A Hasty Firing – Disaster or Opportunity Monica sat back on her sofa – frustrate

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A Hasty Firing – Disaster or Opportunity

Monica sat back on her sofa – frustrated and completely exhausted. While preparing for a grueling series of exams for a graduate program in Analytics, she had also answered an unending stream of phone calls from Ken. Ken was a manager at ClientB, a financial services firm which managed sizeable funds. He had been Monica’s boss when she had been placed at ClientB by ExpSol, her employer. It had been a demanding assignment for Monica as Ken’s group reported critical fund performance data.

Monica had been shocked at being abruptly let go that Monday by David, her boss at ExpSol. Bitterly disappointed, she had also been surprised at the timing. Monday was at the cusp of a critical monthly deadline for Ken’s group. Monica had then ignored turbulent emotions and offered to stay on for a few days to complete that month’s reports for Ken, but David had turned her down brusquely, saying she was not needed any more. However, it now seemed that David had misjudged. In his haste to fire her he had created a messy and problematic situation for Ken.

Now Monica was in the throes of indecision. She felt she needed to pick one out of several unpalatable choices – ignore Ken’s increasingly desperate pleas to help complete that month’s work; request David to re-hire her temporarily in order to complete Ken’s work; aggressively challenge David’s decision to fire her; or simply bury her head in her books and focus on the graduate program (hoping it would lead to a well-paying job). Or was there something else she could do that had not occurred to her yet?

Life as a Software Consultant

Monica had joined ExpSol as a software consultant after a decade of experience in the field. ExpSol was a small firm that employed consultants and placed them at client firms. Employees were hired “at-will”, and could be let go or quit at any time.

For the last five years, Monica had been working in Ken’s group at ClientB. She had developed an excellent professional relationship with members of the group, especially Ken. Several group members had sent laudatory notes about her to ExpSol. Monica appreciated the importance and urgency of the monthly due date. During that first week she was unstinting in her support to the group, readily responding to calls at all times of day and night.

Monica had been fairly happy as an ExpSol employee, savoring certain aspects of being part of a small, client focused firm. She was expected to put in as many hours as required by the client, but ExpSol unquestioningly compensated her for time billed. For her part, Monica had always maintained scrupulous records and billed accurately for time spent on work.

The one thorn in Monica’s side had been her boss, David. He had started out as a consultant programmer, but moved up to a managerial position. David and Monica had started out as fairly cordial colleagues, but as time passed, David’s behavior became increasingly irritating to Monica. Part of the problem was organizational. Although David was Monica’s supervisor, he had only a nominal say in the work she did, since that essentially dictated by Ken. David had become an administrator, and often seemed nervous and uncertain on technical issues. For instance, although Monica had shown herself to be competent and capable in her job, David insisted that she document and report back every action she took at ClientB. He would also ask Monica to describe the work she did there in excruciating detail and question her judgment.

ExpSol was an almost flat organization, with David reporting to a partner, who reported to the CEO, Peter (Figure 1). ExpSol’s executives appeared to have delegated Monica’s professional development completely to David and had little to no interaction directly with Monica. David himself appeared to have no plans for Monica’s growth, apparently content with the status quo. While Monica had no aspirations to be a manager herself, she did feel restless and stuck in a rut, doing the same kind of software development for more than five years.

CEO - Peter

Figure 1

KEN(Manager)

    ClientB

Partner

Partner

Partner

Project Manager

Project Manager DAVID

Associate Consultant

0-4 years experience

Consultant

4-7 years experience

Senior Consultant

7+ years experience

MONICA

An Irresistible Opportunity

An upcoming and promising area was that of “Analytics”. While IT was still a strong field, there was a move away from basic programming to higher level software work, such as in Analytics. A lot of what Monica was already doing fell within Analytics. However, a formal program would help strengthen work quality and provide broader credentials. As the area grew, lack of knowledge of specific techniques and approaches in Analytics would hobble her growth. Others, with formal training and education, would replace her. Monica felt the urgency to move fast.

A prestigious and well-known university in her neighborhood announced the launch of a new program in Analytics. Admission into the program was highly competitive and limited to professionals in the field who were at or just below middle management level. These criteria fit Monica to a “t”. She put in all her effort into preparing her application materials for the program and was ecstatic when selected. The program promised to be very demanding, and was expensive (it would drain all her savings and she would still have to borrow some amount of money) yet one that presented tremendous opportunities.

In the past David had always been non-committal when Monica discussed her professional growth. After she was admitted into the program, she requested a leave of absence or a part-time schedule. David rejected outright any changes in her schedule and made it clear that she would not be cut any slack. Monica was perplexed and somewhat annoyed by this. In her opinion, ExpSol would benefit from developing expertise in the area of Analytics. She approached ExpSol executives with the idea of setting up a separate Analytics unit as a new revenue source.    

A Client is Livid

Monica’s view that Analytics was the way to future opportunities was validated by articles and news items in numerous publications. As expected, the program required Monica to put in her A-level effort. At the same time, she had to fulfill her professional obligation in supporting Ken’s team. The combined effort was exhausting. Finally, after persistent requests by Monica, ExpSol agreed to grant her a certain number of unpaid personal days for use towards study. Monica hoarded these days carefully and took one only when there was a scheduled exam.

ClientB’s contract with ExpSol was for two employees to be placed in Ken’s group. When Monica took her unpaid days off, ExpSol assigned a third employee (Jeff) to fill in for her. Monica had a good relationship with Jeff and willingly guided him. One small wrinkle in the situation was that Jeff was a close relative of ExpSol’s CEO, although he never brought it up.

An unexpected complication occurred in this state of affairs when the other ExpSol employee at ClientB suddenly quit after Monica started the Analytics program. After that, it was just Monica, and Jeff when she was not there, working with Ken’s group. Although Jeff tried his best, he could not handle ClientB work by himself. However, Monica was only a phone call away and helped as much as possible. As the days went by, David seemed to increasingly resent her spending any time at all on the program even though the client work continued without interruption. Things came to a boil when Monica took two consecutive days off (a Thursday and Friday) to prepare for and take exams. The Monday following, David had called Monica into his office and unceremoniously fired her.

Monica’s firing came as a shock to Ken. He had depended on her being available to help meet the monthly deadline and knew it would be almost impossible otherwise. Jeff could not do the work on his own and it would not be possible to find another substitute for Monica right-away. Ken could not directly hire Monica due to the legalities related to intellectual property of the software used by ExpSol consultants. Thus, he was trying his best to somehow convince her to come back to the team until that month’s reports were submitted at the end of the first week.

Trying to Achieve Work-Work Balance

Monica definitely did not want Ken’s group to suffer on her account. She would also have tried to avoid there being irreparable damage to ClientB’s relationship with ExpSol if she could. At the same time, she still felt humiliated by David, and Peter, and was extremely reluctant to initiate any contact with ExpSol. She felt conflicted and wondered what would be the most effective employment decision now. It was complicated, and she felt she would benefit from viewing it comprehensively from different perspectives – those of ExpSol, ClientB and herself before making a final choice.

1. What are various options for Monica?

2. What were challenges that various stakeholders faced in this situation, and how could each have handled it best? The three main stakeholders here are - Monica, ExpSol and ClientB.

CEO - Peter

Explanation / Answer

1. The various options with Monica are:

2. The challenges that various stakeholders faced in this situation are:

1. Monica

Challenges -

Monica could have handled the situation better in following ways:

2. ExpSol

Challenges:

ExpSol could have handled the situation better in following ways:

3. ClientB

Challenges:

ClientB could have handled the situation better in following ways:

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