CASE STUDY
You have just been hired by Yummy Juicy, a national corporation that sells organic juices at most major retail stores. You have been hired as the West Coast Distribution Manager. After about five weeks on the job, you get the following email:
Sir/Ma’am,
You are hurting this company. You have continued to try to force all of us to change our ways and follow procedures that are no good. I am not sure why you got the job. You trained us on the new procedures, which wasted hours of our time. Don’t bother to reply to this email, I know nothing will change.
R/
Bob (disgruntled employee)
2. Complete the following:
a. Develop an email response. Use the three-step process for being assertive. Bob is one of your first-line supervisors and has been with the company for 20 years. Mary, another supervisor tells you that Bob is just trying to bully you and that most other supervisors love the new processes. (I realize many of you would call Bob into your office, but for this assignment, you must generate the email).
b. Do you find it difficult to be assertive in your own life (personal and professional)? Why or why not?
c. What are the risks of being assertive with Bob? Make sure you utilize common course terminology when explaining the risks.
3. Mary comes to you later in the day and says, “Boss, Bob is trying to negotiate with you, he has a target in mind, and is not flexible, so his limit is not much different than his target.” Explain what Mary is talking about (explain, in your OWN words, the concepts of targets and limits during negotiations).
1. First Peer Reply: What specifically won’t work in your peer’s email to Bob? Make a recommendation on how to reword (or use another approach).
2. Second/Third Peer Reply: Become Bob, negotiate with “boss (your peer),” and make them see your point of view. Utilize course material in your reply. The reply should be formatted as an email (don’t actually send email).