Management Mini Saga: More Than Paper Reproduction in the Photocopy Room!
August 19, 2008 by David Zinger
Filed under Business
Stuck in a Photocopy Jam
by David Zinger
What will you do? Read the following 50 word case study involving sex in the office and determine what you would do if you were the manager in this situation.
Rajeesh Setty advocated writing 50-word mini sagas. I believe mini sagas offer an effective and fast format for case vignette discussions. I look forward to your comments about this case method or your specific comment on the case below.
Read the mini saga below, imagine you are Alex, and in the comment section offer what you would do in this situation.
Alex, manages 16 people. He worked late Thursday night to complete a project. He walked across the office to turn off the light in the photocopy room when he witnessed his boss engaged in sex with one of Alex’s direct reports. They didn’t see him and Alex quickly left the building.
Please comment: If you were Alex what would you say or do in the next few days?
Dear me! Quite a predicament, to be sure. Well, I might begin by urging the janitorial crew to take extra care in sanitising the photocopy room. And then, since I’m a rather ambitious bloke and a ruthless businessman, I would make plans to take the randy geezer’s desk. The personnel department can be a very powerful tool for one’s upward mobility, if you know how to use it.
My mini saga response:
Report the matter to HR, which should have procedures for dealing with this situation. Confidentiality within the HR office should protect Alex. If both parties involved deny the tryst, it could be more troublesome, but not reporting could affect Alex’s relationship with his boss and his direct report later on.
I like the idea about the janitorial staff. And it sure is a dilemma. Thanks for the comments.
I’d install a videocamera in the photocopy room and prepare for a showing at the next staff meeting.
I would have taken a photo with my cell phone, printed the photo with the date and time on it and left it in the HR office. Protect ALEX! ROFL. (If nothing happened to the manager I would look for another job.
HNagel,
You might get a mini series out of this!
David
Corinne
So many pictures available, this gives a whole new meaning to the ghostbusters line: who ya going to call?
David
I appreciate all the comments on the 50 word case study and I look forward to more in the future.
Many companies have no policies prohibiting office romance. I would forget I ever saw the incident. If I had a close relationship with either party, I would speak to him/her “off the record” and advise them to take their tryst out of the office for the sake of their careers and reputations.
I wonder if you would consider that an adequate response if the woman involved was your daughter?
Corinne:
Is the boss the daughter or the direct report the daughter? Was there even a daughter here as it could have been two males or two females. Just giving some different options.
David
It is a question of ethics. The ethical responsbility of a professional person in terms of the Roman Law is “the care of a father for his own son”. I was just trying to apply this basic principle to the problem and wondered what reaction there would be.
David
Please can you help. What should Alex do?
1. Alasdair – use the personnel Dept to land himself the Manager’s job or
2. Patty – report to HR
3.HNagel – Video and expose
4.Corinne – Anonymous photo
5.Elizabeth – Hey thats OK – if I’m friends I might mention “not done old chap” (I thought this was an American sight)
6.None of the above. I have the effective management solution which is………….
Corinne:
I wish there was an answer key that we could all apply to this case vignette. I think I would need to think and ponder my relationship and the consequences of this. Because I teach crucial conversation I would consider what I want for myself and the other two people involved. I would want to approach any conversation with both mutual purpose and mutual respect and I would want to hold a conversation about this with both of them…letting them know what I saw and what my conclusions or inferences were and asking them questions to better understand what was going on and what they were thinking of doing.
By the way, this is not the RIGHT answer but my initial response.
David
David
Thank you
To me it’s simple – people do whatever they want, whenever they want and I think it’s not HRs business who does what with whom, unless there is something more than just passion.
Professionals can have fun too :-)
However, if I saw that person get promoted because of that and I thought it was unjust, I would have a talk with them first (to see if they can solve it) and with HR dept. later (if not).
It was my assumption that this exchange was between two consenting adults. Poor choice of venue, but hardly a crime. Women who choose to engage in sexual relations do not require “protection” any more than a man would. And the vignette never gave the gender of the boss’s partner – have you considered that it could be a man?
I have a daughter and she’s quite capable of making her own decisions. And for the record, I am an HR professional. I’ve seen it all (or most of it) by now.. this is hardly the most egregious of offenses.
When is the next Mini Saga
Maybe Alex works for a company in the Adult film Industry and his co-workers were engaged in a training session…
All of you people need more work to do….
Blogging, blogging, blogging – I like bolgging and I’ll blog if I want to. I actually do not have access to a computer at work!!! The times are different because I live in Africa. Next Mini Saga please (plus solution at the end).
Wow,
I will work on the Saga this weekend.
I hope to have another one up next week.
I appreciate Loch’s twist, Corinne multiple inputs, Elizabeth’s careful thoughts, and Dave’s paradoxical comment of commenting about people commenting.
Thanks to all.
David