Suggestion Box

Diana was sitting in the office of her dentist. She had to wait for at least 30 minutes before her turn
came. To pass the time, she picked up a magazine. In the magazine she found a very good article
entitled “Where good ideas really come from”. The major theme of the article was that the best
ideas for improvement were most likely to come from the rank-and-file employees and not
managers. The article went on to describe the various ways of getting these ideas flowing upward so
they could be used to improve the organisation.

The article, proposed that special “suggestion boxes” be placed in strategic places around the
organisation with blank forms for employees to fill out describing their ideas for improvement.

Diana, the Managing Director of Diatech Ltd., held discussions with several of her senior managers. It
was agreed to implement the programme. Severally special by designed boxes were placed in
various areas around the company, and employees were requested through circulars about the
implementation of the suggestion scheme.

Diana anxiously awaited the first batch of suggestions. After the first week, the personnel manager
brought them in. There were three “suggestions”:

 One suggestion was that the suggestion box be scrapped.

 The second suggestion was for Diana requesting her to get married so that during the nights
she will have some “work” to do and will not have idle time to think about stupid
suggestions.
 The third was an obscene note to Diana asking her to keep her mouth open so that good
suggestions could be directly put in

Questions

1. Why has the “suggestion box” system not worked?

2. Suggest an alternative method by which the “suggestion box” system could be implemented.
Doctors and Patients
Doctors and their patients should communicate effectively with one another, but that doesn’t
always happen. Barriers to communication appear on both sides. The doctor may feel compelled to
filter information if it is a bad news, or send conflicting signals by using body language or tone of
voice that doesn’t match the verbal message. The patient’s frame of reference may determine how
he or she interprets the news. A patient’s highly emotional state (when hearing bad news) may
cause errors in perception.

In a study done by Tamara Sher, Ph.D., and others at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Centre in
Chicago, researchers found that “Patients were just not hearing the conversations [with doctors] as
intended”. For instance, a patient and doctor might be discussing cancer. “As they walk away, you
ask the patient how it went,” notes Sher. “He says, “Actually, the doctor says I’m doing pretty well
and I feel very well”. But ask the doctor, and she says, “The conversation went fine, but I had to give
him some pretty bad news.” How can doctors improve communications with their patients? Sher
suggests that doctors keep asking patients questions to make certain they understand the
conversation.

Miles Shore, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard talks about engaging in a partnership with patients
and practicing “authoritative” communication rather than “authoritarian” communication. “Patients
want to work in a partnership with physicians rather than be told what to do,” he explains. “People
want a doctor who will explain the diagnosis and alternative treatments”. He encourages doctors to
relinquish the authoritarian “You do what I tell you” approach for an authoritative approach that
conveys expertise and credibility, but involves the patient actively in decision making. For instance,
although many doctors prescribe estrogen replacement therapy for women with osteoporosis, the
hormone has side effects and possible links to cancer. Says Shore, “Doctors who practice
authoritative medicine will tell women the pros and cons of the therapy and let each decide for
herself.”

Questions

1. As a patient, do you feel you have good communication with your doctor? Why or why not?
What are some of the characteristics of your communications?

2. As a patient, do you prefer an authoritarian or authoritative communication style from your

doctor? Why?

3. As a manager in an organisation, in what situations might you practice authoritative rather than
authoritarian communication with your employees?