Case Study - unprofessional message to superior of other department

Dear all I am sharing a case study with all of you. Request you to give your valuable opinions.

Whose fault is it?



Raman an employee in a company was attending field duty as the other departmental head asked him to on temporary basis. After attending the work for two days he was thanked by the concerned departmental head for his work and said if required in future we will call you again. After updating the matters Raman resumed to his regular duties in his department. Raman has few family responsibilities due to which he was unable to concentrate more on field so his department was changed and was posted in-house in the past. One night suddenly at 11.30 PM he receives a message that he has to attend field duty again next day morning. On the other hand Raman’s family member was not well he was busy in the hospital and left his mobile at home. After returning home at midnight as he was totally tired he slept and got up late in the morning. In the morning when he checked his mobile he was surprised to see that message and thinks that it was already late as the place he should reach is in the outskirts of the city and all the way till he reaches that place there will be heavy traffic. In that confusion and chaos he replies that message typing “Sorry Sir”. The head of the other department assigns that work to some other official.



Later on Raman reaches the office in a confused state while he was worried about the family members health. In the meanwhile weekend arrives and the things will be back to normal at Raman’s house as the family member's health recovers.

On Monday the senior management team calls him bang and bash him left right center for sending an unprofessional message to the superior of other department and warn him from doing so in future. Raman was not given a chance for explaining the things.



Raman a loyal and sincere employee working in that organisation for the past two and half years is disappointed and dejected.

If verbal communication is not accepted, then:

1. Meet the HR executive and relate the episode.
2. Give a written clarification of the same with good proof of your innocence if required, such as a doctor's certificate of your family member who needed nursing.
3. Resign if the job gives you so much stress.

I feel there is no one's fault bcz if i had on the same place of boss, i would have reacted same.
Here comes the role of HR, as rightly explained by first reply. HR should take care of this issue and prepare all necessary doucments to support him, if he is genuine.

This is a perfect case study of a communication gap. One should be precise yet informative while sending text messages. Raman should have called his supervisor and explained the situation; this would not have resulted in so much chaos.

Regards,
Kavita

Text messages or SMS are not a formal way of communication. Although Raman can't confront a senior, he should have called the person concerned immediately and informed him of the same.

Moreover, Raman needs to be assertive and should tell his departmental head if he is willing to take extra initiative by working with another department.

P.S. - Shit Happens!!! :p

As per my concern, Raman's boss should listen to Raman's problem because he was loyal and sincere. Even though he spent two and a half years in this company, I think Raman's boss's fault is here. A boss is like a leader of an organization, and as a leader, he must be a people-oriented person. A people-oriented person understands the emotions of others.

This was a real communication gap, as has been mentioned earlier. However, informing the immediate boss is the minimum responsibility one can fulfill.

I feel that there is a communication gap between the boss and employees. The employees should also clearly explain their current position in the message.

This is a case of unprofessionalism shown by both parties. Raman should call instead of sending a message, or he should write the message clearly. On the other hand, his boss must inquire with him first about the situation and his indecent reply before escalating the matter to senior management.

In the current scenario, all managers in manufacturing or on the shop floor should practice HR techniques to resolve small problems on-site before involving HR. The department head should learn management tactics, and the employee Raman should work on improving his presentation skills.

Hello!

Apart from the hierarchy, one should keep in mind that he was returned by the other department to his parent department. Therefore, the other department head or someone should have again requisitioned his services through his regular department boss.

11:00 PM at night is an unearthly hour, and that's not the way of sending a message/communication by anyone about the next day's fieldwork, especially when it is not his regular work.

When he failed to reach the work spot on time, the other boss or someone from his section should have called Raman to inquire about his position and if he is likely to come or not.

If the HR department thinks that he made a mistake, they should call for an explanation to find out the reasons and intent behind such a lapse on Raman's part. On finding the truth, they should treat the whole issue as trivial.

This will go a long way in instilling confidence in the staff about the support of the HR department for such predicaments that are not in the control of the parties concerned.

A classic example of a communication gap and the ego of the boss. Instead of sending a sorry message, Raman could have called his boss, explained the circumstances, and sought advice. Raman's boss could have asked for his explanation before making a spectacle out of it. The issue should be settled within the department amicably without the interference of the HR Department, as procedurally both are at fault.

Harikumar

Thank you all for your amazing responses. I am glad that I am in CiteHR where knowledge sharing is a learning process. Looking forward to a few more views.

