Micro Organizational Behavior
Jack Adams is a salesperson working as an account sales person who goes to present his annual performance appraisals to his newly appointed sales manager Bill Squires. Jack has not met his set target and is eighteen percent below the mark. He is nervous and worried about the reactions from his boss that may arise from the computer printout he has carried. He perceives that Bill may not be able to understand his failure to meet the target being among the four who have not attained the goal. Bill feels that Adam has not done his best because of his inability to meet his clients regularly. Bill is willing to discuss the cause of the poor performance of Adam, but Adam cannot trust Bill. Adam is not willing to share his troubles while working despite a request of the same from Bill. Adam is rigid to share the information because he cannot trust the new manager. Adam has an inner fear of Bill and doesn’t see the likelihood of Bill accepting his reasons while Bill believes that there are some internal or external factors causing the poor performance of Adam.
Adam believes that he has done his best and has always done it before and thus Bill should be in a position to understand him. On the other hand, Bill is taking a managerial stereotype approach having craved for the position for years and is putting blames on Adam’s inability to meet his targets. Bill is making underestimating that the new territory assignment could lead to Adam’s failure and his capitalizing on Adam’s internal problems that he wants them to discuss. Bill tends to compare Adam with the other thirteen salespersons who have met their target which brings contract effects. The situation portrays a fundamental attribution error in the sense that Both Adam and Bill have an already predetermined perception of each other.
Bill would have allowed Adam to express himself fully and not to face him with an already informed perception of his failure. Both parties should have remained calm and discuss the matter amicably and come up with a workable solution to the problem. It is achieved through the establishment of the purpose of the meeting, the specific agenda to discuss, a review of the challenges and successes and the develop an action plan to solve the issue and work together to achieve the common goal.