Biblical Integration Case Study

Ralph Emerson was an employee of Boston Bank.

He started as a teller in the Roxbury Branch, and was

quickly promoted to the Customer Service Team Leader position due to his care and concern for bank

customers.

At about the six year mark of employment, he transferred to a second, larger location in

Concord, in the same position.

Four years after the transfer, the Assistant Branch Manager position at the Concord Branch came open.

Ralph expressed interest in the position to the Branch Manager, Ellen.

The manager shared her concerns

that Ralph was not fully ready for this new role, but promised to keep Ralph in mind.

A search to fill the

position did not turn up any candidates more qualified than Ralph, so he was selected for the position.

During the conversation about the promotion to Assistant Branch Manager, his supervisor relayed clear

expectations about areas where Ralph needed to raise his level of effort and results to be successful in

the new role.

These included attention to detail, coaching and mentoring employees under his

leadership, and treating employees as favorably as he treated customers.

Ralph progressed well for a while.

About six months after his promotion, Ellen began to hear complaints

from Ralph’s team.

The issues were minor at first – a missed deadline or two, transposed numbers on a

report – but not long after came concerns from employees about Ralph’s treatment of them.

One

example noted Ralph speaking harshly to an employee in front of a bank customer.

Ellen discussed these concerns with Ralph.

He denied some of the complaints.

Others he accepted as

having happened but downplayed their significance.

His supervisor insisted that Ralph focus effort on

overcoming the implied weaknesses and work to restore trust with his subordinates.

Having taken his supervisor’s admonition seriously, Ralph’s attitude and actions improved over the next

half-year.

However, complaints along the lines of the previous concerns resurfaced and Ellen was forced

to discuss these issues with Ralph.

This conversation included a verbal warning, the first step in the

formal disciplinary process.

As it had in the previous year, the cycle of improvement and decline happened again over the next year.

Ellen told Ralph during their next conversation this was formal notice of a written warning in compliance

with the bank’s human resource policy manual and that improvements must occur or termination may

result.

After approximately one more year, Ralph was terminated due to recurring issues with his

behavior and performance.

As you consider this case from the perspective of God’s character, was this situation handled properly?

Was this situation handled correctly without considering God’s character?

Is there anything you would

have done differently as Ralph’s supervisor?

Where is the evidence, both from the Bible and

contemporary literature, for your responses?