Bob's poor performance and suggested improvement, is best
delivered in person. This way you "get immediate feedback from
those receiving bad news and can respond to their discomfort right
away." (Cardon, page 148) I think the most important issue is
customer complaints about receiving defective items. I would sit
down with Bob in a private place away from other employees, and
tell him immediately about the customer complaints. I would also
note that this is a concerning trend and ask Bob for his perspective--
why does he think his performance has declined? According to
Cardon, demonstrating that you care about the recipient helps them
respond constructively to bad news. (Page 148)
In order to help Bob, improve his performance, I would ask that he
completes a checklist to verify that all customer shipments contain all
items and they are all free of defects, and Bob must initial each
checklist. A checklist will serve as objective evidence of Bob's actions
and results. He must turn in the daily checklists and at the end of the
quarter, we will sit down together again and review his performance.
Focusing on this issue will highlight the importance of it and may help
resolve the other inventory issues. This arrangement will hopefully
help Bob be more mindful in his work and feel supported in resolving
performance issues.
Delivering bad news especially regarding performance evaluations
can be very stressful as many are tied to financial rewards. Denying
someone the ability to earn a raise or promotion can certainly leave a
lasting uneasiness to that relationship. With that said I have found
many underperforms are aware of where they rank in performance
and are either unsure how or are afraid to ask for help. It imperative
to be honest for if not the situation will only grow worse. As pointed
out by Wien claw (2021), although bad news is not pleasant, people
do expect the truth. b
For this situation it is important to have an in-person communication
with Bob. Although there is already a good relationship established
and a measure of controllability on Bob’s part, the likelihood is
already high as well as its severity. For these reasons a richer channel
of communication is appropriate. This medium factors in significantly
to change management as well, as it promotes the personal dialogue
needed to overcome the emotional transitional state of change (Ko
Poulos, 2017). The specific issues to be address is the inventory
discrepancies and the proposed solution is integrated barcode
system which will allow for real time visibility of inventory and order
processing. As this is a sizeable change and Bob is a manager of that
department, he needs to be part of the change process. Several
guiding principles proposed by Ko Poulos (2017), are critical which
include building the business case and establishing accountability.
Clear reasoning of why this change makes business sense needs to
be explained so Bob can both embrace the Why and promote that to
his team. Accountability and Bob’s ownership over both the issues
and success of the solution need to be clear. Fair observable
measures of his success need to be clearly communicated so he
knows how to improve his performance. b Additional follow up
meetings need to be scheduled at regular intervals so Bob knows he
has support and they serve as a message reinforcer, as said by Ko
Poulos (2017), “communicate well, communicate often” (p.3).
Through these steps, the impacts both to the organization and to Bob
are explained in clear rationale, but the focus is on solutions. b
Reference
Ko Poulos, A. (2017, February 6). How to lead change management: 10
guiding principles. Employee Connect HRIS.
https://www.employeeconnect.com/blog/how-to-lead-change-
management-guiding-principles/
Wien claw, R. A. (2021). Communications in the Workplace. Salem
Press Encyclopaedia.
Cardon, P. W. (2021). Business communication: Developing leaders for
a networked world (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
