Communications Management (MGT 421)

Assignment Structure:

	Type	Marks
Assignment-1	Part 1	5
	Part 2	5
	Part 3	5
Total		15

Part-1:

Ali is a successful financial officer in a banking company. He will take over the recently acquired footprint as the new regional CEO. The newly acquired banking institution has a good market reputation

On Monday morning at 10am, Ali had called a meeting. He reached the office at 9am and saw very few employees in the meeting so he got annoyed but keeping his emotions at side, he started the meeting at sharp 10am .Ali was unhappy due to lack of dedication of employees towards the organization, as most of the employees did not arrived on time.

Later that afternoon Ali met the executive team and outlined the strategic goals, objectives and deadlines. A meeting was held with the senior staff members for reporting progress. In the report it was shown that currently the market growth numbers were up and new business numbers were increasing.

A quarter later Ali had a quarterly report result. The report showed both positive and negative result. Ali reviewed the report with his staff and requested them for their input. However his request was greeted with silence. He sensed an uneasy feeling in the room.

Questions:

To what extend do you think Ali process Emotional Intelligence. (2.5 Marks)

Do you think the concept of emotional intelligence is important in organizational setting? Briefly justify your answer. (2.5 Marks)

 Part-2-Case Study

Sara, a third-year adjunct faculty member at a major university, looked at her course evaluations from students for the term just ending and shook her head in disbelief: What could have prompted the very negative comment one student made? She remembered vividly the day in question. It was the first day of class for a new school year and a new semester. Since this was a freshman-level class, students were also new to campus. New classes routinely require introductions, and Sara tried to have an interesting icebreaker. She had the students do a “mix it up” exercise where they had to stand up, move around the room, shake hands with and greet every other person in the class. The room buzzed with excitement as the new students greeted each other, and it seemed to be quite a success. The rest of the semester went as expected, and students continued to network with each other. Now, at the end of that term, Sara was looking at a student’s comment on the semester end course evaluation and was shocked. The student rated her “D” (the lowest possible) and commented: “The instructor was very insensitive and unaware. She even expected us to shake hands during introductions.” Thinking about that first day of class, Sara did not recall that any of the students participated reluctantly. No one seemed to hesitate, or to avoid the activity, or to ask to be exempt from the introductions. She wondered why the student did not immediately indicate any discomfort. Why did this student not ask for an alternative way to participate? Looking back, Sara tried to think through how students who were reluctant to “touch” anyone else could participate. While she thought of the handshake as a form of friendly interaction, clearly some students did not see things that way. How could she re-design the exercise so that students from outside the main culture could fully participate but not have to do anything that would make the giver or the receiver of the handshake uncomfortable? She also thought about the idea that religious beliefs were not the only reason for a reluctance to touch others. Perhaps students were germphobic, had skin sensitivities, or were adverse to having others touch them for health reasons. She asked herself what other inclusive instructions could have been provided, such as, “If anyone does not want to shake hands, let’s work out an alternative now, before we start.” This would have provided an option before the activity started. Also, in a low-key, positive and friendly way, any concerned student needed to be prepared to suggest an alternative action, such as, “I am not able to shake hands, but I would be very happy to do this [provide alternative].” No big loud “ugh..” no moaning or groaning, but a maturely presented alternative. It was now apparent that, for the entire semester, the student had harbored a grudge about the handshake introductions.

Discussion:

Q1. What responsibility should Sara take for her introduction exercise to be inclusive and respect other cultural customs outside the host culture’s practices? (2.5 Marks)

Q2. What recommendations you have for the student who did not want to shake hands? (2.5 Marks)

Part-3

Think about any difficult situation/conversation, which you might have encountered in your professional life or student life. Based on that conversation, answer the following

Briefly discuss the conversation/situation. (1 mark)

Evaluate your and others’ performance in terms of assuming the best in one another, staying calm, finding common ground, disagreeing diplomatically, avoiding exaggeration.(2 marks)

Describe three ways you would approach the conversation differently if you again encountered the same situation (2marks)