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Case “Gen Y in the Workforce”

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How can Sarah and Josh work together more effectively?
Sarah Bennett, the marketing chief of the movie division of Rising Entertainment, will give a presentation to the company’s CEO this Friday to report the promotions, advertising, and branding plan of the upcoming new film "Fire Force Five". Josh Lewis, the 23-year-old marketing associate had ever talked to Sarah and raised some new and modern ideas, but didn’t draw her attention. So he came to CEO Sam directly and showed his ideas. Sam felt quite good and asked him to offer a full report at the meeting. Sarah was amazed to hear about this message from Sam and immediately asked Josh to her office. Then how can Sarah and Josh work together more effectively? In my opinion, both Sarah and Josh should improve their communication skills such as persuasion and active listening skills and do more communications to let both sides understand each other's thoughts.
Current Problem: Sarah and Josh work together inefficiently
Due to the generational differences between Sarah and Josh, they hadn’t established a trust relationship during their daily work. The miscommunication made things much worse. Both of them can’t clearly express what they expect from one another. Those made each of them work in his own way and led the current problem - inefficient work.
In general, Josh had following problems in this affair:
1. He didn’t respect his boss - Sarah’s authority. He chose the wrong action: report to CEO directly and bypass Sarah.
2. He didn’t fulfill his duty very well and accomplish the assignment carelessly.
3. He was eager for quick success and instant benefit. His idea was not well-considered, and he also did not take out the example or figures to prove.
4. As for communication method, He preferred text message or e-mail rather than face to face.
As for Sarah, there are also some wrong actions of her as below:
1. She didn’t understand what Josh really want and give the constructive feedback as he expected during their communication.
2. She should do some training and explain the requirement when assign a task to young people.
3. She didn’t listen closely to Josh’s suggestion to get the valuable point in it. She only dismissed his ideas as impractical.
4. She should make use of the advantage of Josh such as his knowledge about new media and social networking and his creativity in marketing rather than only rely on her old experience.
Cause Analysis: Communication Issues
First of all, let’s take a little example to check why Josh will report to CEO directly bypassing Sarah? In my opinion, there are three causes: 1, His boss Sarah didn’t actively listen to his suggestion; 2, He needs to be recognized and praised to realize himself. 3, His friends and colleagues encourage him to do it. The first and second points are related to communication.
Actually, both Josh and Sarah faced communication problems during this affair. Insufficient or unsuccessful communication is the root cause to make them work inefficiently.
Below are the analyses I summarized based on above examples and problems:
1. Josh didn’t choose the right communication strategy considering the purpose, audience, credibility and context. Since the audience is his boss, purpose is to give some suggestion, the credibility is low, and he should choose another kind of communication style and structure.
2. According to the Cialdini’s Principles of Persuasion, we should consider the following points: liking, reciprocity, social proof, commitment, authority and scarcity. But Josh didn’t use them to persuade his boss to take his advice.
3. Sarah didn’t do the active listening and give the reflective response during the communication. She should try to understand Josh before show her attitude and feedback.
Given Solution: Improve Communication Skills and Cooperate
According to above analysis, I can draw the conclusion of the given solution: both Josh and Sarah should improve their communication skills. With the help of communication, they can understand and trust each other and find a way to realize cooperation.
At last, suppose I were Sarah, I will take follow steps:
1. First, I will criticize Josh seriously for his report bypassing me.
2. In the short term, I will ask Josh to describe his suggestion again and try to understand his idea before the presentation. I will help him to make up the incomplete part in his report. BTW, I will invite him to attend the presentation meeting.
3. In the long term, I will pay attention to the training and coaching of new comers in my company. Help them to find the recognition and realize themselves is a better way to work with them efficiently.

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