homework

John is the manager of the marketing team in a company which sells cosmetics. He
delegated Mark, one of the members of his team, to prepare a presentation with a
few of his colleagues. The presentation is three weeks away, and Mark prefers to
divide large tasks into small daily steps. He wants to work on the presentation for 10
minutes every day until the meeting. One of Mark’s colleagues, Sue, prefers to
complete tasks in larger sections. Sue wants to complete the task in one day, closer
to the deadline. What should John do?
Solve this management situation by referring to the situations and terms discussed
during the class at the same time identifying the type of skills and direction of
management John should apply.

Answer
Delegating someone means to have complete confidence in that person and to
remove that problem from your head. This is why, I consider that as soon as John,
as a manager, delegated Mark to prepare the presentation, he shouldn’t do anything
more than expecting the presentation from Mark few days prior to the deadline
(because as a manager, I believe that John has to see the final form of the
presentation and to make adjustments if case). As a manager I wouldn't risk to show
the presentation without seeing before what Mark and the team have prepared,
because eventually I am responsible with this work.
Even that John has had full confidence in Mark, that he would show a good
presentation, when he delegated him, that doesn't mean John should not control
what Mark has achieved (see the quote for John).
In my opinion the real problem is what Mark should do with Sue, because her
way of working is in contradiction with his and the rest of the team’s.
Considering these my solution is presented hereunder.
I, Mark, accept that Sue is involved in other tasks and it will be difficult to her to
work in small steps, meaning a few minutes a day, but only provided that Sue thinks
all the time at the presentation, even if she starts working on it only a few days
before the deadline and provided that she is always available to see, talk and
comments on what I and the other colleagues work daily. Sometimes when you are
not involved daily in carrying out a task, you can notice things that have escaped to
those who worked continuously on the presentation. And Sue might be one of these
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persons. Another reason is that I don't intend to change Sue's way of working and I
want to make her contribution efficient in making this presentation (see the quote for
Mark).
As the deadline is approached, I realize that I and the other colleagues will
have finished all the new ideas and all that we can do is only to work on details. That
will be the moment in which Sue can bring us her work, to see the point of view of a
person, which has the ability to synthetize all the ideas she picked up about the
presentation till then (see the quote for Sue).
What we have done working daily and what Sue has done in one day,
gathering daily information (in her head) could contribute to a better presentation,
without affecting the way of working of each individual of the team, without stressing
anyone and in a harmonious mutual cooperation. And I am sure that John will be
satisfied with the final form of the presentation.
We must take into account that each of us is different, that we have different
styles of thinking and working, and that what is important is that everyone's
contribution should be efficient and creative.

At the end I would like to present some quotes, which fit the people in the text
and to which I referred to in my homework.

The quote that fits to John is:

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The quote that fits to Mark (and his colleagues) is:

The quote that fits to Sue is: