Kathryn McNeil Case

Introduction:

Charles Foley, Vice President of product control at Sayer MicroWorld, is pressured into making the decision of firing and replacing Kathryn McNeil, IBM Product Manager and a single-parent. Foley has mixed feelings about making the decision as on one hand he can relate with what McNeil is going through, being a parent himself and working long hours. On the other hand the workplace tensions between Lisa Walters, Director of Product Management, and McNeil is snowballing into something dangerously combustible and needs remedying quick. McNeil has shown to be a hard worker, competent and a quick learner with a proactive attitude seeking opportunities to learn and advance her career. The current trend in her work absences and poor attention to work has resulted from family issues and longer working hours. Foley has to resolve this issue by the end of the day, as his decision hinges on how it affects MicroWorld, the precedent his decision sets in the company's working culture and how this relates to Foley himself as his performance as a manager affects his compensation and career possibilities.

Summary and Analysis:

McNeil finds herself in a workplace where the demographic is mostly young and single working adults and the culture of the workplace doesn't have any family friendly working conditions. Her manager, Lisa Walters was successful in McNeil's current position primarily due to working long dedicated hours and setting this work ethic benchmark as a high criterion for success in MircoWorld's workplace. McNeil has to decide where her priorities lie and whether the opportunity cost of spending large amount of time at the workplace is more important than time spent nurturing her six-year old child. If I were in McNeil's shoes, I would consider my options especially as upper management has indicated a shift in workplace demands after the company merger. McNeil has few options, (1) to quit and find alternate work close to her home in a tough economy or take a pay cut with fewer work hours or (2) stay with MicroWorld full-time and work with management to set workplace guidelines that will mutually benefit both MicroWorld and herself. Personally I would take option 2, and work with Foley and Walters to incorporate a family-friendly flexible work environment where conditions can be set (like constant feedback loop) to mutually benefit the company and their employees. McNeil's family issues have caused her work to be affected, and she needs to acknowledge that this is unacceptable behaviour and look to make amends. McNeil needs to highlight to Foley and Walters that finding a balance for employees with family issues is of utmost importance to the company's productivity at the workplace. While McNeil is the only employee currently going through this issue, MicroWorld's young adult workplace will one day ultimately move on to have families of their own and MicroWorld can't afford to be in a vulnerable position to lose their workers over not having a solution to this issue. As Kathryn McNeil, I would work with upper management essentially to become a successful poster child for success as a single-parent at MicroWorlds workplace. After all, MicroWorld is in a low margin, highly competitive industry and the only way companies can differentiate themselves from each other is through their valuable employee resource pool. Retaining good and