Ben Reeds Case Study
Ben Reeds Case Study
Ben Reed, twenty seven, graduated from the state university in June 1960 with a
B.A. degree in psychology.
Shortly after graduation, he took a job as assistant office manager with the Acme
Medical Association, a group health insurance organization. His salary was 5,000 per
year. As assistant office manager he was responsible for supervising approximately
forty female office employees who performed sorting totaling, and recording
operations concerning medical claims charged against Acme.
The office workers were situated at several rows of desks in a large open room. As
assistant manager, Ben Reed had a desk in the same room but off to one side of the
desks of the girls. His immediate supervisor, Charles Grayson, the office manager,
had been with Acme for twenty years and had risen to his present position from
beginning job as a clerical assistant. During his career in Acme, he had watched the
company grow and progress, and often referred to the increase in employees under
his supervision with a great deal of pride.
According to Ben Reed, his work at Acme was not especially challenging. In describing
his job, he stated that his main duties were to check the time cards of the office
workers each morning, to make sure that everything was in order, and to answer
questions concerning claims that the girls might bring to him. In addition, he did
special statistical studies at the request of the controller office of Grayson. These
studies were infrequent, and during his first four months with Acme, Ben participated
in only two such studies. He estimated that on the average, he actually worked no
more than one or two hours a day.
Partially because of some courses he had taken at the university, Ben Reed had some
strong convictions concerning the supervision of the office employees. He was
concerned about the situation at Acme for two reasons: the high turnover of office
employees-which averaged about 48 percent per year; and the apathy of many of
the girls toward their work. He realized that he was new in the organization, but
nevertheless felt obligated to make some suggestions which he felt would improve
the situation with regard to the office force. Grayson, his immediate superior, often
did not agree with these suggestions. For example, in order partially to utilize his
unproductive time, Ben-suggested that, as he had had several courses in physiology
as a pre-med student before transferring to psychology, it might be helpful if he could
spend an hour or two a week in instructing the office staff in some of the basic
fundamentals of physiology. The nature of the work was such that knowledge of the
various functions and systems of the body would, he felt, be helpful in speeding up
the sorting and processing of claims that came in. Ben suggested to Grayson that he
would be happy to conduct these informal classes as a part of his regular duties. Mr.
Grayson, however, did not feel this was a good suggestion and did not permit Ben to
go through with his idea. Ben also had a disagreement with Grayson over the handling
of the case of Doris Martin. Doris, a clerk-typist, approached Ben one day while
Grayson was out of the office to report that she was sick and desired to go home.
Ben made the necessary arrangement for her to have the rest of the day off. When
Grayson heard of this incident, he was very upset. He told Ben that he did not have
the authority to make these kinds of decisions in the future. Ben felt that, because
Grayson was not in the office at the time the situation occurred, and because Doris
Martin was obviously sick, he had made a good decision and he let the matter drop.
On December 10, 1960, Robert Colvin, controller of Acme Medical Association called
Ben into his office to discuss plans for a new electronic data processing installation
that the company was considering putting in to speed up the processing of claims.
He spent about two and one half hours with Ben explaining the proposed system and
concluded the interview by stating that he felt that as new men often had good ideas
for improvement, he would welcome any thoughts that Ben might have. Ben was
enthusiastic about Colvin approaching him, and spent several hours that night at
home working out a plan that would permit the new process to be installed in his
area with a minimum of difficulty. He submitted his ideas to Colvin the next morning.
Colvin was very impressed with Ben’s ideas and immediately called a meeting of
several of the officials of Acme, including Grayson, to review Ben’s plan. This meeting
was held during the early afternoon, Grayson entered the area in which the girls’ and
Ben’s desks were located, approached Ben’s desk, and slammed the folder containing
Ben’s plans down, explaining, “What in the hell is this?” Before Ben could reply,
Grayson commenced in a loud voice to lecture on the necessity of going through
channels when submitting reports, ideas, and suggestions. His remarks attracted the
attention of the office girls, most of whom stopped work to watch the disturbance.
Ben Reed interrupted Grayson to suggest that they might continue their discussion
in Grayson’s office which was glass-enclosed and out of earshot of the girls. Grayson
snatched the folder from Ben’s desk and stalked into his office. Ben following.
On December 13, Ben Reed submitted his resignation and subsequently left the Acme
Company on December 24, 1960. At the time of his departure, he did not have a new
job.