Under performance case study 1
Consider the following scenario and what you might do if you were the manager. Read each section, think about the possible way forward and look at the suggested approaches if required.
Stage 1
You have just been appointed into a business manager role in the School of Dynamic Thinking. You soon become aware that there is a secretary, grade 4, for whom you have line management responsibility, named Edna Clouds who seems to have very little work to do. On further investigation you discover that the general view within the School is that Edna is useless – in fact she is so bad no-one has given her any work to do for at least the last two years nor has she had a staff review and it seems that no one has had a discussion with her about her performance.
What would you do? Click here for a possible approach.
Stage 2
You meet with Edna and she tells you that she feels very de-motivated; she says that she doesn’t have enough to do and is very bored. You arrange an SRDS for her as soon as possible but in the meantime begin increasing her workload. At the SRDS meeting you set objectives for her and discuss any development needs with her. She tells you she is perfectly capable and doesn’t need any further training. It soon becomes apparent from your regular meetings that all is not well with Edna’s performance – her typing is inaccurate, her telephone messages are unclear and she struggles to produce her work in a timely manner
What would you do? Click here for a possible approach.
Stage 3
Edna is very upset by this conversation as no one has had a bad word to say about her performance before your discussion. Somewhat reluctantly she agrees to go on a secretarial update course. On completion of the course Edna’s work does improve slightly but is still nowhere near the required level. After six months there is still no improvement.
What would you do? Click here for a possible approach.
Stage 4
Unfortunately the situation does not improve.
What would you do? Click here for a possible approach.