I need help with questions 1,2, & 4 please

Background American Energy Development (AED) drills for oll using both vertical and horizontal ("fracking?) drilling procedures. Financing for these operations in Pennsylvania and Fexas comes largely through limited partnerships. The compary identifies investors who become limited parthers sharing in any successful diilling operations for the welis they have partially funded. The founder of AED, Ron Robertson, recently passed away, His son John Robertson took over as CEO in 2014 and is steering a much more aggressive land acquisition strategy (for diiling wells) than was advocated by his father. Two hundred milibon dollars was raised last year to purchase land in Texas. Indeed, much of the operation is shifting to Texas and away from Pennsylvania because Texas has more lenient environmental laws governing fracking. Sixteen months ago, six new employees were hired to help kick-start the Texas operation. Additionally. seven employees were voluntarily relocated to Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) from the Buffalo, NY, headquarters. John Robertson also relocated to DFW as a sign of his commitment to this new facility. Don Weich, chlef operating officer and president, remains behind in Buffalo to run that operation. Present John Robertson is a transplant from the aggressive, fast-moving trenches of Wall Street, where as a broker he was weaned on tough performance appraisals and an incentive system that richly rewarded success storles and quickly discarded poor performers. He wants to instil a culture exactly like that in the DFW office. When he hired the six new key employees sixteen months ago, his early discussions with them included the fact that fallure would not be accepted. No one was entitied to a job, and it must be earned each day. Of the six new employees, two stand out for different reasons. Billy Ray Jenson Billy Ray is a petroleum engineer with 30 years' experience after graduating from the University of Texas petroleum. engineering program. He was hired in as senior engincer at a base wage of $216,000, a figure that matehed the market rate. Market rate is a difficuit figure to determine in Texas these days. More than 100.000 employees have been terminated in one. of the worst downturns in the ges and oil economy in recent decades. Billy Ray la very grateful to get a job with a very competitive salary. He also is eligibie for a 3 percent bonus on any wells that "hit" if he is the engineer of record for that fieid. As per agreement with John Robertson, Billy Ray wil get his first full performance review in two weeks. Elizabeth Andrews Eilzabeth also is a petroleum engineer. She has 14 years' experience and is paid $165,000 with the same bonus arrangement as other petroleum engineers. Elizabeth is very bright and brimming over with initiative. She has made several suggestions for driling procedures using a holographic technology that has reduced the number of dry wells by 11 percent. The Performance Appraisal System John Robertson told the new employees when they were hired that they would be evaluated by him based on his perceptions of their performance. About one year ago he provided a performance appralsal form that had four performance dimensions rated on a 5-point scale. He also communicated base pay increases that would be associated with each rating. The factors and merit increases are as follows: Tearwork Someone who works well with fellow team players and values their efforts and conthbutions as much as hisher own. Productivity: Amount of assigned work completed in an agreed upon time frame Quality: Elimination of errors and absence of complaints Hard Working: Shows up on time and works more hours than expected. ' ejane jo Guned nejano ve jo6 of sluem a4 Auig Xilenb pue Aimponpoid uo Key Ailig apeibunop liau pappop seu utyor os uogsanb on suojsualuip Gupuompie4 pue 110 ous sanajiaq oy asnesaq suojsuoujp asueujopiad jejauab asous Kiasodind aH VNG spep sy seu kueap uosyaqoy uhor John gives both workers an average rating. In the performance review Billy Ray takes the news and feedback stoically However, 5ix days later he tenders his letter of resignation, effective in one week. Two days after that, though, in a very, bizarre move, he asks to have the resignation revoked and return to his job. John accepts his change of heart and continues Billy Ray as an employee. her own time and at her owity dimension, she has two producing wells in ony one years time. that is aphenome petro engineers John hired for the new office. This statement is accurate. Elizabeth says nothing else during the meeting but leaves the office unhappy, perhaps unhappy enough to do something about it. QUESTIONS FOR YOU 1. What problems do you see in the performance appraisal system and accompanying merit pay system? Did any of these. probiems contribute to the people problems John had with his two employees in the performance review process? 2. What might John have done differently in the early communications process to improve later performance review sessions? 3. Should Billy Ray have quit? Why? Should John have accepted his return? What other action might Billy Ray have taken that could have been hurtful to the company? 4. Was Elizabeth treated fairly? Should initiative be a performance dimension? What other action might she take? Could she make a case that she was discriminated against? What defense, if any, might the company have