Alan O' Connor

Alan O' Connor

Case Study

Unit 7

1. From the interaction does it seem to you that Alan is actively listening? Why, or

Why not?

It does not seem to me that Alan is actively listening at all. He seems preoccupied with his feelings inadequacy and that is keeping him dealing with feelings being expressed by his subordinates.

2. Describe how Alan's opening comment in the video (his view of his Job) affects his approach to the performance review. Does Alan's view of his job foster a negative or positive work atmosphere with his employees? Explain.

Alan's opening comments demonstrate how he feels about the performance review aspect of his job. He hates it. He feels awkward and inadequate to the task at hand. He needs to give out god, helpful, and productive evaluations of his employee's performance, but has a block against doing so.

3. Identify specific comments by Alan that show he is either effectively listening to his employees, or that he is not.

Alan's statement to Gretchen, "Ah, look, look, I don't wants to lose you, but you've got to work more quickly", shows that he is not listening to the statement that she just made. Gretchen said nothing about feeling worried about losing her job. She was making rather defensive statement concerning quality verse speed.

Another example would be Alan's statement to Andrews, you've missed a lot of days, and you're often late getting in". This statement does not address Andrews'' previous remark about feeling as though he has been doing "pretty good work". Alan needed to address Andrews' perception of the quality of his own work. Alan asked for Andrews' opinion regarding his work, he should have addressed his answer

These two examples show cases where Alan is effectively listening to his employees.

4.Using the effective listening guidelines in the text, make three suggestions that would allow Alan to fulfill his responsibility to provide employees' with critical feedback about performance, and to establish a supportive climate.

Alan does make a statement to Andrews, "Look, I don't want to get into your family issues. Can we just focus on the work for now..." I this case Alan is listening to Andrews", but is not being in the least bit supportive. Alan could try "active listening". The key to active listening is to repeat what is being said, include feelings in the response, and try not to filter what you hear.

When Andrews' talks about his family