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Chapter 07 - Managing Employee Engagement and Performance
The focus of this chapter is on measuring and increasing employee engagement, avoiding
unnecessary turnover, managing employee performance, employee discipline and involuntary
turnover (terminations). The first section examines what manager can do to increase employee
engagement and prevent voluntary turnover (turnover initiated by employees.) Topics include
job withdrawal and job satisfaction, sources of job dissatisfaction and how survey feedback
research and subseequent interventions can be used to retain high performers.
The chapter then examines a variety of approaches to performance management.
Discussion begins with an organizational model of the performance-management process that
examines the system's purposes. Five criteria for gauging effective performance
managements systems are described, and then specific approaches to performance
management are discussed, including the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. The
various sources of performance information are also presented. Next, the errors resulting
from subjective assessments of performance are identified, as well as the means for reducing
those errors. This is followed by a discussion of the effective components to performance
feedback. Finally, the causes of performance problems are identified, together with actions
managers can take to manage employees’ performance. Discussion then turns to the
importance of developing and implementing a PM system that follows legal guidelines.
Various benefits and challenges of using electronic monitoring for performance management
are also covered.
This is followed by a section on managing involuntary turnover, which includes definitions
of just cause, wrongful and constructive dismissal. The chapter then concludes with a
discussion of fairness and principles of justice, progressive discipline, alternative dispute
resolution, employee assistance and wellness programs, and outplacement counselling.
Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, the student should be able to:
LO1 Describe what influences employee satisfaction, possible causes of job withdrawal,
and how to measure employee engagement.
LO2 Identify the major determinants of individual performance and general purposes of
performance management.
LO3 Identify the five criteria for gauging effective performance management systems.
LO4 Discuss the traditional approaches to performance management, and how to select the
most effective approach for a given situation.
LO5 Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the different sources of performance
information.
LO 6 Distinguish types of rating errors, and explain how to minimize each in a performance
evaluation.
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Chapter 07 - Managing Employee Engagement and Performance
Note: Key terms appear in boldface and are listed in the "Chapter Vocabulary" section.
Opening Vignette:
Enter the Word of Business: Engagement and Success Follows Love
Six years after founding I Love Rewards, a company that builds web-based rewards and recognition
programs, Razor Suleman, founder of I Love Rewards, took stock of his company’s situation and found the
company had very low morale. When one of his employees challenged him to create a vision for the
company, Suleman created a plan to “recruit, retain and inspire great people” and to become a global leader
in employee recognition. It transformed the tiny company’s future. Suleman had suddenly realized that
even though the company was marketing employee-recognition software and recognition consulting
services, he had neglected to create a recognition program for his own team. This led to many innovative
changes designed to create total engagement among I Love Rewards’ employees, and the company became
a role model for its customers. Suleman focussed on winning the heads and hearts of his own employees,
and making I Love Rewards a great place to work and an inspiration to clients.
Suleman’s approach paid off and by 2011, with revenues doubling year over year, its impressive
growth attracted $38 million in venture financing, and the company (renamed Achievers) expanded into the
U.S. starting in San Francisco. About the same time, it launched its own unique awards program called
Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces™. In the past five years it has annually awarded honours to the
top 50 employers in North America that are leading innovation in engaging employees to make their
workplaces more productive (e.g. 3M, CIBC, GoodLife Fitness). The company is now expanding into
England. As employee engagement has increased at Achievers, the company garnered numerous awards
itself (starting in 2007) such as placing first in AON Hewitt’s annual Best Small and Medium Employers
list (in the GTA) and the 2015 Best Workplaces in Canada, plus many more (similar) honours. This is
because researchers have found the company’s employees to be very highly motivated and enthusiastic
about the company and their jobs. Today the people management practices at Achievers are totally aligned
with the business of Achievers and the company’s website career page includes a list compiled (by
employees) of 77 reasons “why Achievers is a great place to work.” This list is very long and is a
testament to a company whose key product is Employee Success Platform™ and whose mission is to
“Change The Way The World Works”.
I. Introduction
Every executive recognizes the need for satisfied, loyal customers and if the firm is
publicly held, to also have satisfied, loyal investors. Customers and investors provide the
financial resources that allow the organization to survive – an issue of sustainability. Thus,
the chapter begins by discussing two important concepts:
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First – what managers can do to increase engagement among employees, influencing them
to stay with the organization. This focuses on avoiding voluntary turnover, which is
turnover initiated by employees (often whom the company would prefer to keep).
However, successful firms must also be able and willing to dismiss employees who are
engaging in counterproductive behaviour. Involuntary turnover is turnover initiated by
the organization (often among people who would prefer to stay)
Replacing workers is expensive: recent estimates place this cost at roughly $50,000 for
professional or managerial workers and $25,000 for clerical or manufacturing employees.
Such costs are just the tip of the iceberg, however, when it comes to the costs of job
dissatisfaction and turnover. There is also a demonstrable relationship between employee
satisfaction and customer satisfaction at the individual level, and turnover rates and
customer satisfaction at the organizational level. Indeed, the whole employee satisfaction–
firm performance relationship can become part of a virtuous cycle.
