Jane Smith has been on the job for six weeks as communication manager at
Rosewell Research Ltd, a company that specializes in arranging research for
government and allied agencies, as well as evaluating research programmes. Jane’s
appointment is a reflection of the company’s concern over its performance. The
CEO, Mr Robert Rosewell, has explained that there have been problems with
research contracts lately, both with the contractors who are doing the research, and
with the Government agencies that are commissioning it. Also, the evaluation centre
has been having unexplained problems with completing tasks. The Government
agencies are angry that the research tasks are taking so long to complete and even
longer to evaluate. In some cases, the requested research is no longer relevant. “The
Minister will be asking questions” is a spectre that is haunting everyone involved.
Jane, who has a research background and a degree in communication, has been
appointed to provide fresh enthusiasm to staff, but also to free the log jams that
seem to be clogging up the systems. After familiarising herself with the
organisation, and doing an analysis of the key problems, Jane Smith requests a
meeting with her immediate manager, Hillary Bond. Hillary arranged a meeting
time for 7 a.m. Jane raised her eyebrows at this, but refrained from making any
comment. After all, she was new in the organisation and did not want to start off by
offending her manager.
Jane knocked on Hillary’s closed door and went in after hearing Hillary abrupt
response of “Yes”. When she entered Hillary’s office, Jane was disconcerted to find
that Hillary’s desk was in the centre of the room piled with papers, and the one
visitor’s chair on her side of the desk, was some distance away and was too heavy to
be moved.
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_ 219.100 Intro to Business Communication (Int-2015)
“I would have preferred to sit a bit closer to you,” Jane joked. Hillary, seated
behind her desk, did not reply.
“Um… good morning,” said Jane, in a tentative fashion. “I have quite a list of
things I would like to discuss.”
“Fair enough,” answered Hillary. “But I didn’t come into work at this time of the
day to go through a long list. You are supposed to be clearing log jams, not adding
to them. Now can we get on with it!’
Jane was struggling to concentrate. She had had to get up much earlier for work
than usual, and the car journey over the hill from the semi-rural area where she
lived had tired her. To make matters worse, in her hurry to be on time, she had
mislaid her glasses that she really needed for reading, and she was developing a
headache.
“Certainly,” said Jane with a confidence that she did not feel. “For a start, I think
that the Evaluation Centre has unfairly borne the brunt of criticism. It’s not the
Centre’s fault that the contractors have not done the research tasks for which they
were awarded tenders.”
“Furthermore,” said Jane building up an impressive head of steam, “the Evaluation
Centre has been exemplary in its monitoring of the contracts. The Centre’s staff
have encouraged the contractors to complete their work on time and have processed
the completed contracts with dispatch. A different approach is needed to…”
“You were aware,” interrupted Hillary, icily, “that I had already made very
reasonable criticisms of the Evaluation Centre at the quarterly management meeting
a few months ago?”
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_ 219.100 Intro to Business Communication (Int-2015)
“Well, no,” said Jane, with a sense that she had just collapsed her budding career
with Rosewell Research.
“Perhaps you would like to explain why things are in a perilous state and reports are
going to be late for the minister?”
“Well…,” Jane started to reply.
“Things are not well,” said Hillary impatiently. “That’s the point.”
“All the reports are on schedule,” said Jane bravely. “The hold up is in your office,
Hillary.”
“What! What are you saying?” exploded Hillary.
“It’s true,” said Jane. “The reports are somewhere on your desk.” She gestured at
the mountain of paperwork that was all but covering the desk’s generous
proportions.
“Why didn’t someone ask me?” asked Hillary in a fairly plaintive tone.
“They did, but I have been told that you can only be approached through your
personal assistant and that she screens all enquiries and asks Section Heads to either
send memos through the internal mail or to send emails.”
“Hmmm,” said Hillary thoughtfully, and with a marked improvement in her tone. “I
have been having trouble with emails. The help desk was going to do something
about it…”