Plastico is a thermoplastic manufacturing company specializing in the transformation and production of plastic products designed for the automotive, chemical, computer, pharmaceutical and food processing industries. The company is renowned for its work with materials commonly used in components of toys, electrical kitchen and bathroom items, textiles, medical components, solar panels, electrical connectors, exterior car parts, TV components and computer housing items. Additionally, the company offers a variety and range of products in all sizes, shapes and colours. Plastico is comprised of hundreds of employees and several departments. [11 the R&D division a team of four senior technicians are responsible for developing new innovative products; the unit is managed by Tom, a chemical engineer. The team members have been working together for over 12 years and a natural and harmonious synergy has developed among them over time. Recently, the company obtained an unexpected contract and penetrated a new market niche. As a result, several new employees had to be hired for the R&D division. One of the new employees is Francine, a 23-year-old young woman who recently completed a BA in chemical engineering. During her studies, Francine was an exceptional student and was awarded several grants and bursaries for her research and academic accomplishments. Although overqualied, she accepted the technician position because of the present economic downturn and lack of available jobs in her eld of study. She was assigned to the new project and given the task of designing and developing a new thermoplastic product for a major international client. Her responsibilities included close team collaboration with four colleagues from the R&D team: Aaron, 48 years old, with 2? years of experience; Justin, 45, with 24 years of service at the same company; John, 44, with 20 years of seniority; and Dave, 40 years old, with 17 years of work- related experience. The members of the R&D team hold high school diplomas and over the years have worked their way up in the company to the level of technician, mainly through on-the-j ob training and in-house seminars. As a new employee, Francine immediately gets seriously involved in the project, working hard and autonomously. However, she tends not to get involved in informal discussions at work with the team and never participates in social activities after work. Dedicated to performing well, Francine works long, hard hours and always demos her ndings and results to her colleagues. Since her arrival, she has completed her tasks well in advance of the others and often asks the manager for extra work while the other technicians catch up on their parts. A few times, she has offered her assistance, but all four abruptly refused and requested she wait until they completed their sections. Some even made derogatory comments about how she works. As a novice on the team, Francine decides to ignore the comments, simply passing them off as irrelevant and mere nonsense. One Friday morning, Aaron runs into Tom and asks him to meet with him for a few minutes to discuss issues related to the R&D team. Manager: Aaron : Manager: Aaron : Manager: Good morning Aaron. What are these issues you're referring to? Well Tom, there is an apparent glitch with the new little girl you placed on our team! Really, what could it possibly be? She seems to be performing really well. She has a very negative attitude and is annoying the group in R&D. She thinks she's so much more intelligent than everyone else and constantly tells us how to do our job better. She likes to brag about her university experience and projects. She seems to forget that we've been around for many years and nobody knows the job like we do! [have to tell you, I am a little taken by surprise. Francine is doing such a great job and she always meets her deadlines far earlier than anticipated. She is quite a professionally rounded young woman who comes through for us on all requested tasks. She is a dedicated technician, not to mention a reliable employee a rare quality these days! Aaron: I wonder if stressing out the team is one of those requested tasks! Listen Tom, the boys told me to inform you that they've had enough of the girl. We do not think she is a good fit for the team. She may be frustrated because she is not working as an engineer. Something needs to be done about the issue. Manager: I am meeting with her in a few days to discuss her learning plan and ['11 bring up the matter to see what she has to say. Meanwhile, please tell the fellows in R&D to stay calm and continue doing the same good job as usual. Aaron: Please Tom, try to do something about this one before we start seeing a negative impact on team performance and motivation. That's all we need! It may be a good idea to encourage her to continue seeking that engineering position she really wants and to leave the R&D team before the low morale of some of our boys starts affecting the entire unit. The project is important to us and we need to move forward without any added stress. A week later, the manager meets with Francine. After discussing her learning plan, he mentions the team issue. Manager: Francine: Manager: Francine: Manager: Francine: As agreed, we will proceed with this outlined training plan of activities for this scal year. Regarding professional development, [ think you are moving along ne and there is no need for any further skills to be developed at this time. However, we may need to discuss seminars in team building that may be available to you. Team-building seminars\"? What do you mean Tom? Why would I need to consider looking into those seminars? Let me get straight to the point Francine. You see, the issue is that a number of your new colleagues in the R&D unit are not at all impressed with what they refer to as your condescending attitude when you advise them on better ways of approaching their tasks. We mustn't forget that the team is comprised of experienced technicians who have been doing a great and efcient job for many years. A condescending attitude? These guys are really pathetic! I have never told anyone how to do their job! I am well aware that [ am fresh out of university and that the rst ve years for me are all part of my learning curve! They have nerve! Tell me a little about the dynamics within the R&D team. [11 the beginning, I tried to be helpful and offered to assist them, but they replied with nothing but nasty and arrogant undertones. l quickly understood the boys game and since then have decided to focus on completing my own tasks. Tom, I know i am young and everything, but let me assure you that i will never engage in these sorts of games at the workplace it is just not part of my personal or work ethics. Francine: Manager: Francine: Manager: [11 the beginning, I tried to be helpful and offered to assist them, but they replied with nothing but nasty and arrogant undertones. [ quickly understood the boys game and since then have decided to focus on completing my own tasks. Tom, [ know 1 am young and everything, but let me assure you that [ will never engage in these sorts of games at the workplace it is just not part of my personal or work ethics. Tom, the fact is that your so-called \"experienced\" and \"efcient\" technicians take their time to follow up on simple tasks that could be done more efciently and, as a result, in a more cost-effective manner. These guys are just not comfortable working with someone who is trained to be more results-oriented in terms of budgets and deadlines. Well, everyone works differently. Not when employees take long coffee and cigarette breaks, surf online or chat endlessly about their weekly get-togethers. These guys don't take working for Plastico seriously at all, and they have a completely different mindset when it comes to getting things done. They seem to think the company owes them something for taking up all of their good years! The thing is Tom, we just have very different work ethics and they can't seem to accept that. We won't even mention their views on women in the professions. Thank you for the information. Let me look into all these issues and get back to you soon