It was the 30th day of the month, a Thursday evening, and R
It was the 30th day of the month, a Thursday evening, and Rosario… It was the 30th day of the month, a Thursday evening, and Rosario Mbatha-Goza was sitting in a room immediately adjacent to the Boardroom of AfriFinance Inc (AFI). it was called the annex and was usually used by people waiting to go into the Boardroom to make a presentation to the Board. Earlier, she had been in the Boardroom but was then asked to wait in the annex. Through the blinds, she caught a glimpse of the HR head Jaqueline entering the Board room and leaving. A few minutes later, two of the Non-Executive Directors walked into the annex with a resignation letter which they told Rosario to sign. She refused. The two men left with the letter and for hours, the non-executive directors took turns to come into the annex in pairs to forcefully tell her to sign the resignation letter. Each time, she refused and repeatedly (and futilely) asked to address the Board. As the evening wore on, she realized there was stalemate and began to waver under the pressure. She placed a call to her mentor and, as they spoke in low tones, she felt less frantic and more resolute. When the next pair of directors came in, she asked them to leave her alone with the resignation letter. After thirty minutes, she sent an envelope addressed to the Chair in to the meeting and headed for the restrooms. The Chair beamed at the Board as he prepared to announce Rosario’s resignation. He opened the envelope with a flourish. Alongside an unsigned resignation letter was a note from Rosario stating she had no intention of resigning without first being allowed to speak to the Board. Rosario’s colleagues on the board were told to bring her in from the annex. A frantic search for her ensued when it transpired, she was nowhere near the Boardroom or anywhere in the Office complex. Far away from the Boardroom, Rosario and her trusted driver Matthias headed for the border. She had told sent her children to her sister and explained she had to travel urgently. Driving round Africa was not too difficult once you had your documents and if they drove through the night, she could avoid any further confrontations. She could hardly believe how this whole situation had started and paused to collect her thoughts and replay what had been happening. A week earlier On a cool Wednesday morning eight days before, Rosario Mbatha-Goza arrived in her office at AfriFinance Incorporated (AFI) headquarters. It was 6.00 am, an hour earlier than her usual arrival time. Officially, work started at 8, but she usually arrived at 7 , to clear any trifling matters before settling into the hard slog of the day. As Finance director of AfriFinance Inc (AFI), she was directly responsible for overseeing the financial affairs of the 30 countries in the group and, working with the IT department, ensuring timely consolidated financial reporting. She loved her job. Overseeing financial reporting and all financial matters was arduous but she believed in delivering the Integrated Africa vision of AFI and worked diligently despite having a busy husband and four children of differing ages who were at various stages of their education both locally and abroad. She had started her career at AFI as an accountant in one of the 10 subsidiaries fifteen years ago and had proactively overhauled the processes to ensure her reporting to HQ was timely and accurate. She never missed a deadline, and when the financial controller at HQ retired twelve years ago when Remygius Amechi took over as CEO, he suggested Rosario and three others should be assessed to replace him. She had stood head and shoulders above the rest and moved to HQ where she very quickly applied her skills at building efficiency into tightening and ensuring consolidated reporting was accurate. She was a stickler for deadlines and did not suffer fools gladly. Despite her approach, she had built a good rapport with Remygius, external regulators and auditors and had won the respect of those around her at HQ and in the subsidiaries. At the last corporate retreat for financial controllers, she had reiterated her mantra, ‘If you play straight and stick to the rules, flag up contentious issues in good time and strive to meet deadlines, life is good.’ At that time the CEO Remygius Amechi had come into one of the sessions. He had a gruff style and did not make small talk easily, but he always recognized good performance. He commended the finance teams for their accurate reporting and thanked them for flagging up potential disruptions to revenues and costs. By carrying out contingency plans based on the recommendations of the Finance controllers and their operations counterparts, a majority of the subsidiaries had made enough profits to ensure the local and Group shareholders had received dividends for each of the past twelve years since Remygius took over as CEO. Before that time, AFI had not paid any dividends but with major changes to strategy, people, the processes and the organizational culture, the organization had been rewarded with a turnaround in its fortunes and the shareholders rewarded by dividends which had hitherto eluded them. On that Wednesday morning, Rosario sat in her office and turned on the screen to upload the security protected consolidated statements for the just concluded year . It was 6.05 am. and she had till noon to make a decision. In eight days’ time, there would be a Board meeting and at noon, the Company secretary, with her agreement, would press the send button to email Board papers to the directors. Hard copies would also be sent by courier as a concession to the older board members who complained they were unable to print the papers easily. Liaising with the CEO She had worked tirelessly to produce the results and last night at 8pm, she had approached the current CEO Tiengo Tristram with the draft accounts which would be incorporated into the board papers for next week’s board