1-I think John Knight should not be fired. He is one of the company outstanding sales reps.
He seems like he is having some difficulties in his life. I think company should give him
another chance. John looks like he knows he made a big mistake and he is willing to
correct it. It would cost the company a lot to find a new sales rep like him. In addition,
these kinds of reps have received extensive training, so correcting the problem would be
less expensive than replacing him.
2- Sales manager should have a meeting with him and tell him how uncomfortable he is
with this situation and tell him that he needs John right back on sales if he wants to keep
his job. If John agrees with the problem he should listen to his assessment of the problem
and consider extenuating circumstances by giving him the month he needs to fix his
problem. Then design an action plan for improvement and get John Knight agreement on
this action plan. If John performance does not improve as a result of immediate feedback,
sales manager should review the problem in a formal performance appraisal; then the
manager should make it clear that poor performance is not acceptable. Each step should be
documented with written memos detailing what took place. I dont think there is a need for
plan for improvement because he is an experienced sales rep and he never had poor
performance before his personal problems got involved, it should be expected by sales
manager to see improvement on his performance immediately. Sales manager should give
him specified time period to show improvement. If the John does not improve his
performance than with all the appropriate documentation sales manager should fire him.