Case Study 2: Tom Westerman recently became the general manager at the Overlook Country Club, a small club thats been going through some growing pains in the past few years. Tom formerly worked at a number of successful clubs and has a reputation for turning clubs around. Since coming to the Overlook a few months ago, Tom has noticed very little consistency or control in the levels and types of responsibilities held by committee members and chairpersons. No written guidelines outlining specific responsibilities for committee members exist for any of the clubs committees. Tom gas learned that various committee chairpersons, under the previous general manager, frequently took actions that impeded the work of the clubs managers. In fact, some committee chairpersons were still overstepping their authority by trying at times to manage parts of the club. All in all, things just werent working the way Tom believed they should. Tom has made an appointment to talk with Mr.Carpenter, the clubs president, about some of the problems hes seen. Mr. Carpenter, I realized the previous general manager had a strong relationship with the committee chairperson and allowed them a lot of latitude in the decisions they made. Did anyone ever outline actual roles and responsibilities, as well as limitations, for each chairperson? Mr. Carpenter chuckled. Are you kidding? The last general manager was around for so long, everyone just understood what their responsibilities were after awhile. Why? Is there a problem? Well, Mr. Carpenter, Tom said, actually there does seem to be a problem. A lot of the committee chairs are making decisions without getting input or approval from me. In some cases they're authorizing expenditures without notifying me. It's starting to affect the clubs operations and our bottom line. And there are times when they are trying to actually run the club. Give me specifics, Mr.Carpenter said. And please dont beat around the bush. Okay, heres an example of what I'm talking about. The chairperson of the golf committee, Fred Jarvis, has started to micro-manage the gold staff and Brian, our golf pro. Mr. Jarvis seems to think hes Brians boss, and he doesnt like the way Brian is managing the golf staff. Mr. Jarvis wants to change tee times and has actually started giving directions to the golf staff that contradict Brians. Mr. Jarvis has also decided that slow play shouldnt be tolerated and has demanded that Brian penalize golfers who take more than four hours to play a round by restricting their access to the course. Brain is really upset with the entire situation. Well, slow play is an issue, Tom, Mr. Carpenter said. Tom nodded. Of course it is, but we shouldnt be so heavy-handed in how we deal with it. All we'll do is upset our members. Good point. We want to maximize course usage, but our members wont be very happy if they feel they're being herded through the course like cattle. Mr. Carpenter paused. Are Freds complaints about Brian mismanaging the golf staff valid? Not really. Most of Mr. Jarviss concerns are his own opinions and dont take into account the big picture. Now it was Tom ' s turn to pause. I know its Mr. Jarvis responsibility to be concerned with Brians performance, Tom continued. However, he should bring those concerns to me and let me decide how best to handle them, not go directly to Brian. Mr. Carpenter frowned. Are we in any danger of losing Brian? I think its a possibility if the situation continues, Tom said, and we were lucky to get him in the first place. Yes, we cant afford to lose our golf pro, especially at this time of year, Mr. Carpenter agreed. But Fred Jarvis is a longtime and well-respected board member. We cant just ignore his concerns. Mr. Carpenter was interested in hearing how the new general manager would handle this problem. He asked Tom, So what do you plan to do about the situation with Fred? I'm going to meet with Mr. Jarvis to discuss his concerns about Brians management of the golf staff and tell him I'll communicate his concerns to Brian at the right time, outlined Tom. If I approach Mr. Jarvis tactfully, I think hell let me handle the situation. Im also going to speak with Brian and tell him I understand his frustrations and Im working on resolving the problem. That should help him be more patient with Mr. Jarvis. Mr. Carpenter smiled. Sounds good. You dont want to make an enemy of Fred, but youve got a point about committee chairpersons overstepping their bounds. I'm glad you agree, Mr. Carpenter, and you could really help in this situation. Would you be willing to speak with Mr. Jarvis and set the stage for me? I'd be glad to, Tom, Mr. Carpenter said. He leaned back in his chair. What Ill do is hand out an organizational chart and make a blanket statement to the entire board at our next board meeting. If I reinforce the idea that part of your job is to mediate between board or committee members and the clubs staff, they should get the picture.''Mr. Carpenter laughed. I'll appeal to their egos and remind them that they are all too busy to waste their valuable time on trying to manage the club. Then, if the situation with Fred hasnt changed, Ill speak to Fred directly and prepare him for a meeting with you. If we handle it that way, maybe we wont have to step on any toes or hurt anyones feelings.

1. What could Tom do to prevent committee chairpersons from overstepping their authority?

2. What obstacles might Tom encounter when he implements his plan to create written guidelines for committee members? What actions should Tom take to overcome those obstacles?

3. What process should Tom follow to establish written guidelines for committee members?