Case Study $1$: Morning Briefing

Lisa is a supervisor working in Line TG$-6$ with $30$ workers reporting to her. Her result$-$oriented and autocratic style has impressed her section head since she joined the section. On Monday morning during five minutes briefing, Lisa was giving instructions to her operators. She said all workers must work very hard to achieve daily target regardless of problems they were facing at personal or work level. She warned them if they cannot meet the goal even once in the whole month, all of them will be penalized through their performance appraisal at the end of the year.

During lunchtime in a cafeteria, Muthu, Seng Chai and few other members from the same team had just finished their lunch. The started expressing their unhappiness and commented on the briefing given by their supervisor, Lisa. Muthu felt that Lisa was pushing them too much and becoming very unreasonable towards them. Seng Chai added that there are many other factors for Lisa to consider but she doesnt seem to be doing so$.$ He continued to say it is unfair to penalize the workers if the target is not achieved due to factors beyond their control.

A few weeks later, Lisa noticed that Seng Chai and Muthu have been absent for several days without any acceptable reason. Furthermore, she was very upset, as the target she had been expecting had not been met on those days.

Adapted from How Team Effectiveness Affects Productivity developed by Ahmadi Masnono, Amin Arwani Razalli, Lee Hee Long, et al$.$ as part of MBA course, USM $2001-02.$

Case Questions

$1.$ What kind of communication flow is Lisa practicing? Is it effective?

$2.$ What are your observations with regards to the communication barriers faced by Lisa with her operators?

$3.$ Would Lisa benefit from open communication? How?