Showdown Over Water Rights: Dealing with an Abusive Manager

Abstract

All individual and business names in this case are pseudonyms, meant to represent and disguise the true identities of actual participants in this case. Locations and some other possible identifying details have also been altered. Even so, the essential and underlying report of these events is true and based on data collected from the training director and other supplemental sources. Franklin’s Family Restaurants began in the mid-1970s in Florida with the motif of providing fun family dining at affordable prices. Jerry Thompson bought and managed his first Franklin’s franchise in the early 1980s. Soon, Thompson began acquiring other Franklin’s restaurants in financial distress or building new ones in his rapidly growing state. Within 5 years, Thompson had formed Thomco, Inc. to manage his steadily growing business. By 1995, Thomco owned and managed more than 140 Franklin’s Family Restaurants from Georgia to Virginia. The restaurants were grouped into three state units: Virginia, North Carolina, and a combined South Carolina–Georgia group. Each state group was further subdivided into geographic districts of about 10 restaurants each. The corporate staff of Thomco included the traditional functions of accounting and finance, information systems, real estate management, purchasing, and Human Resources (HR). Harvey Jones, aged 59, was a long-term Thomco employee and headed the HR department. Jones, who planned to retire in 2 years, made it clear to everyone that HR was a service unit for supporting line operations. Reporting to Jones was Dale Bowey, who was in charge of the Training Department. Thomco-owned Franklin’s restaurants not only had to comply with local health codes, but also had to meet the covenants of the franchise agreement. These regulations and requirements meant that training was an essential element in the Thomco business. One of the three trainers reporting to Dale Bowey was responsible for auditing the field training sites to make sure that they were meeting health code and franchise agreement standards and regulations. The top executive team at Thomco consisted of Thompson, the three senior vice presidents (VPs) over state restaurant operations, and the senior VPs of accounting and human resources. The Virginia group was managed