Human resources lessons in the Vick-Kolb play

So, which human resources lesson does the Michael Vick-Kevin Kolb situation offer?

James Smither, a professor of management at La Salle University, can list a couple: Can a leader retain his position in the face of sickness? Does talent buy tolerance?

Here are others offered by area human resources experts: The importance of succession planning, and the folly of flip-flopping.

But before class begins, let's review the play-by-play.

On Monday, Eagles coach Andy Reid said Kevin Kolb would regain his job as the Eagles starting quarterback, as Kolb returned from a recent concussion that had kept him on the sidelines.

On Tuesday, Reid said Michael Vick would replace Kolb as the Eagles starting quarterback, despite Vick's tarnished reputation and prison term for dogfighting and Kolb's return to full health.

On Wednesday, speculation mounted that Kolb would go. On Thursday, well, everyone was sure the Eagles would play Sunday in Jacksonville.

One thing that's not sure lately is the security of a job offer - although most folks do not land jobs as starting quarterbacks for the Eagles.

Some unemployed people in this recession found themselves with job offers, only to have their start times delayed or canceled completely.

Sometimes, declining business conditions are to blame.

But "usually that happens when somebody thinks they have the authority to offer the job, but they don't," said Victoria Green, founder of Green Leadership Consulting L.L.C., of Center City.

In the case of Kolb, it is an illustration of the perils of getting injured on the job. Many people, at all levels of income, lose their jobs after they become sick.

Typically, in pro football, injured players return to their positions when they recover.

Not necessarily in corporate America.

"If it's an executive leading an important project - has that person lost the leadership role?" asked Smither. "Maybe or maybe not.

"You don't get to sit on the bench in corporate life," he said. "You're either working or you're gone."

And, he said, it did not help Kolb that the very talented Vick was available.

"Maybe this is an example of where you can get away with anything if you are talented," said Smither, citing Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, as an example. "He's brilliant, but he's supposed to be difficult to work with."

Talented people such as Jobs and Vick get what Smither calls "idiosyncratic credits." The more talented a player is, whatever the arena, the more their idiosyncrasies (dogfighting, bad temper, sexual harassment) are tolerated.

What makes the football scenario different from a corporate one is that "you usually don't have two people occupying the same position," said consultant Chet Zoltak, former human resources head at AmerisourceBergen Corp., who now heads Strategic Learning Group.

"The closest situation is the role of succession planning," he said. There might be two inside candidates lined up for a promotion, but they would likely have different jobs. Of course, in the Eagles' case, Kolb was the succession plan.

Chief executive officers and other top officials often have contracts that protect them from being fired, or else allow them to leave with enough of a financial salve to sooth any wounded feelings, said Michael Ossip, an employment lawyer at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius L.L.P., of Philadelphia.

These moves send shock waves through a company, and management probably has about one chance to make such a move, providing it can give a credible explanation, said Gary Blau, a human resources professor at Temple University.

Otherwise, "it could create a sense of unease" among the troops, he said. "It could create some doubt" in the reliability of management.

Touchdowns will tell, but in a corporate situation, there may be collateral damage, said managing consultant Frank Giampietro at the Philadelphia office of Towers Watson, a human resources firm.

"While performance cultures are increasingly more emphasized in companies today," he said, "fairness - or at least perception of fairness - is still more important in most organizations."