11:44 LTE O Done Guiding-principles-peer-coac... suncu maru ucco Worm Cracompoumon wou need with a boss. A close friendship would therefore not be so important. As the weeks went by, Sara was eager to learn all she needed to be an outstanding production coordinator. She found that the production technicians were super-helpful in giving her hints about some of the real problems involved After the meeting, Sara thought that perhaps she was not being personal enough in building a better relationship with Kelly. So the following day when she saw Kelly for the first time in the morning, Sara said, “That's a sharp outfit you're wearing. You have given me a good idea for my own wardrobe." To which Kelly replied, “Thanks." 276 Chapter 9 Specialized Tactics for Getting Along with others in the Workplace Questions 1. Is Sara trying too hard to get along better with Kelly? 2. Is Sara too worried about establishing better rapport with Kelly? 3. What recommendations can you offer Sara to improve her relationship with Kelly? 4. What suggestions might you offer Kelly to be a more ef- fective manager from a human relations perspective? Human Relations Role-Playing Exercise Sara Attempts to Build Her Relationship with Kelly The case study about Sara and Kelly serves as the back- ground and the story line for this role-play. One person plays the role of Sara, who has been discouraged in her at- tempts to build a stronger relationship with her manager, Kelly. Sara decides that today she will use two specific tactics to improve her relationship with Kelly: "demon- strate a strong work ethic,” and “find out what your man- ager expects of you.” She plans to implement these tactics today when she will be discussing a new work assignment with Kelly. Another person plays the role of Kelly, who is expecting Sara to drop by her cubicle this morning to dis- cuss the new work assignment. The person who plays the role of Kelly can act as she does in the case or can be more skilled at human relations. For both scenarios, observers rate the role-players on two dimensions, using a 1 to 5 scale from very poor to very good. One dimension is "effective use of human relations techniques." The second dimension is acting ability." A few observers might voluntarily provide feedback to the role-players in terms of sharing their ratings and observa- tions. The course instructor might also provide feedback. Human Relations Class Study 9-2 How Far Should Tom Go to Keep His Client Happy? Tom is a sales consultant in the wealth management group at a well-established financial services firm. He manages the financial portfolios of many high-income professionals, and also has several institutions as clients. The institutions include a few colleges, hospitals, and nonprofit agencies. These institutions purchase some of their investments through Tom's firm. Tom is an average performer as a sales consultant, which translates into an income in the top two percent of wage earners. He is satisfied with the nature of his work as well as his income. At the moment, one of Tom's biggest challenges is to decide how much time to invest in manag- ing one client, a large hospital. Deborah, the pension fund manager, never seems to be quite satisfied. She sends Tom an e-mail almost every day, and telephones him almost ev- ery week with a question about how well or how poorly the investments placed through his firm are doing. (Tom's firm, as with other financial services firms, places very limited in- formation in e-mail messages.) Tom explained to his manager the challenges he was facing with Deborah in these words: “We both agree that keeping this hospital account is important. But how high- maintenance can a client get before we set a limit to how much service we can provide? When the few mutual funds we have placed with the hospital head down in value at the same time, she wants a fifteen-minute phone call to reas- sure her that the funds will rebound." "When Deborah decides that the hospital should invest more money into one of our funds, she almost insists that I take her to lunch. The problem is that these lunches wind up taking about two-and-one-half hours out of my day, travel and time in the restaurant included. Another problem is that Deborah insists on so much documentation about her investments through us. She could really find some of this documentation on financial Web sites on her own." “What have you told Deborah so far about the amount of time she is consuming in managing her account?" asked Tom's manager. Tom said, “I have only given her the smallest hint so far. I said that our firm valued her account, and we will do what we can to satisfy her and the hospital, but that some- times I need a little more time to get back to her." Questions 1. To what extent is Tom neglecting the idea that client needs come first and that his goal is to please the client? 2. Should Tom be direct with Deborah and tell her that she is consuming too much time for the amount of business the hospital is giving his firm? 3. What advice might you offer Tom to maintain a good relationship with Deborah without the relationship be- ing too disruptive to his own work schedule? References 277 REFERENCES 1. Original story created from facts found in the following sources: Barbara Haislip, "Make 'Em Laugh: For Entrepre- neurs, the Punch Line Can Be More Sales," The Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2011, p. R9; "Burt Teplitzky," Professional Speakers Bureau International (www.terrificspeakers.com), accessed February 10, 2012, pp. 1-3; Christine Lagorio, "Spic- ing Up That Sales Pitch," posted by 7 Christine lagorio@lago- rio, accessed February 13, 2012; “Burt Teplitzky-Sell It With Humor," (http://sellitwithhuymor.com), Accessed February 12, 2012, p. 1. 2. Marshall Goldsmith (with Mark Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even Remedies of Workplace Incivility: No Time for ‘Nice'? Think Again," Academy of Management Executive, February 2005, pp. 7-18. 21. Jared Sandberg, “Office Minstrels Drive the Rest of Us Nuts but Are Hard to Silence," The Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2006, p. Bl. 22. Sandy Lim, Lilia M. Cortina, and Vicki J. Magley, "Per- sonal and Workgroup Incivility: Impact of Work and Health Outcomes,"Journal of Applied Psychology, January 2008, pp. 95-107. in, "You Did What? Spare the Office the Details," The Wall Street Journal, April 6, 2010, p. D1.
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