Managerial Communication- Mid Term Examination

Case Study- Managing Grace

By Riya Sharma (20PGPM041)

Stakeholders:

 Grace: A fresh graduate who has done a couple of internships, and is now serving a consulting firm 8SK. She
is a highly ambitious, aggressive and impatient employee.
 Landon Washington: Manager of 8SK, holding a prior experience of 14 years with the firm, and Grace’s boss.
He is known to be supportive, practical and encouraging, and the best mentor anyone can have there.
 Bill Michaels: Vice President of the firm, he believes in the hierarchy of the organizational set up and wants
work to be done in a pre-determined manner.

Situation Analysis:

 Grace was a junior employee in the consulting firm 8SK since the past 15 months, and she was mentored by
Landon Washington, the manager of the firm and her superior. She never had proper choice of words while
talking to the important clients of the firm and had even offended a client by not meeting his requirements
herself. Landon managed the situation in hand with his experience and charm, but had taught a lesson to
Grace about how to keep the clients happy and satisfied.
 However, as a highly ambitious employee, Grace wanted to climb up the ladder of hierarchy too quick and
did everything she could but all her efforts went in vain.
 Grace had two plans of action in mind. She initiated with making a presentation on the new project
management software she wanted to introduce to the organization and about which she had learnt earlier.
She strongly felt that the existing software was too slow, difficult to manage and had outdated functions.
Through her presentation she tried to convey the same thing to Landon, who didn’t pay enough attention.
Later she had also indulged herself in Grapevine Communication when she started talking to employees
from other departments about the need to replace the current software with a new one.
 After failing to implement her ideas about the software, she decided to get herself in the team which was
about to take up a high facility project. The importance and scale of this project demanded key players of the
firm and in spite of knowing that she wasn’t one of them, she kept on trying for the same.
 At the company’s social event, Grace even grabbed the opportunity of talking directly to Bill (the Vice
President and Landon’s superior) about the project management software but she was interrupted by her
boss. Later, she went out of line when she wrote a mail to Bill stating all the facts and advantages of bringing
the new software and asked for a follow up meeting to discuss about it in detail. In addition to this, she had
sent two more emails to the VP to supplement the original, and also mentioned about her hopes and desires
to be a part of the upcoming project.

Problem Analysis:

 Grace lacked proper work etiquettes. Instead of talking to her superior and explaining her goals to him, she
tried to take up responsibilities for her promotion and went out of her way.
 Grace did not follow proper channels of communication. She resorted to Grapevine Communication while
trying to get through the idea of the new software and created a buzz among employees belonging to
different departments. Also, she broke the rule of following an Upward Communication by sending an email
directly to the VP, instead of contacting and discussing once again with her immediate superior, Landon.
 Her approach to everything which happened around was highly unprofessional.
 Grace became impatient regarding her promotion in the company. She started overestimating herself and
completely ignored the reasoning behind Landon’s decisions and thoughts.
 She saw her own boss as an obstacle in her way to achieve career goals.
 Instead of waiting for the right time and appropriate opportunity, she hurried things out and spoiled her own
image in from of the company’s management.
Decision Analysis:

 A proper training was required to be given to Grace before she started her job. She was a fresher with some
internship experience, a prior training relating to the proper work etiquettes and effective ways of
communication would be beneficial for her and for the company too.
 However, Grace was also expected to be patient and behave in a manner suitable for the corporate
environment she was in.
 She should refrain herself from talking evil about her boss behind his back. This was spoiling Grace’s image
only.
 Grace should also learn to take rejections and criticisms with a pinch and a punch of salt.
 Landon should have painted a clearer and better picture when he was approached by Grace regarding the
new software. He could have explained about why the organization did not need a software replacement
and the pros and cons related to it.
 On the part of the managers, they should also keep a thorough check on the actions of their subordinates so
as to prevent all sorts of miscommunication and spread of misleading information which can harm the
company in the long run.
 The VP could have appreciated the efforts of a junior employee in going out of her way and thinking about
the betterment of the organization.
 The company should also provide adequate platform for the development of their competent and deserving
employees and help them achieve career goals, rise and shine.

Plan of Action:

 Proper grooming sessions should be given to all employees of the organization to let them know about the
prevailing work process and culture. In this case, if Grace knew about the rules and regulations of the
company her behaviour could have been more professional and ethical.
 However, at the same time the company should also take care of the career goals of their employees who
work hard day and night and give their sweat and blood for the success and growth of the company.

Key Takeaways:

 Employees should stick to their roles in the organization , and complete their work with maximum dedication
and without worrying about their future. Everything they want will take some time, but will happen once the
right time comes.
 Anything which bothers us should be communicated to our superiors first so that they can help us in solving
our problems and provide us with suggestions and feedbacks so that we are able to handle such situations in
the future ourselves.
 Before taking any action or decision, plan, analyse, and wait for the right time to implement such plans to
give fruitful results.
 Everything happens for a reason. If someone is not given any opportunity, it doesn’t mean that her senior is
not willing to let her grow, it may also mean that she is not ready to take up bigger challenges. Brushing up
the skills can help in the growth of the individual and be beneficial in the long run. Here, being patient is the
key to success and can go a long way.
In the case presented before us, there is an utmost need to understand the importance and application of
frequent and candid communication.
Following are the ways in which effective business communication will prove to be helpful for the
employees and the organization as a whole:

1. Facilitates proper flow of information: What can be better than the information which flows
smoothly across the organization  and is made available to its employees at the appropriate place and
time? Effective communication enables a smooth flow of information. It is extremely crucial in all
business functions and departments. And it also provides a strong feedback mechanism to the
employees. 
2. Better interpersonal relationships: A good leader communicates well with his/her superiors,
subordinates and team members and tries to build a good relationship with all of them. He/she also
has to maintain good relations with clients and customers of the company to fetch long term benefits.
It is a vital pre-requisite and essential to run the daily operations in the organization efficiently and
effectively. 
3. Improved decision making: With better flow of information, decision making process becomes
easy and fast. And decisions are taken logically with keeping facts in mind, and ignoring
assumptions. 
4. Improved productivity and higher employee satisfaction: Effective communication enhances the
productivity among the employees as they are able to perform better because they are informed
better and know exactly what to do. Once they achieve their goals and are able to satisfy themselves
and their superiors with their performance, they are in a better state of mind. 

In this case, Grace should understand the importance of effective communication. She should follow proper
channels of communication so as to achieve individual and organizational goals, obey her boss and try to
weigh all pros and cons behind his decisions. 
In the given case, Grace could have communicated in the following ways:

 Communicate to Inform:  When employees communicate to convey something they share a piece of
information or knowledge. Here, Grace rightly used this principle to prepare a presentation about
the new management software. However, she went wrong when she went beyond means and
communicated about it to the Vice President of the company because her efforts to get a green signal
to her idea did not work in front of her superior, Landon. 
 Communicate to Convince: When we are trying to convince someone of our ideas, or putting
forward a proposal to the manager, we are communicating to convince. Grace's ambitious nature
wanted her to climb up the ladder of hierarchy in the organization too early. She wanted to convince
her manager about the new software implementation. When that did not work she tried herself to get
into the new upcoming project of the company. However, she refused to accept any suggestion or
criticisms given to her by her boss. 
 Communicate to Request:  When we are requesting some information from the organization for the
work assigned to us or when we are requesting an approval to our proposals, we are communicating
to request. Grace was desperate about her promotion and she requested the VP to hold a meeting
where she could discuss in details about the software and also her desires to get into the new project
were evident in her mails. 

In order to effectively manage a leader so as to reach personal and career goals the employees can follow
certain steps listed below:

 Employees should learn the art to convince. 

 At the same time they should acknowledge what their leader is saying and the reasoning behind the
actions of the leaders
 They should present their ideas at the right time and in the right place, in front of people who matter
and who have a say in the organization.
 They should focus on their current tasks well so that the leader do not get any chance to pin point
anything and welcomes ideas and suggestions from them when the need be.
 Employees may also state their short and long term career goals beforehand so that the leaders
know what their subordinates are looking for apart from fulfillment of their duties. 
 Properly communicating is the key to managing leaders. If an employee can frame and communicate
his goals to the leader effectively, he can sail through every challenge and grab all opportunities
easily.

 Taking feedbacks and criticisms constructively can help employees create a better image in front
of their managers and can help them in the long run.