JUDGEMENTAL ATTITUDE: BANE OF COMMUNICATION

Summary
The case study describes how unclear communication and judgmental attitude lead to the
collapse of employee-manager relationship and faith of an employee in the firm, he has so
ardently been proud of. The case also describes how impatient decisions and aggressive
communication style can demotivate someone. It also projects how important is the role of a
manager in the performance of the entire team.

Introduction
Harsh Gupta was a B.Tech graduate from a premier college in N Delhi. He had an excellent
academic record, but more inclined towards management than his technical courses. He was
creative, with a knack for entrepreneurship. He has been working as an Analyst with Sole
Solutions Ltd. since he graduated from his college and had been a great asset to the organization.
Although he had been doing well, he wanted to explore new horizons and was thinking of
switching to another company.

Satyam Tiwari, the lead manager in the Operations process design division of the company, has
been working with Sole Solutions Ltd. since the last five years. He had an expertise in the
process design and operations management and had worked with three giant firms so far, with an
overall 9 years of corporate work experience.
Satyam has recently been made the lead of this team. He totally relied on Harsh for all the
process and strategy since he has been with the team for more than a year. Satyam found Harsh
reliable and hard-working, although he never wholeheartedly expressed his appreciations.

The Problem
One Monday morning a team discussion was called by Satyam for the launch of a new project
that was given to Operations Process Design team for the solution. Satyam, after giving a brief
introduction on the new project, told the entire team what is expected out of this project and how
is it important for both the organization and also for the teams reputation, as things were not
going very smooth for this team after the recent re-structuring.
This project given to the team was not of very high priority but to Satyam, who was trying to
proof his capabilities and importance in the eyes of senior management, it was quite important. It
was his top priority.
Satyam then asked Harsh to take up the job on top priority, as he had a good understanding of the
problem to be solved here. For Harsh it was not a good time to get involved into any other
project, not for at least a week, as he had got some personal mess to be cleared along with the
other projects pending with him. And then the discussion between Satyam and Harsh proceeds as
follows:
Satyam: Harsh, can you please take this up on top priority?
Harsh: Satyam, I have got too much on my plate for now. It won't be possible for me to get into
any project for at least a week or two.
Satyam: See, this project is very important as I have explained. You will have to be multi-tasking
and stretch a bit.
Harsh: One of my projects is actually at a very crucial stage and I shall need a weeks time to
complete it. I would start this new project as soon as I am done with other works.
Satyam: See Harsh, here, we do parallel work not sequential. So please dont give me any such
excuses.
The discussion, then, came to an end when Harsh unwillingly agreed to take up the project. But
he took the conversation very hard on himself.
Impact
After the heated conversation between Satyam and Harsh, Harsh grew very impatient and gave
serious thoughts on his future in this organization. He has taken aback by Satyams words and
pondered over all the sleepless nights and hard work he had done for this organization so far. He,
then, finally decided to move on and resign from his position.
It was a serious blow to the team but, on the other hand, Satyam also took it on his ego and
didnt bother to talk to Harsh to resolve the issue, if possible. Without Harsh, the team comprised
of only new recruits who had limited knowledge of the work and the processes. Also with the
number of projects lined up, there was resource crunch in the team, and it would take at least a
month or two to get new resources and recruits. This incident, undoubtedly, slowed down the
pace of the projects in Operation Process team and also, affected organization adversely.