Job withdrawal is a set of behaviours that dissatisfied individuals enact to avoid the
work situation. The progression of withdrawal theory says that dissatisfied
individuals enact a set of behaviours in succession to avoid their work situation. See
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Text Figure 7.1, a model which groups the overall set of behaviours into three
categories: behaviour change, physical job withdrawal, and psychological job
withdrawal.
1. Behaviour Change
A dissatisfied worker may be able to solve his or her problem by leaving the
job. This could take the form of an internal transfer. If the source of
dissatisfaction relates to organization wide policies, organizational turnover is
likely. In a recent survey, on average, companies spend 15 percent of their
payroll costs to make up for absent workers. Part of the reason absenteeism is
costly is that it often spreads like a virus, from one worker to another. The
evidence suggests there are strong social norms associated with absenteeism
and that it “snowballs”.
If the primary dissatisfaction has to do with the job itself, the employee may
display a very low level of job involvement. If the dissatisfaction is with the
employer as a whole, the employee may display a low level of organizational
commitment. Individuals who have low organizational commitment are often
just waiting for the first good opportunity to quit their jobs.
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As noted in Figure 7.1 the key driving force behind loss of engagement and all the
different forms of job withdrawal is job satisfaction, which is a pleasurable feeling
that results from the perception that one’s job fulfills or allows for the fulfillment of
one’s important job values.
Important aspects of job satisfaction that influence the degree of job satisfaction an
employee feels include: (1) it is a function of values (what a person consciously or
unconsciously desires to obtain); (2) employees have different views of which values
are important, and (3) it is subject to individual perception, which is not always an
accurate reflection of reality. Different people may view the same situation differently,
depending on their own frame of reference.
Often the most salient frame of reference for job satisfaction is the person’s current
level of satisfaction and changes in the direction of job satisfaction predict turnover
over and above the absolute level of turnover itself. That is, two people could report a
level of “moderate” satisfaction with their jobs, but if one person was formerly high,
and the other person was formerly low, the person with the negative trend has a much
higher probability of leaving relative to the person with the positive trend.)
Evidence-Based HR
Recent survey evidence indicates that, although an employee’s own level of job satisfaction in
an important predictor of turnover, what the employees around a person think and feel can
also influence their decision to leave. This evidence indicates that it is important for
employers to have accurate knowledge of the job satisfaction levels associated with different
units of their organization
Many aspects of people and organizations can cause dissatisfaction among employees.
Managers and HR professionals need to recognize them as levers for raising job
satisfaction, increasing engagement and reducing employee withdrawal. Sources of
job dissatisfaction include:
Safe working conditions – the perception and reaction of employees to the safety of
their working conditions has ramifications for satisfaction, retention, and competitive
advantage that go far beyond merely meeting legal requirements. If applicants or job
incumbents perceive that their health or lives are at risk because of the job, attracting
and retaining workers will be impossible.
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Pay and benefits – for most employees pay is both a source of income and an indicator
of status. For some people pay is a reflection of self-worth, so pay satisfaction takes
on critical significance when it comes to retention. Satisfaction with benefits is another
important dimension of overall pay satisfaction and since employees tend to underrate
the value of their benefits package it is critical to make benefits highly salient to
employees. Both benefits and pay should link to organizational strategy.
Supervisors and co-workers - are the two primary groups of people who affect job
satisfaction for employees. A person may be satisfied with her supervisor and co-
workers because she shares the same values, attitudes and philosophies as they do, or
because they provide the social support she needs to achieve her own goals.
Considerable research indicates that social support is a strong predictor of job
satisfaction and lower employee turnover. In addition abusive supervision is a major
cause of turnover and some organizations reduce turnover when they remove a
specific supervisor who lacks interpersonal skills. Because incivility and lack of
interpersonal skills among co-workers or team members can also create job
dissatisfaction, many organizations foster team building both on and off the job (such
as softball or hockey teams).
Tasks and roles - Employers have direct control over tasks and roles, and nothing
surpasses the nature of the task itself as a predictor of job dissatisfaction. Important
issues associated with tasks include complexity of the task, the amount of flexibility in
where and when the work is done, and the value the employee puts on the task. With
few exceptions there is a strong positive relationship between task complexity and job
satisfaction. That is, the boredom generated by simple, repetitive jobs leads to
frustration and dissatisfaction. (See Competing through Globalization feature.)
A second critical aspect of work that affects satisfaction and retention is the degree to
which scheduling is flexible. To help employees manage their multiple roles,
companies have turned to a number of family-friendly policies such as provisions for
child care, elder care, etc. (See Competing through Sustainability feature).
Finally, by far the most important aspect of work in terms of generating satisfaction is
the degree to which it is meaningfully related to core values of the worker. To generate
satisfaction work should be meaningfully related to core values of the worker. The
term prosocial motivation is used to capture the degree to which people are motivated
to help other people. When people believe that their work has an important impact on
other people, they are much more willing to work longer hours.
(1) It allows the company to monitor trends over time and thus prevent problems in
the area of voluntary turnover before they happen.
