Written Analysis and Communication

Term-2
Prof. Aditya Deshbandhu

Disability Accommodations and Promotions at Bunco

Submitted by:
Group 6
Section-D

Bhavya Rawal (2016IPM030)

Karuna Shankar (2019PGP206)
Jaya Harika (2019PGP215)
Mounika Bhukya (2019PGP263)
Nikhil Tamhankar (2019PGP279)
Srishti Jain (2019PGP419)
T. Dinesh Kumar Yadav (2019PGP441)
Kanishka Jain (2019PGPH029)
This case deals with the dilemma faced by Nicholas, director of finance at Bunco Canada on
determining whether or not to promote Paul, a senior accountant with a disability, to the role
of an accounting manager.

Situation Analysis:

Paul was a senior accountant at Bunco and had worked for Nicholas, director of finance at
Bunco Canada for a total of fourteen years since 1990. He was a part of a team of 8 that dealt
with the financial accounting of the firm and was the only person besides Nicholas with a
professional designation. He was a consistent and reliable employee who had acquired a lot
of knowledge about the organization during his tenure. He got along well with the rest of the
team and acted as an informal advisor to the other members of the team. However, since
2000, Paul had started experiencing certain health issues and required special
accommodations for his Crohn’s disease.

Crohn’s disease is an incurable inflammatory bowel disease that results in moderate to severe
pain, vomiting, diarrhea, gas, and rectal bleeding. As a result, it is increasingly difficult for an
employee to keep working normally and hence require special accommodations. The
Canadian courts have recognized Crohn’s disease as a legitimate disability for employment-
related purposes.

Specials accommodations were given to Paul, under this disability where he could work from
home on his bad days. Initially, the team was supportive and understood why Paul needed
this special arrangement. However, as more time passed, he worked at the office for only 2
days a week and was absent more than 50 percent of the time. Due to this, the team members
now started approaching Nicholas with daily questions that would usually be routed to Paul.
This interfered with the completion of Nicholas’s work and created general stress in the
office as people adjusted to the disappearance of Paul. After about 5 months of this routine,
Paul started working longer at the office as he got better and was present around 85 percent
of the time.

In early 2002, the disease relapsed and there was absenteeism yet again. Paul was absent
during key times and missed internal deadlines. This time, the team no longer supported the
special accommodations for Paul and began to murmur resentment amongst themselves.
There was worsening morale amongst a previously very close team.

Meanwhile, through ongoing growth and acquisitions, Nicholas acquired new responsibilities
though his designation stayed the same. It was now up to him to appoint a new accounting
manager who would take care of the work Nicholas had previously done. Under normal
circumstances, Paul would’ve been the first choice for a promotion. However, the new role
required to handle stressful tasks and trips to the US headquarters which Nicholas wasn’t sure
if Paul could do. The stress created relapse of Crohn's disease and despite the current 90
percent attendance of Paul, he was absent during month ends which were considered key. The
main concern Nicholas had for Paul was whether he would be physically available to the
team at all times or not. He decided Paul wasn’t the right candidate for the job after
deliberation and started an external search. Paul wasn’t particularly happy with the decision
but continued working as usual.

It has been fourteen months since the external search began and a suitable candidate for the
role of an accounting manager has not been found. No qualified candidates were found in the
rural area and Nicholas was being ragged by trying to do 2 jobs at once. This led to him
thinking if he should give the promotion to Paul.

Options for the problem:

1. Promote Paul to the position of Accounting Manager

2. Promote Paul and continue the search for a qualified person from outside
3. Promote Paul temporarily and side by side train Sarah to take over the position in
future
4. Promote both Paul and Sarah for the role
5. Promote Paul for a probation period
6. Provide assistance to Paul
7. The HR manager can look for some similar cases and learn how to tackle the current
problem through the solutions of the past cases.

