Designing Disaster

Designing Disaster: Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Decision Mike Crocker SUNY New Paltz

Designing Disaster Designing Disaster: Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Decision Case Overview

A woman named Janice walker describes her experience working at a design company, based in Ohio, called Concept Design. The case covers her first two years working at the firm after getting her master s degree and becoming a certified project manager at Project Management Institute. Her first year at the firm went very well for her, she met a close friend of hers named Jose, who also worked for the company, and they actually got to work together on an account. Her first year ended with the success of the Swifferman account, in which Concept Design designed a website for a grocery delivery service company to expand to the Columbus, Ohio area, leading Janice to be promoted within Concept Design and she started working in the graphic design lab, ran by Dale Hecht. Her second year would be torture compared to her first year, and mostly due in part to Dale Hecht and his hostility towards Janice. Dale wasn t a fan of Janice being promoted, despite the other employee s overwhelming support for her, but he let it happen anyway. Through this second year Janice hated Dale s management style, which included never admitting to his own mistakes, and after Janice corrected him at a meeting for one of their clients, Dale blew up at Janice demanding that she, get OUT of my meeting! How dare you correct me? Who do you

think you are? This is my organization. If I get a name or two wrong, so be it. But YOU, you have no right to correct me. Dale went a step further to say that she was removed from the account completely and he would be taking it over. He even blamed Janice for the brief interruption in the meeting with the client. Janice being worried about the account and more importantly about her job security, dwells over the communication problem of what she should do and

Designing Disaster what she should say or not say to someone. Selection of Criteria Criterion #1: Employee Motivation Description of Criterion. Employee motivation is the force that drives an individual to achieve his or her goals (Wrench, 2012) and in Janice Walker s case this is a crucial factor. Before she was promoted and worked under Dale Hecht, she seemed like a highly motivated employee that was really making strides in the company. This motivation was likely established when in the beginning her supervisor Darlene Kelly told her, we value Employee input. We re an art firm, so the more design ideas we can get on the table, the better off our end product will be.

This statement alone probably made her feel increasingly motivated to be more creative within her work right from the start, and during her first year it appeared that way. With the success of the Swifferman account, Janice was even promoted within the company and started moving up the corporate ladder. But now after evaluating her second year, her motivational input into her work might be altered due to this incident with Dale. Now that she is stuck between multiple stressful decisions that might determine her career success, it might affect her ability to work to her fullest potential. When evaluating employee motivation, there are more specific subcategories called internal and external motivators. In this case Janice s motivators are external, meaning there are factors outside an individual that influence the individual to strive towards achieving a goal (Wrench, 2012). These goals might not always be positive like in this case, but the combination of Dale s attitude, managing style, and the situation she is in, were all causes that can be referred to as external forces harming her employee motivation.

Designing Disaster Measurement of Criterion. The measurement of Janice s employee motivation will be measured by what decision she ultimately makes. If she decides to do nothing it might lead to

more stress, and more external problems caused by Dale s attitude and management style. But then again she might possibly be able to take this incident and use it to work even harder to show Dale that she s not green, and can handle the pressures of her job and current situation. If she decides to say something to Carlos, she would technically be doing the right moral thing by defending herself, but there is a very good chance that Dale will find out through Carlos about Janice s conversation with him, and judge her as a weaker employee, and might lead to her being fired, just like Janice s predecessor who was fired after he went to Carlos after a disagreement, and now he works somewhere else. Overall whatever decision Janice decides to make will be a factor in what work she is doing and her level of motivation to do that work. Criterion #2: Employee health (Psychological) Description of Criterion. An employee s health has a big impact on that worker. That same person has to go to work almost every day for however many hours, and be in the right mindset to do his or her best work. Kuhn (2010) suggests that good mental health is important, since it allows people to develop in many ways emotionally, mentally, intellectually and socially. It also benefits the places where people live and work, leading to social development and economic growth (p.13). If that employee is not up to his or her best mental or physical health it could cause serious setbacks in the employee s productivity. This might occur with Janice because her once comfortable work environment is now one she might not be so comfortable

