The Major Issues Faced by the International Firm about Jaynes Claim - Case Study Example

Assessment BSBADM502B MANAGE MEETINGS ASSESSMENT Case Background Maureen Wilkinson is a Director of Marketing for an international company that operates in the computer business sector. The company’s Manager of Advertising, Robin Masters, controls the $5 million advertising budget. Jayne Nesbitt, the Chief Copywriter, is one of Robin’s staff. Recently, a more than acceptable number of advertisements have gone to press each with apparent mistakes due to Jayne’s neglect of duty, specifically for failure to check the final draft of the copy. After a discussion with Robin, Jayne’s performance held no improvement, which came to a point of a turbulent situation with her claiming she was a victim of discrimination and victimization because she was gay. After that, Robin asked Maureen for a second warning letter to Jayne, but Maureen disagreed; instead she recommended Robin to have counseling discussion with Jayne to fathom what happened to her prior to taking any further action. Introduction Business meetings may be a gathering of a small cluster of individuals to considerable conferences with attendees to teach hundreds or thousands. It is an event consisting of individuals, content, and procedures for a purpose (Chen, 2014, p. 2). This report aims at solving the major issues faced by the international firm about Jayne’s claim of being discriminated as one of the employees of the company. 1. Major Issues The first issue is Jayne’s neglect of duty that resulted in larger than acceptable advertisements with apparent mistakes. Being the Chief Copywriter, it is her responsibility to check the final draft of the copy for advertisements. Her performance showed no improvement after several discussions with her boss, Robin, leading her to receive a warning letter. The second issue is about Jayne’s massive argument with the advertising agencies associated with the company. She became unsociable, and the team faced difficulty in working with her. As Robin tried to solve the issue as her immediate boss, Jayne became so emotional and angry, claiming that she was a victim of discrimination because of her being gay, a thing that Robin did not know about. Robin concluded that Jayne would not be able to work for being emotionally unstable. A second warning letter, suggested by Robin, was not supported by Maureen. Instead, she called for a counseling discussion between Robin and Jayne to understand what happened before taking any further action. 2. Meeting Agenda Date and Time: 03/22/15 Meeting Start Time: 08:00 A.M. Meeting End Time: 12:00 P.M. Aim: The purpose of this meeting is to resolve the issues affecting the operations of the company: (1) Jayne’s unsatisfactory performance, (2) tainted relationship with advertising agencies, and (3) alleged gender discrimination at the workplace. Item Objective Person Responsible Time Slot Review Jayne’s performance as Chief Copywriter To give a performance feedback for Jayne to refresh her of about her duties and responsibilities stipulated in her job description. Robins Masters Jayne Nesbitt 08:00-09:00 Discuss conflicts created involving advertising agencies To generate ideas for ways of apology and peace offering to maintain a harmonious relationship with them. Robins Masters Jayne Nesbitt 09:00-10:00 Analyze Jayne’s claim of gender discrimination To understand Jayne’s reason for the claim of gender discrimination and clarify to her that it was just a result of misunderstanding and miscommunication. Maureen Wilkinson Robins Masters Jayne Nesbitt 10:00-11:00 Decision-making To decide whether or not to deliver a second warning letter to Jayne on the basis of the meeting outcomes. Maureen Wilkinson Robins Masters 11:00-12:00 2.1. Meeting objectives and deliverables This meeting’s objective is to review the employee performance, advertising agencies, and gender discrimination issues, and discuss and finalise the outcomes after the meeting. Listening to Jayne’s side is necessary to understand her situation and to arrive finally at justifiable alternative solutions. Right after the meeting, development manipulation procedures should be adapted. 2.2. Structure and style of the meeting ensuring that it meets meeting objectives The gathering should be a conflict resolution meeting and must be formally conducted. Since the purpose is to analyse available alternatives and select justifiable solutions; thus, a meeting to discuss an agreement is a type of problem-solving (Chen, 2014, p. 18). Initially, the problem should be defined ahead of time for participants to ponder and gather information for solutions. Flip chart may be used or any to facilitate the discussion, and the meeting should be held off-site (Chen, 2014, p. 18). 