SCENARIO-BASED QUESTIONS Revise For Visual Enhancements ? Revise the following paragraph to add appropriate visual enhancements, such as enumerations or bullets, headings, tables or graphs, and so forth. ? TO: John Henry, Personnel Director ?

Question

FROM: Lena Rose, Vice President ? DATE: xxx ? SUBJECT: EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION ? You will recall the recent telephone survey we conducted on over 200 employees from the past five years to determine why so many of our workers leave our firm to take jobs elsewhere. The analysis of the data gathered on employee terminations has been completed. Our investigation resulted in two findings that are particularly noteworthy. Most workers who leave our firm to work elsewhere do not leave because they believe they are poorly paid. Their primary complaint is that they did not have satisfactory working relationships with their supervisors while working for us. The need for better communication throughout our work force is clear. Accordingly, the following steps will be taken to meet this important need. All supervisors will interview their subordinates once each quarter rather than once each year, as in the past. Also, seminars in management communication skills will be provided for all supervisors and department heads to help them develop more effective communication techniques. We believe these efforts will open channels of communication among our employees and eliminate most of the frustration revealed by former workers in our recent survey. We have also designated an employee relations officer to personally deal with worker complaints of a particularly serious nature. Also, those who come up with ways to improve communication will be rewarded in the form of incentives. Finally, a company newsletter will be published monthly to provide an opportunity for employees to express their views publicly and to improve the flow of information throughout the firm. Appointments to the newsletter staff will be announced shortly. These changes will go into effect on July 1 and will be officially announced to all employees next week. We believe these initiatives will be effective in our efforts to improve communication among employees, upgrade worker morale, and reduce the firm's costly and disruptive employee turnover problems. We will need your support as well as that of other first-level officers if the desired results are to be obtained in this undertaking. Feel free to make suggestions or recommendations that you believe may be helpful. We are hopeful that these changes will be well received by employees at all levels.

Answer 1

Answers may vary. The following is one example.
TO: John Henry, Personnel Director

FROM: Lena Rose, Vice President

DATE: Current

SUBJECT: REDUCING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER THROUGH IMPROVED COMMUNICATION

We have completed the analysis of the data gathered recently on employee terminations. The results provide direction to help reverse the trend.

Research Methods

Over 200 former employees from the past five years were surveyed over telephone to determine why they chose to work elsewhere.

Survey Findings

Two particularly significant findings resulted from our survey:

- Poor worker/supervisor communication is a serious problem.

- Inadequate pay is not a major cause of employee turnover.

Actions to be Taken

The Executive Committee has agreed that five steps must be taken immediately to reduce employee frustration and worker turnover. Accordingly, the following actions will be implemented from July 1.

a. Supervisor/worker interviews will be held quarterly.

b. Training in management communication skills will be offered to all supervisors and department heads.

c. An employee relations officer will be designated to personally handle all serious worker complaints.

d. A newsletter will be published monthly to give employees a public voice in company affairs.

e. An incentives program will reward workers at all levels who identify effective ways to improve communication.

These initiatives will be effective, we believe, in strengthening employee morale and reducing costly and disruptive employee turnover problems in our firm. We request your strong support.