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Western Agencies Ltd Essay

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Western Agencies Ltd. by Steven L. McShane University of Western
Australia Perth, Australia
Copyright © 1991 Steven L. McShane. This case is based on actual events described in a Canadian court case. Only the dates and names of the main parties have been changed.
This case may be used by current adopters of: S. L. McShane
Canadian Organizational Behaviour, 5th ed. (Toronto: McGraw-
Hill Ryerson, 2004); S. L. McShane & M. A. von Glinow,
Organizational Behavior, 3rd ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2005); S.
L. McShane & T. Travaglione, Organisational Behaviour on the
Pacific Rim, 1st ed. (Sydney: McGraw-Hill Australia, 2003)
Western Agencies Ltd.
By Steven L. McShane, The University of Western Australia
Western Agencies Ltd. is a …show more content…

Co-workers also noticed that
Arthurs was becoming increasingly forgetful. He was often unable to remember stock numbers, colour codes, product lines, packaging modes, and other information essential for serving clients efficiently and completing orders accurately. These problems were subtle in 1987, but became quite pronounced and embarrassing over the next three years.
In May 1989, Arthurs and Jackson had a conflict relating to the purchase of a new company car. According to Jackson, Arthurs presented him with a quotation for a car, which, in Jackson's view, included $2,500 in unnecessary options. Jackson informed
Arthurs of his concerns and instructed him to find a car worth $13,000 instead of
$16,000. Jackson then left town on business and when he returned was distressed to find that Arthurs had made his proposed car purchase with almost all of the unnecessary options. Jackson issued the cheque to pay for the car, but also included a note to Arthurs saying that he had lost confidence in the sales representative. It was about this time that
Jackson contemplated firing Arthurs, but decided instead to be a "nice guy" and overlook the matter.
At the end of 1989, Jackson decided to reassign the North Vancouver independent accounts from Arthurs to another Western Agencies salesperson because the existing accounts had shown minimal growth and no new accounts were being added.

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