2.3. Meeting participants Key decision makers (Maureen and Robin) and giver of information (Jayne) should be invited for this type of meeting because it is a problem-solving meeting about the performance of Jayne (Chen, 2014, p. 20). Maureen will act as the Chairperson and Time Keeper while Robin as the Facilitator, and Note Taker, who will be talking directly to Jayne and report about the outcome to Maureen to finalise the decision on the matter. Inviting other participants insignificant to the issue may consume more time and inhibit Jayne to tell the truth. 2.4. Proposed content and sequence meeting Robin should initially discuss Jayne’s poor performance in being a Chief Copywriter for failure to check the final draft of the copy, which resulted in apparent mistakes in the advertisements. Moreover, Robins should relate this to performance gaps, including advertising agencies conflicts and Jayne’s hostile relationship with other personnel. Jayne should speak, and her voice should be heard. By allowing her to talk, Robin can obtain information from her, and he will report to Maureen the meeting outcomes for the latter to arrive at justifiable solutions to the issues. 2.5. Amount of time allocated for each meeting item The meeting should be scheduled for a half day or four to five hours because it is a problem-solving type of meeting that needs performance review and strategic planning (Chen, 2014, p. 27). Therefore, every item of the agenda will be given one hour to provide participants sufficient time to ponder on things and key decision maker to arrive at justifiable solutions. 2.6. Person responsible The persons responsible for the meeting will be Maureen, Robin, and Jayne. Since Jayne’s poor performance is the centric point of the issue, Robin should allow her to share everything that is bothering her, for her performance as a Chief Copywriter for the issue of neglect of duty and advertising agency conflict, and as a person to her co-employees for the issue of gender discrimination. 3. Invitation The notice (shown below) should be printed and be handed to participants 2 weeks before the meeting to ensure they can prepare (Chen, 2014, p. 23). International Computer Firm Address of International Computer Firm March 02, 2015 Dear Jayne, This letter is written to inform you about a meeting, which will be held on March 22, 2015 starting at 08:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. at my office. The Director of Marketing, Maureen Wilkinson, informed me to conduct a discussion between you and me about your performance issues. You may bring any relevant documents or information that may be significant for your appraisal. The agenda has been sent to you via email. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, I am looking forward to see you. Sincerely yours, Robin Masters 4. Confirmation Confirming the meeting date, time, and venue with participants should be done if Robin has already discussed with Maureen and Jayne to know their availability, as well as the if availability of the venue and facilities, is already checked before making a decision (Chen, 2014, p. 26). This would take at least five days. International Computer Firm Address of International Computer Firm March 7, 2015 Dear Jayne, This letter is written to confirm that the problem-solving meeting will be held on March 22, 2015. If you have any other concerns that you need to explain before the meeting, please contact me at 4216 2563, or you may come to my office. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, I am looking forward to see you. Sincerely yours, Robin Masters 5. Conclusion The problem-solving meeting will be very useful for Jayne to improve her job performance as well as her relationship with her colleagues. Other than this, the meeting will also provide clarity on the issue of gender discrimination in the workplace. Nevertheless, the meeting is just an initial step in managing change. Maureen should consider further action steps and decisions to deplete the problem, and two of the alternative solutions may be to deliver a second warning letter to Jayne, or terminate her from her job. Reference Chen, Y. (2014). Manage meetings (1st ed.). Queensland, Australia: Harvest Educational Technical College (HETC). ASSESSMENT 2 1. The recorder/minute taker is responsible for the administrative work, as well as recording the time, date, location, participants, and the content and conclusions of the meeting. To ensure that the meeting notes taken are true and accurate once the meeting is concluded, a recorder/minute taker should summarise the conclusions. Also, in a formal public meeting, the recorder/minute taker is responsible for making meeting notes that are accurate and completely reflect the content of the meeting for these shall be disclosed to all stakeholders (Chen, 2014, p. 21). 