On a summer vacation, John decided to find a part time job. After he went through several interviews, he finally got a job in a famous Sandstone grand hotel. John, being a responsible and hardworking teenager looked forward to this job. On his first day of work, he found out that there was another part time colleague who had already started working there since some time ago. Being a new staff, John was positive and willing to learn from the seniors.
After working for a few days, John realized some of his colleagues were lazy and uncooperative. He tried various ways to communicate with them but failed. John informed the Manager (Ms Sally) about his inability to communicate with his colleagues. After this incident, his relationship with his fellow colleague worsens and he found that they are gradually avoiding contact with him. Most of the time, John was left alone to work on the task.
As a result, the task assigned was not able to be completed on time which resulted in everyone being reprimanded by Ms Sally. John suggested to Ms Sally that she could send a full time staff to be in charge of part timers. Sally listened to the advice and said she would try to do something about it. However, no further actions were taken by Ms Sally with respect to the problem.
John is increasing burdened by the inefficiency at work due to the lack of team action and was starting to feel extremely tired for having to stay back for addition hours after work.
It seems, from your blog post, that John has already tried almost all that he could to bring the matter to the attention of his colleagues and managers.
ReplyDeleteI guess two alternatives would be possible:
1. Whistleblowing. But it may not be a very smart move in his case since he's merely working part-time. It wouldn't be advisable to leave a bad record (as deemed by the company) in this case, it's just not worth it.
2. Well, he might as well put up with it, since he's only working part time.
Hi mabel,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.
If I am John,I will choose option 2 as it is just a part time job.
Life is difficult;some time we have to bear with whatever situation we have and go through it.
If it was a full time job, I would consider changing to another job.
Thanks, Michael, for this fairly clear and concise post. You describe an interesting scenario in good detail. You also pose a very relevant question. Mabel offers a reasonable perspective. However, it's not workable if John has integrity and a desire to improve the situation. I wonder what other members of your blogging group might think.
ReplyDeleteHere's some language issues to take note of:
a) Sandstone grand hotel >>> Sandstone Grand Hotel
(proper noun)
b) being a responsible and hardworking teenager looked >>> being a responsible and hardworking teenager, looked
c) since some time ago. >>> since some time earlier.
d)a new staff >>> a new staff member
e) his relationship with his fellow colleague worsens and he found that they are gradually avoiding >>> verb tense?
f)John is increasing burdened by >>> John is increasingly burdened by
Thanks for your effort here!
John could have exercised more social skills. It is possible that he could not relate to the seniors due to the way he communicated his thoughts to them. The seniors might have found him hostile instead of friendly which has resulted in their strained relationship. He probably showed a lack of empathy. (It would be good if you could explain what the various ways of communication he had used) Knowing that his colleagues were avoiding him, he could have made the effort to approach them and talk it out with them. He could have been more persuasive when sharing his thoughts to Ms Sally. At the same time, he should build a good rapport with her so that she would respect what he says. He could have also shared to Ms Sally that he has been “left alone to work on the task” most of the time.
ReplyDeleteJohn could have shown more motivation by getting back to Ms Sally seeing that things were not done. Being more persistent would have allowed him to get his point through. John could have also suggested to Ms Sally about his ideas on a one-to-one basis so as not to strain the relationship with others.
Since John is a part time worker, he could stop working due to the already strained working relationship. The last resort would be to approach an even higher superior to change things around.
Cheers!