Page 81 - Communication in Organizations Basic Skills and Conversation Models

Communication in organizations 70

also choose the means to achieve this goal. If he is not able to think of solutions himself,
the manager should play an important role in this. Often people know what their problem
is but they don’t know how to change it. Even if they do know how to change it, it doesn’t
mean they can bring about this change. In short, in a number of cases the manager will
have to advise the employee.
After making choices about goal and method in general, the manager will have to
determine, after consultation with the employee, how to achieve the desired goal and
which (new) behaviour is necessary. Supplying ways to deal with the problem is not
enough, however. The manager will have to check what happens to the employee in
attempts to deal with the problem. Is it working? There will have to be another
conversation to evaluate the events. In the phase of problem clarification it may become
clear that the manager is not equipped to deal with this problem. In the action phase he
will then have to find possibilities for referral. For this he will need some knowledge of
healthcare institutions.
In the next part we first describe a general strategy for the action phase. Second, we
discuss the skill of giving advice.

General strategy in Phase 2
When the problems have become clear during the first phase, it is necessary to decide
whether it is useful and possible to do something about them. We purposely say ‘useful
and possible’. In some cases it might not be useful to do anything. If all the employee
wanted was to get something off his chest, one conversation might suffice. In other cases
it may be impossible for the manager to do anything because the problem is too serious,
as we have mentioned before.
What remains is a situation in which the two parties can think of a way to deal with
the problem. We will limit ourselves to a discussion of a general strategy in dealing with
problems. Of course, what exactly should be done depends on the specific content of the
problem.

Steps in an action programme
We now briefly discuss nine separate steps of an action programme. Each step is
illustrated by means of our fictional case.

Step 1: Problem clarification
In the preceding part we have said enough about problem clarification. Perhaps the
manager will initiate an action programme, not needing further assistance, or the
conversation has cleared the air and the existing situation is accepted. During their first
conversation Harry summarizes Alex’s problems and lists them as follows:
• Alex’s wife is having a relationship with someone else and is trying to decide what to
do.
• Alex feels abandoned and powerless.
• He drinks more than is good for him.
• Consequences: lack of concentration, worrying and short-tempered with the waiters.