Case Study

After reading this case, there were five major important are of conflicts to deal with. The first communication issue in the case was the University policy was violated. Part of the policy was that classes must be taken outside of work hours, exceptions are considered if fewer than six credit hours, and it must be approved by president of the University of VP of Business and Finance. Laura went to her immediate supervisor instead of the people noted in the policy that she was supposed to report to. It was also Dean Frederick's fault for not stepping up and carrying out with the proper guidelines when approving the request. In communication management, when setting up a guideline of rules to follow, those procedures should be followed properly and it should be applied to everyone; otherwise when other people don't get that same special treatment when they want, it can cause tension among employees and upper management.

The administrative response to the policy violation was carried out in accordance to the rules; Laura was found in violation and was disciplined via company guidelines. This part of the communication issue was handled well, even though there was a little screw up, the University made it clear to everyone that these types of actions will not be tolerated. As, we learned in the communication this semester, a strong set of rules and company rules carried out is essential when communicating in a positive workplace environment.

The next big communication issue is the potential discrimination lawsuit. This goes back to the part in our book when treating employees unfairly can cause big problems in the workplace. The minority employees were being allowed to take classes during normal work hours, which was unfair to Laura. Situations like this can cause a company to lose a highly valued employee.

In this big case of communication, I thought that Southmont State had a fair policy for supporting the continuing education of University employees but the communication between lower management and the employees need to be clear that they are to be followed and no one gets special treatment. Policy guidelines should also be revised to make it easier for students who need to attend classes during normal work hours, if they are needed to graduate; I think this will help run a more comfortable workplace to everyone and ease tension between workers. Dean Fredrick did not communicate well in this situation either, I feel that most of this was his fault especially for the position that he holds. Dean should have told Laura Adams to submit a request to the university administrator for their approval following guidelines.

To: AlexFarrell@Southmont.Edu

From: DeanFrederick@Southmont.Edu

Subject: Follow-up on Laura Adams Situation

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