Situation
You have just been hired by Yummy Juicy, a national corporation that sells organic juices at most major retail stores. You have been hired as the West Coast Distribution Manager. After about five weeks on the job, you get the following email:
Sir/Ma’am,
You are hurting this company. You have continued to try to force all of us to change our ways and follow procedures that are no good. I am not sure why you got the job. You trained us on the new procedures, which wasted hours of our time. Don’t bother to reply to this email, I know nothing will change.
R/Bob (disgruntled employee)
An email response
Dear Bob,
From your email, I have understood that you are dissatisfied with my management activities. It seems that you did not see any improvement following my training procedures. Thus, I would like to respond to your email to handle the situation.
A 20-year experience of working with Yummy Juicy makes you a respected employee, and it is reasonable to listen to your opinion. Simultaneously, the company has many other employees who also make valuable contributions to the business. It is a typical case that they can have different views regarding existing practices. That is why it is not a problem that you and I have different opinions regarding the new procedures that I have implemented.
However, since an issue exists, my responsibility is to find an existing solution. Please note that I am not going to stop implementing the procedures. On the one hand, I have sufficient experience to be sure that these activities will lead to improvement for the company. On the other hand, I keep receiving positive feedback from other supervisors, meaning that the new processes can be beneficial. However, as I have already stated, I appreciate your work and experience, and that is why I would be glad if you contact me and disclose more specific concerns regarding my processes. In this case, we will have an opportunity to negotiate this issue and find a mutually satisfying solution.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Yours sincerely,
West Coast Distribution Manager.
Is it difficult to be assertive in the personal and professional life?
When it comes to my professional and personal life, being assertive is sometimes a significant challenge. It is so because the necessity to be assertive arises when I feel that I am mistreated. In such situations, emotions overwhelm me, and it becomes difficult for me to stay calm and control my thoughts. For example, it was challenging for me to avoid responding aggressively to my school teacher’s criticism, especially when I thought that I did not deserve that treatment. However, I try to do all my best to ensure that emotions and impulses are under control, which is necessary to be assertive.
The risks of being assertive with Bob.
It is worth mentioning that being assertive implies some risks, and the case with Bob is not an exception. It is so because Bob can think that my assertiveness is the manifestation of aggressiveness. In this case, the disgruntled employee can also become more aggressive, which is harmful to business relations. Another risk refers to the fact that Bob can perceive my assertiveness as a sign of over-confidence. It can mean that Bob will not respect my decisions and words since he will consider me arrogant.
Reference
Van Bavel, R., Rodríguez-Priego, N., Vila, J., & Briggs, P. (2019). Using protection motivation theory in the design of nudges to improve online security behavior. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 123, 29-39. Web.