(2) ongoing surveys provide a way to empirically assess the impact of changes in
policy (such as introduction of a new performance appraisal system) and may
provide the information necessary to know what to keep on doing and what needs
to be changed.
(3) When such surveys incorporate standardized scales, they can allow the company to
compare itself with others in the same industry along these dimensions. This
might allow the company to react and change its policies before there is a mass
exodus of people moving to the competition.
Finally, exit interviews with departing workers can be valuable for uncovering
systematic concerns that are driving retention problems. If properly conducted, an
exit interview can reveal the reasons why people are leaving, and perhaps even set
the stage for their later return.
Some argue that all performance appraisal systems are flawed. Table 7.1 shows some of
the criticism of performance appraisals and how the problems can be fixed. If done
correctly, performance appraisal can provide several valuable benefits to both employees
and the company. An important part of appraising performance is to establish employee
goals, which should be linked to the company’s strategic goals. A good appraisal process
ensures that all employees doing similar jobs are evaluated according to the same standards
and a properly conducted appraisal can help the company identify the strongest and
weakest employees. The use of technology, can reduce the administrative burden and
improve the accuracy of performance reviews.
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The performance appraisal is only one part of the broader process. Performance
management is the process through which managers ensure that employees’ activities and
outputs are congruent with the organization's goals. Performance management is central to
gaining competitive advantage. An effective performance management system has three
parts: defining performance, measuring performance, and feeding back performance
information. (See Table 7.1 in the text)
1. The first step in the performance management process starts with understanding
and identifying important performance outcomes or results. Typically, these
outcomes or results benefit customers, the employees’ peers or team, and the
organization itself.
2. The second step of the process involves understanding the process (or how) to
achieve the goals established in the first step. This includes identifying measurable
goals, behaviours, and activities that will help the employee achieve the
performance results.
5. In step five the employee the employee (with help from the manager) identifies
what he or she can do to capitalize on performance strengths and address
weaknesses. This includes identifying training needs, adjusting the type or
frequency of feedback the managers provides to the employee, clarifying, adjusting,
or modifying performance outcomes, and discussions of behaviours or activities
that need improvement or relate to new priorities based on changes or new areas of
emphasis in organizational or department goals.
In addition, company leaders’ behaviour can help create a culture that encourages
performance feedback and recognition
Strategic Purpose:
First and foremost, a performance management system should link employee activities
with the organization's goals. Example: If an organization has a goal to promote
employment equity, the performance appraisal system should reward managers that hire
and promote members of the four designated groups. Performance management is
critical for companies to execute their talent management strategy and it can even help
develop global business.
Administrative Purpose:
Performance management information is used for administrative decisions such as salary
administration, promotions, retention, termination, layoffs, and recognition of individual
performance. Many managers feel uncomfortable feeding back evaluations to the
employees; thus, they tend to rate everyone high, or at least rate them the same.
Developmental Purpose:
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Performance management can be used to develop employees who are ineffective at their
jobs. Ideally, the performance management system identifies not only any deficient
aspects of the employee’s performance but also the causes of these deficiencies.
Managers are often uncomfortable confronting employees with their performance
weaknesses but giving high ratings to all employees (to avoid conflict) undermines the
developmental purpose of the performance management system. An important step in
performance management is to develop the measures by which performance will be
evaluated.
Strategic congruence is the extent to which the performance management system elicits
job performance that is congruent with the organization's strategy, goals, and culture.
Example: If a regional bank decides to become known as the hallmark of customer
service, then the branch managers and tellers should have performance measurements
focused on customer relations.
Validity is the extent to which the performance measure assesses all the relevant—and
only the relevant—aspects of job performance. It is also called "content validity."
Validity is concerned with maximizing the overlap between actual job performance and
the measure of job performance (Figure 7.3).
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With some measures, the extent to which all the items rated are internally consistent is
important (internal consistency reliability). The measure should be reliable over time
(test-retest reliability).
Acceptability refers to whether the people who use the performance measure accept it. It
is affected by the extent to which employees believe the performance management
system is fair (See Table 7.2).
1. Graphic Rating Scales can provide a number of different points (a discrete scale)
or a continuum along which the rater simply places a check mark (a continuous
scale). (See Table 7.4). To get around problems of subjectivity that can occur
with such scales, variations such as mixed standard scales have been created.
Mixed-standard scales are developed by defining the relevant performance
dimensions with statements representing good, average, and poor performance
along each dimension
This approach gives specific feedback to employees about what they do well and
what they do poorly, and they can be tied to corporate strategy by focusing on
incidents that support that strategy. However, many managers resist keeping a
daily or weekly log of their employees' behaviour. As well, it is often difficult to
compare employees, since each incident is specific to that individual.
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Table 7.5 shows the competency model that Luxottica Retail known for premium,
luxury, and sports eyewear sold through LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, and Pearle
Vision developed for its associates in field and store positions.
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MBO systems have three common components: (1) they require specific, difficult,
objective goals; (2) the goals are set jointly; (3) the manager gives objective
feedback throughout the rating period to monitor progress toward the goals (See
Table 7.6). MBO usually increases productivity and is most effective when there
is substantial commitment from top management. MBO systems effectively link
employee performance with the firm's strategic goals.
