Background
The case revolves around the leadership situation in the Growing Places Company. The chairman and the founder of the company is Evan Breyer. To ensure excellent performance of the company he hires a professional manager as the CEO by the name Rob Miranda. It is amazing how Rob succeeds in bringing exclusive revolution in the performance of the company in the few years he has been in the company. However, his performance is tested through complains by the subordinates since he uses harsh language towards them. There are numerous complaints regarding how Rob treats them as well as communicates to them. The effect reaches Evans and he is not sure of the best action to take to solve the problem that is likely t affect the future of the company. Judy, the vice president of the corporate affairs has also witnessed the wrath of Rob when he speaks (Burrell, 2006). Therefore, it is clear that Rob has a communication problem.
Evans Breyer: He is the chairman and the founder of the Going Places company. He oversees overall performance of the company (Burrell, 2006).
Judy Snow: She is the vice president of corporate affairs. She ensures that everything within the company goes on accordingly without conflicts (Burrell, 2006).
Rob Miranda: He is the Chief Executive Officer of the company. He is the chief strategist of the company and ensures all activities in the company go on accordingly (Burrell, 2006).
Issues
The main issue in the company revolves around Rob. There are numerous complains about how he communicates to the employees. They are complaining of his irresponsible communication where he addresses people with no respect and he does not care of the words he uses on anyone (Burrell, 2006).
The problem is very serious to the company since it may affect the performance of the employees. They spend much of the time complaining of the irresponsible behavior of the CEO when it comes to some issues (Burrell, 2006).
There are subliminal issues in the company where the employees may spend much of the time thinking of words that were said to them by the CEO.
It is likely that a conflict will arise between the CEO and the employees, as well as the rest of the executive. There are extremely high chances of disagreements among the executive members because they are not sure of how to communicate to Rob. They are not aware of the best way to make him change his thoughts and communication methods (Burrell, 2006).
Causes
The main cause of the problems is Rob. He has the full control of the company and its operations. Therefore, he decides what happens in the operations of the company. Therefore, he is likely to dictate his wish to the employees. In the process of addressing the employees, he may use the wrong communication technique and hurt many employees. Also, Evans adds salt to the insult since he seems not to care much about the complains that he receives about Rob. He has been blindfolded by the exclusive performance that Rob brings to the company through his innovativeness. The argument may be supported through the various instances that Judy approaches Evans with complains regarding operations by Rob and he rubs he off with the argument that making such a decision is tough (Burrell, 2006).
Alternatives
However, it would be easy to solve the problem that surrounds the company. The first decision would be to warn Rob against irresponsible communication. The chairman may warn him against such behavior. The CEO may be given a personal assistant who will communicate on his behalf in crucial meetings. The employees may be given a direct link to Judy so that they may make an immediate complain to her when Rob executes the wrong communication (Burrell, 2006).
The decisions must take place under exclusive concern of the chairman and Judy. The employees must be ready to corporate with the CEO’s personal assistant. Also, proper guidance to the employees on how they air their grievances to the CEO is crucial. The guidance will be a pillar to the communication since if a question is asked in a harsh way it will make Rob respond in such a way (Burrell, 2006).
The decisions would be made in a reliable strategy where individuals would be required to report their experience with their CEO. I would also ensures that the strategies are applicable without failure for three months to ensure the employees stick to the strategies for a reasonable time until they fully understand the significance of the strategy (Burrell, 2006).
Conclusions
Rob has a direct link to the conflict that is evident in the company. He has full responsibility of ill communication to the employees. It is true that Evans fears firing Rob considering the massive gains that the CEO has brought to the company for the few years he has been the CEO of the company. Rob should attend a communication school where he will be fine-tuned to proper communication strategies. Evans must face Rob and warn him against lack of respect for the employees. If I were Evans, I could spend exclusive couching moment with Rob. I would pay for exclusive training for his communication skills.
Questions
- In your opinion what conflict(s) did Rob create with his inappropriate comments? Use text information and specific examples to explain your answer.
Rob creates a parental conflict through his irresponsible comment. For example, he says, “What gets me, though, is how long some of these kids nurse. If they’re old enough to ask for a Coke, it’s time to move on.” (Burrell, 2006).He thinks that the employees would take advantage of their kids to take time off their duties. The talk is hurting for any female employee who has a kid who deserves to nurse.
