Communication Case Study

Mike's Missed StepToday was going to be a big day for Mike. He finally had a chanceto show management that he had some good ideas about how thecompany could be improved. Because of a new policy allowingemployees to submit written suggestions for changes to topmanagement, he planned to send a memo to the president forconsideration. Having worked in the stockroom for three years, hehad seen the great amount of time wasted by pulling supplies onnumerous orders and handing them to individual employees at thefront window. He thought that if the departments obtained allsupplies at the same time on one order, the company could savestockroom personnel time, speed up distribution of supplies, reducepaperwork, and lessen the need for overtime.

Knowing that his suggestion had to be received before the 9 a.m.management meeting, Mike hurriedly prepared an e-mail and sent itwithout proofing it or asking someone else to read it. After hesent it, he called the president's secretary to make sure she gaveit to the president before the meeting. The e-mail the presidentreceived said, “Want to save a lot of money? Have everyone come gettheir supplies at the same time and not waste so much of mytime.”

Mike eagerly waited for some response to his recommendation.Finally, he received a brief written memo thanking him for hissuggestion and stating that, after consideration, management haddecided not to make a change. He later learned that managementdidn't consider his proposal because they didn't understand it.They thought he was recommending that everyone, including managers,go to the supply room at a certain time to retrieve whateversupplies they needed (rather than, as Mike intended, having onedepartmental staff member pick up supplies for all departmentmembers on one order).

Amazed, Mike said, “What? I told them what I thought would work.Why didn't they understand?”

1. What happened? Whydidn't the managers understand what Mike was recommending?

2. How could he havehandled this situation better?

3. Rewrite Mike'smessage so that it is complete, concise, correct, clear, andcourteous