A. Managers – Managers are the most frequently used source. Supervisors usually have
extensive knowledge of the job and have had the opportunity to observe their
employees. Because supervisors have something to gain from employees' high
performance and something to lose by low performance, they have the motivation to
make accurate ratings. Also, feedback from supervisors is strongly related to
performance. However, in some instances, supervisors do not observe employees, and
supervisors may be biased against a particular employee. In addition, favoritism must
be minimized as much as possible in performance management.
B. Peers – Peers or coworkers, are excellent sources of information when the supervisor
does not always observe the employee. Peers may be biased and may not be
comfortable with being the rater when the ratings are used for administrative
decisions.
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D. Self - Self Ratings can be valuable but are not usually used as the sole source of
performance information. One problem with self ratings is a tendency toward inflated
assessments, especially if ratings are used for administrative decisions. The best use of
self ratings is as a prelude to the performance feedback session to make employees
think about their performance and to focus discussion on areas of disagreement.
E. Customers - in some instances, the customer is often the only person present to
observe the employee's performance. Using customer evaluations is most appropriate
when an employee’s job requires direct service to the customer, or linking the
customer to other services within the company, or for gathering product and service
information. The main weakness of customer surveys is that they are somewhat
expensive.
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b. Social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter are increasingly being used to
deliver more timely and frequent feedback than traditional quarterly, mid-year,
or annual formal performance evaluations. Forward thinking companies are
developing websites or purchasing software to help make performance
management more of an ongoing dynamic process and to provide employees
the chance to get recognition from peers.
3. Companies are relying on electronic tracking and monitoring systems and software to
ensure that employees are working when and how they should be and to block access
to certain websites. However, this type of performance monitoring can be viewed as
invasive.
o “Similar to Me” is the error we make when we judge those who are similar to us more
highly than those who are not. (Example: Diana tends to rate Beth higher than Paul
because Beth is also a single mother of a toddler and Diana and Beth are about the
same age. Paul is much older than Diana; he has no children and has never been
married.)
o Contrast errors occur when we compare individuals with one another instead of with
an objective standard. (Example: Jason and Angela both do above-average work, but
Jason’s boss tends to rate him as excellent because he performs better than Angela.)
o Distributional errors are the result of a rater’s tendency to use only one part of the
rating scale. Leniency occurs when a rater assigns high ratings to all employees.
Strictness occurs when a manager gives low ratings to all employees. Central tendency
reflects that a manager rates all employees in the middle of the scale.
o Halo and Horns Errors - Halo effect errors occur when one positive performance
aspect causes the rater to rate all other aspects of performance positively. (Example:
Nicole tends to get high ratings in quantity and quality of work because she is so
friendly and cooperative with everyone and never misses work.) Horns error occurs
when one negative aspect results in the rater assigning low ratings to all the other
aspects.
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B. Reducing Rater Errors and Politics, and Increasing Reliability and Validity of
Ratings - Rater error training attempts to make managers aware of rating errors and
helps them develop strategies for minimizing those errors. Rater accuracy training,
also called frame-of-reference training, attempts to emphasize the multidimensional
nature of performance and thoroughly familiarizes raters with the actual content of
various performance dimensions.
Research indicates that when employees participate in the feedback session, they
are consistently satisfied with the process. One study found that, other than
satisfaction with one’s supervisor, participation was the single most important
predictor of satisfaction with the feedback session. Other research suggests that
many employees, especially those in Generation Y (employees born after 1980),
want more frequent and candid performance feedback from managers than eyond
what is provided once or twice a year during their formal performance review.
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In discrimination suits, the plaintiff often alleges that the performance measurement
system unjustly discriminated against the plaintiff because of age, race, disability or
gender. Many performance measures are subjective, and individual biases can affect
them.
In the second type of suit, a wrongful dismissal suit, the plaintiff claims that the dismissal
was for reasons other than those the employer claims. Any ensuing court case will likely
focus on the performance measurement system used as the basis for claiming the
employee’s performance was poor. Rewarding poor performers or giving poor performers
positive evaluations makes it difficult to defend termination decisions based on a
performance appraisal system.
Because of the potential costs of discrimination and wrongful dismissal suits, an
organization needs to determine exactly what the courts consider a legally defensible
performance management system. (See suggestions for a system that will withstand legal
scrutiny).
A. Electronic Monitoring of Performance Management - An increasing trend in
companies is using sophisticated electronic tracking systems to ensure that employees
are working when they should be. Electronic tracking systems include hand and
fingerprint recognition systems, global positioning systems (GPS), security cameras,
network forensic software, and systems that can track employees using handheld
computers and cell phones.
Such systems present privacy concerns and they are subject to scrutiny in five areas of
the law: privacy, labour relations, human rights, evidence admissibility and criminal
law. Some argue that electronic tracking systems are needlessly surveilling and
tracking employees when there is no reason to believe that anything is wrong.
Advocates, on the other hand, counter that they systems ensure that time is not abused,
they improve scheduling and they help managers identify lazy workers. Clearly such
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systems are controversial. To avoid problems employers should ask questions before
implementing electronic monitoring in any form.
