Artifact 2

Management Challenges & Recommendations

Communication Challenges

American SteelCo.

Collin has been a great employee for many years and has developed a software system that could help the company immensely through the software’s organizational achievements.

Recently, problems with the system have led to losses and internal communication struggles. Collin currently clashes with Suzy, his supervisor, about changing the software due to the errors being reported with the software.

The two of them have been unable to reach any solutions regarding the software and have failed to communicate effectively.

Collin is a poor communicator in the exchanges between him and Suzy. The two most destructive communication barriers Collin engages in are

-emotional disconnect and

-selective perception.

Suzy is struggling to communicate the problems with the software to Collin. The two areas of communication that Suzy is struggling with are

-jargon and

-gender differences

Emotional disconnect: “A receiver who is emotionally upset tends to ignore or distort what the sender is saying”. (Barriers in Communication)

Anytime Suzy has approached Collin about errors in the software, Collin gets emotionally closed off and upset.

Emotional disconnect happens when one, or both parties in a communication do not keep an open mind while speaking or listening to the other’s goals. Being emotionally disconnected makes communication incredibly difficult and ineffective.

Selective perception: An extension of this emotional disconnect that Collin participates in is selective perception. “Selective perception refers to filtering what we see and hear to suit our own needs”. (Barriers in Communication)

Collin has been with American SteelCo. for 12 years. He has not only worked on developing the software, but training others to use it as well. He refuses to accept criticism of the software because he feels a great deal of ownership over it.

He is filtering out the complaints of errors to support his idea that the software works fine and believes the company would be wasting money trying to change it.

Suzy has been unable to be an effective communicator in the exchanges between her and Collin because of gender differences, “ ...men tend to focus more on competition, data, and orders in their communications, while women tend to focus more on cooperation, intuition, and requests.” (Barriers in communication).

Suzy has only given complaints to Collin; she has not presented any data or statistics regarding the errors the software is producing.

Suzy has been trying to better understand the system. In an effort to do so, she has been asking Collin a lot of questions, which is something Collin has not dealt with in the past.

Collin has been using a lot of jargon. This has produced a communication barrier that leads to more questions from Suzy in attempts to understand what Collin is saying.

Suzy and Colin are stuck in a cycle of him using jargon, which Suzy does not understand, and Suzy asking questions, which Collin refuses to answer clearly.

Solutions & Recommendations

In order to reduce the frustration of both parties, we recommend that Suzy be honest with Collin about the barrier that jargon is producing.

If Suzy explains that she needs to ask more follow-up questions because she doesn’t understand the jargon being used, Collin might be inclined to break down the concepts and items behind the jargon.

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To combat emotional disconnect, a rapport between Collin and Suzy needs to be established.

In order to get a better understanding of each others duties and responsibilities, goals, and communication style, it would be beneficial for them have One-on-Ones.

For Suzy to understand Collin’s perceptions, and to keep conversations on track to reduce the chance of Collin storming out, we suggest that Suzy use a One-on-One template sheet to guide the conversations of their weekly One-on-Ones.

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Besides simply using verbal communication to convey the information from Suzy to Collin, written communication with statistical data of the errors in the software should be shown to Collin.

Men respond well to data and facts. If Collin is able to see the data, it might help eliminate his selective perception because he will be forced to visually recognize the errors the software is producing.

If both parties have made an honest attempt to follow all the recommendations and are still unable to communicate effectively, then disciplinary actions may be taken: mediation, transfer of employees to other departments, or employment termination will be under consideration for the operation and success of American SteelCo.

One-on-One template

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