Question

The Scenario

Joseph and Krystal are part of your social group. They joined Missile’s Financial Services together as middle managers. Each of them reports to a different senior manager. These managers report to the Managing Director. Once a month after payday you all try to have lunch together.

Joseph is very distressed. ‘I’ve had an awful week and this morning was the worst!’ He recounts what happen between himself and Nicholas his manager.

‘Nicholas and I were to meet with a new supplier to finalize a contract. I have been dealing with the supplier all this time and we just needed to finalize the costing. We had reached an agreement about the cost both of us were comfortable with it. All week I have been trying to get Nicholas to look at the contract and agree the figures etc. We really need this guy’s company they are fast, a good price point for us and willing to customize the stationary for such a small company. Anyway, Nicholas was always too busy to meet, I emailed him the contract and my teams thoughts on how we should proceed hoping he would read it.’

‘Anyway we met with the supplier this morning. We are going through the contract, the next thing I know Nicky says. ‘This won’t work for us, the cost is too high, where did these calculations come from?’ ‘If the floor had opened up and swallowed me I could have not been more embarrassed, I mean I spent three weeks working on it with accounting and legal! Joseph shaking his head continued, ‘he just took over the conversation, I mean we got the contract signed but in the end all that happened was that the figures were rearranged we still end up paying the same.’ ‘I am tired of this foolishness, he stays locked in his office on his cell everyday only God knows what he does in there.’

Krystal’s problem was very different but she was equally worried. Yesterday she attended a meeting with her manager and the managing director himself. She is the manager for one of the locations. The MD had called because he received the third quarter results and he was concerned that the new business loans and new customers targets have not been met for the third quarter in a row. In fact, the third quarter results were worst that the second quarter. The MD asked Krystal what remedial action she has taken over the time period.

Krystal has not been idle. She spoke with her colleagues who also manage other locations and they gave her some tips. She therefore proceeded to do the following. She has reorganized the tasks across the staff and given everybody new targets, which had been emailed to them. She had also brought in a sales trainer to give the staff a pep talk on meeting new people and how to confidently start conversations with strangers, finding sales prospects and marketing loan services. She had also intended to add a target that would require the loans officers to give a minimum of two monthly financial talk organized by them as well as each would visit two organizations to drum up business by introducing the company and its produces during staff meetings. Shirley confirmed that Krystal had emailed her about this some two weeks ago and she had signed off on it and suggested that Krystal have a meeting with the staff to discuss. To this point Krystal had not done the latter.

Krystal told her lunch partners that her manager Shirley, and the MD were concerned about her communication style. Further, they suggested that this was perhaps the reason why the initiatives were not appear to be working for Krystal or Missile Financial Services.

The MD had just received the results of the annual staff attitude survey. Krystal received acceptable grades from her staff on her one to one communication style. However only 1 of the targeted three 3 general staff meetings had been held. Staff satisfaction in her location also lagged behind that of the other 6 locations and did not meet the minimum 60%.

Shirley and MD are of the opinion that a programme of activities needs to be developed to bring the targets back on track. They think that a general staff meeting in Krystal’s shop is a first step and they promise her that they will be in attendance to give Krystal support.

1. If you were in Joseph’s shoes how would you have handled his manager’s behaviour prior to the meeting with the representative from the other company? As a group, discuss the pros and cons of the various ideas that the members of the group generated. From the pros and cons outlined by the members of the group, submit what the group considered as 2 each major pros and cons, along with an explanation of how the decision was arrived at.

2. How would you propose that Krystal organize the general staff meeting? Propose an agenda for the meeting.

3. Based on your study of change management, communication and leadership, provide Krystal, with a communication plan that will support her efforts to make changes.

Answer 1

If you were in Joseph’s shoes how would you have handled his manager’s behaviour prior to the meeting with the representative from the other company? As a group, discuss the pros and cons of the various ideas that the members of the group generated. From the pros and cons outlined by the members of the group, submit what the group considered as 2 each major pros and cons, along with an explanation of how the decision was arrived at.

Option 1- I 'd first make sure that Nicholas reads the email about the supplier quotes if I was in Joseph's shoes. The first move before meeting the supplier is to ensure that he has read the emails and the opinions of the team, understanding the personality of Nicholas. I can only do so by copying the emails sent to Nicholas from M.D and other top executives. Given that Nicholas hasn't seen the email itself, I 'd again clarify to Nicholas through emails provider assessments and cost estimates.

In order to end the supplier cost at a scheduled meeting, I would send 3 more e-mails to the higher authorities requesting Nicholas acknowledgement and confirmation of receipt. And if Nicholas didn't read the text, at least one manager should question Nicholas, since he's my next boss why he didn't give me a reply. I know sure that Nicholas would know the supplier's quotes after I have received a confirmation from them. This will keep the supplier from being humiliated at the conference.

• Pros: Nicholas knows what its priorities are and keeping a strong working relationship. Joseph and other mid-managers should not be humiliated.
• Cons: It could tighten the relationship between Joseph and Nicholas, Nicholas would not be in the management's good books like surpassing the hierarchical system by emailing the management.

Option 2: Before going to the meeting, Joseph may report to higher authorities to ensure that management is aware of Nicholas' lethargic existence.

• Pros: Joseph's future relations with Nicolas, Joseph might not be in the good Nicholas books, would avoid any embarrassments before the suppliers.
• Cons: It could tighten the relationship between Joseph and Nicholas, Nicholas would not be in the management's good books like surpassing the hierarchical system by emailing the management.

Conclusion: Choice 1, since this alternative helps more people with little impact, according to the Utilitarian ethical philosophy.

How would you propose that Krystal organize the general staff meeting? Propose an agenda for the meeting.

Krystal should be more respectfully and kindly to her general staff. To make it more efficient, she should also work on her communication. She would try to find out what mistake she made and focus further on her conversation.

• Successes and wins
• Pipeline updates
• Obstacles and roadblocks
• Prospect/lead feedback
• Metrics update
• Housekeeping
• Competitor updates
• Pitch round table

Based on your study of change management, communication and leadership, provide Krystal, with a communication plan that will support her efforts to make changes.

The purpose of communication is the reason why you want to communicate with the people. The aim is to bring your product to the consumer's interests. Intention of communication helps to identify the target market for the product. This is because customers want certain attributes or characteristics of the goods they like.

Knowing the audience- Knowing your audience is knowing who your audience is and knowing what exactly they desire. when you know the audience, you can address their issue and problems better and communicate with them better.Planning and designing the message- The message that needs to go out must have a deep impact among the consumers. It must be designed in such a way that it should be easily understood by the consumer. This will leave a long-lasting impact. The type of messaging and the medium that must be used should be planned accordingly.

Taking into account resources-The campaign must be developed within the resource constraints. The resources are constrained: the budget, the medium's scope, individuals, rights, legality, space, labor. Before beginning a campaign you should consider the availability of such means. Preparing for barriers and contingencies – Any campaign, scheduled event, has unexpected roles, obstacles and emergencies, such as fund crunch, last-minute payment, extra support, etc. The planning of these contingencies should be carried out and an alternative action plan drawn up.

The designated voice maker should communicate with the media so that the media and the general public can receive a single message. Many from the same organizations are sending the message that they get compromised. The strategies include press conferences, interviews, seminars, etc.Creation of an Action Plan-A plan of action is created and evaluated prior to the execution of the above plan. An Action Plan is a structure for what will be done and how. The program is first piloted and then the campaign is fully launched. The plan can be strengthened and updated on the basis of the input from the pilot programme.