COURSE: OB HR Management & Legal

PROJECT: Lisa Benton

Instructions for the submission:
● Please maintain the following: Font - Times New Roman, Font Size - 12, Line Spacing -
1.5

Name Akshay Roy

Question 1

Answer 1 –

During the first few weeks at Houseworld Lisa experienced some instances where she felt
some friction between her team members and superior. Two of the instances are mentioned
below :

Instance with Linton - During the first week since Lisa joined Houseworld, Linton invited
Lisa to her office to discuss a few things regarding her job at Houseworld where she also
mentioned that she saw her resume and knows about her formal education and experience.
Linton explicitly mentioned that "she does not like MBA graduates". This statement from
Linton caused friction between them.

Instance with Scoville - Scoville's condescending manner in which he spoke to Lisa was not
professional and he always assigned her tasks like copying reports or asking for favors like
"Lisa can you run the numbers for me?" and "Lisa when will all the approvals be signed?"
these kinds of instances with Scoville caused friction in the relationship between Lisa and
Scoville.

Question 2
Answer 2A -

Trait Level: High/Low Example supporting the answer

Openness to High Scoville’s openness to experience score should

Experience be high as he moved from operations
department to marketing department

Conscientiousness Low Scoville yelled at Benton making remarks that

he doesn’t like MBAs and all MBAs
are .arrogant represents that he is low on
conscientiousness.

Extraversion Low Scoville scores low on extraversion as it was

observed that he doesn’t get along with other
employees working with him in the department.

Agreeableness Low Scoville is scoring low on Agreeableness trait

as it was observed that when Benton showed
her analysis and assumptions of Pure & Fresh
pricing he began challenging her assumptions.
This represents that Scoville is not open to new
ideas.

Neuroticism High Scoville is scoring high in Neuroticism as when

Benton tried to shows her assumptions for the
Pure & Fresh pricing, he disagreed with all her
assumptions and yelled at Benton.
 Another reason why Scoville scores high on
this trait is because he was frustrated that he
was not getting promoted.

Answer 2B –

Lisa can initiate an emotional connection with Scoville. She can check what are Scoville's
likes or dislikes or connect with him outside office hours. She can make herself indispensable
to Scoville by using her connections with other employees in the department. Due to
increasing reliance on Lisa, she can get the work done for him quickly.

According to the OCEAN Framework, Lisa and Scoville can improve their relationship by
following the below steps-

1 - Both Lisa and Scoville score high in the openness trait, Lisa could use this characteristic of
Scoville to improve the relationship between them. They both have creative minds and are
open to new ideas; they can work together sharing new ideas which will improve their
relationship.

2- Scoville did not talk much in the workplace with other colleagues, his extraversion trait
scored low. Lisa can take this opportunity to tell him that if he interacts more in the office with
other colleagues that would help him build a good and healthy relationship with others in the
office. Lisa can show Scoville that having a good relationship with other colleagues can be
rewarding for him in daily activities in the office as well as it can be rewarding for his career
in the future.

Question 3

Answer 3A-
This situation represents the Hidden Area/Facade in the Johari Window as Benton thought that
her superior failed to recognize her major strengths which were her analytical skills,
Intellectual capacity, and Organisational abilities.

Answer 3B –

The hidden area/ Facade is the area in the Johari model where the person knows the traits
about him/herself but these traits are unknown to others. Lisa should expose relevant
information and feelings to her superior (Linton) which would increase the open area and
reduce the hidden area. Reducing the hidden areas also reduces the potential for confusion,
poor communication, etc and by this method; her colleagues will get to know more about her
personality and characteristics which can open new opportunities for her in the future.

Two examples that Lisa can adopt to reduce her hidden area are as follows:

1- Lisa's aim should be to disclose information about her traits and characteristics which she
can do with Linton by organising a one-on-one session and asking for feedback on her work
performance.

2- When Lisa felt that Linton had not given her the opportunity to show her true self and her
assertive personality, she vowed to 'act more like herself' this would reduce the hidden areas
and her colleagues will get to know more about her.

Question 4

Answer 4-

Linton described Benton as "Unassertive” and "Lacking in initiative and confidence" during
her performance review. Listed below are some suggestions that Linton could have done
differently while giving the feedback:
1- The 'I like, I wish, I wonder technique: While giving the feedback Linton could have
used this technique where she first mentions the positive aspects of Lisa's performance, and
then she should have mentioned the areas where she needs improvements (in this situation it
would be Lisa's unassertiveness and lack of confidence) and in the end, Linton should have
given suggestions to Lisa on how she can improve herself in the future.

2- CEDAR Technique: Linton could have used the CEDAR Technique which is used to give
feedback to employees while giving their performance reviews. CEDAR means Context,
Example, Diagnosis, Action, and Review

Context- To introduce the area of feedback

Example - To give an example of how to improve

Diagnosis - To explain the problem in performance.

Action - To define actions and routines how to improve the performance

Review - To track progress by organizing meetings with the employee

Using the above-mentioned techniques Linton could have given the feedback to Lisa in a more
professional manner in which not only they would discuss the negative but also the positive
side of Lisa's performance along with how the problem areas should be improved.

