(Kody farmer) As an ineffective leader, Brittney has a long way to go before she can excel in her job. With the growing demand of stores that produce and distribute automotive parts, such as her store, is on the rise, and competition growing, the need for management performance is key. If she cannot get her staff excited and effective on their positions, not only will she fail as a leader, but the store will fail. She has more than her position on the line. If the store fails to such a degree that the store could ultimately close, ruining her career and the careers of the people underneath her that have worked hard for the positions that they are in. In dealing with Sid, she is completely unprofessional, and flat out rude, with Katie, she is impartial in assuming that she is trying to get something done that benefits someone in her family with the new software, and with Jeff, she is disrespectful when he attempts to take his leave in a fashion that helps the company. Not only is she disrespectful with those under her command, but she is also rude to Dereck, the CEO of the company that she works for.

           The first thing that Brittney needs to do in the circumstance of Sid is to have compassion. Sid is becoming either a first-time parent or adding another member of his family. This is a large life event that should take president over the company needing a staff member for two weeks. Becoming a parent is one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, things that a person can accomplish. Brittney asked Sid if there was a mother-in-law that could help for the two weeks that Sid was requesting off. Without knowing Sid’s personal relationships with anyone else in his family, this is an insensitive and intrusive question that is, frankly, none of her business. It is also not the responsibility of the mother-in-law to take care of her grandchild. That responsibility falls to Sid and the mother of the child. Then comes the statement she made asking if Sid was “Too poor to hire a nanny for two weeks.” Brittney has no idea on Sid’s finances, what the money that he does make is going towards, and it also makes the company look bad. If Sid does not have the money to hire a nanny, he might realize that he can make more money elsewhere and leave her company all together. This is all irrelevant, because according to the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, parents are allocated 12 weeks of leave, and if Sid was vindictive, he could take the 12 weeks and leave Brittney in a much worse position than if she tried to work with him and get him the vacation of only two weeks, which is all that Sid was asking for. Sid was not the only employee to have issues with Brittney.

           Next on the list was Katie. Katie turned in a detailed report of software that could save the company thousands of dollars in the long run. Brittney assumed that Katie was doing this because she had a relative that worked for the new company, but that thought was irrelevant. Many money saving techniques have come from people with relatives that work in other fields. If I was a manager, and one of my employees gave me a report on how to save company thousands of dollars, regardless of where the idea came from (assuming the idea was not immoral or illegal) I would immediately report this to the appropriate leadership to see what they thought of the idea. Brittney also did not think of the notion that if she was to save the company money might shell out a bonus to Katie and possibly even to her. Brittney was so caught up with the fact that Katie might be doing something in order to get some money for her relative that she shut down the opportunity for a bonus for herself.

           The final example of the employees being treated poorly was with Jeff who was one of the stores senior employees. He had suggested taking five 2-day vacation time, instead of two 5-day vacations the following year in order to break up the vacation time, thus making it easier for Brittney to schedule employees around his time off, instead of having to find someone to cover all 10 business days. Brittney met this request with hostility and was very disrespectful. She called Jeff an “Old-timer” and said that he, “Needed more long weekends than the rest of [them].” Not only was this agism, but it also insinuated that Jeff was less effective at his job because of his age. Most of the time, this is the exact opposite. The employees that are at companies longer know more of the “in’s and out’s” of the company than the newer employees and their insight should be treasured.

           Employees were not the only people with whom Brittney needs to respect. When the CEO, Dereck, spoke with her, she passed the blame of her shortcomings on “putting out fires” and insinuated that he should have “one of the overpaid marketing employees” draw a plan for her to sign off on. This would lead Dereck to think that Brittney thinks that she could run the company better than him because she believes that the marketing employees are overpaid and the “fires” that she must put out were somehow not her responsibility. The very definition of vicarious responsibility shows that these “fires” are the responsibility of the supervisor. If the disrespect of the CEO continues, Brittney could find herself out of a job.

           The two things that Brittney needs to work on is her respect and humility. She must understand that it is the employees that can make her position very easy but can also make it very difficult. If she works with them, they are going to put in more effort, they will make her job much easier and, in turn, make her look better to her supervisors. As with the CEO, Brittney needs to learn her role in the company. Dereck is in the position that he is for a reason, and he (more than likely) knows more about the company than Brittney. With respect and humility, Brittney can change her effectiveness and the effectiveness of the company. This can either earn her a promotion, or get her fired. The choice lies with her alone.   

Respond to this persons discussion