Designing Disaster in anymore. The choice of doing nothing might lead to bouts of stress for Janice, who might let her worrying get in the way of her work time. Also the psychological harm in this issue is when Janice dwells on her current predicament she might fear that Dale or anyone else in the

company, might be talking about her without her knowing, and getting the wrong impression of her from Dale. Janice even said in regards to the account she was thrown off of, If I don t say anything, I ll come off looking incompetent because Dale will somehow put the whole affair on my shoulders. And, Furthermore, he s going to end up botching the account, and I know I ll be the one who ll get blamed. So there is some evidence to Janice possibly dwelling on this causing future stress, which isn t good for her psychological health as an employee. Measurement of Criterion: This criterion will simply be measured by how much the stress of her current predicament affects Janice. The amount of time she thinks about her problems could affect her employee output of work. The problems that could be used to measure this criterion could range from absenteeism, work performance, staff attitude or behavior and workplace relationships (Harnois & Gabriel, 2002, pp. 8). The combination or individual occurrences of these problems will give a good measure to how much Janice s stress is affecting her. This might even follow her out of work to her home life and affect her there, which could lead to a domino effect of prolonged problems. And if these problems were to continue they very well might change from psychological harm to harming employee health, to physical harm. But according to participant based study done by the National Association of Social Workers on stress at work, In addition to exercise, meditation, and therapy as useful strategies, study participants also stated they use other coping strategies such as gardening, listening to music, watching television, massage, camping, fishing, painting, Pilates, yoga,

Designing Disaster reading, spiritual development, and martial arts to help, (Arrington, 2008, p.9). So Janice picking one of these activities also might help her alleviate stress and be more at peace with herself. Criterion #3: Ethics (Communication) Description of Criterion. Ethics can play a role in Janice Walker s decision. The ethics of something can really give you an idea of what is right and what is wrong. How businesses present themselves and demonstrate their attitude as an entire company make up this idea of business ethics. So what Janice needs to assess here is whether what Dale has been doing to her is wrong enough to the point where she can use it in an argument of her own. More specifically to her decision will be communication ethics, which deal with more of the ethical

interactions with co-workers and their practices. If Janice were to say something and present an argument, she could claim that Dale Hecht was using destructive and deceptive communication ethics by using insults, put-downs, character assassination, and maybe possibly in the future using the untruth as a weapon against her (Wrench, 2012). The possibility of Dale misleading other employees and potential clients derives from deceptive communication ethics and stems from when he said to an important client of theirs I m sorry, Ms. Walker was just called away to another meeting. Young executives these days, they just can t get their acts together. If Janice s job is to impress and deal successfully with clients to bring in business, how can she do that when her boss talks so negatively of her? Measurement of Criterion. The measurement of these business communication ethics will be determined by the number of Dale s past conflicts with Janice (and how much they bother Janice) and also any potential future conflicts between these two that she would have to worry

Designing Disaster about. This case is about a recent issue between these two parties but we do learn later in the case that Dale has kept up this type of behavior in the past. The case report even mentions after Dale s blowup in the meeting, If that had been the first time Dale had blown up in the

office, Janice would have found it odd, but shocking. Now, Janice just saw it as part of the usual way business was handled under Dale. She needs to determine or measure for herself whether her past experiences with Dale are enough to make her want to do something about it. Decision Alternatives Decision Alternative #1 Do nothing about the situation. This is a valid decision alternative because Janice has worked too hard to get to where she is to let someone she works with interfere with her long-term career. She has established friends, and colleagues at Concept Design that know of her good work ethic, so why would she risk that by doing something that might upset the balance of the workplace. But one productive outlook on doing nothing could be that Janice can try to mentally put this conflict behind her and just focus on her work. This could add increased motivation because she would make it a priority to not worry about Dale and just filter that energy into her latest project. Plus if she does this successfully and works hard she could be promoted even further within the company, maybe even on the same level as Dale. This would ultimately be a complete victory for Janice, mentally-wise and career-wise. Decision Alternative #2 Talk to Carlos. This is a valid decision alternative because what Dale did was wrong. Janice had no right to be yelled at and verbally harassed at that meeting, and standing up for herself would be the morally right thing to do. In today s corporate world companies try and

