5
Case Study .........................................................................................................
Reed Thurman was shipping manager for Ramco Roofing Co.
His team included an office assistant, a dispatch clerk, a dock
foreman, a warehouse supervisor, three forklift drivers and eight
dock hands. Reed reported to the owner of the company, Lester
Sisk. Reed’s dock foreman, Chester Brook, was a veteran overseer.
Chester’s crew was divided into two teams that he changed every
two or three months. The team held monthly contests that were
won or lost based on the speed, neatness and accuracy by which
trucks were loaded at the dock as orders were received and filled.
Over the last few months, Reed’s dispatch clerk had reported
an increase in clients complaining that orders had arrived with a
high percentage of improper roofing materials. The problem had
finally come to Mr. Sisk’s attention. He held a closed-door session
with Reed and ordered him to make sure the trend stopped
... or else!
Reed immediately called in Chester and angrily told him to
stop the team truck-loading contests. “Your guys are getting more
concerned with winning a case of beer than getting the right stuff
to the customer.”
Chester was stunned. “These are the best guys I’ve ever
supervised! Even when they’re moving fast, they load things neat
and right and ... ”
“ ... and wrong!” Reed interrupted. “No more contests, Ches.
End of discussion!”
During the next three months, client complaints all but
disappeared. Mr. Sisk was pleased. But dock-crew resignations
resulted in six new employees. Among those who quit was Chester
Brook. One afternoon, Reed Thurman’s new dock foreman asked
if he could change the way shipping invoices were checked on
the dock.
“Why?” Reed asked him. “It’s always worked okay before.”
“Well,” the new foreman observed, “the current way of
checking a pallet of material as it leaves the warehouse could
allow a forklift driver to load it on the wrong truck — especially
when we are moving fast. We really should be checking material
as it enters the truck.”
The Counselor Role: Confrontation and CorrectionC A S E S T U D Y