Question 5

Answer 5 –

Cognitive Engagement - Through this engagement tactic employees need to know the actual
vision and motive of the employer is, and the level of efficiency they require from employees
in order to achieve the goals of the company
Example - As we know that the relationship between Linton and Lisa was not good, and there
was a lot of discrimination toward Lisa from Linton and Scoville. Lisa could have spent some
time with Linton and tried to resolve the issues, she should have come clean and tell her about
how she felt about the discrimination she is getting.

Emotional Engagement - The employer and the organisation must know how to create a
feeling of community in a workplace so that the team bonding is strengthened and employees
have more faith in each other.

Example - There were many instances where Linton and Scoville discriminated against Lisa
for being a Harvard MBA and also sometimes there were times where both of them shouted at
Lisa for not being a team player, instead the company should have exercises that strengthen
the team bonding. Many organisations set up group activities to build a good relationship
between the employees.

Physical Engagement - Physical engagement includes the behaviour, attitude toward others,
and activities that show if an employee actually wants to work or how invested an employee is
in the workplace.

Example - Linton should have given well-defined objectives once Lisa joined the company.
Linton did not provide any objective since she joined the company even after 6 weeks were
passed. On the other hand, Scoville's condescending nature towards Lisa was very
unprofessional; he always tried to distribute his work to Lisa because of his poor time
management and always discriminated against Lisa for being an MBA Graduate.

Conclusion - Lisa's employer should have recognised all three engagement types and they
needs to improve in the above-mentioned engagements so that the employees can build a
healthy and better relationship with each other and with their superiors in the workplace which
would lead the employees to feel motivated to work in House world.

Question 6
Answer 6A-

Two soft tactics which can be used by Lisa in order to improve her relationship with Linton
and Scoville are mentioned below:

1- Impression Management Tactic- It is a tactic of controlling or managing others in social

interactions. Through impression management, a person tries to influence the decision,
opinion, or observation of someone.

Example - Lisa can use this tactic to influence her other people in the office to get the work
done. Impression management can be done by intimidating someone, Flattery, or by
complimenting someone. People often try to get the work done for the person with whom they
have a good relationship and if they compliment you then you portray a good image in their
minds and people will try to help you with your work.

2 - Persuasion Tactic - Persuasion is the ability to influence other person's thoughts and
opinions by using logical facts and convincing arguments. In the workplace, we can use
persuasion to sell products, recruit team members and increase productivity.

Example - Lisa can use the persuasion tactic to influence Linton and Scoville. She can use
logical facts to make them understand her point.

Answer 6B-

Two hard tactics which can be used by Lisa in order to improve her relationship with Linton
and Scoville are mentioned below:

1- Information Control - Information control is a tactic where we need to gather information

and exploit that information in order to change someone's behaviour in your favour.

Example - This method can be applied by Lisa to gather information about Scoville his
condescending nature and his remarks about her being an MBA and then she can report the
same to her superiors if the management is not helping her with Scoville's unprofessional
behavior then Lisa can also get this reported to Human Resource department.

2- Coalition Formation - A Coalition is a group where two or more people agree to work
together to achieve a common goal or an idea.

Example - Lisa can talk to other employees in the department and ask them how they feel
about the behavior of Scoville in the workplace. If other employees also agree with Lisa that
his behavior is not professional in the workplace then they can form a coalition and get this
reported to the senior management team.

Question 7

Answer 7-

Fairness of justice approach - This approach tells us that the employees in a company should
be treated fairly and equally regardless of their position in the company or society. This
approach also tells us that in a workplace there should not be any favouritism or
discrimination.

Instance with Linton - One day when Lisa returned from lunch she found a note on her desk
saying Linton wants to see her in the office. When Lisa entered her office Linton said' you're
too good for copying," when Lisa tried to explain herself Linton cut her off in between and
shouted "This is a team effort. Everyone is overworked. Copying is a part of your job even if
you are a Harvard MBA". This clearly represented that Linton discriminated between Lisa and
Scoville. In this situation, Scoville poorly managed his work and rushed to meet the deadline
but still, Linton discriminated between both the employees and scolded Lisa for not being a
team player.

Rights Approach - This approach tells us to respect the dignity of each and every individual
equally. The employees of an organisation should have the right to choose how they want to
work in the workplace and also should have the moral duty to respect others no matter the
position of the individual in the company.

Instance with Scoville - During the first few weeks since Lisa joined the company Scoville
said to Lisa that as she is new in the company she is in the learning stage right now. Scoville's
condescending nature of this statement was not appreciated by Lisa, and this is a clear
violation of the rights approach as everybody in the company has a right to express their ideas

Question 8

Answer 8-

Yes, Lisa should quit her job at Houseworld. There are many reasons why she should leave the
job at Houseworld, some of my arguments are listed below:

Lack of Business Ethics - Lisa's superiors Linton and Scoville have a clear lack of business
ethics. Due to this, she might not get better opportunities in this company. Discrimination in
treating an employee reduces the efficiency and morale of that person.

Lack of Team Bonding - There is a clear display of a lack of team bonding between Lisa and
her superiors. We have encountered several instances where Linton discriminated against the
MBA graduates and Scoville tried to give his share of work to Lisa because of his poor time
management. These kinds of events affect negatively building a good relationship between
employees.

Non-Transparency in Communication - There is a clear lack of communication between

Lisa and her superior. Linton had not given Lisa her objectives even after six weeks had
passed since she joined the company, this represents that there is a lack of communication
between employees at Houseworld.