Introduction
This project will ask you to apply some of the materials covered in the course to a rather
difficult situation that has arisen between Susan Sheppard and Alexandra Woodward, two
employees of the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Group. You can review the video located in
the “Manager Hot Seat” portion of Connect, called “Video: Workplace Bullying –
Manager/Employee Meeting”.
http://canmedia.mheducation.ca/college/olcsupport/_ManagerHotSeatVideos/VidPlayer.p
hp?vid=hsnepo
A transcript of the video can be found at:
http://canmedia.mheducation.ca/college/olcsupport/_ManagerHotSeatVideos/TXT/hsnep
o.txt
Scenario Description
Overview
Susan Sheppard, Creative Design Manager at Word-of-Mouth Marketing Group,
is consistently bullied by her colleague, Alexandra Woodward, the boss's sister.
Alexandra has been working at the firm a little over a month, after quitting her job
as a Rare Artifacts Curator at the Museum of Indigenous Culture. During her
short time at Word-of-Mouth, she has shown a propensity for “self-governance”
and defiance. Extra work has been heaped on Sheppard, and she has had to face
sarcasm and a constant barrage of inappropriate comments from her newly
appointed subordinate.
Profile
▪ Susan Sheppard, Creative Design Manager, Word-of-Mouth. Sheppard has
been at Word-of-Mouth for four and a half years and was appointed manager
of the Creative Design Department seven months ago.
▪ Alexandra Woodward, Creative Design, Word-of-Mouth. Woodward is the
boss’s sister and is the newest and least qualified recruit.
Backstory
The Word-of-Mouth Marketing Department is eight people strong, including
Sheppard and her new colleague Woodward, the newest and least qualified
recruit.
Woodward shares the boss’s family name, and presumably feels she shares the
boss’s default authority, too. She came to the company six months after leaving
her job as a museum curator. Only one month into her new career, she is already
dictating her own workload and that of others; she dumps work onto Sheppard
and is bullying and inappropriate.
In the last two weeks, Sheppard’s desk has been littered with unfinished work
originally assigned to Woodward, including design layouts, annual report figures,
copyright disputes, and print schedules.
Twice, Sheppard was left with design layouts to complete within three hours of
their deadline. On one of those occasions, Woodward had done barely more than
sketch text boxes, leaving Sheppard with more than a day’s work to accomplish
within an hour and twenty minutes.
When asked to obtain the copyright to publish a particular photograph (featuring a
celebrity’s home), Woodward skipped over the details (not even filing the
request), almost trashing a print-run of 70,000 brochure covers as well as leaving
Word-of-Mouth open to possible legal action. Luckily, Sheppard picked up on
Woodward’s oversight and gained permission from the relevant parties before any
damage was done.
Woodward point-blank refused to write the annual report figures, saying that as
an “Artistic Consultant” it was insulting to ask her to file facts and figures. In fact,
Woodward doesn’t have a job title, which is something Sheppard cannot address.
The print schedules, which Woodward was supposed to deliver a week before the
commencement of the Approval Stage, arrived on Sheppard’s desk with one day
to spare, and, as with the design layouts, were so incomplete, they required
Sheppard to put aside her own work and concentrate on getting the schedules out
in time.
During a recent meeting with a photographer, Woodward undermined Sheppard
continually either by contradicting her suggestions or through disrespectful
gestures and sighs.
Whenever Sheppard approaches Woodward’s desk, Woodward initially
completely ignores her and then does little to engage in conversation, deliberately
avoiding eye contact.
Just four days ago, when Sheppard issued instructions to another member of the
team, Woodward took it upon herself to approach the team member and, on
“Sheppard’s behalf”, retract the instructions.
When Sheppard initially asked Woodward into her office for a discussion,
Woodward created such a scene of angry complaints and accusations of bullying,
that Sheppard had to back out of her intention to diffuse the situation.
At every opportunity, Woodward has been bad-mouthing Sheppard to other
members of the Creative Design Department.
Scene Setup
Sheppard has scheduled a meeting with Woodward to discuss the completion of
one of their big projects—the creation of a new brochure for the home furnishings
giant, Soft Landings. More importantly, she hopes to confront Woodward about
her bullying behavior.
Scene Location
Sheppard’s office.
Instructions
Review the case notes, video and if required the video transcript.
Questions
1. Introduction – approx.. 2 pages, describing the current situation between the two women,
and what you see to be the biggest problem with their relationship and interactions at this time.
2 a) Using the Jungian and Myers Briggs Personality Types model presented
analyze Susan Sheppard and Alexandra Woodward as individuals, as best you can,
from observing how they act/interact and the information provided in these instructions.
Use the information presented and observation of their interaction as well as your own
interpretation of the dynamic as evidence to support your analysis of the two women.
b) Using theories related to emotional labour and emotional intelligence, analyze the
interaction between the two individuals presented on the video. Using the Dimensions
of Emotional Intelligence model analyze both Susan and Alexandra.
c) Describe the effect on employee motivation that the behavior of Alexandra Woodword
is likely to have on the other employees at Word-Of-Mouth Marketing group, and come
up with an action plan for dealing with Alexandra that is fair and respectful to all
parties, and will (hopefully) restore the other employees’ sense of motivation.
d) Both Susan Sheppard and Alexandra Woodward have power within the organization.
Sources of power include legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, and referent. For each
type of power, explain why Susan and Alexandra do or do not possess it.
