A Zero Increase Again Case Study

A Zero Wage Increase Again, is a case article written by Karen MacMillan. The case delivers a story about Mark Coglin, a storeowner of a large hardware, furniture and building center called House, Hearth and Home store. Mark has experienced slow growth in his company and does not have the funds to raise his employee’s salaries. Due to an economic crisis, this has happened for two consecutive years about to lead to a third year. Mark 's dilemma is that every day he sees some of his best employees who continue to work hard but on the other hand there are some employees who are unproductive and some who do not even show up for the work day. The company 's attendance shows that employees are not motivated to come to work to receive pay for the hours given for a particular day. Nevertheless, Mark is questioning if he should allot a pay increase to all employees, to no one or selecting the deserving employees. Either way, he knows that there will be a consequence in any outcome but he must choose an effective distribution plan before a new year begins.

He is considering raising wages due to the lack of increase in previous years. Mark spoke with his accountant and constructed a plan to give the employees a raise. With consequences for every decision is made, Mark is not sure what he should do. In this case, there is one goal and it is to keep the business running and to do so, he must keep his employees happy. To achieve this desired outcome he needs to come to a conclusion about raising wages or not. Without a doubt, he wants to reward the ones that deserve. But within a business, managers cannot always pick favorites; therefore he needs to make a decision about wages because in the long run it can affect his