Ron Davis, the relatively new general manager of the machine tooling group at Parker Manufacturing, was visiting one of the plants. He scheduled a meeting with Mike Leonard, a plant manager who reported to him.

RON: Mike, I’ve scheduled this meeting with you because I’ve been reviewing performance data, and I wanted to give you some feedback. I know we haven’t talked face-to-face before, but I think it’s time we review how you’re doing. I’m afraid that some of the things I have to say are not very favorable.

MIKE: Well, since you’re the new boss, I guess I’ll have to listen. I’ve had meetings like this before with new people who come in my plant and think they know what’s going on.

RON: Look, Mike, I want this to be a two-way interchange. I’m not here to read a verdict to you, and I’m not here to tell you how to do your job. There are just some areas for improvement I want to review.

MIKE: OK, sure, I’ve heard that before. But you called the meeting. Go ahead and lower the boom.

RON: Well, Mike, I don’t think this is lowering the boom. But there are several things you need to hear. One is what I noticed during the plant tour. I think you’re too chummy with some of your female personnel. You know, one of them might take offense and level a sexual harassment suit against you.

MIKE: Oh, come on. You haven’t been around this plant before, and you don’t know the informal, friendly relationships we have. The office staff and the women on the floor are flattered by a little attention now and then.

RON: That may be so, but you need to be more careful. You may not be sensitive to what’s really going on with them. But that raises another thing I noticed—the appearance of your shop. You know how important it is in Parker to have a neat and clean shop. As I walked through this morning, I noticed that it wasn’t as orderly and neat as I would like to see it. Having things in disarray reflects poorly on you, Mike.

MIKE: I’ll stack my plant up against any in Parker for neatness. You may have seen a few tools out of place because someone was just using them, but we take a lot of pride in our neatness. I don’t see how you can say that things are in disarray. You’ve got no experience around here, so who are you to judge?

RON: Well, I’m glad you’re sensitive to the neatness issue. I just think you need to pay attention to it, that’s all. But regarding neatness, I notice that you don’t dress like a plant manager. I think you’re creating a substandard impression by not wearing a tie, for example. Casualness in dress can be used as an excuse for workers to come to work in really grubby attire. That may not be safe.

MIKE: Look, I don’t agree with making a big separation between the managers and the employees. By dressing like people out on the shop floor, I think we eliminate a lot of barriers. Besides, I don’t have the money to buy clothes that might get oil on them every day. That seems pretty picky to me.

RON: I don’t want to seem picky, Mike. But I do feel strongly about the issues I’ve mentioned. There are some other things, though, that need to get corrected. One is the appearance of the reports you send into division headquarters. There are often mistakes, misspellings, and, I suspect, some wrong numbers. I wonder if you are paying attention to these reports. You seem to be reviewing them superficially.

MIKE: If there is one thing we have too much of, it’s reports. I could spend three- quarters of my time filling out report forms and generating data for some bean counter in headquarters. We have reports coming out our ears. Why don’t you give us a chance to get our work done and eliminate all this paperwork?

RON: You know as well as I do, Mike, that we need to carefully monitor our productivity, quality, and costs. You just need to get more serious about taking care of that part of your responsibility.

MIKE: OK. I’m not going to fight about that. It’s a losing battle for me. No one at headquarters will ever decrease their demand for reports. But, listen, Ron, I also have one question for you.

RON: OK. What’s that?

MIKE: Why don’t you go find somebody else to pick on? I need to get back to work.

Discussion Questions

1. What principles of supportive communication and supportive listening are violated in this case?
2. If you were to change this interaction to make it more productive, what would you change?