ENGSTROM IS AN EDUCATOR NOT A PERSONNEL MANAGER

[racehorsewilly]

I believe this whole situation could have been undertaken in a manner to let all the folks involved walk with their dignity and self respect, and yet get the message across( not sure what the message is, as there has been no clear explanation and probably won't be) Assuming Engstrom had good reason for replacing both O'day and Pflugrad, he could have called them together, gave them the bottom line, and than asked them to work with him to make the best for all interests..I'm quite sure both men would have agreed to resign, with the explanation that episodes had occurred that weren't preventable by them, but since it happened on their watch, they felt honor bound to take action to let everyone know it wasn't something they condoned. Engstrom could have said he had serious discussions with the two of them, and they all agreed U of M didn't need more consternation, and this solution would give all a fresh start... That would have been my solution, and it might not have worked, but something of this nature should have been attempted..

 

[EverettGriz]

Mehh. In my mind you simply would have been trading one set of problems for another.

Let's assume that Royce did ask Jim and Pflu to resign. What if one says no? Does he then fire that person? How does it look with one firing and one resignation? And if he gets both resignations, fans and alums would be all up in arms saying that the resignations were coerced (they would have been), and they'd still be demanding answers as to why they were asked to resign. Would anyone really buy the "fresh start" reason? I doubt it.

In my opinion, it takes a bigger man to fire someone than it does to coerce a forced resignation.

 

[JBS]

Mehh. In my mind you simply would have been trading one set of problems for another.

Let's assume that Royce did ask Jim and Pflu to resign. What if one says no? Does he then fire that person? How does it look with one firing and one resignation? And if he gets both resignations, fans and alums would be all up in arms saying that the resignations were coerced (they would have been), and they'd still be demanding answers as to why they were asked to resign. Would anyone really buy the "fresh start" reason? I doubt it.

In my opinion, it takes a bigger man to fire someone than it does to coerce a forced resignation.

I agree. But it takes a smaller man to be coerced into firing someone. He didn't make this decision unilaterally.

 

[stubbins]

Mehh. In my mind you simply would have been trading one set of problems for another.

Let's assume that Royce did ask Jim and Pflu to resign. What if one says no? Does he then fire that person? How does it look with one firing and one resignation? And if he gets both resignations, fans and alums would be all up in arms saying that the resignations were coerced (they would have been), and they'd still be demanding answers as to why they were asked to resign. Would anyone really buy the "fresh start" reason? I doubt it.

In my opinion, it takes a bigger man to fire someone than it does to coerce a forced resignation.

What would've really taken balls, is for engstrom to stand up and tell the nation that the university is taking steps to remedy this situation that has spiraled out of control for a decade. That the university of montana has instituted a policy that if any official employed by the u of m is found disobeying these new conduct codes, dismissal is immediate. the the university of montana can not change the past, but can ensure that everyone associated with the university will make sure it does not happen again, or they will not be a part of the university of montana, officials and students alike.

what he did was chicken shit, bowed to pressure from guilty before innocent crowd, and then had someone else make a statement for him.

 

[Tokyogriz]

Engstrom making someone else do his dirty work in the announcements of the firings, and someone who is a friend to oday. Not the sign of leadership.

 

[argh!]

Engstrom making someone else do his dirty work in the announcements of the firings, and someone who is a friend to oday. Not the sign of leadership.

engstrom is a president of the flipping university. he's not supposed to go around making public television appearances to announce firing someone. did dennison do that when he got rid of a provost?

 

[kcjc69]

Engstrom probable hasn't been an "educator" in years. He is a top level manager whose background is education, period. As such he should have been painfully aware of what the fall out would be with his decision and done the task himself. Most manager don't enjoy the actual act of dismissing someone but you also don't leave it up to someone else to pull the trigger if YOU made the decision to terminate. IF your man enough to make the decision then be man enough to follow through with it yourself.

 

[EverettGriz]

Engstrom probable hasn't been an "educator" in years. He is a top level manager whose background is education, period. As such he should have been painfully aware of what the fall out would be with his decision and done the task himself. Most manager don't enjoy the actual act of dismissing someone but you also don't leave it up to someone else to pull the trigger if YOU made the decision to terminate. IF your man enough to make the decision then be man enough to follow through with it yourself.

What are you talking about?? Royce DID terminate them himself. He simply didn't give the statement to the media.

 

[bigtyme]

My question is were their contracts expired on the day they were canned, or was that just a cowardly way to get rid of them. And if their contracts don't expire until a later date, are they still getting paid by the university? I don't see how that could happen, but I also don't see how they could just come up with a random date to say they are not going to renew their contracts. Or is that the new politically correct way of saying they are fired? It doesn't quite line up for me. But I am not in state HR so I wouldn't necessarily know. Thanks to anyone that can possibly explain this to me.

 

[grizarchy]

I think I might agree with the firings if I had complete information. However, why stop there? I think Engstrom should be next in line for the chopping block. I think the way the Saudi (?) rapist incident was handled is more than enough justification for him to lose his job. Engstrom strikes me as an "educated idiot".

 

[AllWeatherFan]

So many experts on how and whom to fire. It's like a thousand Mitt Romneys.