Case Study – Communication Between Leaders and Employees in an organization

Case Study – Communication Between Leaders and Employees in an organization

Communication plays a significant role in the relationship between employees and leaders in an organization. The case study reviews the conversation between Tabatha Turman, the CEO and founder of Integrated Finance and Accounting Solutions, and one of the employees. Tabatha plans to fire one of the employees who is currently not meeting the organization’s performance expectations (Dillon, 2015, p.8). Although Turman handled the situation well, the situation could have been handled differently to communicate expectations and concerns clearly without creating conflict between the employee and Turnam.

Case Study Review

I could have handled the situation differently by looking for another vacancy within the organization that would be fit for the employee. I would have created a negotiation with the employee to give him an opportunity to talk about his strengths and the position within the organization that he thinks he could manage effectively. I would ensure that the conversation with the employee is face-to-face to create rapport and give the employee a chance to express his opinion about the organization’s decision. According to Green (2013), at the basic level, all individuals crave feedback and interaction, which create the foundation for success (p. 15). Therefore, having face-to-face communication with the employee would create room for the employee to express his opinion about the company’s view of his performance and why terminating him is necessary.

I would recommend giving the employee a chance to negotiate for an alternative decision, such as placing him in another position within the company after his role is eliminated. According to Pham et al. (2011), negotiation can be considered a decision-making process that is used to achieve a consensus (p. 2). Therefore, negotiating would enable the employee and the company’s management to agree on a decision that yields mutual benefit. I would also conduct an informal conversation to allow the employee to feel free to express his opinion and give honest feedback about the company’s decision. Informal communication is inevitable in business and can be essential in promoting effective communication if leaders know how to use it (Nguyen, 2022, p. 1). Therefore, I would ensure that the informal conversation with the employee focuses on learning more about his family and aspirations so that I can predict how eliminating him from the company will affect him and whether there is another role within the organization that he can be assigned.

Conclusion

Communication in an organization is essential in promoting a good relationship between leaders and employees. Leaders need to consider employees’ opinions when having difficult conversations with them, such as conversations about firing them. One of the approaches that can be used to hold conversations about firing an employee is negotiating with the employee to give him an opportunity to talk about his strengths and the position within the organization that he thinks he could manage effectively. The second approach is giving the employee a chance to negotiate for an alternative decision, such as placing him in another position within the company. It is also important to hold an informal conversation with the employee to understand how the organization’s decision will affect him and determine whether the employee should be retained within the organization.

 References

Dillon, K. (2015, August 12). How to handle difficult conversations at work. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2015/01/how-to-handle-difficult-conversations-at-work#

Green, M. E. (2013). Painless performance conversations: A practical approach to critical day-to-day workplace discussions.

Nguyen, T. (2022, September 15). What is informal communication in business organizations? JobHopin. https://www.jobhopin.com/blog/what-is-informal-communication-in-business-organizations/

Pham, L., Teich, J. E., & Tran, T. D. (2011). Theory of negotiauction: Conditions for application. Business Studies Journal, 3(2), 2.

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Prompt: This is a group activity. For more information on groups, please see About Group Work.
You will be assigned to a small group for this discussion. 

Read the article How to Handle Difficult Conversations at Work. In your small group, you will be assigned one of the two case studies at the end of the article. 

Each member of your small group will answer the following questions:
1 How could the situation or conversation have been handled differently so that expectations and concerns were communicated clearly?
2 What is your recommendation in this case? Would you conduct a formal or informal conversation, and why?