Dealing with Organizational Complaints. Assume that youre the leader of a work team consisting of members from each of the major departments in your company. For any one of the complaints listed below, explain what you would say and the objectives youd hope to achieve. In framing your responses, follow these guidelines: (a) Let the other person know that youre open to complaints and that you do view complaints as essential sources of information; (b) show that youre following the suggestions for effective listening discussed in Chapter 4, such as listening supportively and with empathy; (c) show that you understand both the thoughts and the feelings that go with the complaint; and (d) ask the other person what he or she would like you to do about the complaint.

a. Youre calling these meetings much too often and much too early to suit us. Wed like fewer meetings scheduled for later in the day.

b. Thats not fair. Why do I always have to take the minutes of these meetings? Cant we have a real secretary here?

c. Theres a good reason why I dont contribute to the discussion. I dont contribute because no one listens to what I say.