Delivering Bad News

You have to be the one who delivers the bad news on the following situation.

“You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services.  You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service.  One of your employees, who have been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers.  In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment.  You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.”

I would at first do some homework. I would make sure that I had all the documents regarding the complaints whether it was from customers or co-workers. I would then look at if there is a pattern. I would look at if the employee has always performed this way or was there a point in time when it started to go downhill. I would make sure I had all my details together before I met with the employee.

I would expect the employee to be angry at the information that I am about to give him. He has displayed this before and I would expect him to show that again. I would need to be prepared for that in my approach.

I would call this employee into a private meeting. Talking to someone about a sensitive situation like this in front of other co-workers will never end up in a positive result. I would then ask him how things are going and if there is anything about the job that he would like to discuss with me. There may be some under lying issues that I don’t know about and can help to resolve. I would then be up front and honest with the employee. I don’t believe you get anywhere by beating around the bush or sugar coating things. I would start out by going over what I expect from him as an employee and the standards that he is held up to. I would then let him know that I have gotten several complaints not only from the customers that we service but also from co-workers about his work performance. I would show him the documentation and anything else that I found may support the decline in customer service.

I would expect for him to get angry and my approach to this would be to use S-TLC. The stop, think, listen and communicate approach. Sometimes people just need to get things out and if you just listen to everything they have to say, you tend to learn about what’s going on with that employee. I would hope that my approach to sitting back and listening would able him to get out his words and then I can take that information and help him to be a better employee so that he doesn’t lose his job. I don’t want anyone to lose their job and sometimes there is more going on with the employee that is causing them to perform poorly.

There’s never an easy way to approach a situation where someone could lose their job. I would just try and do the best I have with the information that I have. My ultimate goal is to be able to help the employee resolve this issue and fix it so that they can remain with the company and become a model employee.

Media Technology

Radio:

The idea of the radio began in 1893. In the beginning it was not able to transmit voice and was mainly used for Morse code for ships that were out at sea. The radio has developed over the years and has had many uses. The British Broadcasting Company or BBC which is Europe’s most popular radio station began in 1922. It would broadcast all variety of music. When a newspaper strike occurred in 1926 it was up to the BBC to get the information out to the public.  This used to be how we found out what was going on in the world, before television. Families would listen to important broadcasts over the radio. Now we mostly use it for music or to listen to a sports game if we are not able to watch television. I didn't think people listen to sports over the radio anymore because almost all of us have a television set these days but I was working in my yard and the pizza delivery guy kept going up and down the street, must have been the night to order pizza in my neighborhood and I could hear his car radio with some sort of game being aired. I remember as a kid sitting next to the radio with my Nana, that was the size of a television and listening to someone talk over it.  The picture below is a radio station that you would see in the 1900’s that had to have a person at it 24 hours a day. Seven days a week.

Television:

It’s very interesting to find out the actual facts about television. It’s been around all my life and it was a 21 year old in 1927 who started to bring the idea of a television set into the world. It’s my personal favorite. I know they say it's bad to watch too much television but for me its relaxing. I work a very stressful job and I love to watch television and not have to think about anything. Television used to be something only a few people had in their homes. I remember growing up we had one but it wasn't used very often. As young children we were always outside playing and would only watch television after we had our bath and PJ's on and were settling down for the night. Television today has all kinds of shows on. You can watch any news channel or reality show. There are also educational shows which are sometimes very interesting depending on the topic.

Paper:

Books have been around for thousands of years. It wasn't as easy that long ago to put a book together like the ones we see today. Books didn't always appear on paper, the idea of writing started out on clay rocks. I love to read and I know you can get any book you want on an electronic device but I like the feel of paper, turning the pages in a book. Maybe it's because that's what I have always known. Paper can be books, magazine, encyclopedias, and a novel. This can be for people young and old. I like to go to the library and my children enjoy it too. They get to look through thousands of books and take them home for a couple of weeks. Reading is enjoyed by many people today just as it was years ago. I don't think this has changed only how you read, an actual book or on a Kindle, IPad, etc. 

Cell Phones:

On April 3, 1973 the first mobile phone call was made. Cell phones have been in the works for many years before this phone call happened. I’ve owned cell phones for years and the coverage and quality has improved so much. Now we can get telephone calls on the go. We don't have to be home anymore. Although from a 911 Dispatcher's point of view I wish that more people had house phones, it makes my job a lot easier. All of the things I have listed above you can do on your cell phone. It’s very convenient for people seeing that we are always on the go. I can easily get directions right on my cell phone instead of taking out a map. Technology has made it so we can get any information we want, anytime, anywhere. It seems that everyone has a cell phone, even my parents have them but they also still have a house phone.