Read the following case carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Jeevan Basnet is the General Manager of ABC Computer Services. Jeevan receives an urgent call from Shanti Sharma, an important customer in Dhankuta, who has a 'major fault in his computer system' and demands a service engineer immediately as his whole operation has ground to a halt. Jeevan tries to contact Eknath Pradhan, the Service Manager, at once but finds he is out visiting PRQ Engineering another important customer. As Jeevan considers that the Dhankuta problem is urgent, he goes to the service department and finds service engineer Hema Joshi working at her desk. They have the following conversation:
JB: Have you any really urgent work on hand?
HJ: Well, I'm sorting out a few patches for the new system we've sent to PRQ. Mr. Pradhan is expecting me to have them done by tomorrow.
JB: But is it really urgent?
HJ: Well, I don't know . . . I don't suppose so.
JB: Good – you can sort out the Dhankuta problem first.
Jeevan then decides that Helen should fly to Dhankuta on an afternoon flight so she can start work at Shanti Sharma first thing in the morning. Jeevan suggests that she leave the office immediately to pack and get to the airport. As she is about to leave, Helen says she had better leave a message for Eknath Pradhan.' Jeevan says, 'Don't worry, I will let Eknath know what is happening as he can reschedule your work for the next few days.'
Jeevan returns to his office and phones Shanti Sharma to confirm that Hema Joshi will be there first thing in the morning. After speaking to Shanti, her personal assistant, leaves a number of messages and instructions, and answers some of his calls.
At the end of the call, she says, 'Oh, by the way, let Eknath Pradhan know that Hema Joshi will probably be in Dhankuta for a few days working on Shanti Sharma's computer problems.'
When Eknath Pradhan returns just after 2 p.m., he finds that Hema Joshi is not at her desk, so he leaves a note instructing her to drop everything and go to clear up an urgent problem at PRQ Engineering first thing in the morning. He then leaves the office at 3:30 p.m. to meet another customer and does not return that day
After working through the other jobs from Jeevan by around 3.45 p.m., Anita Bogati sends an email to Eknath Pradhan saying that Hema Joshi will probably be in Dhankuta for a few days.
The next morning, Eknath Pradhan arrives, notes that Hema Joshi is not there, and assumes that she has gone to PRQ Engineering. He has an urgent report to finish, so does not check his email as he usually does first thing. At about 9:30 a.m., he received an irate phone call from PRQ Engineering saying that the promised service engineer had not arrived and threatening to cancel the lucrative service contract. At first, no one else in the office knew anything about Hema Joshi's whereabouts. As a last resort, he checks his email, to find the message from Anita Bogati: 'Jeevan has asked me to let you know that Ms. Joshi will probably be in Dhankuta at Shanti Sharma for a few days.' He is both puzzled and annoyed by the brief message.
About five minutes later, Pradhan storms into Basnet's office and says, 'How the hell do you expect me to run an efficient service department, when you send my staff round the country without letting me know? We will probably lose the PRQ Engineering contract because Hema Joshi did not report there this morning as I promised.'
Questions:
a. What are the most important problems of interpersonal communication illustrated in this case study? Who was responsible for the problems?
b. What are the key factors (both process and meaning) which have created these problems?
c. How could the participants have behaved differently to avoid these problems? (Both short-term and long-term).
d. Does this case study simply illustrate poor interpersonal communication? Or do you recognize any broader issues?
