Case 10 Allocating Parking Spaces
Setting: Manufacturing Plant; Your Position: Plant Manager
You have just been appointed plant manager of a new plant located in the southeastern United States. The plant is presently under construction and is set to open its doors in six weeks. Your group of five department heads has been selected, and they have just begun working with you in selecting their own staff, purchasing equipment, and generally anticipating the problems that are likely to arise when you move into the plant.
In reviewing a final set of plans for the building, you noticed for the first time the parking facilities that are available. There is a large lot across the road from the plant intended primarily for hourly workers and lower-level supervisory personnel. In addition, there are seven spaces immediately adjacent to the administrative offices. However, company policy requires that a minimum of three spaces be dedicated to handicapped parking, leaving you only four spaces to allocate among you and your five department heads. There is no way of increasing the total number of such spaces without changing the structure of the building.
While there are no obvious status differences among your department heads, there are some salary differences; but these have been governed by experience and by considerations of supply and demand, and you are anxious to minimize these differences as much as possible. You know that each of your managers has recently been promoted to their new position and expects reserved parking privileges as a consequence of their new status.