Case study of management Answer the following question1. What has happened to the goal of the department meeting as a result of Michael's behaviour? What, if anything, could a department member do to affect this?
A Message For Michael Michael Mahwah is the newest member of the humanities department at a small college. Although new to teaching, he worked several years as a freelance writer. His department welcomed him with open arms. Almost immediately, everyone could see that he worked hard, that his students liked and respected him, and that he cheerfully volunteered for committee work. At faculty meetings, Michael contributed good ideas and demonstrated a positive attitude. In many respects, has was the perfect faculty member. Except for one thing: Michael didn't listen. At first his colleagues made excuses because he was new. Soon they realized that for all his talents and positive outlook, he was missing something. When faculty members talked to Michael at meetings, he behaved as though he was a great listener. He looked at the person speaking, nodded his head, and didn't interrupt. Yet, something in his eyes said, "I'm not really listening to you." One of his colleagues decided to test this notion. When discussing course requirements, he inserted some nonsense phrases by saying, "All liberal arts majors will be required to take intermediate algebra, flower arranging and a basic communication course." Michael nodded his head. "At the same time, we will give the students more options in the humanities so they can take a theatre course, a welding course, or an art history course." Again, Michael nodded his head. Pretty soon the faculty began to giggle, but Michael didn't seem to notice. He just smiled along with everyone else. Rather than confronting Michael, his colleagues began asking him to respond to what others said during discussion. Finally, Michael caught on. The risk of having nothing to say made him pay more attention. Faculty members thought they'd solved the problem. Instead, they'd created a new one. Michael was so intent on listening and responding, he soon had an opinion about everything. Even worse, his way of expressing his opinion occasionally hurt people's feelings Many of his responses were just blunt: "here's a much better way to do that." A few, however, were harsh: "Rachel, that's just dumb." Now he seemed incapable of "listening" to everyone's negative nonverbal reactions to his statements. Michael's honeymoon at the college was over. Michael soon realized that something was wrong. His colleagues were less friendly. They stopped asking him to join committees or after-work get-togethers. He decided to have a talk with the department chair. He made an appointment, arrived promptly and began by saying, "I am thrilled to have this job. But I don't think the other faculty members like or respect me. They used to ask for my comments and feedback, but now they don't. Maybe I'm just imaging it - I'm not good at picking up on this sort of thing. Please, just tell me what I'm doing wrong or that I'm imagining things." The department head realized that she had to phrase her response with care. What she was about say could affect Michael's future and the department's well- being
