Bobby Nickel a 66 year old facilities manager for Staples Contract and Commercia
ID: 356745 • Letter: B
Question
Bobby Nickel a 66 year old facilities manager for Staples Contract and Commercial, Inc., and Staples, Inc . He claims the company discriminated against and harassed him and ultimately terminated him due to his age. From 2002 to 2008 Nickel worked for Corporate Express, which Staples then acquired. He received positive performance evaluations for nine years before his termination. "Because Corporate Express' pay scale had been higher than the pay scale for employees hired by Staples, Nickel alleged in his compliant that his managers noted that they needed to 'get rid of' older, higher paid employees. Nickel's complaint also explained how he became the regular butt of jokes at staff meetings and was referred to as "old coot" and "old goat", according to blogger Larry Bodine. Further, Nickel claimed that Lionel Marrero, his fulfillment center manager, regularly made harassing statements like, "Take a closer look at the older people They are starting to drag and are slowing down. If they are not top performers, write them up and get rid of them." It was also alleged that Marrero said, "we need young, energetic people. Walk around the facility with the older workers and if they cannot keep up, then get rid of them. We need to get rid of old people because they are slow And we can get younger people to work cheaper. Nickle was ultimately pressed by a manger to resign. When he didn't he experienced increased incidents of harassment from coworkers and a manager. "This included being written up and suspended for stealing, after taking a bell pepper valued at 68 cents from the company cafeteria. A receptionist told Nickel she had been instructed by management to provide false statement about Nickel's conduct but she refused to do so. Counsel for Staples contended that the company had cause to suspend Nickel because he violated the company zero tolerance policy when it came to dishonesty of any kind including theft or misappropriated of company property. APPLY THE 3 STEP PROBLEM SOLVING APPROACH Step 1 - Define the problem in this case. Step 2 - Identify the OB concepts or theories that they may be causing the problem Step 3 - Recommend what you would do to correct the situation. Think both short term and long term.
Explanation / Answer
Problem: The problem here is a company who wants to get rid of an older higher paid employee, who they presume slow down the production. And an old employee who claims he has been treated unfairly by the company and had been the subject of harassment ever since the acquisition, all because of his age.
OB Concepts that may be causing problems: Desire for Involvement: Every employee has a need to be accepted and they share information and gather information, crucial to the company in order to move forward. This desire for involvement could lead to the collective behaviour of all the employees against Nickel.
Motivated behaviour: When employees want to score higher in terms of attention and acknowledgement, they want to be at their best and if this means pleasing seniors by favouring them in their motives, so be it. Motivated Behaviour would have allowed employees to call out on Mr Nickel by most of his colleagues.
Perception: The way we percieve things tells a lot about or nature. Whether it to take an individual stand or following the heard, its all about perception. Perception would have allowed the employyes to see mr Nickel as an old man, incapable of adding value.
Recommendations: Harassment of an employee is a total non-starter in any organization. Such practices should not only be frowned upon, they must be deal with strictest actions. A man must be paid according to his work and experience and must be treated equally irrespective of his age.