Day 202 - 11 Jan 96 - Page 19
1
2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can you tell me what your target is at the
3 moment? Is your target that there is something to be
4 criticised in McDonald's practices because a written report
5 was not made, or are you suggesting that one was made but
6 it has not been disclosed?
7
8 MR. MORRIS: Well, probably the second, that -----
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Start with your number 1 target, because at
11 the moment I do not know which it is. I do not mean that
12 as a criticism of you. Tell the witness what your number 1
13 target is and put that to him.
14
15 MR. MORRIS: Could a report have been made about the series of
16 incidents by somebody who was involved and knew what was
17 going on, but just that you have not seen it?
18 A. It could have been, I guess, yes.
19
20 Q. Would it be fair to a Manager to record what his point of
21 view is?
22 A. I do not know why we would want to record what went on
23 at that time. We did not know he was going to resign. It
24 was just, as I said, just a series of meetings, normal
25 practice when you are dealing with individuals that work
26 for you, some who perform well and some who perform less
27 than well. The management objective is to try and improve
28 situations, so that means communicating one on one.
29 Sometimes there is a need to write things down, if it is a
30 very serious matter.
31
32 Q. It is pretty serious, though, is it not, when a Manager who
33 has been with the Company a long time leaves under a cloud,
34 for whatever reason -- which we are trying to identify?
35 A. We did not know that at that time of this -----
36
37 Q. That is taken seriously, is it not?
38 A. Yes. Losing an employee is a disappointment.
39
40 Q. Especially a Manager who has been with the Company a long
41 time?
42 A. Losing any employee is a disappointment.
43
44 Q. You do not have meetings with crew members that leave with
45 very senior personnel being present, do you?
46 A. It is all a matter of hierarchy. The people above them
47 would be as concerned about the crew member leaving as I am
48 concerned about a Supervisor or a restaurant Manager.
49
50 Q. Do you know where Ray Coton's personnel file, from which we
51 got a lot of performance reviews and whatever, where that
52 was located, where that would have been located?
53 A. I can guess. It would be either of two places: one,
54 his personal (sic) file would have been in the Birmingham
55 office, although I know Neil did keep some files locally at
56 home because of the distance that he lived away from the
57 office.
58
59 Q. There would be copies in the Birmingham office, presumably?
60 A. Of?
