Jim Anderson is a training specialist in the human resource department of a larg

Question

Jim Anderson is a training specialist in the human resource department of a large pharmaceutical company. In response to a recent companywide survey, Jim specifically designed a 6-week training program on listening and communication skills to encourage effective management in the company. Jim’s goals for the seminar are twofold: for participants to learn new communication behaviors and for participants to enjoy the seminar so they will want to attend future seminars. The first group to be offered the program was middle-level managers in research and development. This group consisted of about 25 people, nearly all of whom had advanced degrees. Most of this group had attended several in-house training programs in the past, so they had a (Continued) 106 Leadership Theory and Practice sense of how the seminar would be designed and run. Because the previous seminars had not always been very productive, many of the managers felt a little disillusioned about coming to the seminar. As one of the managers said, “Here we go again: a fancy in-house training program from which we will gain nothing.” Because Jim recognized that the managers were very experienced, he did not put many restrictions on attendance and participation. He used a variety of presentation methods and actively solicited involvement from the managers in the seminar. Throughout the first two sessions, he went out of his way to be friendly with the group. He gave them frequent coffee breaks during the sessions; during these breaks, he promoted socializing and networking. During the third session, Jim became aware of some difficulties with the seminar. Rather than the full complement of 25 managers, attendance had dropped to about only 15 managers. Although the starting time was established at 8:30, attendees had been arriving as late as 10:00. During the afternoon sessions, some of the managers were leaving the sessions to return to their offices at the company. As he approached the fourth session, Jim was apprehensive about why things had been going poorly. He had become quite uncertain about how he should approach the group. Many questions were running through his mind: Had he treated the managers in the wrong way? Had he been too easy regarding attendance at the sessions? Should he have said something about the managers skipping out in the afternoon? Were the participants taking the seminar seriously? Jim was certain that the content of the seminars was innovative and substantive, but he could not figure out what he could change to make the program more successful. He sensed that his style was not working for this group, but he didn’t have a clue as to how he should change what he was doing to make the sessions better.

Read the case study -- Why aren't they listening? then answer the questions below.

Q2. At what level are the managers?

Q3. From a leadership perspective, what is Jim doing wrong?

Explanation / Answer

At what level are the managers?

            Jim’s managers are displaying levels of development at the D3 level. D3 represents employees who have moderate to high competence but may lack commitment. They have essentially developed the skills for the job, but they are uncertain as to whether they can accomplish the task by themselves. Jim may have given his managers too much freedom.

  From a leadership perspective, what is Jim doing wrong?

            As a leader, Jim needed to determine if this type of seminar needed a bit more monitoring on his part. In todays over burdened workday, most people would opt out of an unsupervised, unrequired seminar. Everyone would have a valid excuse, I am sure, but if Jim wanted everyone to attend every session, every day, he should have set the criteria from the beginning. Leading into question 4, Jim could have put more restrictions on the attendance to the seminar. He could have created more interest with activities or smaller reports that provided feedback in a positive manner from the seminar. Giving the managers ownership into their outcome may have made the managers more apt to attend and stay. A sense of competition may have increased interest. Jim may have offered some form of reward for attendance. Jim needed to be a bit more creative in how he presented the outcomes of the seminar and what aspects would have helped all the managers. Better communication.

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