Kingfisher School of Business and Finance

Mgt 12

1st Semester

A.Y. 2016 - 2017

Instructor: Ms. Fatima de Mesa

Case Study:
Differing Perceptions at Clarkston Industries

Block 26

Mariel Ayson

Ednamae Cerezo

Daphnie Joy Camba

Sharlene Samera

Arlyn Salvador

Troi Daniel Tiong

I. Summary

Susan, an ex-convict, had been a distribution manager for Clarkston Industries for almost
twenty years. Due to short stay in prison, she realized the importance of honesty and hard work.
Henry Clarkston gave her a chance despite of her record and now, she is one of the most
respected managers in the company.

Susan had hired Jack Reed, also an ex-convict, as a dock worker to give him that chance
just as Henry Clarkston had given her one. Everyone seemed to like Jack and made several new
friends until two months later when another dock worker reported his wallet missing and Susan
confronted Jack about the incident. Susan was relieved when the wallet was found.

The previous incident had caused serious trouble. The personnel clerk knew Jack’s past
and mentioned it to several employees and the next day, the bookkeeper discovered some money
missing from petty cash and another worker claimed to have seen Jack in the area around the
office strongbox which was open during working hours, that same day.

Most people assumed that Jack was the thief and requested Susan to fire him. However,
Susan discussed everything with Jack who was been defensive and sullen and said little about the
petty-cash situation instead of denying the accusation.

Now, Susan had this question on her mind. Should she fire Jack? Even if the evidences
are lacking, she feared that she would lose everyone’s trust and some will question her own
motives. But she had a lot of confidence that Jack Reed is innocent.

II. Case Questions

A. Explain the events in the case in terms of perception and attitudes. Does personality
play a role?

As ex-prisoner, of course Jack will do his best to keep this job because it’s unusual for an
ex-convict to hire by a company.

Susan hired Jack just as Mr. Clarkson done to her and may be with thinking that Jack will
somehow do his best to earn the trust of everyone and maybe he will be like Susan in the future,
that is a respected manager.

Knowing that Jack is doing his job well, there are chances that maybe some of the
employees are envious of Jack and when they already know that Jack was a prisoner before, they
use this as a way to ruin the good image of Jack as a hardworking employee.

At the first accusation, Jack can understand Susan for confronting him about the incident
because it’s normal to think that because he is an ex-prisoner, he can do the crime. But to accused
you for many times, it’s not wrong to defend yourself especially when you really are innocent.
It’s insulting in the part of Jack to suspect him without ample evidences.
 For all the events that has been stated, personality plays a big role because it’s the basis of
our treatment to a person.

B. What should Susan do? Should she fire Jack or give him another chance?

The following are alternative courses of action must be done:

ACA #1 She should fire Jack.

The following are the possible outcomes of Jack’s stay in the company:

1. It would be uncomfortable for the employees to work in a place where they know that
their co-worker had been an ex-convict. Instead of focusing on their performance, they will just
divert their attention on their belongings which lessen their productivity.

2. The relationships among employees will affect their efficiency. Because many are
suspecting Jack to be the thief, there’s a chance that they would treat him improperly. It will
become a problem because their efficiency will also reflect the way they deal with their co-
workers.

3. If Jack is really the thief then it’s really a threat to the company because having a
robber inside the company is too dangerous for the people working there.

4. The employees will lose their trust in Susan about choosing employees carefully and
professionally because she just letting an ex-convict to work with the company even though the
person has a bad record.

5. The employees will also think that Susan has favoritism among employees.

Based on the given results if Susan insists to let Jack stay in the company, it’s better to fire him.

ACA #2 She shouldn’t fire Jack.

The following are reasons why Susan shouldn’t fire Jack:

1. It is not right to accuse someone if we don’t have evidences. In dealing with the
possibility of theft, a company must seek to gather some kind of hard, tangible evidence that
theft has occurred and that they can link that to a particular person.

2. It’s hard to believe that Jack is stupid enough to commit this theft at the exact moment
when he was most likely to be accused of it.

3. We shouldn’t just based on Jack’s past in order to conclude that he is responsible in the
incident. It sounds that some people want Jack fired just because of his background, not his
behavior on the job.
 4. There are also some people depending on Jack.

III. Recommendation

` There are many possible outcomes of his staying, but in dealing with this kind of issue,
Susan shouldn't fire Jack without strong evidence that theft really links to him. Accusing
somebody of theft is a highly risky move to take. Since he was just accused, a mistake of firing
him could cause a potential liability like Jack's obligation to the people or family who depends
on him, if he was fired. The background of a person is not a strong proof to conclude that he is
the one who is responsible for the commission of the crime, so Susan should listen on Jack's side,
give him a chance and continue taking a fairly investigation for the company's and employees'
sake.