Case Study #1
New Administrative Assistant in the Research Branch
1. Facts of the case
The basic problem of the case study is Sue’s overall unsatisfactory working performance and failure to keep up with her job responsibilities. The fact that she is facing personal family related issues and problems has to be taken into account, however the leader and the other four members of the team have many complaints.
2. Description of the problems More specifically, she constantly needs assistance from her colleagues in the research branch in order to fulfill her job requirements even though she, more often than not, works overtime. Moreover, she is not competent to tackle new tasks and projects if she doesn’t already have previous related experience and hasn’t been given clear instructions. She routinely needs help on making any graphs that were not exactly like those she was tutored during her training program and, in addition, she generally ignores instructions she is unsure of and appears to be distracted at work. The four members of the team are tired of Sue’s underperformance and feel that she is consuming their energy and negatively affecting their ability to fulfill their own work responsibilities and projects.
3. Theoretical framework The leader of the branch has to make some decisions and take the necessary course of action in order to address the problem on hand. However, these decisions will make sense only in the context of how the leader and the followers (four members and Sue) interact in a given situation. This situation is highly affected by Sue’s personal life and family problems which have to be considered since they, in turn, affect all the relationships involved in the leader-followers-situation framework and subsequently the final decision of the leader. In particular, the fact of the matter is that the leader’s confidence in Sue must have been influenced. She was selected over 100 other people but after six months of working she is not yet effective and productive. However, the leader’s job responsibilities and heavy schedule require more certainty and accountability.
Furthermore, the other four members of the team are highly trained, educated and competent people. Their level of knowledge and experience in the company exceeds that of Sue and makes them more invested in the branch’s projects. Naturally, they feel hampered by Sue’s underperformance and inability to apply her training on the job.
Lastly, Sue’s personal situation has to be considered. Her family context reduces her spirit and raises her stress levels which in turn probably affects her performance in anything. Tasks that may be structured and simple, result being unstructured and more complicated. Sue constantly seeks assistance from co-workers who finally feel tired of helping her and this affects the overall unity and spirit of the group.