The Older Officer

The following case  is adapted from the work of Chris Argyris.

Y, a senior supervisor, must tell X, an older employee with many years with the organization  that X's   performance during the past five years has fallen below standard. Y believes X should be fired if dramatic changes are not made in the near future. Y has talked with his/her boss about X. The boss prefers  that X  be saved if at all possible because of X's seniority and vast knowledge about the company. Y knows that the difficulty of his/her task is compounded by the fact that X believes his/her  performance has topped off because of the way the organization has dealt with him.

Here is a transcript of several key sentences that Y used in talking with X--sentences that represent the range of meanings that Y communicated to X during their session.

A Transcript of What Y said to X

1. X, your performance is not up to standards again this month.

2. Moreover,  you seem to have an attitude problem. This has got to stop immediately. 

3. It appears to me that this has affected your performance in a number of ways. I have heard words like lethargy, uncommitted, bitterness, and lack of commitment used by others in describing your recent performance.

4. I know you think some of these folks have done you wrong in the past, but our senior professionals cannot have those characteristics.

5. Let's discuss your feelings about your performance.

6. X, I know you want to talk about the injustices that you believe have been perpetrated on you in the past. The problem is that I am not discussing something that happened several years ago. Nothing constructive will come from talking about past history. It's behind us.

7. We have  to work on today and take it from there.

Now address  the following question.

How effective do you believe Y was in dealing with X?