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Case 11.2: Dixie Industries, Inc.
Please respond in writing to the issues presented in this case by preparing two documents: a communication strategy memo and a professional business letter.
In preparing these documents, you may assume the role of the Vice President for Human Resources for Dixie Industries. Your task is to provide advice to Mr. Keith Harkins regarding the issues he and the company are facing. Or, you may identify yourself as an external management consultant who has been asked by the company to provide advice to Mr. Harkins.
Either way, you must prepare a strategy memo addressed to Keith Harkins, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company, that summarizes the details of the case, rank-orders critical issues, discusses their implications (whatthey mean and why they matter), offers specific recommendations for action (assigning ownership and suspense dates for each) and shows how to communicate the solution to all who are affected by the recommendations.
Case 11.2: Dixie Industries, Inc.
Middle managers are frequently called upon to draft documents, including letters, memoranda, position
papers, background reports and briefing documents for senior people in their organizations. Sometimes,
senior managers will ask subordinates not only to prepare a document for signature, but to gather the
relevant supporting information, as well.
Often, the preparation of such documents requires no more than a quick referral to a balance sheet,
database or filing system to gather the information needed. Sometimes, though, a management
response requires that the company – often in the person of the chief executive or president – take a
position on an issue. It is in such circumstances that middle managers can reveal who among them is
most perceptive, thoughtful and insightful.
Some management problems are easily resolved. The issues are clear, the resources are available and
implementation is not difficult. Other problems are more difficult. Resources may be limited, intentions
and agenda may not be clear and more than one audience may be paying attention to the response.
The issue at hand deals with corporate policy, corporate actions in regard to that policy and with the
public perceptions of both. This case requires two documents: a brief (two-or-three-page)
communication strategy memorandum, and a letter to an employee. The strategy memo should be
directed to the President of Dixie Industries, Inc. and should describe in detail how you plan to handle
the case and why. The letter will help to implement the strategy.
Assume that you are the Vice President for Human Resources and report directly to the President of the
firm. Dixie Industries, Inc. is a mid-size, non-union textile company located in the American south. The
author of the study referred to by your president is a loom operator with ten years’ experience and six
years of job tenure with the firm. Your memorandum to the president and letter to Ms. Feldman should
be in finished form and ready to transmit.
DIXIE INDUSTRIES, INC.
3128 Northeast Industrial Park Road Meridian, Mississippi 39201
DATE:
[Today’s Date]
TO:
Vice President, Human Resources
FROM:
Keith Harkins
President, Dixie Industries, Inc.
SUBJECT:
Dixie Industries Women’s Group Study of Company Promotion Practices.
This memo asks for your assistance in gathering the advice of key staff officers in response to
accusations of bias in our personnel policies from an unofficial employees’ group.
Background
As you know, Dixie Industries, Inc. has recently been accused by an ad-hoc committee of employees of
“a continuing and pervasive bias in promotions in favor of men.” You may recall that Ms. Linda Feldman,
founder and chairperson of the Dixie Industries Women’s Group, has produced a so-called study of this
problem and has demanded that we respond. The DI Executive Committee has read her study (such as it
is) and asked for my response. I have attached a copy of her letter.
As far as I can determine, we now have four women in positions above that of Assistant Department
Head. None of the senior executive positions, other than your own, has ever been filled by a female, but
we’re certainly open to hiring some as positions come open.
Now you know, of course, that more than 40 percent of our 1,800 employees are female – all of them
industrious and hard-working. Many of them are quite loyal to the company, but many others (Ms.
Feldman included) come and go with some frequency. We have experienced 23 maternity leave
requests in the past 12 months. Others have poor attendance records (sick children, school problems,
etc.).
Our Official Position
My position, and the position of Dixie Industries, Inc., is this: we’ll promote the most deserving
individual who is available to fill a particular vacancy. We’ll certainly consider any qualified woman (or
any qualified man, for that matter) when a job in the executive ranks comes open. Our long-standing
policy of promoting from within remains firm.
We go outside the company only when no fully qualified applicants are available in-house. Ms.
Feldman’s complaint ignores a number of important points, including the fact that few, if any, of our
loom operators and plant floor personnel have the education and background to become managers.
Also, a number of the figures she cites in the study are simply wrong. She does have a point, however, in
that we have very few women in management or executive positions.
The other issue she ignores is the fact that we haven’t had much turnover in management or executive
positions in the past five years. In 25 positions, we’ve had one retirement and one resignation. The
retirement resulted in an internal promotion (to VP, Finance from Comptroller), and the resignation
resulted in an external hire. We have such low turnover, in my view, because of employee loyalty. And,
as you know, we’re well ahead of the industry in this regard.
