Richardson County Community Association

In May 2008, Mary Jones, CEO of the Richardson County Community Association (RCCA), shut the door to her office in disbelief. She had just been informed by one of her direct reports that Rick Jamison, a member of her executive team, had recently made a disparaging comment about Muslim Americans to a junior staff member. She was shocked and dismayed by Jamison’s behavior. However, before taking any action, she wanted to speak personally with him and with RCCA’s attorney to understand exactly what happened and what recourse RCCA had at its disposal. This situation was particularly unwelcome because Jones had been faced with two other major performance-related decisions regarding key executives, and she had assumed that any upheaval amongst her senior staff was in the past. It was disheartening to discover that she was yet again presented with such a serious management issue.