Designing Disaster promote the importance of employee mental health. So if Janice just simply sets up a meeting

with Carlos, presents herself and her point of view in a professional tone and manner, he might respect her for doing so. This might even lead to a breakthrough for Dale who maybe for the first time can see what the consequences of his actions are doing to his colleagues. Decision Alternative #3 Move to a different department within Concept Design, or a different company all together. This is a valid decision alternative because either of these solutions will do the same thing: remove Janice from Dale s control. If Janice requests to be moved to a different department within Concept Design, she can still keep her job, maybe even her friends and not have to be hindered by Dale s managerial styles all together. Or she could do what her last predecessor did and move on to a different company. She has logged almost 2 years of impressive work at Concept Design, and if she does everything efficiently she might be able to land herself a new job at a similar Design Firm. And long term she can look back at her time with Concept Design as a stepping stone in her career path. Application of Criteria to Decision Alternatives Decision Alternative Not Selected #1 Talk to Carlos Application of Criterion #1. Janice s employee motivation might be affected based on whatever outcome results from talking with Carlos. If things turn out like Janice s predecessor, Janice could lose her job for trying to make a bold move by going behind Dale s back to talk to Carlos. History might tend to repeat itself and if Dale s business methods at Concept Design that he s kept for about 30 years prevail, Janice will most likely be moving on elsewhere. This

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could affect Janice s motivation to work anywhere else or even carry over into her next job. This could affect future work and reputation as well. Even if the meeting with Carlos doesn t get Janice fired, it might create an awkward unspoken tenseness between Janice and Dale that indicates that the two aren t on good terms, which could also lead to more conflicts and lack of motivation for Janice to work for a man that she now somewhat publicly doesn t get along with. Application of Criterion #2. Janice s employee health is a big factor in this decision alternative because it s a direct cause of unhealthy employee health. For reasons similar to those of how this alternative can affect her employee motivation, the same can be made for her health as an employee. Janice being fired as a result of meeting with Carlos behind Dale s back might cause Janice to dwell in uncertainty for her future after dealing with the stress of job loss. A possible mental breakdown is the least of her concerns because the real concern here is: can she move on from this company? If she left off on bad terms with Concept Designs, they might speak so highly of her to any of Janice s future employers, especially if Dale is the one talking about her. If she didn t get fired the awkwardness of Dale and Janice s relationship might cause her to not feel comfortable, which can affect her work output. This also might ruin Janice s image of coming to work at a place she likes due to the stress of overcoming unwanted obstacles set out by Dale s managerial tactics. Application of Criterion #3. Business ethics will directly be a part of this alternative to talk to Carlos. The whole meeting is to discuss how Dale, a close associate of Carlos, is not conducting proper business and communicational ethics with a barely tenured employee at a

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company Dale built from the ground up. This makes Janice look bad potentially and might sway Carlos opinion of what to do. Decision Alternative Not Selected #2 Move to a different department within Concept Design, or a different company all together. Application of Criterion #1. Janice will most likely experience somewhat of a change in employee motivation with this alternative. If she moves to a different department within the company she might not be as motivated to work with her new colleagues as much as some of her old friends like Jose and Darlene, who know her work credibility and like her. She also might not be as motivated to work on different projects that might not be as interesting as the projects she would have continued to work on in her old department. The ability to keep your current work output in a new and unfamiliar environment is always harder than keeping your normal routine, which is what Janice is giving up by doing this. Also she might not even get this option in the first place if they can t seem to transfer her within the company, which leads to the next part of this alternative. If she leaves the company all together the motivation to start all over again from the beginning might be a depressing factor. However if she is able to get a job somewhere else she might have the mindset to work harder to show Dale that she is a great worker and he shouldn t have let her leave. Although this is a good claim for this argument, the alternative as a whole is the riskiest out of the three listed, especially in the current economic job market, which for a young employee like Janice, might not be the best move career wise.

Designing Disaster Application of Criterion #2. Employee health could affect Janice in her new efforts of leaving her department or the company. Similar to employee motivation her health could be

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affected if the new department she is working for or new company is even more stressful than before. She might not know what she is getting into and there might even hypothetically be two versions of Dale and his managerial ethics wherever she winds up. The fear of the unknown at first or the sudden impact of change could damper her well-being at work and her mental state. All the possible stress and commotion of leaving might make it hard for Janice if she had decided to take this route. Application of Criterion #3. Business ethics directly apply to the purpose of this alternative. The only reason Janice would change her place of work is because of the destructive and deceptive communication ethics of Dale in their business. This criterion is simply the root of the problem and affects Janice entirely. These forces would prompt Janice to seek a change of scenery concerning her employment. This criterion might also even be used as an example in a future guideline for Janice when future workplace issues arise. Selected Decision Alternative Do nothing about the situation Application of Criterion #1. Doing nothing ironically will provide the first step in fueling the fire of Employee motivation. The obvious problems of doing nothing are the predictable continuances of Dale and his unfair bias against Janice. But if Janice can motivate herself to keep up her work, and even strive to do better, it might end up benefitting her in the long run. The longer she is at the company, the longer she can commit to doing great work for them, and can only mean her advancement within the company. The fuel to this metaphysical fire can also