I’m concerned about several issues here:
Unionization. If Ms. Feldman manages to get enough of our hourly wage employees excited about this
issue, we could be looking at a petition for establishment of a collective bargaining unit – probably with
the ILGWU. That’s a distraction that would be costly and counterproductive.
Publicity. This is just the sort of thing that could hurt our image in the local community and, ultimately,
drive our stock price down even further. We just cannot afford to have employees airing their
grievances in the newspapers. We could use a little positive publicity for a change.
Job Action. We’ve had a difficult time over the past 18 months in recruiting and retaining dependable
loom operators. I’m concerned that Ms. Feldman and her group may instigate a slowdown, a walkout or
some other job action that will harm this company’s ability to respond to customer orders and remain
competitive. As you know, margins in this industry are shrinking every year because of foreign
competition.
Productivity. We’re below industry standards in productivity. Again, we cannot afford to spend more
time worrying about issues like this. Instead, we must work on absenteeism, turnover and unit
productivity.
The Right Thing to Do: I am also concerned about more than simple appearance here. I want this
company to do “the right thing,” whatever that may be.
The problem, of course, is that I’m not at all certain what the “right thing” might be. We can’t promote
high-school educated loom operators to management positions simply because we don’t have many
women in management.
Give me your best thoughts on this. What should we do? Shall we confront Ms. Feldman and her group?
Or, should we try to work with her to resolve the issues we face?
I’m ready to move on this issue. Please prepare a plan for me that will respond to Ms. Feldman, address
her concerns, and do what you can to help us calm this situation. Please let me know whether or not
you think we should meet with this women’s group. Involve whichever members of the staff you think
are appropriate and copy them on your memo. Make it confidential but don’t leave our key players in
the dark.
Additionally, I’d like you to prepare a letter for my signature to Ms. Feldman. I don’t want any publicity
about this matter, and I certainly don’t want any lawsuits. Let me see your draft within 48 hours.
[Dated One Week Ago]310 Azalea Lane Meridian, MS 39203
Mr. Keith Harkins President Dixie Industries3128 Northeast Industrial Park Road Meridian, MS 39201
Dear Mr. Harkins:
The Dixie Industries Women’s Group has asked me to write to you on behalf of the women of our
company. We have some questions and concerns that we would like to share with you.
The first concerns promotion opportunities for women at Dixie Industries. According to Mr. Darryl
Robbins of the DI Human Resources Department, this company employs approximately 1,798 employees
in various jobs. Mr. Robbins also says that about 720 of them are women. That seems to be about 40
percent of the Dixie Industries workers who are female.
At the same time, Mr. Robbins told me that the company has about two dozen upper management
positions here, but only four are staffed by women. That’s not much better than 16 percent. This
company has, according to its own HR Department, 54 managers and 25 senior managers. Of those, just
seven women are managers and only two are senior managers. In addition to that, one of just two
female executives, Mrs. Dorothy Wyatt, left the company last year. Some of her close friends say she left
because of the general working environment here and the lack of opportunity for women.
An informal survey of other firms in the textile industry (see table below) shows that Dixie Industries is
below average in promotion opportunities for women employees. West Point Pepperell in Georgia has
told a member of our group that 35 percent of their senior managers are women. That’s twice the
average of Dixie Industries. Berkshire Mills of Alabama told us more or less the same thing. On top of
that, both of those firms offer college tuition and specialized training to their employees which Dixie
does not.
The fact of the matter, Mr. Harkins, remains that Dixie Industries has not promoted a woman to a
management position in over two years. Dixie does nothing to encourage and retain good women in
management. And Dixie has done nothing to show current women employees that they have any future
with this company. The only conclusion our group can draw is that the company is demonstrating a
continuing and pervasive bias in promotions in favor of men.
The second significant issue that I have been asked to bring to your attention concerns training
opportunities. Most of the promotions to supervisory positions on the plant floor have gone to people
with advanced training in textile production and automated loom operations. Those people, with very
few exceptions, have been men. We would like to know when the company plans to establish a fair and
equitable means for selecting employees for training, especially training that is likely to lead to better
employment opportunities.
Mr. Harkins, I have personally been employed here over six years and am certified as a master loom
technician. My reason for writing to you is to explain that a number of women employees of Dixie
Industries are upset about these facts and concerned that no opportunity for a better future exists for
them here. On their behalf, I respectfully ask that you explain what the company plans to do.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Linda S. Feldman
