After working eight years as a staff technologist, Julie Davis was appointed Tec
ID: 449842 • Letter: A
Question
After working eight years as a staff technologist, Julie Davis was appointed Technical Director of Imaging. Following the staff meeting where her promotion was announced, Julie found herself surrounded by three longtime coworkers offering congratulations and other observations.
“I’m really happy for you”, said Sarah. “This sounds like a terrific career step. But I suppose this means our carpool is affected since your hours are bound to be unpredictable from now on. “
Elaine said, “And I guess that shoots the lunch bunch, too. Management commitments, you know”. The emphasis on management was subtle though undeniable, and Julie was not at all sure that she was pleased with what she was hearing.
Jan offered, “Well maybe now we can get some action on a few age old problems. Remember Julie, you used to gripe about these things as much as the rest of us. “
This informal meeting was interrupted by a passing employee and disbanded.
Instructions
1. Identify the potential advantages Julie might enjoy in becoming a manager of a group of which she has long been a member, and contrast these with the possible disadvantages that might present themselves because she has a long relationship with this group.
2. Describe how you believe Julie will have to proceed in establishing herself as the legitimate possessor of supervisory authority on the unit.
Explanation / Answer
1. The potential advantages for Julie are:
(i) Julie is well aware of the group dynamics and most member of the group that she will be managing now are her former peers. This will make it easier to lead the group.
(ii) Julie can always use peers whom she trusts to receive and give feedback. These peers who can be trusted can be used to make informed decisions by Julie.
(iii) Julie undertsands the group politics and can leverage it to her advantage as the manager of the group.
The disadvantages are: (i) establishing authority over people who were till recently your peers will be very difficult. (ii) it will be difficult for Julia to distance herself from the peers. She now cannot have a tie at the close and personal level with her peers. (iii) Some of the peers may be dissatisfied with her promotion and can react negatively and can create impediments in Julie's path to achieve for goals and objectives for the group.
2. Julie should start with signaling the transition. She should ensure that each and every member of the unit is aware of her promotion and her elevation to the post of the manager. Secondly, she should initially, go slowly and not introduce radical changes overnight. This can damage relationships. The next step for Julie would be to establish her authority. She should do this by creating credibility for herself and meet the team (either inidividually or as a group) on a regular basis. This will help her understand their expectations and will also help her make them understand her vision for the group.