Imagine that you’re the CEO of a chain of retail stores. Last week, you received notification of a lawsuit against your company. An employee who was terminated for poor performance last month is suing for wrongful discharge, claiming sex discrimination. You had hoped to keep this quiet, but you saw a report on the local news this morning about the suit. Embarrassed by the report and concerned about the company’s image, you decide to do some damage control internally. You need employees to hear from you directly—to reassure them and to explain your side of the story.
Working in small groups, write a memo to store employees. When in your groups, first discuss your goals for this message, and then plan what you will include and how you will organize the message.
Assign one role to each student in your group: legal counsel, human resources representative, public relations manager, and the former employee’s direct supervisor. As you play these roles, think about the concerns or questions a person in that position would have. How will you contribute to the development of this communication?
Here are a few facts of the case:
• Employee’s Background Information: Amelie Cardon, sales associate, 28 years old, 2 years with the company, female.
• Performance Record: Received a poor performance review last year because of many customer complaints and a poor attendance record.
• Supervisor: Marilyn Simone, sales manager.
• News report: The reports on TV and in the local newspaper discuss details of Cardon’s lawsuit, which includes accusations of being called names and receiving unfair treatment. Cardon claims she had no knowledge of customer complaints and had a perfect attendance record.
One of the biggest decisions you have as a team is to decide how many of these details to include in your memo to employees. How much do people need to know? You may invent more information to give employees a full sense of what is happening.