According to the rational choice paradigm, a rational decision maker is expected to identify, select and executive the alternative that will yield the best result in the activity that they are doing. As such, such a decision maker will have two rational choices namely the subjective expected utility choice which is applied to identify the alternative that has the best value or engage in the decision-making process which is a systematic application of various stages of decision making. Clearly, Peter, Fran’s boss, is in total oblivion of this paradigm. The manner in which he handles Fran’s absence is totally unprofessional. In order to make a decision, one needs to have all the relevant facts that pertain to the decision that such a person is making. Therefore, one must weigh the pro and the cons in the situation before making the ultimate decision. Considering that Peter is in a position of power in the organization, his decision must be well thought since he has the ability to negatively affect the employees as it turned out with Fran who may have ended up losing her job due to Peter inability to exercise due diligence in making his decision. Despite having the two choices described in the rational choice paradigm, Peter still opted for irrational thinking.
Creativity is one of the most important traits of any employee regardless of the position that they hold. From the case, Mike notices that his boss, Peter, has used one of his ideas that he had suggested in relation to revitalizing the functions of “Big Brother” as Management Information System was commonly referred. Mike also laments that this is a common behavior with Peter who steals other people ideas and uses him to gain credit from the management. The actions led to Mike being annoyed and vowing never to give a new idea to his boss. Judging by Mike’s observation regarding his boss, the boss is depicted as a parasite that survives on the excellence of his juniors. It is clear that the boss has little contribution to his department thus it can be presumed he lacks the characteristics of creative people. However, considering the likes of Mike, who show a high level of creativity, the boss action is detrimental to the organization since when the employees are demotivated by such unethical acts and acts of individualism by Peter, their independent imagination is limited. Independent imagination is a characteristic of creative people that includes a welcoming nature to experiences and self-stimulation values. As such, when suppressed, little is expected from such employees. In addition, creativity is driven by consistency in what an employee does. Therefore, a firm management is expected to support employee persistence which in turn leads to widening subject knowledge and cognitive and practical intelligence which are, also, traits needed for creativity to occur. Therefore, Peter’s decisions to steal ideas from employees hampers the organization creativity since the employees do not feel appreciated and somebody else takes credit for their efforts.
Fran, despite having a good qualification, is made to work in the Management Information System section which she feels is merely a clerical job that does not require such specialized knowledge that she has. As such, the job did not match her abilities. She laments that the section tasks are not sufficient to occupy her time even for a day since her only work is stapling and compiling reports which she then distributes to the individuals that use the reports. Right from the first days, she felt underutilized in the organization. The Halo effect did work in the organization favor since from the beginning; it appeared that there was no place for her thus creating the wrong impression about the entire organization. As a result, this contributed to Fran developing a feeling of being dissatisfaction with her job. There are various responses that should be expected from dissatisfaction in an employee. First, such an employee is eagerly looking to quit or seek a transfer. In this case, this response is clearly observed through Fran’s action to seek a transfer few days after joining this department. An employee may also exhibit dissatisfaction through neglect. Although Fran does not neglect her posts since she had been given permission by the Chief accountant, she was quick to accept the offer to avoid the monotony of her responsibilities that characterizes the MIS section. Also, she liked and embraced the feeling of acting like the management. Clearly, it is evident that Fran expectations were to be in a managerial post, not clerical post, thus explaining her dissatisfaction with the clerical work. As a result, Fran role in the MIS section does not in any way promote her four “selves” namely self-enhancement, self-verification, self-evaluation and social self since the job does not give her sufficient opportunity to fully promote them. Examining her satisfaction from the opportunity to act as if she is in the management, it is clear she would feel she has the opportunity when working on tasks that suite her abilities.