meeting and ultimately, into the Annual report. Tiengo Tristram had assumed office just over twelve months ago. He had an easy charm, ensured he sent out regular press releases about how well the organization was thriving under him, and delighted in telling everyone that Leadership was about connections. His office walls were adorned with pictures of himself with famous political figures (Presidents of African countries and Directors of key regulatory authorities) taken during his previous stint at an international development organization. Tiengo did not usually work late, but he had asked to meet with Rosario to discuss the accounts, an asset disposal plan and a few sundry matters. He said they would get more done if they had a late meeting and were alone in the office. Rosario prepared well for the meeting and on walking into Tiengo’s office, had been shocked when he lit a cigarette, pulled a carafe of wine from the little fridge behind him, motioned her to sit on a couch in the office and had said ‘You work too hard, let us relax a little’. With all the calm she could muster, she had declined, told him to put the cigarette out as it could aggravate her asthma, sat in the visitor’s chair across the desk from him and given him a file with the information requirements for the meeting. Sundry issues were cleared quickly , and the discussion turned to the Asset disposal plan. Rosario said she had reviewed the plan and had noticed that non core assets in their largest subsidiary were being put up for sale at markedly less than market value. The CEO seemed keen to gloss over her observations and said ‘Listen. That area is best left alone. The Chairman has been very hands on with this plan and has recommended the potential buyers very strongly. We cannot upset him or diminish his power before the Board. ”Rosario said ‘I don’t have an issue with disposing of non-core assets, but the market is buoyant and I see no reason to agree to a fire sale! I cannot defend or sign off on the plan at these prices. ‘Tiengo who was sitting behind his desk dropped his head in his hands and said ‘Are you naive or what? I am telling you the plan has the Chair’s involvement and you want to contradict it at the Board meeting? Don’t waste our time. You will sign off on it, don’t argue with me, you have no choice. It’s getting late.! Let’s move on to the figures’. Tiengo now glanced at the consolidated accounts and become visibly agitated. A glance was enough to tell him the operating results were not good. He reached into his desk , pulled out a little metal flask and took a swig from it. This seemed to calm him down. He looked at Rosario and said ‘These figures must change. I am not going to be vilified by the Board and seen as the first CEO who could not pay dividends in twelve years. We are both accountants. You know what to do! I know you liked my predecessor more than me, but I can give you so much more if you show your loyalty to me.’ Rosario had defended the figures, and said that relative to their competitors, they were not so bad especially as economic conditions had been somewhat onerous. She had also said they had needed to start provisioning for various items that had been approved under Tiengo’s watch and cautioned that Tiengo’s spending habits were excessive. For example, he had attended an annual meeting in Davos and claimed $100,000 whereas the previous CEO for the same meeting had claimed $9000 in a previous year. He said ‘It was not excessive; I was raising the profile of AFI and entertaining potential investors! Now, you will go away and work on those figures. Just do it. No one will ever know as this is just between us. You know what to do. Reclassify, accrue, defer, reverse, restate, Whatever! We must and we shall pay dividends even if we have to borrow money. Understood?” ‘Understood sir.’ As she rose to leave, he added ‘The whole wine thing? It didn’t happen. We never had this conversation. However, you are a smart lady and dare I say it? very attractive. When you are done with the figures, I will work on your figure’ and gave a little laugh. Rosario did not return the smile, said goodnight and left his office. The Chairman She drove home and was still pondering the eventful last hour when she received a call. It was the Chairman. He was brief. ‘Tiengo tells me you are being difficult. You want the organization to look bad? We have a new captain on this ship and what he says goes. He shared the figures with me and we don’t look good. Just do what he says. As for the Asset disposal plan, don’t change anything. Just sign off on it. I have expended a lot of time assembling buyers and we have agreed prices. I cannot renege on my promises.’ ‘But Chair,’Rosario protested, ‘the prices are way below what we could realise and we should perhaps ask the buyers to raise their offers or put the assets out for tender?’ The usually softly spoken Chair raised his voice ‘Don’t get me angry, you have till noon tomorrow to fix this situation, before the Board papers go out.’ Rosario didn’t sleep too well after her call with the Chair. She was faced with decisions that could alter the course of her life and that of her organization. She was not someone that could ever have been described as indecisive, but here she was, going back in time , ruminating over all that had happened to bring her to this point. She looked out of her office window on the 12th floor of a 14th storey edifice and scanned the panoramic view below. If she looked to the right, she could see greenery framing the bustling traffic along concrete bridges and to her left, she could see brightly coloured beach umbrellas providing shade for those who patronized the little eateries set up on the beach which led down to the crashing waves of the ocean beyond. A growing dilemma From her vantage point, she could surveil the gateway into the office complex and now, she could see Lisa Buthulezi’s car driving in. She gave Lisa a few minutes and reached for her phone. She needn’t have bothered. Lisa was at her door. ‘I was just about to call you’ Rosario said and recoiled as Lisa went straight to the point ‘Rosario, CEO called me last night. He has travelled this morning so he couldn’t see me today. He knows we are close, being the only two women Executives on the Board. I don’t need to know the details; my advice to you is to do what the CEO and the Chair want and make your life easy. This organization has grown with all our hard work under Remygius. He worked us hard and trained us to build this organization, but he is gone now and Tiengo is the new sheriff in town as he keeps reminding us. Let’s keep him sweet. What have we got to lose? This is Africa! ‘With those words, Lisa breezed out with a cheery wave saying ‘I have an 8 o’clock and a few minutes to prepare. Speak later.’ At 11.45am, the Company Secretary walked to Rosario’s office and at noon, the Board papers were sent out. At midnight, Tiengo called Rosario at home. He was furious. Ýou shave avoided my calls all day, sent the figures to the Board without adjusting them and made a detailed annotation to the Assets disposal plan? Tomorrow morning, I want you to catch the first flight to Accra where you will meet me at the Airport Holiday inn at 9a.m. At 8.57 am, the next morning, Rosario rang the bell of the Excelsior suite where the CEO stayed whenever he was in Accra. Tiengo opened the door and ushered her in to the sitting area of the suite. Rosario sat on a visitors chair at the small desk in the room while Tiengo settled himself on the settee saying, “Would you like some breakfast? Why don’t you come and sit next to me? I wont bite. We are professionals after all” Opting to stay where she was, Rosario asked what the meeting was about and heard ‘You are very good at your job and I like you personally, but you are beginning to upset a lot of people. I want you to resign immediately, before the Board meeting.’ This was surprising but not too much of a shock to Rosario who immediately responded ‘I will not resign. why should I resign?’. She had spoken to her mentor after speaking with Lisa the previous morning and had realized that her actions might lead to this situation.Tiengo said ‘If it were left to me, I wouldn’t ask you to go. I admire you a lot personally and professionally, but I have to do the necessary. Tell me what you want, any amount and you can retire early, enjoy your family and enjoy life in comfort. Me and you can still be friends and much more if you know what I mean’. Rosario stood up and said ‘I don’t know what you mean. If you make any more inappropriate remarks to me, I shall take action! I will not resign; I will be at the next Board meeting and now I shall leave as I have a flight to catch.’ Tiengo stayed sitting and said ‘You underestimate me. Take my advice, take the money and resign.’ At the airport, Rosario called all the Non-Executive Directors and the Executive Directors to intimate them of her predicament. They all confessed the CEO had told them about the Accra meeting and advised her to resign, go quietly and not to ‘rock the boat’. Feeling isolated and uncertain, she placed a call to her Mentor, but her mentor’s line was busy. Lockdown! She landed safely at 2.00pm and drove immediately to HQ. She got to her office and found she could not gain access. She walked over to Security and was told the CEO had asked for her office combination to be changed. She tried unsuccessfully to reach the CEO and Head of facilities to get access to her office but could not reach anyone and decided to go home. As it was Friday afternoon, and there would be a local religious public holiday on Monday she would not need to return till Tuesday. On her way out, she saw the HR Manager who said, ‘I had your office locked to protect your assets since you have resigned’. I have not resigned” said Rosario. The HR manager looked surprised and said ‘Well, the CEO says you have, and you can collect your things now or come back on Tuesday’. ‘I am not resigning and I demand my office be opened by the time I return on Tuesday.’ Rosario left with these words and on the way out to the car park she noticed her deputy make a sharp dash into an office without saying a word to her. She felt a momentary unease but decided all would be clearer after the long weekend. As she recollected, ‘I had considered my options, and felt I had no options at that time’ On Tuesday morning, after a weekend spent in quiet reflection and meditation, Rosario arrived at the office, at 8 am and was immediately told by HR that her office was now accessible. As she entered her office and prepared to switch on her monitor, her phone rang, and the CEO asked to see her. In his office was the HR head with a prepared letter of resignation which she was asked to sign. Rosario refused point blank and despite entreaties from the HR head and the CEO, went back to her office. As she switched on her monitor, she became aware of many messages asking why she had resigned. Apparently, on the company intranet an email had gone out across the company and across the subsidiaries that she had resigned, and her deputy was in charge. A press release had also gone out on Monday evening.Rosario sat at her desk that Tuesday and decided that come what may, she would have to devise a plan. She had two days to devise a set of options before the Board meeting on Thursday. You are to help Rosario identify and understand the key issues at hand, the realities of her workplace, and what she should be aware of. You should frame the options open to her, and the decisions she could take with the inherent risks and consequences. You should incorporate what you think the Chairman, fellow employees and CEOs perspectives are, and why. On Thursday the 30th, she has refused to resign. What are the additional options open to her and what do you advise Rosario to do? Business Management Human Resource Management BUSINESS M BUS211
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