Hello, I need help with the following questions. Positive feedback and comments

Question

Hello, I need help with the following questions. Positive feedback and comments will be left, if both questions are answered properly. Thank you so much for your time!

Questions:

1. Think of an occasion when you faced a miscommunication problem. What do you think caused the problem? How do you think it should have been handled better?

2. Discuss organizational rumors you have heard: What they were about, how they got started, how accurate they were, and how people reacted to them. What lessons can you learn from these episodes?

Explanation / Answer

Think of an occasion when you faced a miscommunication problem. What do you think caused the problem? How do you think it should have been handled better?

I would like to cite an example from my workplace. I was new to a committee called ‘Rewards & Recognition’ (R&R) committee. The committee head had assigned the tasks for each member. However, in the absence of one member, a particular task (seeking Team Manager’s ratings for employees selected) was incomplete. The issue was addressed in the committee meeting which was arranged to provide weightage to the ratings for the selected employee. Since this particular task was incomplete, the whole team comprising of 15 members had to wait till this particular task was completed. In order to expedite the process, I went personally seeking the Team Managers for the rating. Also, there was another colleague doing the same task.

The cause of the miscommunication was that though the issue was addressed in the team meeting, the head of the committee assigned the task to me. My colleague who did the same task has been in the committee for a longer period of time. Hence, she went about personally asking the Team Members for the rating.

The same task was carried out twice by the same members of the committee. This resulted in redundant work (doing the same task again), lost of trust among the Team Managers and lot of time was wasted in production by the 15 members of the committee.

This situation could have been handled better by following the below suggestions:

Discuss organizational rumors you have heard: What they were about, how they got started, how accurate they were, and how people reacted to them. What lessons can you learn from these episodes?

The organizational rumor was that many of the tasks were outsourced to third-party agencies hence there will be several lay-offs in the company. The rumor started when the supplier meetings were held frequently. Also, people adept at the supplier tasks and senior employees arrived at the conclusion that the company is cutting cost hence they would lose their jobs if they outsource the tasks. Activities supporting the rumor like process change and third party involvement were more at this time. The rumor was inaccurate because later we found that the reduction of supplier tasks was not to outsource the projects to the supplier but to have the employees to take up more of a managerial role to enhance the productivity of the organization. Some employees left the job thinking that they had an insecure job. However, the company is now rated as a best employer. The great lesson that I learnt via this incident is that we should not rely on rumors and make decisions based on the rumors.

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