The main problem faced by the casual wear department led by Jane Kravitz is a mutual misunderstanding between her and Lyndon Brooks, the manager responsible for the African American and Hispanic segment. According to Brooks, he received strategic tasks that do not match his skills and abilities. In addition, he considers it necessary to complete his previous project to create special promotions, in which he sees the benefits and advantages for the company, as well as his own success. Another problem is the fact that the development of new casual clothes for African Americans and Hispanics has a fixed time limit, the violation of which will cause trouble for both Lyndon Brooks and Jane Kravitz. Nevertheless, they cannot come to a mutual agreement, despite the compromises offered by Kravitz. In particular, she proposed to Brooks to combine both projects
...and provided her assistance in solving problems regarding the new product line. In turn, he tries to gain time and take a week-long vacation in order to combine it with his personal affairs and, at the same time, with the gradual realization of the tasks assigned to him. In turn, this option does not suit Kravitz because of the extremely tight deadlines of the project.
Solution
Given the company’s priorities, the most appropriate alternative is to focus Brooks on the new tasks and provide him with maximum support and assistance to achieve these goals. Despite the likely risks that will accompany this option (in particular, the risk of failure to meet the deadlines for performing tasks, poor quality of work, deterioration of relationships in the team), the promising project should be implemented.
There is a danger that the continuation
of pressure on Brooks will lead to the situation that he will not be able to carry out both projects and will fail his department and its head. It is also possible to assume that the company violates its principles, which imply an individual attitude to each team member and a demonstration of the value of employees. Brooks feels discontent that his own initiatives and undertakings remain incomplete, because of which he loses a sense of confidence in himself and his abilities. However, reducing the risk of the proposed alternative solution to the problem is possible if focusing on the strategies of motivation for Brooks. First of all, Kravitz should give a high assessment to his professionalism and help him to understand the tasks and how to solve them. Secondly, Brooks must be confident that his environmental project will be completed and implemented after the end of the current project.
Analysis
According to the information available, it is possible to conclude that both solutions to the problem are not optimal. Allowing Brooks to continue his own project will lead to an outflow of the company’s resources from the strategically important task - the development of a new line of casual clothing. The organization’s efforts should focus on the timely implementation of the project. On the other hand, the behavior and performance of Brooks show that he is not motivated to perform the new task set for him, has no goals and doubts his own effectiveness. For this reason, the solutions to the problem may be the following: to remove him from the new project and allow him to deal with his own developments; or, force him to
focus on the new task. It is also possible to propose an alternative, in particular, to focus Brooks on the new assignment by explaining this decision by his value as an employee and promise him to pay considerable attention to his own developments after the project implementation.
