One example was during the time I worked part-time after A’levels. I worked as a receptionist, and it was a telemarketing company so I had to send a report on everyone’s phone call durations to the managers every morning. Once, there was this sales manager, Ms. Q, who was away for a week and the assistant manager took over during her absence. The assistant manager made changes to the sitting arrangement and hence there were changes to the report of her department. When she came back, without checking with her assistant manager or me, she emailed and carbon copied to all the managers (including the directing manager) of the “mistake” I’ve made. The email was in a tone of reprimanding and blaming me what I’ve done, mentioning that I didn’t check my report before sending. I was shocked to receive the email, and was flabbergasted that she even emailed to the rest of the managers. It seems to me that she’s trying to show the rest my incompetency. However, I’m glad that the directing manager was very tactful, and emailed back to her to inform her of the changes, and ask her to check before sending such emails. The directing manager's email was definitely more polite that Ms.Q's email. Of course there were other conflicts that I had experience with Ms. Q, and hence, I can say that it's really difficult for me to work with her. Afterall, I think the directing manager handled the situation much better than Ms. Q.
Anyway, a question to ponder : how would you handle such a situation if you were in my shoes, but without the directing manager stepping in to help?
Thanks for your suggestions in advance, and for reading through my lengthy post! (:
Anyway, a question to ponder : how would you handle such a situation if you were in my shoes, but without the directing manager stepping in to help?
Thanks for your suggestions in advance, and for reading through my lengthy post! (:
Hi See Wan, hope you had a fantastic Chinese New Year so far =)
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, your situation is extremely tricky but of course, I am sure treating others with respect and sincerity always works. With or without the stepping in of your manager, I am sure a personal email from you to Ms Q explaining the whole situation will help to mitigate the situation by tons.
Nonetheless, I think office politics is part and parcel in all office works so I guess many a times, courtesy will help to make our worklife much smoother and better. That is my takeaway after reading your post and it is something that all of us should take note and remember as we step into the working world.
Thanks for your comment! (: yeah, agree with you that we still have to be courteous no matter what situation we face. After all, she's still holds a leadership position and we have to respect that.
ReplyDeleteUltimately such people are inevitable in future, so instead of trying to not let such things happen to us, we should be equipped to handle such situations well! This is a very good reason for us to take up this module! (:
Luckily the directing manager is a sensitive person! Seems like miss Q is the type that like to reinstate her authority by accusing other people. I think it is important, when working with people like her, we should tactfully stand our ground, and not be bullied and wronged. Constantly being too tolerating could be seen as a weakness and used by others against oneself. However, it is also a bad idea to be too forceful. Hopefully after the bruises and cuts, we will handle the situations much better in the future.
ReplyDeleteHey See Wan,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that the reports would be sent out to all managers every morning?
Assuming this is true, I suppose that all other managers would be able to view the call activity of other departments.
I believe empathising from Ms. Q's perspective, she wouldn't want herself or her department to be seen as incompetent.
Although what she did was tactless and insensitive, I'm glad you controlled your emotions to not retort back harshly!
As she seems to be a person who cares much about "face", I feel that an e-mail would be more appropriate than perhaps a face-to-face conversation to explain the issue. I believe she would silently appreciate your sensitive gesture with lesser awkwardness when she realises her mistake.
And perhaps a possible solution to rectify her hasty and harsh e-mail on your reputation:
After she has acknowledged her mistake, you could send an e-mail very briefly describing the resolved misunderstanding that you both had and thanking her for her kind understanding and CC or BCC it to the other managers to inform them it wasn't your mistake.