Management Challenge: Addressing Job Satisfaction Issues at American SteelCo

Overview

At American SteelCo, employee job satisfaction and engagement vary, leading to challenges in productivity and workplace culture. Angela, a dedicated sales/project manager, exhibits strong organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) by going above and beyond to ensure customer satisfaction. However, she is frustrated by Jerry’s frequent errors and lack of accountability, which are costing the company money and creating unnecessary stress for her and other employees. Meanwhile, Sandra, a new steel detailer, displays low commitment through tardiness and workplace gossip, indicating a lack of engagement and possible onboarding issues.

To address these challenges, Angela’s contributions should be recognized and supported to prevent burnout, while Sandra may benefit from mentorship, clearer expectations, and positive reinforcement to improve engagement. Jerry must be held accountable for his costly mistakes through performance reviews, training, and improved communication with his team. By focusing on job satisfaction, engagement, and accountability, American SteelCo can foster a more productive and positive work environment, benefiting both employees and the organization.

Management Challenge Scenario

"Organizations benefit from organizational citizenship behavior and other outcomes of job satisfaction. In American SteelCo, some employees exemplify organizational citizenship behavior more than others. For example, Angela, the sales/project manager, has company interests at heart. She goes the extra mile to ensure that customers are satisfied by responding quickly to their requests and taking care of any issues they may be having, even though she is not the one who has made the errors causing the problems. She is loyal to the company, and the fact that she has been there for 17 years attests to some level of satisfaction.

On the other hand, Sandra, a steel detailer who has been with the company for only 3 months, seems only marginally committed and has already exhibited undesirable behaviors such tardiness and gossiping. Additionally, Jerry, the estimating manager, does not appear concerned that the errors he makes are costing the company a considerable sum of money in construction delays, extra shipping costs, and fines. These errors and their consequences are having an impact on Angela, who is frustrated by Jerry’s lack of accountability. She has voiced her concerns and is looking for solutions to the problem. Other employers who work directly with Jerry are frustrated that he only communicates with them only by e-mail and does not really seem to know or understand the work they do, and therefore, cannot really direct them. He always seems distant.

Managers need to understand the work attitudes and job satisfaction levels of their employees. For this management challenge, address the job satisfaction issues evident among Angela, Sandra, and Jerry. How do the theories you studied help you understand and resolve situations such as this?"

from Organizational Behavior in Practice (Andrade, 2020).

Sandra

Scenario: Sandra is a steel detailer and has been with the company for 3 months. She has already shown signs of minimal commitment to her role. Her consistent tardiness disrupts the workflow and raises concerns about her liability. Her gossip has created a negative atmosphere among her colleagues. Her behaviors not only reflect poorly on her professionalism, but also impact her team.

Theories From Chapter: Sandra exhibits a low level of civic virtue meaning she is struggling to help foster a sense of community. Her gossiping demonstrates that she is not focused on bettering the company environment as a whole and seems to be more focused on herself.

Suggestion to Implement Theories: Sandra seems to be experiencing a lack of challenge. So, we thought it would be a good idea to speak with Sandra about what different interests and skills she has. She could be better utilized in a different area. We hope this will help her realize she has skills she can contribute to the company and maybe get her away from coworkers she may not be getting along with.

Angela

Scenario: Angela is a deeply motivated sales manager that loves her job and has been extremely loyal for the last 17 years. However, Jerry's lack of accountability is frustrating her and making her job more difficult because she has to pick up his slack occasionally.

Theories from Chapter: Angela might be struggling with performance inequalities. It seems like her coworker Jerry has been slacking at his job and making things more difficult for everyone. It's not a personality clash just a lack of accountability, yet he doesn't seem to be getting any disciplinary actions for his performance when Angela has been working extremely hard and going the extra mile.

Suggestion to Implement Theories: We would recommend creating a system where accountability is clear and equally implemented. A potential way to create it could be providing a suggestion box and then holding a higher management meeting creating three different programs, then letting the coworkers vote so they feel like they have more of a say. Do this to ensure they are all equally accountable AND rewarded for their performance.

Jerry

Scenario: Jerry, the estimating manager, is lacking in accountability. His repeated errors are leading to costly construction delays, extra shipping expenses and fines for the company. Despite the financial impact, he does not seem concerned about the consequences of his mistakes. His lack of engagement is also affecting his colleagues and those who work closely with him. Since he only communicates through email and doesn't seem to understand what others do, it makes collaboration awkward and inefficient.

Theories from Chapter: Jerry seems to have a low level of job involvement. He has demonstrated a lack of accountability for his work and doesn't show any remorse when his lack of accountability affects other coworkers. Jerry also demonstrates a low level of conscientiousness. He doesn't want to put in the extra effort and seems to not be worried about the future wellbeing of the company as a whole.

Suggestion to Implement Theories: We would suggest that Angela could provide some training for Jerry, offer him some one-on-one coaching to make sure he understands the importance of his job. This could help him find meaning in his role which will help his desire to be more involved and helpful with his coworkers.

This text was refined with OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (January 22 version) [Large language model]. Used for academic project assistance in accordance with WSB AI Syllabus Guidelines. Available at: https://chat.openai.com/chat.

This explanation was refined using concepts from Organizational Behavior in Practice (Andrade, 2020).

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