2. Agenda, a list of meeting activities in a sequence by which they are to be executed, initially with the call to order and eventually with adjournment, should be generated before the meeting starts (Chen, 2014, p. 7). Having it as an antecedent to the meeting helps (1) determine whether the meeting has a coherent purpose, (2) direct the discussion, and (3) achieve the desired goals so that (4) no time will be wasted (Chen, 2014, p. 8). Therefore, once one of the participants of the meeting began talking about things that are not related to the purpose of the meeting, the Chairperson should direct the discussion back to the agenda again politely and tactfully, and take note of the topic addressed by the participant for the future meeting agenda (Chen, 2014, p. 49). 3. Relevant Legislations How does it influence Public Meetings? Ethical principles Ethical principles help sustain a moral path in chaotic times or when participants have conflicts, cultivate strong teamwork and productivity, support employee development and meaning, and manage values related to quality management, strategic planning and diversity management (Chen, 2014, pp. 37-38). Anti-discrimination legislations Anti-discrimination legislations help maintain the harmonious relationship among participants, which can assist building of strong camaraderie. OHS legislations Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) legislations help protect the welfare of the participants of the meeting by making the venue safety (Chen, 2014, p. 35). 4. The first method is to ask each participant about what they hope to gain from the meeting. Moreover, if they will continue to meet, a leader should consider making ground rules. During subsequent meetings, doing icebreakers or short team-building activities can help members understand each other. Another method is to allow every participant to talk by giving each of them two-three (2-3) minutes to speak. A safe, respectful environment should be maintained to encourage everyone to share their thoughts, ideas, and opinions (Chen, 2014, p. 47). 5. Storing meeting notes is traditionally done by filing them according to dates and topics/purposes. Today, minutes are electronically saved and stored for easy access. Distributing meeting notes should be done along with the notice of the next meeting or before the beginning of the next meeting. It is normal to dispatch minutes of the meeting two (2) weeks before the start of the next meeting (Chen, 2014, pp. 65-66). 6. In every meeting, leaders should broadcast a desired outcome or a set of outcomes prior to the commencement of the meeting (Chen, 2014, p. 69). Informing relevant stakeholders (i.e. participants) about the meeting outcomes should be done within 2-3 weeks (Chen, 2014, p. 72). 7. Participants should be notified by sending notices two weeks before the actual meeting to give them more time to prepare. Notices should be in printed letter format or email with the following contents (see draft below), and a copy of this notice should be emailed to the manager (Chen, 2014, p. 23). Company LOGO and Name, Australia Company Number (ACN) Company Address RE: NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Annual General Meeting of will be held at , on , , at . Objective and Structure of the Meeting: 1. Presentation of reports – DETAILS 2. Questions and comments – DETAILS 3. Election of Directors – DETAILS Name Company Secretary Contact Number 8. Confirming the meeting date, time, and venue with participants should be done once the leader has already discussed with the chairperson and major participants to know when they are available, as well as the if availability of the venue and facilities is already checked before making a decision (Chen, 2014, p. 26). 9. Meeting agendas should be dispatched to participants by post or courier, email, internal mail system in the company, hand-delivered, or pinned on notice boards at least 2-3 weeks, or even up to 2-6 weeks, before the meeting (Chen, 2014, p. 31). Either of these methods, dispatching the meeting agendas to the participants should be at least 2-3 weeks. 10. A formal meeting is a preplanned meeting that has predetermined the set of topics that is wished to be discussed, along with a set of objectives that is wished to be achieved at the end of the meeting. Conversely, an informal meeting is a meeting that is not planned well in advance, making use of informal means in notifying members (Chen, 2014, p. 22). While formal meeting use formal methods of sending invitations, either in printed form or virtual format via email, and including a contact method, informal meetings use notices as memorandum letters, email, or letter to interested parties, or just pinning them on the staff notice board (Chen, 2014, p. 23). Reference Chen, Y. (2014). Manage meetings (1st ed.). Queensland, Australia: Harvest Educational Technical College (HETC). Read More