What were Brooks’ assumptions about Kravitz’s abilities, attitudes and motivations?

On what were
these assumptions based?

Analysis:

Our collective analysis brings out the following facts:

ABILITIES

1. Brooks was excited to work with Kravitz because he had assumed that, (PG-3)
a) She was a decent person,
b) She seemed like a reasonable person,
c) Her management style had a good track record
d) She illustrated a proper plan for the SO’s deadlines at the initial meeting.
2. He wanted to maintain a good professional relationship with Kravitz as he assumed that she
would be a key factor for moving back to a management position in the company. (PG – 5)

ATTITUDE

1. Brooks felt that Kravitz is fickle-minded (PG-6)

2. Brooks felt Kravitz lacked a reflective mindset, as she wasn’t adequately reactive about the
feedback Brooks’ had given on the SO deadlines. (PG-4)
3. Brooks felt like he was being stereotyped by Kravitz, just like his previous manager Chuck, as
he was assigned Latino & African American market under the assumption that he
represented the entire community. (PG-3)

MOTIVATION

1. Brooks felt that Kravitz motivated by the upper management’s requirements. (PG-6)
2. Brooks initially thought that she would be a better manager than Chuck.
3. Brooks felt that Kravitz was under a lot of pressure to get the SO’s completed.
4. Brooks felt that Kravitz compelled him to achieve unrealistic targets as both of his SO’s only
had only two month’s time to be completed.
What were Kravitz’s assumptions about Brooks’ abilities, attitudes and motivations? On what were
these assumptions based?

Analysis:

Our collective analysis brings out the following facts:

ABILITIES

1. K knew that B could be a star performer if he was given the correct motivation. (pg 2 para4)
2. K assumed that B would be perfect for research on Latino and African American
demographics, based on his ethnic background (Pg 2, para 4)

ATTITUDE

1. Initially, K thought that B was very professional and charming (pg 2 Para 4)
a. Reason:
2. K felt that B may have a superiority complex owing to his team’s recent re-organization. (pg
2 para 5)
3. K felt that B communication with her was restricted and that he did not always reveal all the
facts to her. (page 3 para3, _____)
4. K felt that B was very modest while sharing previous work accomplishments (pg 2 para 4)
5. Towards the end, K felt that B was very evasive and unconcerned with respect to the
completion of the SOs. (Page 4 para 1)

MOTIVATION

1. Initially, K felt that B was very committed to his work and was open to take her suggestions
and ideas and build on them. (Pg 3 para 3)
2. Towards the end, K feels that B was not willing to put in the effort to complete the SOs on
time. (Pg 6 para 2)
What should Kravitz and Brooks do differently to result in a more effective relationship?

Kravitz

1. Kravitz should stop stereotyping B based on his ethnic background. As, B did not have any
experience working with the Latino and African American demographics
2. K should make B feel heard by taking actions based on Brooks’ feedback toward the SO
deadlines.
3. From Kravitz’s discussion with Chuck and Brooks’ attitude, she had a selective perception on
Brooks’ ability to perform.
4. There was an anchor bias established by her based-on Brooks’ request for the San-Diego
trip.
5. With Brooks’ initial refusal towards the SO’s Kravitz has exhibited the bias of escalation of
commitment. Kravitz could have found alternative solutions to solve the SO’s rather than
placing blind faith till the very end.
6. Kravitz has also exhibited similarity perception by expecting Brooks’ to work the way she did.

Brooks

1. Brooks had perception distortion due to Halo effect because of the initial assumptions he
had about Kravitz’s management.
a. How he should’ve handled it -
2. A massive cycle of Pygmalion effect was triggered by Brooks’ when he felt that he was given
the project based on his racial profile.
a. This in-turn hampered his performance and motivation which resulted in Kravitz
having to change her attitude with him in due course of time.
b. This also made him less inclined to communicate/justify is method of working.

3. Brooks’ exhibited selective perception when he expected that he can get a management job
based on the project he worked for. When Chuck discounted his efforts, Brooks felt
undermotivated for the same
a. How he should’ve handled it