Applications in terms of Four Conversation
• Initiative Conversation
This concept of initiating conversation has been taken from chapter number 1 of the book “four conversations” and page numbers are ranged in between 31-52. For example, a manager proposes a customized tutorial package as an initiative to align things and this result in employee retention, transferring knowledge and focused collaborative approach. This preliminary proposal or conversation regarding this customized tutorial package can be counted in an initiative conversation (Ford, 2009). Workplace communication has a vital role to play in achieving the organizational goals (Whittaker. 1994).
• Understanding Conversation
This concept of understanding conversation has been taken from chapter number 1 of the book “four conversations” and page numbers range in between 59-94. It’s about making one understand your point of view regarding any idea, which is presented (Ford, 2009). Like a manager at Aramco company makes his colleagues and sub-ordinates understand about the proposed customized tutorial package using the means of understanding the conversation.
• Performance Conversation
This concept of the performance conversation has been taken from chapter number 1 of the book “four conversations” and page numbers range in between 97-128. Performance conversation is all about making people work and asking them to produce specific results (Ford, 2009). This will lead to make them more effective and efficient at the same time. Aramco introduces customized tutorial package and request their employees to use it and get fit into it on as soon as possible basis.
• Closure Conversation
This concept of closure conversation has been taken from chapter number 1 of the book “four conversations” and page numbers range in between 131-163. Closure conversation refers to a situation in which you say thanks to someone for his/her task completion. Aramco uses the closure conversation style when the project has been successfully implemented across the company. This conversation helps in appreciating someone’s efforts and to boost his morale in an optimistic manner and it is specifically helpful for a company like Aramco.
Managing multiple generations at Aramco:
This concept of managing multiple generations has been taken from chapter number 2 of the book “the 2020 workplace” and page numbers are ranged in between 41-70. Managers in the organizations are struggling in terms of differences that are encountered in different generations that work in organizations. Managers are facing issues because people with different ages have different communication styles. Employees born in different eras have different mindsets. The main source of their frictions and opposition is because of variations in work patterns and advancements in technologies (Willard, 2010).
Individuals born as baby boomers are more competitive in their work environment while Generation X individuals are more independent and less reliable on others than the baby boomers. On the other hand, Generation Y believes more in collaborative teamwork and technology. In order to prosper and flourish in the workplace, one should have the ability to manage the discrepancies in the views from different age groups. Today’s manager should not be biased with older workers in organizations (Joshi & Dencker, 2011).
The management of Aramco has honored to manage employees from different generations successfully. In order to do that, the management at Aramco makes the managers recognize the differences in terms of generations. To make the diverse team effective, it is important for managers to change him rather changing the whole team. Managers at Aramco act as a facilitator and provide mentoring between young and old generation workers so as to reinforce the interaction between cross-generational teams.
In addition to that, workers from different age groups have different working styles and their efficiency cannot be measured on the same scale, therefore, in Aramco, managers are more result oriented than task oriented. The managers are flexible and thus give that flexibility to their cross-generational team as well. They do not direct employees about how to get the work done, rather; they only ask for the result in the end. Further, managers at Aramco are also offering telecommuting facility to some of the older workers that are based on working not from the office but from somewhere else.
Moreover, managers should accommodate different learning styles with respect to baby boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. For instance, Generation X is more likely to use other ways for working like power points while Generation Y is more tilted towards an advanced form of learning in terms of technology. Other than that, the culture of Aramco focuses highly on training and development of employees in order to mitigate the generational differences between young and old workers............................
This is just a sample partial case solution. Please place the order on the website to order your own originally done case solution.