Mini-case I: The Girl in the Shoe Department

It was 5 p.m. on Friday, 20th October 2007. Nicholas Wong, President and
CEO of one of the biggest international retail stores operating in China, was
relaxing a little, after another hectic week in his Shenzhen office. He was
trying to recall the events of the past six months. He was feeling mightily
relieved that he had so far ridden the storm of the financial crisis. Business
had now got back to normal, with sales figures not only returning to pre-
credit crunch levels but also actually rising steadily in the last two months.
It had surely been one of the biggest challenges, if not the biggest, in his
long and distinguished career in corporate management. He could finally
afford a smile of satisfaction.

There was a knock on the door, and his secretary brought in the afternoon
mail. One particular letter bore only his name but no address or stamps,
apparently via the internal mail system. An eighteen-year-old girl called
Zhang Shuo had written the letter. She had been on the temporary staff of
the Shoe Department in one of the Shenzhen stores for three weeks but had
been summarily dismissed two days previously. She felt her supervisor had
treated her unfairly and was begging to have her dismissal overturned.

The company’s corporate culture emphasizes openness in communication.

All employees are known as Associates, to stress mutual dependence.
There is also an open-door policy, by which associates can seek help from
one rank higher than the line manager. This is to ensure that management
deals with issues without the employee suffering any backlash from their
immediate supervisor. Another one of the company’s mantras is ‘servant
leadership’, with the CEO serving everybody in the company – hence the
seemingly bold approach employed by Zhang Shuo.

In her letter, Zhang Shuo described the incident that led to her dismissal.

She had been hired as a Sales Assistant in the Shoe Department. Her
responsibilities were to help tidy up the sales area by removing unwanted
shoeboxes and replacing them onto the correct shelves in the storeroom.
On Wednesday, while Zhang Shuo was clearing up, she was approached by
a customer who demanded that a pair of shoes she had recently purchased
be replaced. The customer claimed that when she got the shoes home, she
had found they were defective. Not having been trained as a salesperson,
Zhang Shuo was unsure what she should do, and after a moment’s
hesitation told the customer to look for a salesperson. The customer started
yelling at her, saying how she had been looking around in vain for help and
how rude and unhelpful Zhang Shuo was. The noise caught the attention
of the Department Supervisor, who ran over to pacify the customer. When
the commotion had died down and the angry customer had left, the
Department Supervisor asked Zhang Shuo to see her after work in her
office. She told Zhang Shuo that her performance had been unsatisfactory
and her service was no longer needed, though by regulation she would be
paid her wages for the three weeks she had worked for the company.

Mr Wong called the Human Resource Department to verify the facts of the
incident and found that Zhang Shuo’s story was accurate and agreed closely
with the details given in the Supervisor’s report. The Human Resource
Department insisted that everything was in order and in line with the
company’s regulations.

Zhang Shuo, in her letter, mentioned that she had come all the way from
Sichuan to look for work, had felt extremely lucky to have been working for
the company, and had been giving her best in her modest job. However,
she could not understand why she had been dismissed for not being able
to perform a task which she was not trained or paid for. She felt she had
been victimized and made a scapegoat for the scene created by a difficult
customer.

What should Nicholas Wong do?