Despite a company’s best efforts in the area of personnel selection, training, and design,
some employees will occasionally fail to meet performance requirements or will violate
company policies while on the job. The company must then utilize its discipline policy
that may lead to the individual’s discharge.
Canadian employers can terminate an employee for any reason they choose as long as the
termination doesn’t breach any contracts in force (e.g. including employment contracts,
collective agreements or statutes such as human rights law.) If the employer cannot prove
“cause” for termination (or if there is no formal employment contract in place which
outlines the terms for separation) then the employer must provide to the employee (1)
either reasonable notice of termination or (2) compensation in lieu of notice. I
Just cause is a legal term that means an employer has a justifiable (and legally defensible)
reason for terminating an employee without providing reasonable notice or payment in lieu
of notice. However, the onus is clearly on the employer to prove “just cause exists beyond
the balance of probabilities” Failure to provide adequate explanation for “just cause” could
expose the employer to a wrongful dismissal suit. General reasons for just cause include:
Serious Misconduct – There is clear and established evidence the employee is guilty of
dishonesty, theft or assault, harassment or sexual harassment.
II
It was an hilarious Elmer Gantry who took the 10:21 train to
Monarch, a city of perhaps three hundred thousand. He sat in the
day-coach planning his Easter discourse. Jiminy! His first sermon in
a real city! Might lead to anything. Better give ’em something red-hot
and startling. Let’s see: He’d get away from this Christ is Risen stuff
—mention it of course, just bring it in, but have some other theme.
Let’s see: Faith. Hope. Repentance—no, better go slow on that
repentance idea; this Deacon Eversley, the lawyer, might be pretty
well-to-do and get sore if you suggested he had anything to repent
of. Let’s see: Courage. Chastity. Love—that was it—love!
And he was making notes rapidly, right out of his own head, on
the back of an envelope:
Love:
a rainbow
AM & PM star
from cradle to tomb
inspires art etc. music voice of love
slam atheists etc. who not appreciate love
“Guess you must be a newspaperman, Brother,” a voice assailed
him.
Elmer looked at his seatmate, a little man with a whisky nose and
asterisks of laughter-wrinkles round his eyes, a rather sportingly
dressed little man with the red tie which in 1906 was still thought
rather the thing for socialists and drinkers.
He could have a good time with such a little man, Elmer
considered. A drummer. Would it be more fun to be natural with him,
or to ask him if he was saved, and watch him squirm? Hell, he’d
have enough holy business in Monarch. So he turned on his best
good-fellow smile, and answered:
“Well, not exactly. Pretty warm for so early, eh?”
“Yuh, it certainly is. Been in Babylon long?”
“No, not very long.”
“Fine town. Lots of business.”
“You betcha. And some nice little dames there, too.”
The little man snickered. “There are, eh? Well, say, you better
give me some addresses. I make that town once a month and, by
golly, I ain’t picked me out a skirt yet. But it’s a good town. Lot’s of
money there.”
“Yes-sir, that’s a fact. Good hustling town. Quick turnover there,
all right. Lots of money in Babylon.”
“Though they do tell me,” said the little man, “there’s one of these
preacher-factories there.”
“Is that a fact!”
“Yump. Say, Brother, this’ll make you laugh. Juh know what I
thought when I seen you first—wearing that black suit and writing
things down? I thought maybe you was a preacher yourself!”
“Well—”
God, he couldn’t stand it! Having to be so righteous every
Sunday at Schoenheim—Deacon Bains everlastingly asking these
fool questions about predestination or some doggone thing. Cer’nly
had a vacation coming! And a sport like this fellow, he’d look down
on you if you said you were a preacher.
The train was noisy. If any neighboring cock crowed three times,
Elmer did not hear it as he rumbled:
“Well, for the love of Mike! Though—” In his most austere
manner: “This black suit happens to be mourning for one very dear
to me.”
“Oh, say, Brother, now you gotta excuse me! I’m always shooting
my mouth off!”
“Oh, that’s all right.”
“Well, let’s shake, and I’ll know you don’t hold it against me.”
“You bet.”
From the little man came an odor of whisky which stirred Elmer
powerfully. So long since he’d had a drink! Nothing for two months
except a few nips of hard cider which Lulu had dutifully stolen for him
from her father’s cask.
“Well, what is your line, Brother?” said the little man.
“I’m in the shoe game.”
“Well, that’s a fine game. Yes-sir, people do have to have shoes,
no matter if they’re hard up or not. My name’s Ad Locust—Jesus,
think of it, the folks named me Adney—can you beat that—ain’t that
one hell of a name for a fellow that likes to get out with the boys and
have a good time! But you can just call me Ad. I’m traveling for the
Pequot Farm Implement Company. Great organization! Great bunch!
Yes-sir, they’re great folks to work for, and hit it up, say! the sales-
manager can drink more good liquor than any fellow that’s working
for him, and, believe me, there’s some of us that ain’t so slow
ourselves! Yes-sir, this fool idea that a lot of these fly-by-night firms
are hollering about now, that in the long run you don’t get no more by
drinking with the dealers—All damn’ foolishness. They say this fellow
Ford that makes these automobiles talks that way. Well, you mark
my words: By 1910 he’ll be out of business, that’s what’ll happen to
him; you mark my words! Yes-sir, they’re a great concern, the Pequot
bunch. Matter of fact, we’re holding a sales-conference in Monarch
next week.”
