Running Head: Memo

Memorandum

By

Date
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MEMO

To:

From:

Date: 3rd February 2019

Re: Layoffs in the Public Sector

Executive Summary:

The team of Special Communication is facing the problem of lay off her one senior

employee who has been with the university for the last 20 years because of her lack of active

participation in the team and her high salary becoming a burden on the department. The hiring of

the new coordinator after the lay-off of the Account manager would paint a bad image for the

university. The management is recommended on negotiating with Ms. Darlene Smith to draft a

contract for better performance with the team and her active participation with the other two

account managers. The role expectations should be clearly communicated and review should be

done on her performance for three months. If lagging behind, the manager would be laid off and

a new coordinator would be hired.

Background Summary:

The Office of the Philanthropy of the Santa Anita State University is facing a budget cuts

because of the unprecedented economic impact of the financial crisis. The Vice President has

decided on a 20% reduction in the budget of its four units. One of these units, the Office of the

Marketing was also facing the budget slash of 20% for its next year. The main aim of the

department is that it has to create internal marketing strategies for conveying of consistent

messages to several university audiences. As the university needed to do more with less in the
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current times, the need for the marketing department and its efficiency has also increased more

than ever. The Special Communications team is one of the teams of this marketing unit which is

responsible for the handling of the public interface of the university. It created, designed and

produced online and print communication material for the events of fundraising and other such

events for the university. The team role required flexibility, efficiency, and responsiveness for

the success of its unit. The team included three account managers who were responsible for the

handling of the accounts. Coordinator position has been vacant for the last few months which

was responsible for the support of the account managers. All of the three account managers were

responsible for the handling of similar tasks and thus required similar skills. The three account

managers who are working for the Special Communications unit are however not working in the

true meaning of team. The two younger Account managers are working more actively and

performing efficiently as compared to the other older Account Manager, Darlene Stewart who

had worked for 20 years in the same university.

Analysis of the Issues:

The management has been considering laying-off their Special Communications unit

oldest account manager, Darlene Stewart, who has not only been earning highest earnings but

also, is not performing as actively as the other two account managers. However, on the contrary,

the performance evaluations of the account manager show her as quite an efficient employee.

The issue lies in the fact that after the layoff of Ms. Darlene Stewart, the management was

considering hiring for the position of coordinator for increasing the efficiency of the marketing

unit. The hiring of a younger employee in the team while a week ahead a senior manager was

laid off due to budget cuts would print a horrible image of the university. Furthermore, the
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management is also expecting facing lawsuit from Ms. Darlene on the age discrimination, if she

is laid off.

The problem is that for the management, the best option is in laying off Ms. Darlene. The

laying off of Ms. Darlene would result in additional tasks for the other two account management

which are not very difficult in nature as Ms. Darlene was given easier tasks to handle.

Furthermore, the laying off would result in getting rid of the high salary that the manager is

enjoying which is not justified against her job role [ CITATION EVE89 \l 1033 ]. The other two

account managers are earning lower salaries than Ms. Darlene. Moreover, this lay off would

provide the team with the funds to hire a coordinator who has lower pay and would perform

more actively than the account manager. Thus, the lay-off of the Darlene would result in the

more efficient and productive team for the Marketing department. However, the litigation would

result in a higher expense which it has to tolerate at all costs.

Options:

The problem lies in the fact that the lay-off of the senior employee and the immediate

hiring of a younger employee would result in a bad image for the university. The litigation by the

senior employee could result in expenses which could not be afforded by the university in these

times when budget cuts are made. The options available for the management are;

1. Build Consensus between the Team & Retain Ms. Darlene:

Using the consensus building strategy, the team should opt for the building of consensus between

the two parties. One party here is the two account managers and the other one is the senior

account manager. The management should initiate the dialogue to work for conflict assessment.

All essential participants should be identified and brought into the discussion[ CITATION

Boo11 \l 1033 ]. Initial interviews should be conducted and conflict assessment should be
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drafted. The recommendations of the conflict assessment should be considered in the

organizational meeting. Responsibilities of each of the account manager should be clarified. The

environment for teamwork for the three account holders should be provided with needed

support[ CITATION Sus99 \l 1033 ].

2. Negotiate with Ms. Darlene:

For negotiating with Ms. Darlene, the management should know their strengths and weaknesses.

The aim of negotiating should be level the playing field in terms of benefit for both parties.

Negotiating while one party enjoys more power does not often result in successful

results[ CITATION MAX16 \l 1033 ]. The management should listen to the concerns of Ms.

Darlene and provide her with their best efforts for a solution[ CITATION NEA \l 1033 ]. The use

of the package for early retirement should be put forward and adjustments as per her needed

demands should be made.

3. Lay-off Ms. Darlene & Expect She Would Not Sue:

The management can inform the VP for the lay-off decision of Ms. Darlene and then await

the consequences and reaction from Ms. Darlene. Moreover, the new hiring process for the

coordinator position should be initiated. This may result in a lawsuit from the senior account

manager; however, the team can also expect to have no litigation as well.

4. Provide Ms. Darlene the opportunity to interview for the coordinator position:

The management can work on providing Ms. Darlene with the opportunity of interviewing

for the coordinator position to stay employed. This can enable them to stay employed and remain

involved in the team as well.

Recommendations:
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The analysis of the options available for the management reveals that the best option is

that Ms. Darlene should be retained with the revised package, and the senior manager should be

provided with honest feedback on her past performance. Furthermore, the account manager

should be provided with the needed support for working efficiently for the team. The issue lies in

the exclusion of the Account Manager from the team. She is not involved in any of the team

activities and all the efforts for the marketing of the fundraising were only done by the young

account managers themselves. The strategy which is recommended for the management is that

Ms. Darlene should be given with all the expectation of the role which is true for the role, how

Ms. Darlene has been falling short and how she has been losing the trust of their employees. All

the false communication of good performance of Ms. Darlene which has been done in the past

should be revealed honestly with only best interests of improvement in focus. After that, if the

senior employee does not perform effectively in the preceding three months, the employee would

be laid off and a new coordinator position would be filled. This can also be negotiated in the

form of a contract. The senior manager should be showed that the management has the right to

lay her off without showing any reason at any time of the period as mentioned in the lay-off rules

for salaried persons.

Conclusion:

The problem shows that the only solution to the problem is that the efficiency of the

Special Communication unit is improved along with the reduction in expenses as well. It is

concluded that the management should work on negotiating a contract with Ms. Darlene to

reconsider her performance in detail. Honest feedback for her past performances, her lacking, the

management expectations and the shortfalls in her performance should be communicated with
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the manager. A contract for three months should be worked up with Ms. Darlene to perform

better and if not, she would be laid off and a new coordinator would be hired.

References:

BAZERMAN, M. H., & KAHNEMAN, D. (2016). How to Make the other side play fair.

Harvard Business Review, 77.

Booz, Allen, & Hamiton. (2011). Keeping Talent.

EVERED, R. D., & Selman, J. C. (1989). Coaching and the Art of Management. Performance

measurement, management, and appraisal sourcebook, 194-207.

NEALE, M. A. (n.d.). Are You Giving Away the Store? STANFORD SOCIAL INNOVATION

REVIEW, 33-39.

Susskind. (1999). Chapter 1. A SHORT GUIDE TO CONSENSUS BUILDING.