After reading the case study, "Tackling Personality Differences", post your answers to the following questions on this discussion board:

• What are the problems in this scenario?

• How does Louise's personality (according to her MBTI score) play a role in this scenario?

• How does Ricardo's personality (according to his MBTI score) play a role in this scenario?

• Prepare a list of suggestions to present to Louise to diagnose the situation. What are some specific ways in which Louise can bring the salespeople and the programmers (as well as herself and Ricardo) together, despite their individual differences?

Semitechx.com is a three-year-old software applications company that has 100 employees. Louise, the manager, is 42, at mid-career, and the oldest of the employees – most of whom are in their 20's. Louise is an ENFJ according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. She is also the most experienced manager in the company. She cares about people but does not allow herself to be pushed around.

Ricardo, a senior programmer, is 36, originally from a Latin American country. He is very "high strung" and is an ESFP on the Myers-Briggs. He loves detail, likes to delve into the process of technical programming, and doesn't care much for being managed.

An incident between Louise and Ricardo showed the tensions of their personality differences and of this fast-paced firm. Last Saturday, Louise called a meeting with some of the programmers and sales staff to discuss customer dissatisfaction and recommendations regarding some of the products. It was a heated meeting. Two salespeople (noted for wanting quick answers) started shouting at the programmers (noted for being perfectionists in their work) for not "hearing" what the salespeople or the customers were saying about the products. Frank, a leading sales rep, told Ricardo, the head programmer, "If you guys weren't so buried in your own heads playing technical games, you'd hear about features our customers want, not what you want!"

Ricardo responded to Frank, "What do you guys know about technical features? If you weren't so concerned about your commissions, you'd understand how much time and effort we put into these applications!" At this point, Louise could no longer restrain herself. "Ricardo," she said, "stop pulling that technical superiority stuff. Frank is right. Go on, Frank."

By this time, no one was really paying attention. Several of the programmers put their heads down. One salesperson left the meeting. Louise adjourned the meeting until the next day. She and Ricardo went for coffee.

"What went wrong with the meeting, Ricardo?" Louise asked.

Ricardo responded, "Louise, I don't think you or the salespeople understand who the programmers are or how they operate. We're focused, get-the-real-work-done, and we don't like all the gab and dumb gesturing the salespeople do. Salespeople don't have a clue about our work."

Louise stopped him. "Ricardo, everyone has to learn to work together, or we're finished. We're on Internet time here. Put personal differences aside and tell me how to pull this team together!"

Ricardo replied in a quiet voice, "That's easy for you to say, Louise. I've got to work with these people on all the details."

Louise looked at him glumly and said, "Okay, okay. Tell me, have you got any suggestions for tomorrow's meeting? I don't want a repeat performance."

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

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