Question

Eighth edition Administrative office management An Introduction Zane K. Quible Ph.D.

Mary Brown, the supervisor of the word processing center in Delta Corporation in San Antonio, recently retired because of her age. During the years she had been supervisor, various managers felt that Brown should be dismissed because of her laxness in supervising the ten employees in the center. Because she reaching retirement age, however she was not dismissed. The employees were often late to work, took longer breaks that was permissible, took advantage of the corporation in terms of sick days, and so forth. Mary was repeatedly asked to be stricter in her supervisory efforts, but no noticeable changes were ever made. When the qualifications for the replacement for Mary brown were developed, the decision was made that the new supervisor should be more authoritarian and should require the employees in the word processing center to conform with existing company policy. The replacement, Annabell Jackson, was hired primarily because of her authoritarian characteristics. All of her former employers who were contacted regarding Jackson’s performance mentioned her authoritarian personality. Because of the laxness of brown and the hope that Jackson could improve the situation, she was offered the job. As the administrative office manager, you are aware that the first day Jackson is on the job will probably determine whether or not the employees in the word processing center will cooperate with her. Thus, you feel a necessity to discuss several things with her before her first day on the job.

Outline the approach you believe Jackson should take in winning the respect and cooperation of the employees in the word processing center.

Answer 1

As a first step, Jackson must understand the existing situation within Delta Corporation. She must try to understand the environment created by Mary's laxness and the existing problems. Before taking any step to control the problems and being headstrong, she must chalk out plans to curb the problems.

As a next step, Jackson must call for an all-hands meeting where she introduces herself and her expectations from the team which could include reporting on time and being involved in work (avoid long breaks). She must set clear expectations and clearly communicate the do's and don'ts.In this meeting, she must also note down problems faced by employees in the word processing center and assure them that they will be resolved timely. This will help her gain cooperation.

After she has established the expectations, Jackson must herself follow the do's and don'ts and set an example for the word processing center. Seeing her behavior, it will drive some level of change within the team and they will respect her discipline towards work.

There will be employees who won't change their behavior and Jackson needs to set an example out of them. Once an employee is found flouting rules two-three times, she must take necessary steps to remind the employee of his/her duties. As an extreme step, this could be termination of an employee who repeatedly ignores rules at will. Before taking this extreme step, Jackson must give employees enough chances to mend their ways.