Promotion To Mrs Wilson example essay topic

Problem solving is a capability required not only of managers but also of everyone. Problems are part of our day to day lives and it is essential for everyone to know the way to solve them. We must be able to identify the problem, analyze complex situations, and by solving the problems encountered, exploit the opportunities presented. We must scan the environment and identify, through a rational process, those factors that stand in the way of opportunities (Jonas et al, 1990). In short, irrespective of the size of a problem, the way of solving it remains uniform. Mere problem identification and analysis are not enough to arrive at a solution.

We also need the will to implement the solutions we come up with; we must recognize the emotions, needs and motivations of the people involved in initiating the required change as well as of those who resist change. In this paper, I would be discussing on the kind of problem solving experience I underwent during my probation at XYZ Inc. The issue was a workplace harassment done by my superior officer, Mrs. Cathy Wilson. I joined the organization as a Finance trainee and Mrs. Wilson was the Head of the Department. Initially, Mrs. Wilson was friendly enough. Later, during the performance appraisal our Managing Director appreciated my work and consequently I was awarded a promotion in the next year.

Since Mrs. Wilson had gone on her maternity leave, she came to know of this progress only on return. Unfortunately, the Management did not give any promotion to Mrs. Wilson that year. Soon after her return, Mrs. Wilson started behaving harsh with me. She used to shout at the very sight of me for trivial reasons like a paper that had not been put in the file or a mail that might have reached her delayed due to network congestion. She started ignoring me at work, and would find fault at whatever I did. Initially, I was shocked at her behavior.

I became troubled and couldn't concentrate on my work. Later, I gave a deep thought about the sudden change in her behavior. As far as I could analyze, such workplace harassment's are a kind of bullying at work. The cause of bullying at workplace could be attributed to a wide range of factors including variations and conflict in the goals between one individual employee and another individual employee; variations in degrees of success and / or failure between - (a) one employee and other employee, (b) one employee and group of employees; variations and conflict in goals between - two sections of a group and between two groups; individual vs. organizational goals; group / departmental goals vs. organizational goals (Coco, 1997). Among these, I could identify the cause of Mrs. Wilson's behavior to be the variation in degrees of success between me and her. She didn't like my promotion.

More than that, she was unable to digest the fact that her subordinate got promoted whereas she wasn't. The first step in any problem solving would be to identify the problem. Since I was able to identify the problem and the cause of it, my next step was to analyze the complexity of the situation. The complexity of the situation is that Mrs. Wilson is my boss and her every action would reflect on my work. It may not be easy for me to get down to a face-to-face talk and settle the issue. I found out the solution for the situation to be an open talk with our HR Manager.

I felt Human Resource department would alone be the right choice to counsel Mrs. Wilson about her failure and set things right between us. That way I wouldn't be hurting the emotions of Mrs. Wilson too. That evening I walked into the cabin of our HR Manager. I told him the changes that had happened in our relationship post my promotion and Mrs. Wilson's reactions to it. Our HR Manager assured me that he would counsel Mrs. Wilson in strict confidence so that things get better..