Abura is a relatively small petrol station network, which mostly serves the needs of one city. The company provides a variety of products and services including gas, oil, road snacks, car wash, and tire service. As the network developed, fast-food cafes and shops provided a higher percentage of total revenue, in some cases even topping oil profits. Such an increase required a more systematic approach to controlling roadside shops and cafes. A new shift-based approach was introduced and a higher amount of workers was hired and trained in order to provide high-quality services. The owner’s son recommended his best friend and former classmate Jim for the post of shift supervisor. Jim was a highly-educated man with broad theoretical knowledge in business and management, yet he had no practical experience in the area. He felt grateful to his friend for offering a job and wanted to meet the hopes of the petrol network’s owner.
At first, Jim was welcomed to the new workplace, as he was a friendly and social person. In addition, his subordinates knew that Jim was hired directly by the company owner and was afraid of him. However, the more Jim followed the work of his shift, the more he realized that they performed considerably worse. His shift workers violated customer service rules of the company, ignored safety regulations, did not report the problems to the company’s dispatch service, and neglected their work duties. They even closed the petrol station at night to go to sleep even though it was a 24-hour network and night shifts were double paid. In the shock of discovered flaws, Jim began to force his shift to follow the rules, which in most cases led to grievance and even poorer performance. The shift workers believed that Jim abused his contacts and position to establish tyranny.