Running head: POLITICALLY INCORRECT EMPLOYEE

Case Study 1: Politically Incorrect Employee

Elise Aiello
University of South Florida

POLITICALLY INCORRECT EMPLOYEE

Case Study 1: The Politically Incorrect Employee

Max Walker is a dependable, hardworking employee in the reference department at the
Parkwood University Library. Walker has worked in the library for 35 years and has received
many accolades for his service. He is always willing to help and work extra hours. Even though
Walker is an excellent employee, he still has several blemishes on his personnel file, and another
one has just been added. Library Director Jeff Archer has just received an email from reference
department head Carol Parham which describes a complaint she has just received about Walker
from a patron. The complaint stated that Walker said the following to a patron: I can help you
over here, little lady. The patron took offense, filed the complaint with Parham, and as library
policy decrees, Parham had to alert Archer.
Now Archer is trying to come up with a solution. Walker is such a valuable employee that
terminating him seems to be too extreme of a move. Archer has asked Parham if there is any
other department that Walker could work in, but the time and resources required to train him
would make it very difficult. Also, Walker is about four or five years from retirement, and loves
his job. Archer needs to come up with a solution to Walkers occasional poor choice of words. It
seems like the problem can be remedied, because Walkers words do not stem from a place of
malice or bigotry. It appears that Walker is just on the older side and still uses phrases that may
not be considered appropriate by todays standards. Also, he probably has not received much
continuing education or training to alleviate this problem. First, Archer and Parham need to have
a meeting with Walker to discuss this issue. Archer should immediately enroll Walker in cultural
sensitivity training and have Parham more closely monitor his interaction with patrons. If the
behavior hasnt changed after that, further action should be taken. Chances are that Walkers
behavior is so ingrained that he does not even realize what he does. A wake-up call is in order.
When Parham and Archer sit down with Walker, they should first acknowledge his assets
and how much he is appreciated. According to a 1999 article by Herbert E. Cihak, showing

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respect for and confidence in library technicians elevates and uplifts all support staff. By
uplifting and praising Walkers good behavior, it will likely make him more amenable to
coaching suggestions and less likely to become defensive at criticism. Then, Parham and Archer
should emphasize how much the library has evolved and how important it is that staff members
evolve along with it. This would be the time to bring up the complaints about Walker, and then
prepare him to take action to amend his behavior. First, each support staff member must
undergo a rigorous self-examination. Any flaws in character must be discarded, and weak
performance strengthened. Second, support staff can engage in an external examination of their
own job responsibilities. This evaluation can be used as a stepping-stone for clearly defining and
adding value to their position (Cihak 1999). Walkers flaw of using antiquated terms to address
people needs to be immediately addressed and discarded if he is going to continue to work there.
Since this has been an ongoing issue, it is probably not going to be resolved overnight.
That is why it may be advisable for Walker to have a long-term coaching plan or performance
goal. A 2010 article by Ruth Metz talks about the benefits of coaching: coaching is the
purposeful and skillful effort by one individual to help another achieve specific performance
goals. Since Walker is such a dedicated employee, this plan will most likely encourage him to
follow up on his goals. The player is willing to be challenged, supported, and influenced by the
coach; the coach enables this willingness throughout the stages of coaching (Metz 2010).
Another important step in Walkers coaching process is going to be following up on his
behavior. Coaching and training may help for a short period of time, but who is to say that after a
month or two Walker wont be back to his old habits? It would be advisable for Parham and
Archer to set up a follow up coaching session with Walker to look at how his performance has
improved, worsened, or stayed the same.
This may not be the perfect solution to Walkers problem. After all, coaching and training
do take up quite a bit of time. However, an employee as dependable as Walker who has worked

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for the library for so long could very much benefit from extra training. Employees in most
libraries have to constantly learn new things and adapt. Archer should have an awareness of this
and be willing to utilize the time and resources available to improve employee performance.

References
Cihak, Herbert E. (1999). Coaching library support staff: the three R's that count. Library
Mosaics, 10(2), 10-12. Retrieved from:
http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/ehost/detail?vid=12&sid=7bf60988-fa0243fa-84ccd41d1effd728%40sessionmgr14&hid=6&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#db=llf&AN=502817923
Metz, Ruth. (2010). Coaching in the library. American Libraries. Retrieved from:
http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/article/coaching-library