Bioglass, Inc. specializes in sales of a wide array of glass products. One area of the company, the
commercial sales division (CSD), specializes in selling high-tech mirrors and microscope and
photographic lenses. Sales associates in CSD are responsible for selling the glass products to
corporate clients. CSD has four levels of sales associates, ranging in pay from $28,000 to
$76,000 per year. There are also four levels of managerial positions; those positions range in pay
from $76,000 to $110,000 per year (that’s what the division president makes).
Tom Caldwell has been a very effective sales associate. He has consistently demonstrated good
sales techniques in his 17 years with Bioglass and has a large and loyal client base. Over the
years, Tom has risen from the lowest level of sales associate to the highest. He has proved
himself successful at each stage. An entry-level management position in CSD opened up last
year, and Tom was a natural candidate. Although several other candidates were considered, Tom
was the clear choice for the position.
However, once in the position, Tom had a great deal of difficulty being a man- ager. He
was not accustomed to delegating and rarely provided feedback or guidance to the people he
supervised. Although he set goals for himself, he never set performance goals for his workers.
Morale in Tom’s group was low, and group performance suffered. The company felt that
demoting Tom back to sales would be disastrous for him and present the wrong image to other
employees; firing such a loyal employee was considered unacceptable. Therefore, Bioglass
decided to keep Tom where he was but not consider him for future promotions. It was also
considering enrolling Tom in some expensive managerial development programs to enhance his
management skills. Meanwhile, Tom’s replacement, although successful at the lower three levels of sales associate
positions, was having a great deal of difficulty with the large corporate contracts that the
highest-level sales associates must service. Two of Tom’s biggest clients had recently left
Bioglass for a competitor. CSD was con- fused about how such a disastrous situation had
developed when they seemed to make all the right decisions. Based on this application and your reading of this chapter, answer the following questions: 1. What is the likely cause of CSD’s problems? 2. How might CSD, and Bioglass more generally, make better promotion decisions in the future?
Be specific. 3. In general, what role should performance appraisals play in internal selection
decisions? Are there some cases in which they are more relevant than others? Explain.