Designing Disaster be used from all these past instances with Dale and put to her advantage. It s more along the lines of proving dale wrong to show that she is just as a viable employee as anyone else, or perhaps better. Application of Criterion #2. Employee health affects this alternative and Janice as well. This criterion will experience stages of extreme lows and possibly some rewarding highs. As mentioned previously, its assumed Dale won t change his managing style anytime soon which

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can only lead to further stress from Janice. But in order to get herself motivated enough to rise above this and elevate her work output she needs to become mentally strong. Only between 28% and 30% of workers throughout America report workplace bullying in their office and that s only the amount of workers who actually spoke up and said something (Avtgis, Rancer & Madlock, 2010). So from this statistic we can draw the observation that a small percentage of workers report problems at the workplace. She needs to do everything she can to block out Dale s tactics and try her best to work around them. This process may be hard due to the nature of their out-group relationship, which includes low quality communication exchanges, and little support or favorable treatment (Avtgis, Rancer & Madlock, 2010).This stage might take time to develop into, but if she can do it, it will only make Janice look better and feel better. And if by some chance Janice reaches a level of superiority in the company she might be able to position herself in a non-threatening and comfortable work environment. Application of Criterion #3. The unfair business ethics discussed in this alternative are what Janice is trying to ultimately avoid and/or correct. By working harder and blocking out these unfair business related communication ethics from Dale, she might be able to view them as much of a problem as before. She can do this by hopefully enduring a process of mental

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endurance and let the annoyance of Dale s tactics run its course. Hopefully the goal is once she can use these ethics to motivate her to do better and make her more mentally at ease after thinking more positively, she can ultimately make a difference in her work life. If after all this time she puts in, she gets promoted or moves on somewhere where she can have some managerial input, she can shape the working environment to her liking. And if everything goes to plan that environment won t include Dale. The entire premise of this alternative in summing it up is that using the criteria listed Janice can play hard, but work even harder, and most importantly not get mad at what Dale did to her, but get even in the most professional and business oriented way possible. Alternative Implementation Discussion of Plan Goals For this plan to work Janice is going to need to keep in above average employee psychological health, maintain enough motivation, and keep pushing forward one day at a time. She needs to look at the bigger picture and put her career first on her list of priorities. Discussion of Goal Measurement For Janice s goals, they can be measured by what she does at her future time at Concept Design. She needs to see if she can maintain her psychological health while avoiding Dale s antics on a daily basis. She needs to keep herself motivated with a long term goal to strive for, so she can keep outputting above average work. This will maintain her work credibility and make it hard for her not to be considered for advancement in the future. It also wouldn t hurt if Janice outlined to herself what improper communication ethics Dale is using, just so she can be aware of when he is doing them. But overall Janice s method for measuring her goals so that

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that she may achieve the selected alternative is to become the bigger person, and not let this incident affect her work.

Implementation Steps Short Term Steps. Janice sets her short term goals to start working even harder now to show Dale and the rest of the company she is a vital asset; if she finds difficulties at work with Dale she can confide in her friend Jos to vent and keep her sanity; she should also consider taking up a new hobby to occupy her time and distract her from any stress from work; and most importantly start being as professional and nice as possible to Dale and the rest of her bosses and supervisors Long Term Steps. Janice does her best work until she gets a big account or gets noticed by another supervisor; depending on that work ask for a bigger project to handle or possibly even a promotion; make it a priority to make as many more work friends as possible (maybe at least one person per month) that can act as a support system to her when she is feeling down; also get more involved in the company anyway possible (company functions, additional projects outside of work, etc)

Designing Disaster References Arrington, P. (2008). Stress at work: How do social workers cope? NASW Membership Workforce Study. Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers.

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Avtgis, T. A., Rancer, A. S., & Madlock, P. E. (2010). Organizational communication, strategies for success. (pp. 104-119). Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt.

Harnois, G., & Gabriel, P. (2002). Mental health and work. (p. 8). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/712.pdf Kuhn, K. (2010). Challenge of modern working life to mental well-being and social inclusion. In Mental health and well-being at the workplace protection and inclusion in challenging times (p. 13). Retrieved from http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/124047/e94345.pdf Wrench, J. (2012). Casing organizational communication. (p. 8). Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. Wrench, J. (2012). Casing organizational communication. (p. 10). Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.

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