mike Carney, one of Max's systems design engineers, was assigned to work with Stone on the project. During the three-month period, Stone and Carney met six times and developed a tentative design and installation plan for the MIS. Before the plan was to be unveiled to top management, Carney asked his supervisor, Toby Bohoven, to look it over and comment on the design.
Included in the plan was the consolidation of three engineering functions into one. Both of the supervisors of the other two functions had seniority over Bohoven, so he believed that the design would lead to his losing his management position. He communicated this to Carney and ended his comments with the following statement: "If you don't redesign the system to accommodate all three of the existing engineering functions, I will give you an unsatisfactory performance evaluation for this year!"
How should Carney respond to Bohoven's assertion? Should he handle the problem alone, keeping it inside the company, or communicate the comment to Stone? Outline Carney's options, and be prepared to discuss them in class.