Emotional intelligence is a key trait in managing people. An excellent manager will seek to identify with the workforce by identifying with their emotions. However, one cannot claim to understand other people emotion whilst they do not understand their own emotions. According to emotional intelligence hierarchy, managing other people intelligence is the highest level of intelligence followed by awareness of other people emotions. Self-awareness is the lowest in this hierarchy. Although it is courteous for Rob to inform Peter of the decision to send Fran to the conference, Peter anger and disappointment were directed to the wrong person. The act shows Peter’s high level of uncertainty avoidance and his desire to have low power distance with his boss, the chief accountant. Peter should have taken the matter with the chief accountant since he was the one that authorized Fran to attend the conference. In addition, this is standard organization practice where the organization supports its employee to develop professionals. Therefore, Peter should have examined the intention of sending Fran to this meeting as opposed to the outburst that he accorded her. Furthermore, Peter extended his unethical conduct by instructing other employees not to talk to Fran and also instructed Mike not to allow Fran to make any personal phone call from work. Interestingly, the outburst was not because Fran went to the conference. As such, it is clear that the reason Peter was irritated is because he felt his authority was undermined by the chief accountant by allowing Fran to attend the meeting without his approval. As such, using Myers-Briggs type indicator, Pater allowed his feeling to overshadow his ability to think the matter through. As such, his irrational behavior was driven by the feeling the chief accountant did not recognize his authority in his section. Channeling the frustration to a helpless employee shows that Peter is not aware of his own emotion and surely has no idea on how to manage them. This is evidenced by continued and spirited attempt to sabotage Fran effort of securing another position in another section. Also, his unawareness of other people emotion is observed by his outburst to Fran at his office, where he stereotyped her behavior as “sneaky”, and after his meeting with Rob where he informs her that she is “finished with this company”. The lack of awareness means that he cannot manage other people emotion since one cannot manage what they are not aware exists. The Psychological harassment by Peter lowers the Fran’s affective commitment and continuance commitment to the organization thus making his decision counterproductive to the organization since it increases the chances of high employee turnover.
Except for Peter, the rest of the employees show a great level of corporate citizenship. Vernon realizes the difficult position that Fran is in due to the victimization that she is experiencing from her immediate boss. He offers to help her to remain in the organization by information her of a position that will fall vacant in three weeks. In addition, he takes the time to care why a fellow employee looked so miserable. Peter lacks this trait due to the fact he exhibits Neuroticism towards Fran. Peter’s behaviors compared with others shows value incongruence between Peter and other staff.
The chief accountant shows Agreeableness, Openness to Experience and Extroversion traits but he does not show Neuroticism and Conscientiousness. Rob, fully aware that Fran has been cornered, fails to act swiftly and rein his authority on Peter. He is painfully slow in exerting his authority on the matter thus giving it room to escalate to the level it did. He gave Fran his word that he will take care of Peter but fails to do so. Even after Fran handed in the report to be tabled in the managers meeting, Rob does not table the report neither does he give Fran a reply. In this case, he leaves Fran in the hand of her insensitive boss who is channeling his anger on her instead of raising his issues with the chief accountant.
Solutions
Examining the case, the solution lies in a good communication channel and Peter. First, there is a clear breakdown of the communications channel. There is no channel where an employee can report mistreatment from their boss. Lack of a channel where the employee can air their grievances makes the employees vulnerable and at the mercies of their superiors as evident in Peters behavior. Also, there is no effective horizontal communication among the management team. The argument is founded on the observation that Rob does not communicate his decision on time. In addition, cracks within the management are observable by the lower employee as it is seen through the power struggle between Rob and Peter where peter tries to force his way in barring Fran from transferring to another post within the organization. Peter wanted to ensure Fran leaves. Therefore, the firm needs to have an effective horizontal and vertical communication channel to facilitate understanding and cohesion at all levels of the organization.
Peter is the source and the engine that pushes this problem. First, Peter needs extensive training on emotional intelligence. The technique can be learned. The purpose is to educate Peter on how to identify his emotion as well as other people emotions and how to manage them. In addition, the training will educate Peter that such outburst hurts other people emotions and leads them out of the organization. From this case, it is clear that Fran is a good employee and perform her task as expected. His problem with her is because another authority sanctions her conference attendance without him being consulted thus leading him to victimize her. In addition, peter needs training in effective conflict resolution where he is educated on the best ways of addressing issues with a higher authority instead of victimizing a helpless worker. Also, it is clear from his action that his decision making rational is out of line thus the management needs to assist him in improving his decision making by subjecting him to refresher training on managing people and workshops on such matters. Finally, Peter needs lessons in relation to innovation management. He should be educated that being the leader does not mean that all solution should come from him. He should learn to give his subordinate due credit as a way to motivate them to further their creativity. Further, Peter should be made aware of other employees grievances in relation to his behavior of using his post to poach ideas from his juniors.
