KATHMANDU UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

Case Analysis:

Mary Roberts

Submitted To:

Mr. Bharat Prasad Neupane

Faculty – Problem Solving & Critical Thinking

Submitted By:

Ishuk Gautam

177031

April 26, 2020

Synopsis:

This case describes about the fast transition of Mary Roberts who had been promoted from the

post of management trainee to the post of a manager within the span of three years. The major

reason behind her fast transition was her excellent leadership skills. Even though it as a

wonderful moment for Mary, there were other people in the company, contrary to her feelings,

who were upset and opposed this decision as they believed that she was too young and had far

less experience compared to them in order to become a manager. The case mainly reflects on the

importance of communication within an organization and the utmost need to set some standards

on the promotion process in order to minimize the wave of hate and resentment after the

decision.

Case issues:

 What was the main reason behind the opposition and the resentment of the decision of

making Mary Roberts a manager by the three employees?

Case Facts:

The promotion of Mary Roberts within the short span of 3 years from the post of management

trainee to the post of the manager created a resentment behavior in the three employees who felt

that they deserved the position more than Mary Roberts as they had a greater work experience

than her in that particular field. Similarly the previous tax manager did not make them aware of

the vacancy position of the manager, which made them much more upset with the decision.
Analysis:

The main issue with the case is the dissatisfaction and resentment of the particular three senior

employees because of the fast and undiscussed promotion of Mary Roberts who had quick

promotions. The management team did not even communicate about the position that was vacant

of the post of manager to those senior employees and furthermore as there were no set standards

and criteria for the promotion in the organization, there was lack of transparency in the

promotion process. Furthermore, those three employees felt that they deserved the promotion as

they had more experience working in that field than that of Mary Roberts. As the promotion was

done without communicating with the senior employees and there was lack of standards for

promotion, this clearly shows the lack of promotion and transparency within the organization.

One of the main reasons that caused the dissatisfaction within the employees is due to the lack of

proper set of rules and eligibility criteria for an employee to be promoted. Due to the lack of

these in an organization, the employees, specially the three senior employees, might have felt

that experience alone was the main determinant of the promotion in the organization and as they

had way more experience than Mary Roberts, they felt that they were the ones who deserved to

get the promotion. This caused the resentment towards Mary Roberts. Lack of proper planning in

an organization can lead to huge dissatisfaction in an organization and this case is no different.

Similarly, the promotion matter as well the vacant position for the post of the manager was not

discussed with the senior employees. This was either due to the biasness of the previous tax

manager towards Mary Roberts or due to the fact that the organization did not have a proper

communication channel through which they could provide this information to those other senior

employees. No fair chance was provided to other employees in order to compete for this position
and the promotion process was mostly depended upon the recommendation provided by the

previous tax manager who seemed to be biased towards Mary Roberts.

Recommendations:

 A set of promotion eligibility criteria and certain set of standards must be developed

within the organization so that whenever there is a promotion to be done, the

management can evaluate the employees based upon the set requirements for the post and

which makes the promotion process more fair, unbiased and prevents dissatisfaction

within the organization. There should be proper communications in the organization and

every essential information must be passed on to the employees.

 The management should provide reasons to the dissatisfied senior employees as to why

Mary Roberts was promoted over them. Through the reasons, the senior employees might

work harder for the opportunities for future promotion rather than being resentful and

dissatisfied.