As a Manager for a company, Julia was generally well regarded by most of her work. Julia was an easygoing individual who tried to help her employees in any way she could. If a worker needed a small loan until payday, she would dig into her pocket with no questions asked. Should an employee need some time off to attend to a personal problem, Julia would not dock the individual's pay; rather, she would take up the slack herself until the worker returned.

Everything had been going smoothly, at least until the last performance appraisal period. One of Julia’s workers, Bill, had been experiencing a large number of personal problems for the past year. Bill’s wife had been sick much of the time and her medical expenses were high. Bill's son had a speech impediment and the doctors had recommended a special clinic. Bill, who had already borrowed the limit the bank would loan, he had become upset and depressed over his general circumstances. 

When it was time for Bill's annual performance appraisal, Julia decided she was going to do as much as possible to help him. Although Bill could not be considered more than an average worker, Julia rated him “outstanding” in virtually every category. Because the firm's compensation system was heavily tied to performance appraisal, Bill would be eligible for a merit increase of 10 percent in addition to a regular cost-of-living raise.

Julia explained to Bill why he was giving him such ratings, and Bill acknowledged that his performance had really been no better than average. Bill was very grateful and expressed this to Julia. As Bill left the office, he was excitedly looking forward to telling his friends about what a wonderful boss he had. Seeing Bill smile as he left gave Julia a warm feeling.