With Regards,
Phanindra

Raman could have called his supervisor and explained to him about the situation. HR has to support their staff if it's a genuine case. This hierarchy problem is common everywhere, leading to communication gaps.

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

This is a very apt example where HR intervention in resolving the conflict is required.

As stated below, it is a very clear case of miscommunication where the same should be properly explained to both parties and the matter resolved.

Hi all,

I do agree with eyelin. If any employee wasn't in a condition to perform his/her duties because of any reason, at the very least, he/she should have tried to convey the message to the seniors in the proper way. If Raman was not in a condition to go for field work, then why should he have tried hard to approach the destination? When he realized his inability to do so, he came back to the office. Why didn't he contact his superior during his travel and try to explain the situation he was in?

Kindly revert if needed.

Regards,
Ravi

Case not drafted properly.

An employee is not duty-bound to obey orders of other department heads. The instruction of the superior (of self, and not other HOD) must be reasonable and lawful for an employee to obey. Instructions given by SMS at wee night hours are unreasonable and hence can be disobeyed.

This is a case of poor organization and communication.

The department that assigns Raman field duty should be organized. Ensure that Raman has some advance notice before asking for extra duty. Make sure that, as Raman is not permanently based in this department, he knows his schedule before assigning someone who has been on night duty to work in the morning, no matter how urgent.

Raman is not organized himself and lacks communication skills. He should be able to communicate that he is on night duty and working in the morning after night duty is a problem. Proactively, he should discuss a favorable time to do the field duty. While family is important, it should not come at the expense of the job. Many people have families but no jobs, so jobs may take precedence. Raman should have asked someone else to help with the sick person. In case there is no one to help, he should explain to the supervisor (not HR) about his family problem.

I personally discourage using SMS as a means of official communication. Email or face-to-face communication is better. Someone could claim that your SMS did not arrive, and you would have no proof of sending it. SMS should only be used if all other means of communication have been exhausted.

Loyalty is a valuable trait in personal relationships, but in today's organizations, proactive organization and communication, achieving results, technical competence, team and self-leadership, and interpersonal skills are more important competencies. Raman should be acknowledged for his loyalty, but it should not overshadow other essential competencies.

While Raman should have been given a chance to explain, excuses for lack of organization are not acceptable in a competitive organizational environment. It is crucial to inform the boss before a problem escalates, and explanations should not be seen as excuses. Blaming external factors for one's failure is not resourceful. We are expected to use our resourcefulness and initiative to overcome challenges. Loyalty is not a resource; effective communication is a resource.

This is the case that shows a purely communication gap. Based on the above, I am adding some more points:

1) First of all, give a chance to Raman to explain the problem so that the head can have a chance to clearly know whether the problem from the employee's side is genuine or not.

2) The time at which the information has been passed to the employee is an unearthly time to pass information.

Hi All,

Greetings for the day,

The above-discussed case study is really a good one. Nice to see everyone's response for the same.

According to me:

(i) The other department heads should have informed him through the proper channel of communication. Sending a text message is not that convincing. Also, they should have confirmed whether the message had reached Raman.

(ii) A proper organizational structure needs to be implemented and practiced. If any work needs to be done with the help of other departmental employees, it needs to be communicated first to the head of the department under which Raman falls.

(iii) The other department heads should have listened to the issue and could have taken necessary steps to prevent such things from happening in the future, rather than firing and demotivating their employee. The best practice is a democratic style of approach instead of an autocratic style.

Raman should have informed his colleagues or seniors about his situation, which had to be done. The message he sent to his senior was also wrong; he might have stated the reason to, and will explain in detail in person.

On the management side, they must have conducted a preliminary inquiry and asked for his points too.

Here, neither Raman is at fault nor the management. There is a huge communication gap, and there was confusion about the situation. Raman was suddenly asked to resume back-office duty, where his state of mind relaxed, and at the same time, his family members faced a critical situation. This led to him forgetting his basic responsibility towards the company and failing to inform his senior authority.

This situation is a pure example of human behavior and human psychology. The company should conduct counseling sessions to help employees like Raman manage and balance family and company duties effectively. This support can assist such employees in handling their responsibilities in both areas efficiently.

Agree with most of the comments.

(a) SMS is not a formal means of communication.

(b) Raman had every reason to call and inform the superiors. Things would not have been so bad for him even if he arrived late for field duty, as opposed to just sending a sorry message.

(c) Even if Raman was given an opportunity to explain his side of the story, the management would rarely be interested because the damage was already done. Sometimes, a two-year loyalty might seem insignificant when compared to one negative perception the management forms against the employee. In this case, I believe Raman created the conditions for such a perception to arise.

