A

Chris Winslow, Manager

You are Chris Winslow, manager of a local office of a large national insurance firm. You have four
employees working for you as claims analysts. Their job descriptions are identical with respect to
primary tasks and duties. The only difference is the type of claims they handle: homeowner’s, auto,
or small business. Within their areas of expertise, each claims analyst has three main tasks:
researching claims, computing settlement pay-outs, and drafting settlement letters.

This workweek promises to be a long and busy one, and so you have come in early on this Monday
morning to get caught up on some routine monthly reports required by headquarters. Things are
headed downhill early, however. There is a voice mail message waiting for you from one of your long
time clients. Mr. Big, a small business owner, is none too happy with you and your firm. There was a
fire at one of his dry cleaning stores more than two months ago, forcing its closure. In his message
he tells you he is still waiting for his settlement check so that he can repair the damage and reopen
the store. He says you promised him his claim would be processed and his settlement check mailed a
week ago.

You check the file and find that Mr. Big is in fact correct about the date he’d been given for
resolution of his claim. Small business claims are Alex’s responsibility. Alex is not in the office at this
early hour, so you can’t get an explanation for what happened yet. While you wait for 9:00 AM, the
hour the office opens and the staff shows up, you begin to think about Alex’s performance and why
Mr. Big’s claim may have slipped through the cracks.

Alex has worked for you for about a year. Like most new analysts, Alex started out working on auto
claims. The auto claims segment of the insurance business is large in volume, but the claims are
generally less complex than homeowner’s or small business ones. Alex switched from auto to small
business a few months ago to replace Stan, an employee who resigned.

Now that you think about it, this isn’t the first time Alex has missed a deadline. When Alex was
working auto claims, you received a couple of complaints from customers about delays in getting
their settlement checks. Since Alex moved over to the small business area, you have caught several
errors Alex has made in calculating settlement amounts, and you have had to substantially revise
two letters recently to conform to firm protocol for client communications. You don’t recall having
to do this with letters written by Alex’s predecessor, Stan. In general, you would rate the quality of
Alex’s work below that of the other three analysts.

As Chris Winslow, answer the following questions:

1. In your judgment, what is the most likely explanation for the missed client deadline?

2. When you speak with Alex later this morning, what will you say to make sure this problem does
not happen again?