Communicating Bad News Effectively...

Being a manager of a department comes with responsibilities, whether the department is big or small.  Approaching an employee with bad news is always a difficult thing to do, especially when the employee is known to have an attitude or angry problem.  I would set up a meeting with HR and explain the situation, which in most cases they are already aware of.  After discussing the employee’s work performance and attitude towards other employees in company, options will be drafted for the employee in question will be asked to improve on or if no improvement is made within the deadline or timeline presented, then he will be demote to another position if available or dismissed from the company.  In most cases the employee will be able to bounce back after being warn about the work performance being low, but there are those cases where they can react against the company and/or employees, that why it is important to be very tactful and respectful to all employees regardless of the status they have within the company.

I would have HR set up a meeting with all parties to meet, employee in question, manager, and HR representative.  HR will not only regulate the meeting, but also serve as a witness to prevent any type of misunderstandings between the manager and employee.  I would greet the employee politely and start by telling the employee in question that the company appreciates his loyalty to the company for the past two years.  Then, the HR representative can say that they are trying to evaluate all employees and see where they stand in regards to performance in each position.  I, as a manager, will provide the copies of the past two evaluations and recommendations made at that time.  I feel that by this point the employee has been told what he or she was lacking at the time the evaluation was completed.  Once we have gone over the documents and reviewed where he stand at that time, we can turn and say that they feel he has not improved any in the recommendations made at the time and allow him or her to express the reason as to why they feel they haven’t done so.  If one of the reasons is that they feel proper training has not been provided, HR can ask the employee why he or she hasn’t approached the manager to ask for such training.  The HR representative can also say that they feel he has had ample time to request it and at this time the lack of training should not be the cause of his continuing fall outs.  Usually when an employee has the first fallout, they will ask for help to help them be successful and not drown.  The company will then make arrangement for all team training or if needed individual help as well. 

At this time, I would provide the employee with a copy of the timeline or deadline per say that he or she will be allowed to show improvement or otherwise the following consequences will be taken, from demotion from the current position to a position that is available, or dismissal from the company, due to lack of improvements and failure to meet company requirements as mention in the meeting today.  If the employee shows any sign of resistance to understand what is being said in the meeting, maybe at that time the HR Director can be involved and termination of company might be necessary. 

If the employees’ attitude deteriorates after the meeting and shows disrespect to manager or other employees, then immediate action might be necessary to ensure the safety of all employees.  Hopefully it won’t be necessary to involve the law enforcement, but all precautions need to be taken.  With so many stories we here in the news lately about employees acting against the company and employees after they are warn or dismissed from company, no one can be too carefully in making sure everyone is safe within the company.

But I really hope I will never have to encounter an employee or situation like this in my career.  I want all my employees to feel like a family, yet professional.

     

Intercultural Communication

Intercultural Communication can be very challenging at the beginning.

At my last job I worked for VeriaTV which was the sister station for ZeeTV from India.  I was the minority among minority.  When I first started working there, I had a culture shock.  Most of the people were not friendly at all and seem rude.  The men in the company only talked to me when they needed something from me, even though I was a manager.  In India, men only talk to a woman when they need something and rarely ask for their opinion on anything.  When I had to attend a manager’s meeting, I just would rather call in sick than go to one.  I am very grateful my VP was not like them, even though he was born in India.  He was more Americanized since moving to the USA to attend school.  His children were also born here and he could see the difference in the way he communicated with his parents and the way his children communicate with him. 

After my first week, I went home and thought that I wouldn’t make it.  I started doing some research online about the culture and realized that they were not being rude, that is just the way they are.  I would explain to my VP what I would attempt to say at the meetings and he would back me up as I would do my presentations.  I like to believe that I earn their respect because they actually had a very nice going away party for me when I decided to leave the company.  By that time I had picked up some words in Hindi and would even practice speaking it with some of them.

I also took a religion class to understand their traditions a little better, since we all were either off on days many would work and/or had to participate on event like “Happy Holi,” which is when they rub colored paint on themselves and people they care about and want to wish them the best.  Needless to say, I learned really fast what the celebration was when I was caught by surprise at my desk and hands were rubbing color paint all over my face and hair.  It was an interesting experience. 

Let's Start Communicating... 4 ways that is...

Let’s start communicating in 4 ways for now. 

To the best of my knowledge, I will point out the 4 ways we currently communicate or get our information from or across.  Since I started my career in television, we will start there.

Television is a media technology that comes to mind first since this is where most people go to get information, to be entertained, and to learn something new.  Depending on the program, the targeted audience will vary.  However, the television overall is targeted to all ages.  For example, PBS targets children from 6am to 5pm, when children programming are on.  Univision on the other hand targets stay at home moms during the day.  I use to work there and yes, they do target women between the ages of 18 to 50 years of age. 

Radio is the second media technology that comes to mind.  Radio is another form to get information, such as traffic reports and such, to be entertained, and to express ourselves by calling a radio station and be heard.  Certain radio stations have a targeted audience, depending on their programming and song selections. 

Cell phones are another form of media technology that is growing fast in this day and age.  Today everyone has a cell phone from a child to college students to parents to senior citizens trying to stay afloat of the new technology.  They were design at first as a luxury, only those who could afford them had them.  Today, they are the primary telephone in many households.  Many different programs, television or radio, use text messaging to help them promote and keep fans informed of new upcoming events or episodes.  “In fact, there are services that will send text messages to your cell phone alerting you to the latest auditions” (Trenholm, p. 296). 

Social networks like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter are another form for media technology that has started to really pick up popularly in the last few years.  The targeted audience tends to be for MySpace from 15 to 21.  Facebook and twitter tend to target audience from 21 to late 40’s.   

A great example that used all 4 forms of communication technologies mention above was the tragic events that happen in Haiti.  A fundraiser campaign was televised, streamed on radio and online, actors and actress were sending out tweets as they helped out by answering the phone lines, and were providing viewers with a phone number to call and/or text in your donations, as well as an online contribution site.

Communicating the good and bad things to people will make each of us a better, more informed community and society to be able to help others and each other.

Until next time… Keep the communication open to prevent miscommunication and misunderstanding in our lives.

If you would like to help the American Red Cross by making a donation to the Haiti cause, please visit the webiste or text or call in your contribution...
Send a $10 Donation by Texting "Haiti" to '90999' or call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 for Spanish.

 

http://www.redcross.org/

 

Reference:

Trenholm, S. (2008) Thinking through communication:  An introduction to the study of human communication (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.

Welcome

Welcome to my first blog ever created by me, Maribel Navarro.  I have always thought about creating a blog and begin to share my ideas with the world.  Well, watch out world! Here I am!!

My blog will try to explain the way I view communication on a personal level, as well as in a professional level.

Let's get started!