“Is that a fact!”
“Yes-sir, by golly, that’s what we’re doing. You know—read
papers about how to get money out of a machinery dealer when he
ain’t got any money. Heh! Hell of a lot of attention most of us boys’ll
pay to that junk! We’re going to have a good time and get in a little
good earnest drinking, and you bet the sales-manager will be right
there with us! Say, Brother—I didn’t quite catch the name—”
“Elmer Gantry is my name. Mighty glad to meet you.”
“Mighty glad to know you, Elmer. Say, Elmer, I’ve got some of the
best Bourbon you or anybody else ever laid your face to right here in
my hip pocket. I suppose you being in a highbrow business like the
shoe business, you’d just about faint if I was to offer you a little
something to cure that cough!”
“I guess I would, all right; yes-sir, I’d just about faint.”
“Well, you’re a pretty big fellow, and you ought to try to control
yourself.”
“I’ll do my best, Ad, if you’ll hold my hand.”
“You betcha I will.” Ad brought out from his permanently sagging
pocket a pint of Green River, and they drank together, reverently.
“Say, jever hear the toast about the sailor?” inquired Elmer. He
felt very happy, at home with the loved ones after long and desolate
wanderings.
“Dunno’s I ever did. Shoot!”
“Here’s to the lass in every port,
And here’s to the port-wine in every lass,
But those tall thoughts don’t matter, sport,
For God’s sake, waiter, fill my glass!”
The little man wriggled. “Well, sir, I never did hear that one! Say,
that’s a knock-out! By golly, that certainly is a knock-out! Say, Elm,
whacha doing in Monarch? Wancha meet some of the boys. The
Pequot conference don’t really start till Monday, but some of us boys
thought we’d kind of get together today and hold a little service of
prayer and fasting before the rest of the galoots assemble. Like you
to meet ’em. Best bunch of sports you ever saw, lemme tell you that!
I’d like for you to meet ’em. And I’d like ’em to hear that toast. ‘Here’s
to the port-wine in every lass.’ That’s pretty cute, all right! Whacha
doing in Monarch? Can’t you come around to the Ishawonga Hotel
and meet some of the boys when we get in?”
Mr. Ad Locust was not drunk; not exactly drunk; but he had
earnestly applied himself to the Bourbon and he was in a state of
superb philanthropy. Elmer had taken enough to feel reasonable. He
was hungry, too, not only for alcohol but for unsanctimonious
companionship.
“I’ll tell you, Ad,” he said. “Nothing I’d like better, but I’ve got to
meet a guy—important dealer—this afternoon, and he’s dead
against all drinking. Fact—I certainly do appreciate your booze, but
don’t know’s I ought to have taken a single drop.”
“Oh, hell, Elm, I’ve got some throat pastilles that are absolutely
guaranteed to knock out the smell—absolutely. One lil drink wouldn’t
do us any harm. Certainly would like to have the boys hear that toast
of yours!”
“Well, I’ll sneak in for a second, and maybe I can foregather with
you for a while late Sunday evening or Monday morning, but—”
“Aw, you ain’t going to let me down, Elm?”
“Well, I’ll telephone this guy, and fix it so’s I don’t have to see him
till long ’bout three o’clock.”
“That’s great!”
III
From the Ishawonga Hotel, at noon, Elmer telephoned to the
office of Mr. Eversley, the brightest light of the Flowerdale Baptist
Church. There was no answer.
“Everybody in his office out to dinner. Well, I’ve done all I can till
this afternoon,” Elmer reflected virtuously, and joined the Pequot
crusaders in the Ishawonga bar. . . . Eleven men in a booth for eight.
Every one talking at once. Every one shouting, “Say, waiter, you ask
that damn’ bartender if he’s making the booze!”
Within seventeen minutes Elmer was calling all of the eleven by
their first names—frequently by the wrong first names—and he
contributed to their literary lore by thrice reciting his toast and by
telling the best stories he knew. They liked him. In his joy of release
from piety and the threat of life with Lulu, he flowered into vigor. Six
several times the Pequot salesmen said one to another, “Now there’s
a fellow we ought to have with us in the firm,” and the others nodded.
He was inspired to give a burlesque sermon.
“I’ve got a great joke on Ad!” he thundered. “Know what he
thought I was first? A preacher!”
“Say, that’s a good one!” they cackled.
“Well, at that, he ain’t so far off. When I was a kid, I did think
some about being a preacher. Well, say now, listen, and see if I
wouldn’t’ve made a swell preacher!”
While they gaped and giggled and admired, he rose solemnly,
looked at them solemnly, and boomed:
“Brethren and Sistern, in the hustle and bustle of daily life you
guys certainly do forget the higher and finer things. In what, in all the
higher and finer things, in what and by what are we ruled excepting
by Love? What is Love?”
“You stick around tonight and I’ll show you!” shrieked Ad Locust.
“Shut up now, Ad! Honest—listen. See if I couldn’t’ve been a
preacher—a knock-out—bet I could handle a big crowd well’s any of
’em. Listen. . . . What is Love? What is the divine Love? It is the
rainbow, repainting with its spangled colors those dreary wastes
where of late the terrible tempest has wreaked its utmost fury—the
rainbow with its tender promise of surcease from the toils and
travails and terrors of the awful storm! What is Love—the divine
Love, I mean, not the carnal but the divine Love, as exemplified in
the church? What is—”
“Say!” protested the most profane of the eleven, “I don’t think you
ought to make fun of the church. I never go to church myself, but
maybe I’d be a better fella if I did, and I certainly do respect folks that
go to church, and I send my kids to Sunday School. You God damn
betcha!”
“Hell, I ain’t making fun of the church!” protested Elmer.
“Hell, he ain’t making fun of the church. Just kidding the
preachers,” asserted Ad Locust. “Preachers are just ordinary guys
like the rest of us.”
“Sure; preachers can cuss and make love just like anybody else.
I know! What they get away with, pretending to be different,” said
Elmer lugubriously, “would make you gentlemen tired if you knew.”
“Well, I don’t think you had ought to make fun of the church.”
“Hell, he ain’t making fun of the church.”
“Sure, I ain’t making fun of the church. But lemme finish my
sermon.”
“Sure, let him finish his sermon.”
“Where was I? . . . What is Love? It is the evening and the
morning star—those vast luminaries that as they ride the purple
abysms of the vasty firmament vouchsafe in their golden splendor
the promise of higher and better things that—that—Well, say, you
wise guys, would I make a great preacher or wouldn’t I?”
The applause was such that the bartender came and looked at
them funereally; and Elmer had to drink with each of them. That is,
he drank with four of them.
But he was out of practise. And he had had no lunch.
He turned veal-white; sweat stood on his forehead and in a
double line of drops along his upper lip, while his eyes were
suddenly vacant.
Ad Locust squealed, “Say, look out! Elm’s passing out!”
They got him up to Ad’s room, one man supporting him on either
side and one pushing behind, just before he dropped insensible, and
all that afternoon, when he should have met the Flowerdale Baptist
committee, he snored on Ad’s bed, dressed save for his shoes and
coat. He came to at six, with Ad bending over him, solicitous.
“God, I feel awful!” Elmer groaned.
“Here. What you need’s a drink.”
“Oh, Lord, I mustn’t take any more,” said Elmer, taking it. His
hand trembled so that Ad had to hold the glass to his mouth. He was
conscious that he must call up Deacon Eversley at once. Two drinks
later he felt better, and his hand was steady. The Pequot bunch
began to come in, with a view to dinner. He postponed his telephone
call to Eversley till after dinner; he kept postponing it; and he found
himself, at ten on Easter morning, with a perfectly strange young
woman in a perfectly strange flat, and heard Ad Locust, in the next
room, singing “How Dry I Am.”
Elmer did a good deal of repenting and groaning before his first
drink of the morning, after which he comforted himself, “Golly, I never
will get to that church now. Well, I’ll tell the committee I was taken
sick. Hey, Ad! How’d we ever get here? Can we get any breakfast in
this dump?”
He had two bottles of beer, spoke graciously to the young lady in
the kimono and red slippers, and felt himself altogether a fine fellow.
With Ad and such of the eleven as were still alive, and a scattering of
shrieking young ladies, he drove out to a dance-hall on the lake,
Easter Sunday afternoon, and they returned to Monarch for lobster
and jocundity.
“But this ends it. Tomorrow morning I’ll get busy and see Eversley
and fix things up,” Elmer vowed.
IV
In that era long-distance telephoning was an uncommon event,
but Eversley, deacon and lawyer, was a bustler. When the new
preacher had not appeared by six on Saturday afternoon, Eversley
telephoned to Babylon, waited while Dean Trosper was fetched to
the Babylon central, and spoke with considerable irritation about the
absence of the ecclesiastical hired hand.
“I’ll send you Brother Hudkins—a very fine preacher, living here
now, retired. He’ll take the midnight train,” said Dean Trosper.
To Mr. Hudkins the dean said, “And look around and see if you
can find anything of Brother Gantry. I’m worried about him. The poor
boy was simply in agony over a most unfortunate private matter . . .
apparently.”
Now Mr. Hudkins had for several years conducted a mission on
South Clark Street in Chicago, and he knew a good many unholy
things. He had seen Elmer Gantry in classes at Mizpah. When he
had finished Easter morning services in Monarch, he not only went
to the police and to the hospitals but began a round of the hotels,
restaurants, and bars. Thus it came to pass that while Elmer was
merrily washing lobster down with California claret, stopping now
and then to kiss the blonde beside him and (by request) to repeat his
toast, that evening, he was being observed from the café door by the
Reverend Mr. Hudkins in the enjoyable rôle of avenging angel.
V
When Elmer telephoned Eversley, Monday morning, to explain
his sickness, the deacon snapped, “All right. Got somebody else.”