In addition, he brings up the issue of improper performance. When the Going Places employees attended a conference they get angry of Rob’s comment when he says that they were not pulling their weight to the conference (Burrell, 2006).
In other instances where Rob was required to address the employees he used harsh language that indicated his irresponsible communication techniques.
- Do you think that Rob’s position, power, and authority gave him the right to say and do as he did? Be specific with your reasons.
Rob cannot support his behavior through the power of his position. As a leader, he should know that he has full responsibility of the activities that take place in the organization. A leader should aim at creating coherence in the company and he must work towards proper understanding of the wellbeing of the employees. He must lead by example through exercising proper communication strategies that will attract people to excellence in the organization. The position should make Rob influence excellence for all the employees at their specific positions in the organization (Schoemaker, Howland, & Krupp, 2013).
- Rob could be considered as a toxic personality. What is it about his behavior, attitude, and personality that lead you to believe he is toxic? If Rob was your boss, how would you deal with him?
The term toxic, in other words may mean highly flammable. It is true to define Rob as a toxic personality. His toxicity is identifiable through the ill communication practices. He does not take the time to evaluate his response to any query. He just talks anything that comes to his mind. The inconsiderate nature of the CEO makes his talk toxic. He can just talk of anything without caring of who he is addressing.
Rob is a proud leader who believes in his superiority as a leader. He does not practice humility as a leader. Therefore, he engages in wrath communication that exposes him as an irresponsible leader. He only focuses on delivering a message, but he does not care how he does it.
Like my boss, I would practice to listen to his first instructions to avoid instances where I will be required to talk to him later. I will try and handle all the tasks accordingly to avoid any conflict with him.
- If you were on the board of directors, what recommendations would you make as to what to do about Rob?
As a board member of the Growing Places Company, I would recommend warning for Rob, which would exist for a reasonable time. I would ensure that exclusive timeframe is set to monitor the behavior of Rob and proper indication of the changes that are being witnessed in his behavior (Anderson, 2013).
Also, I would advise the board of directors to identify a possible replacement of Rob. The company must look for an individual with similar skills whom would be a possible replacement for Rob if he does not change his communication behavior (Anderson, 2013). The individual must show exclusive ability to maintain the performance of Rob.
- If you were the board of directors, what recommendations would you make to rectify this volatile situation with Rob Miranda? Be specific with your recommendations.
As a member of the board of directors for Growing Places Company, I would recommend exclusive communication training for Rob. He is well performing leader who can take the company to all edges of the competition in the industry. However, if does not change his communication strategy he would cost the company a fortune (QueensLandGovernment, 2014).
I would also recommend hiring of a personal assistant who will assist Rob in handling some of the tasks. May be massive pressure from work may be the cause for the poor communication skills (QueensLandGovernment, 2014).
- What Organizational Behavior issues are present in this case?
The case includes various organizational behavior issues. The first one is incompetent leadership. The issue is evident with the ill practices by Rob towards the employees. The other issue is the poor management issue in the Growing Places Company since there is no proper monitoring of activities that the leaders undertake. In addition, there are concerns on the job related attitudes, as well as emotions. The employees are also exposed to occupation stress because of the poor treatment they get from Rob. They cannot put up with the pain that comes with their duties in the company.
References
Burrell, L. (2006). The CEO Who Couldn’t Keep His Foot out of His Mouth. Harvard Business Review, 1(1), 1-9.
QueensLandGovernment. (2014). Characteristics of a business leader.Home. Retrieved October 29, 2014, from http://www.business.qld.gov.au/business/employing/staff-development/developing-leadership-skills/characteristics-business-leader
Anderson, A. R. (2013, May 28). Successful Business Communication: It Starts At The Beginning. Forbes. Retrieved October 27, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/amyanderson/2013/05/28/successful-business-communication-it-starts-at-the-beginning/
Schoemaker, P., Howland, S., & Krupp, S. (2013, January 1). Strategic Leadership: The Essential Skills. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved October 29, 2014, from http://hbr.org/2013/01/strategic-leadership-the-esssential-skills/ar/1
