PART EMILY BROWN: UNSAVORY PROBLEMS AT TASTY’S

This role play is based on the article:

Comer, D. R., & Vega, G. (2006). Unsavory Problems at Tasty's: A Role-Play about Whistle-Blowing.  Journal of
Management Education, 30, 1, 251-269.

DIRECTIONS

Read through the following scenario. When you are finished, take notes on how you will convince Ginger.

SCENARIO

Emily Brown, a part-time undergraduate business administration student, has been supporting herself and
paying tuition at Teaberry University for the past 5 years by working at Tasty’s, a family-style restaurant.
During the past 3 years, she has been a supervisor there. Tasty’s, which runs 37 franchises in the northeastern
United States, has experienced some financial difficulties in the past year. About 6 months ago, as a result of
declining revenues, Tasty’s closed several stores in the district where Emily works. Many employees lost their
jobs; their more fortunate coworkers were offered jobs at stores that remained open. Emily’s store survived
the recent spate of closings; but her general manager, Connie O’Hare, was transferred to a store outside the
district. Before her transfer, Connie had been general manager at Emily’s store for 8 years. Her subordinates
had enjoyed their jobs andworked hard. They were proud that their Tasty’s was one of the strongest
performers in the district and attributed their store’s continuing viability in large part to Connie’s managerial
talent.

Replacing Connie as their general manager was John Tadmore. John had been the general manager at another
Tasty’s for barely 2 years at the time of his transfer to Emily’s store. John, whose own store had closed, was
delighted by the transfer, which cut his commute in half. Emily, for her part,was infuriated that John was
actually benefiting from the closing of his store, whereas Connie was being shuffled around without any regard
for what she—or her subordinates—wanted. She chalked up Connie’s transfer to the old boys’ network at
Tasty’s, which has no female division managers and only a handful of women at the level of district manager
(see Figure 1). The scarcity of women in top leadership positions had been the only feature of the company
that bothered Emily, who, until recently, had otherwise considered Tasty’s an ideal employer.

Within the 1st month of John’s arrival, the store was showing signs of neglect. Orders were not placed on time;
the employee schedule was always finished late and frequently contained gaps and/or overlaps; and the level
of grime and grunge had hit an all-time high. Perhaps most troubling, money seemed to be disappearing.
Registers were short on a regular basis by U.S. $20 or more, the change fund (kept in the safe) was often
missing money, and bank bags were coming up short. In her 5 years at Tasty’s, Emily had never witnessed a
situation like this one. Despite her lack of any solid evidence, she suspected John of stealing from the store.
Meanwhile, John was accusing others. He blamed a light bank bag on a new employee and a $40 register
shortage on Martin Pine, one of Emily’s closest colleagues. Perturbed and feeling helpless, Emily turned to
Ginger Bethlehem, her assistant manager.

E: Ginger, I need to talk to someone about what’s been going on in the store.

G: O.K. Have a seat. I’m listening.

E: Since Connie left, everything’s been going downhill. Scheduling is a mess, the store is not as clean as it should
be, and, of course, there’s the mysterious disappearing money. John has been blaming other people of stealing,
but I think he is the real thief!

G: Emily, I’ve never seen you so upset!

Comer, D. R., & Vega, G. (January 01, 2006). Unsavory Problems at Tasty's: A Role-Play about Whistle-Blowing. Journal of
Management Education, 30, 1, 251-269.
E: Well, John has been unfairly accusing innocent people. Martin is a good friend of mine. I’ve known him for
more than 3 years, and I know he would never steal. Period, let alone from the store. He loves his job as much
as I do, or, as much as I did, anyway. Did you know Marty was thinking about leaving?

G: No, I didn’t know that. That’s too bad. He’s a solid performer.

E: I can’t prove anything, Ginger, but I’d bet that John is the culprit. I mean, the way he’s so quick to blame
others. You’re an assistant manager; can you talk to him about this?

G: What could I say that would make a difference? Listen to me, Emily. Last Thursday, at the end of the night,
John and I were getting ready to close up. I was exhausted, so I headed toward the ladies’ room to splash some
water on my face to perk up for my drive home. But I noticed my right earring was missing, so I started
crawling around, looking for it. When I finally found it, I heard some sounds at the register. I stayed crouched
down, so John couldn’t see me. But I could see him. He took three bills from the stack of twenties and stuffed
them in his back pocket.

E: John thought he could get away with it because he thought you were in the bathroom.

G: Exactly.

E: What did John say when you told him?

G: Told him?!?! What, are you kidding me? John is doing my performance review next month, and I’m not going
to say or do anything to ruin my chances of getting the raise I deserve.

E: Have you spoken with Blake Peters?

G: The district manager?! Why do you want me to stir up trouble? Besides, Emily, Blake and John went to
college together. I could be wrong, but I’m guessing that that’s how John got to be our general manager after
his store was closed.

E: But you don’t know for sure. Don’t you think Blake should know? John’s getting away with stealing, and he’s
ruining our store and driving away capable employees. It’s not fair!

G: Who told you life is fair? Well, I have to get back to my paperwork now. Please, Emily, do us both a favor and
forget I told you anything.

Emily left Ginger’s office, more upset and confused than she’d been before entering. She recognized that
maybe Ginger was right—that it wouldn’t accomplish anything to speak with Blake. However, knowing that
John was hurting the store and people in it was eating away at her. She wondered whether she should try
talking to Blake, or whether it made more sense to go over Blake’s head and speak with Richard Mann, her
division manager. For years, Emily had loved working at Tasty’s. Now, she dreaded going to work.

YOU are Emily. A few hours after speaking with Ginger, you recognize that you just can’t tolerate the present
situation anymore. You go to Ginger’s office to try to convince her that John’s stealing must be reported.

Comer, D. R., & Vega, G. (January 01, 2006). Unsavory Problems at Tasty's: A Role-Play about Whistle-Blowing. Journal of
Management Education, 30, 1, 251-269.
Why don’t you want to do that?
What is your biggest fear?
If he could steal company’s money, he’s not a good boss
John’s is destroying the company – steal money to his pocket  do harm do to your future in this company
8 supervisors at store and 2 assistant managers
If one day everyone knows John’s actions. He will be fired, and so does Ginger. No safety for Ginger’s position
Talk to Richard, because Blake and John were classmates & it’s not too far in hierachical structure
Collecting evidence (camera video) so you would be more confident
Asking for help from HR and they can protect you

Comer, D. R., & Vega, G. (January 01, 2006). Unsavory Problems at Tasty's: A Role-Play about Whistle-Blowing. Journal of
Management Education, 30, 1, 251-269.
Comer, D. R., & Vega, G. (January 01, 2006). Unsavory Problems at Tasty's: A Role-Play about Whistle-Blowing. Journal of
Management Education, 30, 1, 251-269.