My views only.

My view is that SMS is not a formal means of communication, and management should ensure its availability. He is not an army soldier to obey the order.

Raman sending a sorry message to his superior is his major mistake. He should send the message clearly.

Even if Raman was provided an opportunity to explain his side of the story, the management would seldom be interested because the damage was already done.

At least Raman's section head should understand his problem and support him in a positive way.

In this case:
1. Management made a mistake by using SMS as the official communication method. Before the allotment of work, his availability must be checked by his department head.
2. Raman must briefly explain his position over the phone and reply clearly. However, he failed to do so.
3. There is a lack of leadership and planning in the organization.
4. Clear policy is not available.

Hi all,

SMS is not a desired way of communication in such a scenario. What if the message didn't reach the recipient? How will you verify that, especially when you find out it's already too late to act according to the order? Reactions to such scenarios vary from case to case. As rightly mentioned above, it's a clear-cut case of organizational issues and a communication gap. How appropriate is it to issue orders through SMS? Why didn't the boss call Raman? If a task is assigned on short notice or late at night, the urgency of the work can be felt. The boss should not convey information through SMS in such cases.

These are my views only. Comments are welcomed.

Hi All,

Firstly, the case is not drafted properly as it makes a lot of confusion in understanding the concept and job profile as well.

If we consider the case, as mentioned, the assigned work is temporary and does not require a proper way of communication in person. Oral communication would suffice for it, and it seems to be more about internal adjustments or mutual understanding or help between the HODs. On the other hand, before he was in a field job and shifted to in-house work due to a lack of manpower to complete the job, the other department's HOD might use his experience to complete the job.

As mentioned, he completed his first assignment for another department and came back to his normal duties. Again, the other department head has to seek Raman's HOD's permission to assign the job to him. Alternatively, as soon as he received the SMS about his field job, he could have contacted his HOD or reporting authority about the same.

I do not think that here the communication through SMS of the job would be a problem as he does not have other modes of communication facilities except the usage of a mobile phone. Given the odd timing, job assignment through SMS is acceptable, and the sender might have received the delivery confirmation for his SMS and been under the impression that he had communicated.

The problem lies in the message sent by Raman stating, "SORRY Sir, not for neither attending that work lately nor responding." If we look at the case, if I am not wrong, though he attended late, the same work was assigned to another person based on his SMS.

The issue is with the HOD or senior manager's perception of the message. Raman's intention was to convey a message that he had delayed attending the work due to various reasons (like his personal family matters or traffic, etc.). However, the SMS sounds to the senior person as if Raman did not obey his senior's instruction or denied doing it or might think how he dared to say NO, etc.

I cannot see any damage here as the work was attended to by another person.

Hence,

1) The problem lies with the senior person, who cannot understand the SMS and assumed it in another way despite his association with Raman and his personality.

2) Being a senior person, he should allow Raman to explain about the delay or ask for an explanation on the SMS sent openly before drawing a conclusion.

3) His job involves fieldwork; hence, we should consider his education and communication skills. We cannot expect a more proper way of communication. As per his standards, he is okay, and there is no fault with him.

4) The manager needs to undergo developmental programs as his personality traits like attitude, perception, management skills, team handling, communication, etc., need to be changed. He has taken his power or authority for granted and humiliated others who are of lower rank.

Thanks,

Regards,

Dhananjay

There should be a proper system and process to inform an employee about changes in duties and responsibilities. Just dropping in an SMS will not make any sense. Raman's reporting manager should have given him a call, downloaded the entire scenario, and explained to him the reasons why he had to go to the field for the job. When it comes to job assignments, SMS communication will not suffice. We need to communicate through email or verbally for the same.

It is definitely a fault of his boss who is sending him SMS after office hours. Despite it not being his responsibility, he helps the organization and gets the fuss. What if Raman had given an excuse right at the beginning when he was told to attend the additional responsibilities? Definitely, Raman would not have to face this much stress.

Hi, I totally agree with mbreddy. Both the employee and employer are at fault. One of them should have taken the initiative to clear the situation.

Leadership is a hotly debated topic, and one key characteristic of leaders is "empathy," which I believe is missing or lacking in this organization's leadership.

P.S. One of the key actions in empathy is to listen.

Cheers!!!

