Staff with Colleagues

Integrity and Professional Behaviour

Case Background

A junior member of staff has just returned to work after taking special leave to
care for her elderly mother. For financial reasons she needs to work full-time. She has
been having difficulties with her mother’s home care arrangements, causing her to miss
a number of team meetings (which usually take place at the beginning of each day) and
to leave work early. She is very competent in her work but her absences are putting
pressure on her and her overworked colleagues. You are her manager, and you are
aware that the flow of work through the practice is coming under pressure. One of her
male colleagues is beginning to make comments such as “a woman’s place is in the
home”, and is undermining her at every opportunity, putting her under even greater
stress.

Question:

How should you proceed so as not to discredit yourself, your profession  or the practice
for which you work and at the same time maintaining integrity and confidentiality in your
actions?

Answer and Conclusion

The situation before the manager present the conflict between professional
duties of completing the task efficiently on time and having empathetic attitude towards
the genuine personal problems of the team member. The junior staff member should be
told to give her best efforts towards the assigned work responsibilities. The meetings
should be scheduled at an appropriate hour so that all the team members can attend it.
She should be asked to take some work home with her (if possible) and make up for the
lost office hours during her spare time at home. She should also be counselled to
relieve her stress and get her motivated to sail through the tough times. The manager
should also let her know that since she is being given some relaxations it is her
responsibility to prove it before other team members that she is performing her tasks
well so that the integrity of manager will not be compromised. As far as the male
colleague is concerned he should be made aware that such behavior towards fellow
women employees will not be tolerated and if such incidences are repeated then strict
disciplinary actions would be taken against him.
Moreover, since her problems are legitimate and there is no question on her
capability and commitment towards work, and her problems are temporary as it’s just a
matter of time, management should be flexible in accommodating her. As far as missing
team meeting is concerned, they can be shifted in noon or at other such time which is
convenient to every member of the team. If this is not feasible, one of her colleagues
can fill her in about the proceeds of the meeting or she can be temporarily replaced with
someone from other dept. Also, she must be counselled regarding her situation and
should be told that these concessions are temporary and she should complete job
assigned to her within prescribed time limit and any laxity will be reflected in her
quarterly evaluation Also, her colleagues must be taken into confidence about her
problems so that any future indignation and voices of impartiality is addressed and it
should be ensured that the current arrangement is to everybody’s satisfaction. The
colleague who has been making indecent demands should be made aware of her
predicament and be reprimanded for his sexist remarks and should be given formal
warning to mend his ways or face disciplinary committee.
Staff with Colleagues

Annie and her VP’s attention

Case Background

Annie has been recently hired full time at a major tech company where she
interned for two summers during her college career. Annie loves her job and has
established many strong relationships with her co-workers over the time she has
worked there. The company encourages the interns and new hires to interact with VPs
and upper management in order to create an open and friendly atmosphere.

During her time as an intern, Annie began to notice that one of the VPs paid her
extra attention. When he was around he would always make an extra effort to stop by
Annie’s cubicle and chat: something he did not do with any of the other interns. He
reached out to her over social networking sites and even invited her to a gathering at his
house. Some of her co-workers began to make offhand comments to Annie about the
extra attention.

Now that she was in a full time position, Annie began to dread that she would
soon have to work with this VP directly. While he has not done or said anything explicitly
inappropriate, the extra attention and the fact that her co-workers noticed it, made her
very uncomfortable and undermined her concentration on work. When she was hired,
she was told that she should always speak to her manager if she was uncomfortable or
had issues with the work environment. While at the same time, she is afraid to come
across like a tattletale since the VP hasn’t explicitly done anything wrong.

What course of action should Annie take?

Answer and Conclusion

While the VP is not explicitly wrong, his behaviour is leading to deterioration of

working environment. To create a vibrant work culture, organisational values are
transferred through socialisation process. But, if undue attention is given to someone it
will create a perception of unfairness in others. It can also lead to the individual trying to
take advantage of the VP for her personal interests. However, offhand comments by co-
workers is also wrong, as it is not aimed at solving the problem, rather is a manifestation
of their insecurities. Since her personal relations with the VP are good, Annie must first
convey him about her apprehensions. She should show the situation from her
perspective and ask him whether his actions would indeed cause trouble to her or not.
They can continue their personal interactions outside the organisation but not during the
work. Next, if her colleagues pass any comment or give wrong cues, she should explain
them that she does not get any unfair advantage from the VP, and their relation outside
the office is of no concern to them. She should also warn them of complaining to the
manager. If the behaviour of colleagues still continues, or the VP's behaviour annoys
her, she should go to her manager and explain him the situation. She should stress at
resolving the issue amicably so that there is no problem in the future and working
environment also remains good.