CASE 22 Customer Service in Conflict Background Information Brad Franklin had been supervising the Customer Service Unit of the Wil- son chain of department stores for just over three years. The unit fulfilled an im- portant function at Wilson: issuing company credit cards. Brad liked his job and was considered good at it. He had started as a credit analyst in the unit and, as a result of his hard work, did quite well. Now he was in charge of the unit's six credit analysts, Almost half of all sales at Wilson were paid with Wilson credit cards, and there were always incoming applications. These applications, which had been completed by customers either at store locations or in response to mailings, went directly to the Customer Service Unit for credit analysis. The credit ana- lysts did all the background-information checking. They would identify credit references, double-check the accuracy of the information, and collect supporting information; then, they would use the information to make a credit judgment, ‘When an applicant qualified, the analysts would initiate a credit agreement and issue a credit card. Because contracts and potential losses were involved, applications had to be handled carefully and precisely, and although the work was fairly routine, each application was somewhat unique. The job required an eye for detail, initiative, and skills in investigating and analyzing information. It also demanded a certain level of information needed for a credit judgment to be made, and it was not un- common for both store managers and customers to call the unit to ask about the status of an application or account. Although an employee could be trained to carry out these job requirements, Brad liked to hire candidates who already had some experience, and for quite some time, the credit analysts in his unit had all been young men with back- grounds in banking or financing. When in March two positions simultaneously opened up in the unit, Brad was faced with a potentially disastrous situation, Fortunately, he found two fairly good workers, who both started their jobs on the same day. Because they were both trainees, he had them work together at adjacent desks. There they could work from the same files and could share the same phone. ‘One of the new employees, Don Fowler, 22, had been working with the Ace Finance Corporation for the previous nine months as an assistant credit investi- gator. He was very outgoing and hard working, and he soon fit in well with the other young men in the unit. The other new employee was Karen Wilkens, who, at 20, had just com- pleted an associate degree at an area community college, 21Fifty Case Studies for Management & Supervisory Training business management. She was reserved and a bit shy. Even though she had no previous credit analysis experience, her work was very strong, and Brad felt she had the potential to be a good analyst. If she felt uncomfortable about being the only woman in the unit, she kept it to herself. ‘During their first two weeks on the job, Brad spent a lot of time training and working with both Don and Karen, He repeatedly showed them how to check references and carry out investigations. He always answered their questions, and he often told them to ask more questions if they were not sure what to do. When they had finished their second week on the job, Brad told them to start answering phone calls about the applications and that he would still be available if they needed help. Since the phone was positioned between Don and Karen, on their adjoining desk space, Brad expected them to alternate at this job, which entailed receiving the phone call, finding out the answers to the caller's questions, and then relaying the answers to the caller. ‘After a week or so, though, Brad ebegan to notice something curious: Don always seemed to answer the phone. After he found out what the caller wanted, he would get up, look in the files, ask Brad questions, and take care of the call. Brad realized that he was now spending more time working with Don than with Karen, and that Don was learning more because the phone calls led him into di ferent types of investigations, thus broadening his knowledge. In Brad’s estim: tion, Don was showing a lot of initiative and learning well. But Brad also noticed that Don and Karen seemed to be arguing a lot. Theit arguments were low-key enough to start with, but as the weeks progressed, they became more pointed and tense. Brad noted, too, how Karen often seemed to be angry and withdrawn: She never took part in the occasional joking among the unit’s other men, nor did she join them on coffee breaks or for an after-hours drink. Brad was particularly upset, though, when coaching Karen on investiga- tions. He would try to talk with her, prefacing his comments with something like: "You remember when I taught you how to do this.” Karen would stop him and say: "You never trained me to do that, but you did train Don." Karen re- sponded like this on a number of occasions, There was no change in the situation until the last week of May, when Brad reviewed some work with Karen, Brad was mentioning how well Don had han- dled a similar application when Karen angrily interrupted him: "It’s no wonder Don did so well! You trained him to do it and not me. You always spend time talking to him and never to me.” Her voice grew bitter. "You didn’t train me as well as you did him, And I think it’s because I'm a woman.” She pulled out a piece of paper from a file she was holding and shook it. "Look, I want to do a ‘good job—and I have! I've been keeping a record of the investigations Don and Thave done over the last two weeks. Look, I've been doing about five more each day than Don—he’s always too busy talking on the phone and answering questions!" Brad was shocked. That accusation, Brad believed, was very wrong, He knew that Karen’s gender didn’t make any difference to him: He had tried to help them both, He wasn’t sure how to proceed, 22Case 22: Customer Service in Contlict CASE QUESTIONS 1.What is the problem? 2.Are there any possible problems here for Brad under Equal Employment Opportunities laws? 3.Why would Karen react as she did? 4.What precautions might Brad have taken during the training process to avoid this problem? 5.How should Brad handle this problem?