Communication - Kelly & Amelie’s Case
Communicating efficiently at work is very important as having efficient communication prevents confusion to others and prevents possible major problems from happening or make problems that already exist worse. We have to ensure we use the appropriate communication channels according to the situation we are dealing with.
For this unit, the problem that Amelie described to her boss Kelly, is that there is an athlete who is a candidate to appear in a sports drink commercial and the company wants to hire him. The hiring agent heard this candidate has been taking steroids per this agent’s investigation. The hiring agent called her supervisor seeking advice as to what direction to take due to time constrain, the supervisor must provide direction in a timely fashion and must ensure the candidate is not lost due to this. The candidate is not willing to take a drug test and the hiring agent is in the risk of losing this candidate to a coworker or to a competitor. Amelie’s coworkers want to overwrite her findings and sign this athlete.
If I was Kelly the boss, I would ask this employee to draft an email providing details related to the issue or problem with this candidate and clearly indicate the key points of the conflict. When issues of this nature are communicated via phone call or voice mail, it leaves room for misinterpretation due to a lack of communication or verbal skills. Also, there is always the risk of having outside noise when having a phone conversation or leaving a voice mail that could prevent the receiver to obtain a clear message.
Based on the email from Amalie, I would then ask the following questions; what are your sources for your investigation leading you to think this candidate is taking steroids? Are these sources reliable? If we are correct about this candidate taking steroids, are there any possible ways or alternatives to convince the candidate to take a drug test or screening test? We need to go by company policy and ensure we follow the rules and procedures when it comes to hiring candidates, what are your thoughts on this, do we have to meet to discuss further?
If I was Amalie, I would have to talk to my team to ensure the information I have is valid and sufficient and present to them the proof that the candidate has been taking steroids. After further discussion with my team and convincing them of the possibility of steroids being taken by this athlete, I would then have discuss with my team ideas as to how to approach the athlete’s agent to ensure we find a way to convince him to take the drug screening test. I will have to convince them that this is the best for the athlete’s future not only at his sport, but also at the company’s running this sponsor’s commercial campaign. I would tell my boss Kelly that I agree 100% with her, we cannot omit the rules just because he is an ideal candidate, if an exception to the rule is to be made and this candidate is not to go through our screening process, I would ask my boss if she consider requesting an approval by the board of directors to make an exception as I’m sure this would not be a decision to be made by me or her. Do you think they’ll be willing to provide an exception for this candidate? Will you want me to schedule a meeting with my team to ensure we all follow procedure and are aligned with company policy? I would then ask my boss Kelly to please respond to me via email at her earliest opportunity.
The best leadership approach for Kelly to take in this situation would be the authentic leadership approach to ensure her team trust her ethical values and not make decisions that break rules or policy just to ensure the signing of an athlete that everyone involved wants to sign even if proven to be taking steroids. Then Kelly will need to ensure that her downward communication is clear and to the point, explain policies and procedures and provide explanation why my decision was made. I would then ensure the team has the facts straight and we are not making an irrational decision based on rumors. Are the sources providing this information about the candidate reliable or we have to conduct further investigation? If the sources are reliable and the candidate does not want to follow company procedure in order to obtain the job, our company will not make an exception as we need to follow the rules pre-established by the company in order to prevent putting the company’s reputation at risk and possibly breaking the law and incurring into legal issues.
As Amalie, I would request the response from my boss to come via email so there is a trail that can be used as official proof of the conversation in case there are approval or denials coming from my boss. This way I can show my teammates I did an effort to obtain an approval to sign this athlete without him having to go through a screening process but it wasn’t approved, and if it was approved, I will be covering myself from possible blame for not following procedure or company policy.
In the event that Amelie don’t hear from her boss Kelly on time with the needed advice or decision as to how to proceed, I would recommend Amelie to then proceed with another phone call to both her boss’s office and personal numbers to follow up. Once getting a hold of Kelly, I would recommend Amelie to request her boss Kelly to set a meeting with the rest of the team to discuss via conference call (possibly with video) what the approach will be towards this problem and how to resolve it, or simply to communicate a decision.
Amelie would have to follow a communication process which consist of eight parts which are: the sender, encoding, the message, the channel, decoding, the receiver, noise and the feedback. At the first, second and third steps of the communication process, Amelie who is the sender, would have to clearly encode a thought, the message being conveyed. At the fourth step, Amelie would have to select a phone call as the channel since her boss Kelly didn’t respond to her via email in a timely manner. Typically phone calls and emails fall under the formal channels pre-established by organizations. The fifth and sixth steps would be for Amelie to ensure she understands or know how the receiver will decode the message, will Kelly understand my message the way I’m delivering it? The seventh step in the communication process would be for Amelie to ensure there are no barriers preventing a clear communication such as noise. Amelie would have to find a quiet place to make this important call and not initiate a phone call on the street where there is a lot of traffic or people noise. The eighth and final communication step that Amelie would need to follow is to review and analyze the feedback given by Kelly at her response. Was the message easily captured by Kelly when she read the email or heard the voice mail that Amelie left for her? Did Kelly came back asking Amelie to clarify some of the key points of the message because they weren’t clear? As we are trying to communicate or deliver an important message, we have to ensure we are clear and to the point not only through the key points of the message but throughout the entire content of the message being communicated. If we are not careful when communicating with others especially when it is related to solving a problem, we can make the problem even bigger and create confusion to others leading to spend more time fixing the problem that it should take. At the work place it is highly recommended to ensure communication is clear especially when timing is crucial.