Two Tough Calls

Group 11
Background and Situation Analysis
● The speaker in this case is the program manager at an online merchant company
● The company’s policies are very much similar to Microsoft since it was started by
ex employees of Microsoft
● The speaker/manager was respected for her technical knowledge
● The company had a rating system for performance of the employees where:

Four rating meant that the employee was performing exceptionally well

Three rating meant that the employee is barely meeting the standard

And 2.5 rating is given when the intention is to fire someone. The next step is
Performance Improvement Plan(PIP) which basically is to set them up for firing
● Terry and Phil were both hired through an unconventional process
● Terry was also a scuba diver instructor, his students were the CEO and
other people at top management
● Phil was diagnosed with liver disease and underwent treatment for some
months
● Phil wasn’t as bad as Terry, but he was also considered for PIP
● In this company you can be fired if you don’t get promoted after 3 years
● Phil was expecting a promotion as he has been with the company for long
Main Actors
Terry :
● Member of soft goods team
● Poor performer
● Worked at GE
● Writing specifications for what the team was going to build
● Was given a rating of 2.5
Phil:
● Worked with a catalogue company that sold bedding
● Managed to do some things well and has been working for 6 years
● Not very productive person and was basically a 2.5
● Outspoken about disagreeing
Protagonist:

● Program manager for the soft goods business

● Coordinate the entire project between test, development, planning,
design, third parties, operations and finance
● Good at technical knowledge
● Had to make tough calls about two people, Terry and Phil
● Selective about hiring
● Fairly non conventional and irreverent, hates facades
Problem
What should the protagonist do regarding Terry and Phil’s poor performance
in her group and what should be done to improve the HR practices of the
company?
Observations
● Terry and Phil both are bad performers in the soft good’s team and not in
the entire organisation
● Their bad performance is related to the job they were assigned which did
not compliment their previous job roles
● The speaker seems to practice “tough love” with their subordinates as she
believes in being upfront
● Phil,him being on the verge of being fired was biased and a result of
personal vendetta of top authorities
● At the same time speaker was being forced to keep Terry who was not
competent at all because of his connection with higher authorities
Recommendations

● HR should look into the job alignment with the job description at the time of hiring
● The hiring and firing should not be biased and at the same time ethical context
should be kept in mind hence to make this fair there should be an anonymity
while doing the performance review and final result which includes all the
components should be presented, so that employee doesn’t feel dissatisfied with
management’s decision
● The current policy should be reviewed , the policy of not working with a
competitor for 1 year after being fired is not morally correct
● The people who are not performing well should be well assessed by HR and
should be put in the role they will thrive the most
● Terry should be fired as he was in the organisation because of his
connection not competence
● Phil should be reassigned to a new job role which matches his skill using
job mapping as we see him as a competent person who asks the
uncomfortable questions which is crucial for growth of the company
● The protagonist should be more empathetic to people while talking about
their performance as not everyone takes the “ tough love” very well ,it can
be demotivating to some
● Protagonist can also try to implement “pygmalion effect” on people like
Phil
● A buddy system can be implemented after the assignment of jobs so that
they can learn the skills needed
Thank You !