Senior management decides that you will take over computer inventory monitoring and ordering from a co-worker, Tim. Your executive sits down to discuss this change with you and lets you know that this project has been splitting Tims time and they need him to spend more time focusing on his core job functions including planning a sales strategy for the next five years. Your executive mentions that Tim has been told this by his supervisor (another executive) but is not happy because he thinks he has been doing a good job of ordering and monitoring the inventory and he feels this is a demotion. Your executive notes this is not the case and there has been no title change or salary reductions for Tim, it is merely a shift in his job duties.

Two weeks go by and none of your emails to Tim on the subject have been answered. When you see him in the hallway and bring it up, he dodges the question or tells you hes too busy to meet at this time. Meanwhile, requests are coming in from managers on upgrading computers and other hardware for their staff and Tim forwards them to you, telling the managers that he is not in charge of ordering any longer. You know from other discussion with the director of finance, Margaret, that the budget for computer inventory sits with her, but that she and Tim sit down every six months and plan out what will be purchased or upgraded from the budget.

You are busy with other work yourself but are frustrated at the lack of communication with Tim and you are worried that orders may be falling through the cracks. You are also starting to get concerned that managers may go to your executive and tell them you are not taking charge of this project and they feel their requests are being ignored. Your emails to Tim are starting to get more and more snippy and your interactions with him around the workplace are uncomfortable and tinged with anger.

Action Plan:

Identify who does what by when, where and how it is to be done and action it!

Who	What	When	Where	How