Dash Riprock is a cost analyst with Safe Insurance Company. Safe isapplying standards to its claims payment operation. Claims paymentsis a repetitive operation that could be evaluated with standards.Dash used time and motion studies to identify an ideal standard of36 claims processed per hour. The claims processing departmentmanager, Henry, has rejected this standard and has argued that thestandard should be 30 claims processed per hour. Henry and Dashwere unable to agree, so they decided to discuss this matter openlyat a joint meeting with the vice president (VP) of operations, whowould arbitrate a final decision. Prior to the meeting, Dash wrotethe following memo to the VP:

As you know, Henry and I are scheduled to meet with you to discussour disagreement with respect to the appropriate standards for theclaims processing department. I have conducted time and motionstudies and have determined that the ideal standard is 36 claimsprocessed per hour. Henry argues that 30 claims processed per hourwould be more appropriate. I believe he is trying to 'pad' thebudget with some slack. I'm not sure what he is trying to get awaywith, but I believe a tight standard will drive efficiency up inhis area. I hope you will agree when we meet with you nextweek.

Discuss the professionalism of the memo to the vice president. Isthis deemed appropriate, why or why not? Should this have beenworked out between the two employees? Between Dash and Henry, whichside are you on? Support your thoughts and reasoning. How doesethics play a role in this situation? What about the discrepancy inthe number of claims (30 versus 36)? Is there a problem therealso?

Follow the minimum requirements for discussion board posts locatedin the general discussion area. Recall, those are the minimumrequirements, more posts are always encouraged.