Communication concepts and applications

¶ … communication problems?

Many communications are present in this scenario. For example, Cathy is focused in on her work, but Joe is not. In fact, he is focused in on everything outside of the work setting, such as baseball and the weather. Furthermore, Cathy was not listening to anything Joe was telling her about the baseball game. When Cathy mentions to him that a report needs done as soon as possible, Joe becomes angry because he claims that no one told him. Not only that, but he also has to email her the necessary information for the report by the end of the day. Neither of these two individuals are focused in on the work enough to communicate so that everything is done in a timely manner. 2. What should Cathy do?

Cathy should do the following in order to take care of the situation. She either needs to delegate what tasks need done or demote Joe into a different position, so that he stays more focused on his work, instead of talking about irrelevant concepts that have nothing to do with work at all. These are her only options because of the fact that Joe is not doing his job properly, and he is making excuses to get out of it. Furthermore, Cathy has also stressed to him what needed done and he failed to do what is asked of him. 3. What do you think Joe will do?

As Joe stated, he will probably do a couple of paragraphs by winging it, instead of fully taking the time to complete the report, according to what Cathy told him to do. He would rather be at the baseball game, instead of at work. When Cathy tells him what do, he makes the excuse that he is not a typist, which is a poor attitude to have at work, and he should have kept this comment to himself; therefore, I really believe that he is still going to get the report done but it is not going to get done properly.

4. How could Cathy and Joe have handled this situation better?

Cathy and Joe could have handled the situation much better. In fact, they could have communicated about issues about work and the upcoming baseball game. If Joe failed to comply, then Cathy could have reprimanded him, instead of shrugging him while doing her own work. She also could have chosen to write him up or immediately terminate him of failing to do his job properly. Furthermore, Joe should have went directly to work, instead of talking to Cathy about not knowing what was due and when. This would have prevented any kind of anger that would have arose during the conversation along with the possibility of having the excuses and complaints minimized. Eventually, Joe is on task and Cathy is not ignoring her co-worker while trying to do work of her own.

5. What could have been done to prevent the communication problem between Cathy and Joe?