The Deb Debacle

Ragan Hintgen and McKenna Pierce

Background

        A company is changing its procedures for how it produces its products. Many employees are unhappy with the changes but the company must stay in business. Deb trains new employees and has been training the same way for over 25 years for this company. She connects well with the new employees and employees claim Deb creates an atmosphere of trust and freedom to ask questions. Deb has been known to personalize the training process for each new hire, as she understands everyone learns differently.

Dilemma

Deb has been working for this company for over 25 years and does not want to change the way she does things. She has the process down to a science and is the best training employee at the food company. She is threatening to quit because the new procedures take more time and she does not want to train others in this new and frustrating way. She believes her way of doing things is better and will not train the employees in the new procedures.

Decision-Making Process

        The company does not want to lose Deb as she is their best employee but they also need her to follow the new procedures as it saves the company money. As a compromise with respect for Deb, the company allowed her to merge her ideas with our new procedures and asked for her input on this transition. They value her opinion and clearly, as she is the best employee, the company does not want to lose her training skills.

Outcomes

        Deb was happy to give her opinions and personal advice on the training process, which allowed her to feel heard and understood by her superiors. While Deb was adamant about maintaining her training process, she eventually changed her mind and adapted to the new procedures. She is now open to new changes in other aspects of the job after she saw the success of the new procedures. The company saves money with the new procedures but also saves time with Debs's excellent training skills.

Discussion Questions

1. Which of Deb’s skills benefit the company?
2. What are the pros and cons of keeping experienced/skilled trainers?
3. What skills did Deb learn after accepting the new procedures?

License

This case study is licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.