The New Export Manager

THE NEW EXPORT MANAGER

General Manager: Good afternoon ladies! it is a pleasure having you with us.

(Human resource Manager and the General Manager greets the Three consultants)

Consultant 1: Good afternoon!

Consultant 2: Good afternoon! hope we could begin with our discussion for today. Though we have read the detailed document you had sent to us, I think it would be easier for us to come to a conclusion if you could brief us the case again.

Consultant 3: Yes. Thank for having us here today.

HR manager: Sure ma’am, as you already know being a well reputed manufacturer of hand tools for more than 60 years, we had planned to make our foreign business activities more organized. We had decided to set up our new facility in Germany as well. As a first step to reach this goal, we thought of recruiting a well knowledge Export Manager to handle the foreign business in a better way.

General Manager: After several months of hard search, we were able to recruit Mr Frank Andrews, an energetic young fellow, who was working for International General Electrics.

Consultant 1: Sorry for interrupting but I would like to know whether he served as an export Manager in his previous company?

HR manager: mmmm…  I am afraid he wasn’t; he was assigned to the engineering department.  

Consultant 1: Oh... I see, go on.

HR manager: though we expected something big from him, we could not see any visible steps by him. As we hadn’t any options, we had to find another better person to fit the job. But to our surprise, I got to know he performed very well in his new job, and currently designated as the Vice president of the company.

General Manager: this makes us wonder what went wrong with him as well us with ourselves? Why couldn’t he give the best during his stay at our company. We thought of getting your suggestions so that we could make it right in our future.

Consultant 1: I appreciate your effort first of all I would like to know how well you both parties were able to share your expectation clearly. Were any steps taken to explain your expectations to him?

General Manager: well we have an employee with us who were under his department. I’m sure they’ll be able to explain further incidents.

Employee 1: Thank You Madam for making us part of this discussion today.to be honest, we have never done things together, to share my experience with him. All we knew were closed doors and a table full of files! Mr Andrews was self-centered. He never seemed to care about the employees.

Consultant 2: that sounds bad.

Employee 1 :  true that it was the assistant export manager who dealt all day to day activities. He was serving as a clerk in our company for a long time. Even after the appointment of the new export Manager, we didn’t experience much new, as all the activities were done by the assistant export manager. All we saw was a head covered amongst files.

HR manager: when asked, the reply we got was that he was on the process of planning. We had no idea about what he was planning. We were not asked for any suggestions for his plan!

Employee 1: we were under him for good four months, but still, we have no idea of his business style. We were carrying out our duties in the usual way we were doing. I had many grievances to talk about but I was very isolated with no one to help me solve them

Consultant 1: After analyzing the situation in your company and the facts given by you, we are able to spot out few issues that would have caused the grievances to both the parties.

General Manager: Well then let’s hear it! Please go on

Consultant 1: as we see it First and foremost Poor Communication was the main issue. There was a huge gap between what the company wanted Frank to do and what Frank thought had to be done.

HR manager: I see! What do you’ll suggest we could have done?

Consultant 3: Well first of all the HR dept. and the management could have inducted and oriented him properly and communicated to him what exactly the company expects from him.

There could have been many Reasons for Poor Communication

Consultant 2 : Lack of Leadership Employees usually look to their employers for direction, but when management lacks leadership abilities, it can stunt the growth of a company. As a result, it has a negative impact on communication in the workplace. An employer who can't lead hesitates when giving instructions to employees and is often unable to answer or seek the answers to employees' questions.

Employee: That is true! I had many grievances and issues to talk about but I was very isolated with no one to help me solve them

Consultant 1 : Unclear Goals and Duties is another issue  From the moment employees step into their workplaces they should have a proper understanding of what's expected in the role they are fulfilling. Most jobs do this by providing employees with a job description and list of duties, but it's also important to sit with employees and come up with measurable goals. By communicating this information to employees up front, it's easier for employers to communicate responsibilities, get feedback on the status of ongoing projects and solicit ideas and suggestions later on.

Consultant 3 :Undertrained Employees When employees aren't properly trained upon joining a company; it can wreak havoc on communications down the line. The more employees know about the company, how each department works together and how their roles affect the overall success of the company, the better the employee is at communicating with management, co-workers and customers. Poor training leads to employees transferring incorrect information both internally and externally.

Consultant 1 : Limited Feedback When employers encourage their employees to provide them with feedback about everything from day-to-day processes and procedures to ideas for developing new products and services, employees are motivated to communicate. Employers, who discourage this type of discussion and feedback from their employees, often find poor communication within their workplaces.