"Now that everyone's here, let's start. John, will you update us on this mess?"

John Kellaway, vice president, legal, acknowledged the request of Brooke Masters, President of Blue Sky Investment Bank. 

"As you are all aware. there was an incident at our formal lunch for the representatives of Red Star Bunk." 

"Incident?", snapped Brooke, "It was a disaster." 

"Yes. I guess you could say that", John said, pausing, and then continuing. "On a positive note, the restaurant management has agreed not to press assault charges. Unfortunately. the media have picked up on the incident and I am afraid we can expect to see the bank's name in the headlines. l have got our PR consultants working full-time on damage control, but it will be difficult to avoid some negative fallout. Luckily, no mention has been made of Red Star Bank so we are saved further embarrassment as far as they are concerned." 

"What about David?", asked Liz Kaplan, vice president, operations. 

"He's extremely upset and very embarrassed". interjected Anita Wong, vice president, human resources. "He is very worried about his job." 

"And so he should be", snapped Brooke. "Isn't that a bit unfair, Brooke?", questioned Anita. 

"Perhaps. I recognize that David is a top performer and a manager of great potential, but I can't tolerate another situation like this. I can tell you the directors are fuming" 

Anita interjected again. "But David didn't anything, it was his wife."

"He brought her". said Brooke icily. The others in the room murmured their disquiet. 

"Anita is right", said Tony Russo, vice president, international. "David is not a problem. The problem is that he is married to her. The woman is a thuggish witch." 

"I hear what you are saying. but what do we do?", questioned Brooke. "Refuse to invite Barbara to all future functions? Forbid her to drink alcohol? Ask her to undertake anger management training? Tell David to divorce her? Her behavior at the restaurant was totally unacceptable. We simply cannot have anyone associated with this bank verbally abusing restaurant stall and threatening them with physical harm." 

"Brooke, we all agree", said John. "but as long as David is employed by the bank and remains married to her, we risk another public relations nightmare." 

"There is also another problem", added Anita. "Some of the other senior managers and their partners hove told me off records that they don't want to be placed in a situation where they are required to have any social interaction with her. To be blunt, they find her intimidating." 

"Let's face it. Brooke", interrupted Liz. "Barbara is an abusive, arrogant bully." 

"Look. no one is going to argue that. We all recognize that Barbara has absolutely no people skills at all. The point is, what are we now going to do?" 

QUESTIONS 

1. What business, ethical, HR, and legal issues are raised in this case? 

2. As vice president, human resources, what action would you recommend to the bank? 

3. As a career counselor, what advice would you give to David?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

The restaurant could have suffered a hitch in normal operations following the altercation caused by ... View the full answer