4. A description of your suggested course of action to resolve the issues that are being faced
by the company, the department, and of course, the two women involved. Approximately
2 pages.
5. A 1 page conclusion.
Organizational Behaviour ADMN2220 Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Scenario Description ....................................................................................................................... 3 Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Profile .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Backstory .................................................................................................................................... 4 Scene Setup ................................................................................................................................. 5 Scene Location ............................................................................................................................ 5 Instructions ...................................................................................................................................... 6 Project Sections ........................................................................................................................... 6 Citations/Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 7 Handing in Your Work ............................................................................................................... 7 Team Evaluation ......................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction This project will ask you to apply some of the materials covered in the course to a rather difficult situation that has arisen between Susan Sheppard and Alexandra Woodward, two employees of the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Group. You can review the video located in the “Manager Hot Seat” portion of Connect, called “Video: Workplace Bullying – Manager/Employee Meeting”. http://canmedia.mheducation.ca/college/olcsupport/_ManagerHotSeatVideos/VidPlayer.p hp?vid=hsnepo A transcript of the video can be found at: http://canmedia.mheducation.ca/college/olcsupport/_ManagerHotSeatVideos/TXT/hsnep o.txt Scenario Description Overview Susan Sheppard, Creative Design Manager at Word-of-Mouth Marketing Group, is consistently bullied by her colleague, Alexandra Woodward, the boss's sister. Alexandra has been working at the firm a little over a month, after quitting her job as a Rare Artifacts Curator at the Museum of Indigenous Culture. During her short time at Word-of-Mouth, she has shown a propensity for “self-governance” and defiance. Extra work has been heaped on Sheppard, and she has had to face sarcasm and a constant barrage of inappropriate comments from her newly appointed subordinate. Profile ▪ Susan Sheppard, Creative Design Manager, Word-of-Mouth. Sheppard has been at Word-of-Mouth for four and a half years and was appointed manager of the Creative Design Department seven months ago. ▪ Alexandra Woodward, Creative Design, Word-of-Mouth. Woodward is the boss’s sister and is the newest and least qualified recruit. http://canmedia.mheducation.ca/college/olcsupport/_ManagerHotSeatVideos/VidPlayer.php?vid=hsnepo http://canmedia.mheducation.ca/college/olcsupport/_ManagerHotSeatVideos/VidPlayer.php?vid=hsnepo http://canmedia.mheducation.ca/college/olcsupport/_ManagerHotSeatVideos/TXT/hsnepo.txt http://canmedia.mheducation.ca/college/olcsupport/_ManagerHotSeatVideos/TXT/hsnepo.txt Backstory The Word-of-Mouth Marketing Department is eight people strong, including Sheppard and her new colleague Woodward, the newest and least qualified recruit. Woodward shares the boss’s family name, and presumably feels she shares the boss’s default authority, too. She came to the company six months after leaving her job as a museum curator. Only one month into her new career, she is already dictating her own workload and that of others; she dumps work onto Sheppard and is bullying and inappropriate. In the last two weeks, Sheppard’s desk has been littered with unfinished work originally assigned to Woodward, including design layouts, annual report figures, copyright disputes, and print schedules. Twice, Sheppard was left with design layouts to complete within three hours of their deadline. On one of those occasions, Woodward had done barely more than sketch text boxes, leaving Sheppard with more than a day’s work to accomplish within an hour and twenty minutes. When asked to obtain the copyright to publish a particular photograph (featuring a celebrity’s home), Woodward skipped over the details (not even filing the request), almost trashing a print-run of 70,000 brochure covers as well as leaving Word-of-Mouth open to possible legal action. Luckily, Sheppard picked up on Woodward’s oversight and gained permission from the relevant parties before any damage was done. Woodward point-blank refused to write the annual report figures, saying that as an “Artistic Consultant” it was insulting to ask her to file facts and figures. In fact, Woodward doesn’t have a job title, which is something Sheppard cannot address. The print schedules, which Woodward was supposed to deliver a week before the commencement of the Approval Stage, arrived on Sheppard’s desk with one day to spare, and, as with the design layouts, were so incomplete, they required Sheppard to put aside her own work and concentrate on getting the schedules out in time. During a recent meeting with a photographer, Woodward undermined Sheppard continually either by contradicting her suggestions or through disrespectful gestures and sighs. Whenever Sheppard approaches Woodward’s desk, Woodward initially completely ignores her and then does little to engage in conversation, deliberately avoiding eye contact. Just four days ago, when Sheppard issued instructions to another member of the team, Woodward took it upon herself to approach the team member and, on “Sheppard’s behalf”, retract the instructions. When Sheppard initially asked Woodward into her office for a discussion, Woodward created such a scene of angry complaints and accusations of bullying, that Sheppard had to back out of her intention to diffuse the situation. At every opportunity, Woodward has been bad-mouthing Sheppard to other members of the Creative Design Department. Scene Setup Sheppard has scheduled a meeting with Woodward to discuss the completion of one of their big projects—the creation of a new brochure for the home furnishings giant, Soft Landings. More importantly, she hopes to confront Woodward about her bullying behavior. Scene Location Sheppard’s office. Instructions Review the case notes, video and if required the video transcript. Working in your groups, use the following instructions to create a report to be handed in to Blackboard by week 12. NOTE: If you have 4 or