“But, well, say, Dean Trosper thought you and the committee
might like to talk over a semi-permanent arrangement—”
“Nope, nope, nope.”
Returned to Babylon, Elmer went at once to the office of the
dean.
One look at his expression was enough.
The dean concluded two minutes of the most fluent description
with:
“—the faculty committee met this morning, and you are fired from
Mizpah. Of course you remain an ordained Baptist minister. I could
get your home association to cancel your credentials, but it would
grieve them to know what sort of a lying monster they sponsored.
Also, I don’t want Mizpah mixed up in such a scandal. But if I ever
hear of you in any Baptist pulpit, I’ll expose you. Now I don’t suppose
you’re bright enough to become a saloon-keeper, but you ought to
make a pretty good bartender. I’ll leave your punishment to your
midnight thoughts.”
Elmer whined, “You hadn’t ought—you ought not to talk to me like
that! Doesn’t it say in the Bible you ought to forgive seventy times
seven—”
“This is eighty times seven. Get out!”
So the Reverend Mr. Gantry surprisingly ceased to be, for
practical purposes, a Reverend at all.
He thought of fleeing to his mother, but he was ashamed; of
fleeing to Lulu, but he did not dare.
He heard that Eddie Fislinger had been yanked to Schoenheim to
marry Lulu and Floyd Naylor . . . a lonely grim affair by lamplight.
“They might have ast me, anyway,” grumbled Elmer, as he
packed.
He went back to Monarch and the friendliness of Ad Locust. He
confessed that he had been a minister, and was forgiven. By Friday
that week Elmer had become a traveling salesman for the Pequot
Farm Implement Company.
CHAPTER XI
I
elmer gantry was twenty-eight, and for two years he had been
a traveling salesman for the Pequot Company.
Harrows and rakes and corn-planters; red plows and gilt-striped
green wagons; catalogues and order-lists; offices glassed off from
dim warehouses; shirt-sleeved dealers on high stools at high desks;
the bar at the corner; stifling small hotels and lunch-rooms; waiting
for trains half the night in foul boxes of junction stations, where the
brown slatted benches were an agony to his back; trains, trains,
trains; trains and time-tables and joyous return to his headquarters in
Denver; a drunk, a theater, and service in a big church.
He wore a checked suit, a brown derby, striped socks, the huge
ring of gold serpents and an opal which he had bought long ago,
flower-decked ties, and what he called “fancy vests”—garments of
yellow with red spots, of green with white stripes, of silk or daring
chamois.
He had had a series of little loves, but none of them important
enough to continue.
He was not unsuccessful. He was a good talker, a magnificent
hand-shaker, his word could often be depended on, and he
remembered most of the price-lists and all of the new smutty stories.
In the office at Denver he was popular with “the boys.” He had one
infallible “stunt”—a burlesque sermon. It was known that he had
studied to be a preacher but had courageously decided that it was
no occupation for a “real two-fisted guy,” and that he had “told the
profs where they got off.” A promising and commendable fellow;
conceivably sales-manager some day.
Whatever his dissipations, Elmer continued enough exercise to
keep his belly down and his shoulders up. He had been shocked by
Deacon Bains’ taunt that he was growing soft, and every morning in
his hotel room he unhumorously did calisthenics for fifteen minutes;
evenings he bowled or boxed in Y. M. C. A. gymnasiums, or, in
towns large enough, solemnly swam up and down tanks like a white
porpoise. He felt lusty, and as strong as in Terwillinger days.
Yet Elmer was not altogether happy.
He appreciated being free of faculty rules, free of the guilt which
in seminary days had followed his sprees at Monarch, free of the
incomprehensible debates of Harry Zenz and Frank Shallard, yet he
missed leading the old hymns, and the sound of his own voice, the
sense of his own power, as he held an audience by his sermon.
Always on Sunday evenings (except when he had an engagement
with a waitress or a chambermaid) he went to the evangelical church
nearest his hotel. He enjoyed criticizing the sermon professionally.
“Golly, I could put it all over that poor boob! The straight gospel is
all right, but if he’d only stuck in a couple literary allusions, and
lambasted the saloon-keepers more, he’d’ve had ’em all het up.”
He sang so powerfully that despite a certain tobacco and whisky
odor the parsons always shook hands with extra warmth, and said
they were glad to see you with us this evening, Brother.
When he encountered really successful churches, his devotion to
the business became a definite longing to return to preaching; he
ached to step up, push the minister out of his pulpit, and take
charge, instead of sitting back there unnoticed and unadmired, as
though he were an ordinary layman.
“These chumps would be astonished if they knew what I am!” he
reflected.
After such an experience it was vexatious on Monday morning to
talk with a droning implement-dealer about discounts on manure-
spreaders; it was sickening to wait for train-time in a cuspidor-filled
hotel lobby when he might have been in a church office superior with
books, giving orders to pretty secretaries and being expansive and
helpful to consulting sinners. He was only partly solaced by being
able to walk openly into a saloon and shout, “Straight rye, Bill.”
On Sunday evening in a Western Kansas town he ambled to a
shabby little church and read on the placard outside: