Chapter 6

I decided to not talk to Marty about the possibility of him becoming the manager of R&D, until the next day. I did bring Brenda in, and we discussed it.

"You know this is a pretty good-sized gamble, don't you?" she asked.

"Yeah, I know it will be hard for him, especially right at first. He's kind of laid back, but I think that's because of where he has been working for the last five years. Shear stifled him, then he moved into controls. The job there is just not challenging enough. I'm hoping that moving him to a management position, will bring back the enthusiasm he displayed when he first went into R&D."

"It might. Then again, it might overwhelm him and cause him to quit. You have to be ready for that if it happens."

"Yeah, I know. I still think it's the best thing for him, and for the company. If we leave him where he is, we'll end up having to fire him."

"Do you think being a Project Manager will straighten Shear out?"

"You go right for the heart of it, don't you?" I laughed. "No. Actually, I think he'll go along with it for just as long as it takes for him to find another job. Shear is in his late forties. His ways of thinking are pretty much set in concrete by now. Basically, this is just giving him time to remove himself from the company."

"I kind of expected as much. So, what are you going to do about Missy?"

"I think Missy is fine right where she is. With Marty as manager, I think she'll flourish. I think we can expect great things from Missy over the years."

"I meant, what are you going to do about her personally?"

"That, my dear," I said with a grin, "is none of your business."

I finally let Gene in to talk with me, late in the afternoon. He surprised me.

"Ed, I really fucked up with Jim," he said, starting off the conversation. "When I started having problems with him, I told my wife I was going to have to let him go. She told me that if I did, she'd leave me. I let that sway my judgment on how I should handle the situation."

"Okay, Gene, does the fact that I fired him smooth things over with your wife?"

"It probably would have, but I told her it was my idea for you to fire him. Ed, I know this is personal business, rather than company business, but I've got to talk to someone about it."

"Gene, I'll be happy to listen to anything you want to tell me. I will not offer you advice on personal issues, but I'll be happy to offer you advice on company issues."

"That's okay, Ed. I guess, for most of my life, I've been kind of passive. If a problem came up, I just kind of sat back and let someone else take care of it. My wife is a very dominant and domineering person, so I've kind of let her run things."

"Okay."

"For the most part, that was fine. She took care of things around the house and I took care of things at work. Then, a couple of years ago, she started trying to tell me what I should be doing at work, too. At home, it was to the point I practically had to ask her when I could go to the bathroom."

"What you're describing is a typical Dominant/Submissive relationship," I said. "For some people, it works."

"Well... I think the only reason it worked for us, is that I loved her so much, that I didn't want to lose her. It has gotten to the point that I'd rather lose her, than keep on living the way we are now. The main problem is, I let my situation at home carry over into the workplace. I became afraid to be firm with anyone."

"That's one of the things I saw about you right off, Gene. You are a very likable guy. It seemed like you were afraid to be firm with anyone, because you were afraid they wouldn't like you any more. I don't care who you are, not everyone is going to like you. As adults, and especially as managers, we have to learn to accept that."

"Yeah, I know you're right. I've made some positive moves at home, and I'll be making some positive moves at work. If you'll give me the chance, I think you'll see a big change in me over the next few weeks."

"You'll have your chance, Gene. From what I've seen you are a very good engineer. If you can bring your management skills up to the point where your engineering skills are, you'll be a big asset to Belding."

Week 3 - Tuesday

I had Brenda set up an interview with Marty Dunn for the first thing in the morning. We ended up with the three of us going to the cafeteria for coffee while we talked.

"You're probably wondering what's going on, Marty. I'm going to offer you an opportunity," I said.

"Okay," he said, somewhat skeptically.

"You told me that R&D would have been interesting if you could have worked on new designs. Would R&D be interesting if you were the R&D manager?"

"Uh... Well... yeah. Would I be allowed to make the decisions as to what the engineers would be working on?"

"Yes. Within certain limits, of course. All major projects would have to be approved by me. There are also budget issues to be considered, and things of that nature. That means any major project would have to be reviewed by me, to see how we would pay for it. On something like that, you'd submit a proposal, along with projected costs. Then we'd go over the advantages of the design, verses the cost of implementing it."

"I could live with that. I have some other ideas about R&D that I'd like to go over with you at some point. What's going to happen with Shear?"

"Jim Shear is going to be offered a position as a Project Manager. All of this is confidential right now. Shear hasn't been told yet, so keep it quiet. Are you interested in the position?"

"Most definitely. When would I start?"

"I'm thinking we'll have the changeover take place next Monday, unless something comes up that will make it imperative to do it sooner."

"Okay, is there anything I can be doing before then?"

"Brenda will give you a copy of last year's budget for R&D. I've asked all of my managers to give me new budgets, based on a ten percent increase over last year. The budget proposals are due this Friday, so I don't imagine you'll have time to do much with them; but when I get Shear's proposal, we can go over that."

"Okay. Will there be a chance to revise the budget after I've gotten my feet wet?"

I had to smile at that. The man was thinking.

"Nothing in the budget is carved in stone. If you can cut expenses in one area, you can add them to another area. Anything major I want to know about, though."

Marty smiled. "I'd imagine you'll want to watch me pretty closely for a while. I don't have a problem with that. All I ask is that you keep an open mind."

"Okay, but that goes both ways. I have a good friend who works in R&D. I will give you my guarantee that my friendship for this person will not influence my dealings with your department. I don't expect you to treat her any differently than you do the other people in your department. Jim Shear had a problem with this. I hope you won't."

"No, I don't have a problem with it. Who is this person?"

"Missy Gerard. She just started in the department a couple of weeks ago."

"I know Missy from when she was working as a secretary. I'd be surprised if we had any problems."

I didn't see any reason to put it off, so I had Brenda set up a meeting with Jim Shear in my office at 10:00. When he came into the office, Brenda followed him in, and closed the door behind her.

"When you left my office yesterday, Jim, I was ready to fire you. I didn't, because I wanted to give it some thought. What I've decided to do instead, is give you a chance to get back in touch with the real world."

Shear's attitude was surly. I could understand that, but I was determined I wasn't going to let him be rude.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"I've heard reports from at least four different people that you kill every new idea that is presented to you. I don't think you are doing that to deliberately hurt the company, so I have to assume it's because you've been out of touch with our actual installations for too long. How long has it been since you actually visited a job site?"

"I was at the Victoria's Secret warehouse last year."

"Did you talk with the electrical and mechanical installers while you were there? Did you talk with the engineers? Did you discuss what kinds of problems they might be having?"

"Well, no. I was there to talk with the customer about their future needs. R&D is more concerned about future needs, than about installation problems."

"If we have a product that is difficult to install, and hard to set up, R&D should be concerned about that. Something along those lines should be considered for redesign. I discussed this with Mike Severt. The best solution we could come up with, was to give you some field experience. With that in mind, I'm offering you a chance to move into Project Management."

"What do you mean? Are you taking R&D away from me?"

"Yes, you are no longer going to be in R&D. We're offering you the chance to be a Project Manager until such time we feel you are ready to get back into management."

"What happens to me if I say I don't want to be a Project Manager?"

"Then you'll be let go. I'm sorry, Jim, but R&D is the department where we should be examining new ideas, rather than stifling them."

"I'd like to talk to Mike Severt about this. I feel you're doing this because I called you on your relationship with Missy Gerard."

"You are free to talk with Mike, if he'll see you. He is fully aware of the situation."

"When is this supposed to take place?"

"I've set things up for you to be in your new position next Monday. You should plan to be leaving for a job site on Tuesday. I think it would be better to have you working with another PM until you get your feet on the ground. Is your budget proposal complete? Could I get that from you today?"

"Yeah, I can give you my budget proposal today. I'm going to see if I can talk to Mike first, though."