Hi,

I think Raman should try to communicate with his boss and tell him the actual scenario. From the boss's perspective, it's wrong if anyone sends the SMS saying "sorry sir" because it means he is denying the order given by him. So, the boss's anger is absolutely normal. Hence, Raman has to communicate with his boss and take him into confidence.

This case study, apart from highlighting the gap in the communication process, brings forth other HR and departmental issues such as:

1. Lack of sensitivity towards our juniors/colleagues, very typical in the Indian work culture. We like taking a situational view and do not look at the employees' past performance.

2. Midnight is no time to communicate the coming day's schedule. Organizations should encourage a healthy work-life balance for their employees.

3. The departmental heads need to be more mature in analyzing the situation before jumping to conclusions and giving a dressing down.

1. Firstly, the orders have been incorrectly passed. Raman's permanent department should have issued orders and not the temporary one. Raman had already been returned to his permanent department. Is this type of loaning services of employees between departments mentioned in the Standing Orders of the company or in the charter of duties of Raman?

2. Secondly, the senior management team should not have directly summoned Raman. Displeasure, if at all, should be conveyed through Raman's immediate boss or the HR/Personnel Department.

3. Thirdly, it was very unprofessional of the senior management to have used unparliamentary language or physical force on an employee rather than calling Raman's reply unprofessional. After all, in today's electronic world, brevity was used by Raman, and the requesting department or organization should have called again to confirm Raman's availability.

4. Fourthly, a WARNING cannot be given to an employee without a proper domestic inquiry and charge sheet because a WARNING is a legal punishment. Above all, the very essence of Natural Justice has been denied to Raman wherein if he moves the Law, it will be extremely difficult for the company to win the case. Compensation can be claimed by the individual.

5. The cases of discipline and punishment need to be treated with care; otherwise, a wrong message is going out, not only affecting Raman's morale but it will also percolate down to other employees.

6. Having read through the posts, there is no end to details, and probably you need a book if you look into the depths of the case.

[QUOTE=phanindrasai;1248576]Dear all

I am sharing a case study with all of you. Request you to give your valuable opinions.


Raman an employee in a company was attending field duty as the other departmental head asked him to on temporary basis. After attending the work for two days he was thanked by the concerned departmental head for his work and said if required in future we will call you again. After updating the matters Raman resumed to his regular duties in his department. Raman has few family responsibilities due to which he was unable to concentrate more on field so his department was changed and was posted in-house in the past. One night suddenly at 11.30 PM he receives a message that he has to attend field duty again next day morning. On the other hand Raman’s family member was not well he was busy in the hospital and left his mobile at home. After returning home at midnight as he was totally tired he slept and got up late in the morning. In the morning when he checked his mobile he was surprised to see that message and thinks that it was already late as the place he should reach is in the outskirts of the city and all the way till he reaches that place there will be heavy traffic. In that confusion and chaos he replies that message typing “Sorry Sir”. The head of the other department assigns that work to some other official.

Later on Raman reaches the office in a confused state while he was worried about the family members health. In the meanwhile weekend arrives and the things will be back to normal at Raman’s house as the family member's health recovers.

On Monday the senior management team calls him bang and bash him left right center for sending an unprofessional message to the superior of other department and warn him from doing so in future. Raman was not given a chance for explaining the things.

Raman a loyal and sincere employee working in that organisation for the past two and half years is disappointed and dejected.[/ raman was not wrong but he has done his duty by informing you that he is unable to come . seniors might have told him the same thing in proper manner that is in positive way then raman would not might get disappointed as much he is. ]

Be polite and professional as well, which will not affect employee mentality negatively.

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In most of the organizations in the private sector, this is a common way of dealing with employees. Under such a situation, he should either look for another job and move on, or as long as he is unable to find one, he has to tolerate such humiliations.

It seems there is a communication gap between Raman and his boss. As a boss, he should know the proper way of communication, and Raman should call the concerned department immediately instead of sending a text message. Raman has been working for the last two years and giving his best efforts to the company, so the HR department should not forget his contribution. The HR department should also try to make Raman feel that he belongs to the workforce and that without his efforts, they are incomplete. Therefore, next time, Raman will think twice before facing a similar situation.

Regards,
Davinder

Sometimes, a text message doesn't even reach on time. If SMS is unprofessional, the management is at fault for using it as an official tool and sending it late at night. "Sorry, sir," is not unprofessional, especially considering what the employee has just gone through. The fact that he replied as soon as he noticed it shows that he is not irresponsible. Managers, having higher authority, should also use discretion in their dealings with staff who are deemed loyal and sincere.