The criterion for evaluation:

1. Promote Paul to the position of Accounting Manager: Paul is working in the

organization for fourteen years and has all the relevant experience required for the
position. Promoting Paul is the best viable option for Nicholas as he has all the
relevant qualifications for the role.
2. Promote Paul and continue the search for a qualified person from outside: Since
Paul’s health is quite unpredictable, the organization needs to have a backup that they
can rely on. So, searching for a person from outside, meanwhile, promoting Paul in
order to ensure the smooth functioning of the organization could be a feasible option.
3. Promote Paul temporarily and side by side train Sarah to take over the position
in future: Since Sarah is a competent person working for Bunco for a long time, she
could be trained for the position, in case Paul is not able to deliver what he is required
to.
4. Promote both Paul and Sarah for the role: Paul and Sarah both could be promoted
for the role where Paul could work from his home and monitor the working of and
train her for the position. Since Paul has been working in the organization for a long
time, Sarah can learn a lot of things through his experience. This will enrich Sarah’s
experience and will be profitable to the organization in the long run
5. Promote Paul for a probation period: Nicholas can consider promoting Paul for a
probation period and monitor his working and evaluate if he is suitable for the role
and then considers keeping him or letting him go according to his deliverables.
6. Provide assistance to Paul: Paul can be provided with a few assistants from among
the employees so that he can delegate some of his work to them. Work which
demands physical activity like going to client locations can be handed over to these
people.

Evaluation of options:

1. Though Paul is the most eligible and experienced guy in the company, his ill-health
acts as a negator to acquiring the position of an accounting manager. As there is
uncertainty in how regularly and how long he can work.
 2. Nicholas had tried hard to find a suitable person for the role of accounting manager,
but he failed. Hence, any further attempts to find qualified individuals for the position
will result in inefficiency in operations and more load on Nicholas's shoulders.
3. Sarah is the most suitable option considering the circumstances. She has enough
experience working in the organization and is a promising candidate to take up the
responsibility.
4. Promoting Paul and Sarah would lead to additional expenses as two people would do
one person's work.
5. Though keeping Paul in probation might be an option, but if Paul fails to deliver,
there would not be any backup for the role once Nicholas decides to let Paul go.
6. Assisting Paul would, in turn, lead to more expenses as more people would be
employed to do one individual's work.

Recommendation:

Evaluating all the options the best plan is to promote Paul temporarily and train Sarah to take
over the position in future. Also this would help Sarah in her preparation for the CMA, which
would make her the next qualified employee in the organisation to take the responsibilities
and the workload that would come with the role of an Accounting Manager. Moreover, by
this Paul can manage his work by assigning a few tasks to Sarah as a part of the training
which may reduce the stress on him. Eventually making it easier for him to balance his work
in times of his extreme health conditions. Also this would benefit the company in terms of the
financial investment after spending quite an amount on searching for a new employee and
losing 14 months time. Instead the company can provide additional incentives to Paul for
training Sarah. Which makes it a win-win situation for both Paul and the company.

Action plan and Implementation plan:

The recommendation of promoting Paul to the post of Accounting Manager is something

which needs extricate execution, given the fact that the company is also trying to create a
backup cum heir in the form of Sarah. However, all this needs to be done in a subtle way
because no employee would be willing to create a competitor for himself in the workplace,
someone who could potentially replace him or her in the future. The first step in the action
plan would be to promote Paul to the post of accounting manager with a probation period of
one year given to him. At the same time, Paul should be informed that Sarah will serve as his
direct deputy, helping him out in all the tasks that he performs in his capacity as the
accounting manager.

One year is enough time to understand whether Paul would be able to cope up with the stress
and physical presence required in the office to be a success at this job. If he succeeds in doing
so, its a win-win situation for Bunco as they would have an able manager with an able
replacement if and when required. Looking at other side of the spectrum, if Paul fails to
justify his promotion, Sarah would have learnt about the tricks of the trade in the time and
would be qualified enough to replace Paul.

Drafting of the contract is what holds maximum importance in this case. The contract should
have subtle mention of how performance will be the key player in deciding future of Paul.
Given the fact that the job is something which cannot be carried out from home, it is highly
unlikely that he can succeed working from home. So, if he fails, his performance could be
given as the reason for his removal from the post rather than absenteeism. In this way, the
company would be safe in terms of legal proceedings.

So, Paul should be promoted with contract mentioning his sustainability on the position is
subject to his fulfillment of performance requirements. Also, Sarah should be informed about
vital this one year would ne for her as it is her opportunity to gain mastery in the art of
accounting. If the above execution of plan is done, most of the problems of Nicholas would
be addressed.

Contingency:

Canadian laws state that employees must accommodate Crohn’s disease unless it does not
cause excessive hardships. Employees must be made aware of this law and the inclusion that
it has for the disabled persons. Although Paul is suffering from the disease, he is doing the
best that he could on his behalf, so the others can show some empathy towards him. During
the month end, when there is greater workload and Paul is unable to handle it, other
employees must take the lead and try to create a stress free environment for Paul so that he
can perform to the best of his abilities.