Reference no: EM133401764

Case Study B: The Effects of Restructuring

Company B is a small independently owned logistics company that offers order processing and services such as warehousing, picking, packing and shipping and storing inventory for its clients. Salary and other costs increased over recent years and the company was only just making a profit. To cut costs, the senior management team decided to restructure the business to make it more efficient and profitable. Only two people left as a result of the changes, but the jobs of many of those remaining have changed significantly.

One of the changes made is in the responsibilities of the Financial Manager. Previously, Mr Abdullah Khaled Alshamsi was responsible for all the accounting activities in the company. Now he has been promoted to the position of Director of Administration and is responsible for finance, sales and marketing, administration, HR matters and transport. Abdullah has only ever worked in finance until now.

To fill Abdullah's role, Mrs Shamma Alkaabi has been promoted from being the Accounts Clerk to the position of Finance Manager. She is now responsible for many activities that she has not been involved with before, and she is finding it very challenging. For example, she now has to deal with the bank as well as customers over delays in payment. She also has to deal with salary problems and has to be able to influence managers not to spend money beyond their budgets.

As a clerk, Shamma had always been efficient, effective and hardworking. She did what she was asked to do and did it well. She was popular with the managers and the other staff within the company. However, she had never needed to take the initiative or responsibility in her work activities and up until now had always been dependent on Abdullah. Abdullah always told her what to do and when to do it. Shamma finds it quite difficult dealing with managers over budget issues, particularly when they have overspent, or when they want to spend large amounts of money without providing adequate financial justification. Equally, she finds it difficult negotiating with the bank and customers over late payments. Abdullah is always telling her to be more aggressive and to push harder to get the best deal available or to force managers to follow procedures and to cut costs.

Abdullah is getting frustrated and annoyed with Shamma. He feels that she is not working at the level required in her new position. As a result, he is frequently having to help her and is effectively doing his old job. This is taking time away from what Abdullah thinks is his main task which is to get on with his new responsibilities as Director of Administration. Abdullah frequently finds himself losing his temper and shouting at Shamma when she goes to him for advice. He thinks this is the best way to get her to do what he thinks she should be doing in exercising her new responsibilities.

Shamma, in turn, thinks that Abdullah has become a bully, simply shouting at her rather than training her and explaining what needs to be done and when. Shamma had been promised some training in accounting but this has not taken place. She now also frequently loses her temper and shouts back at Abdullah, accusing him of not explaining what he wants her to do clearly enough.

Shamma believes she is being treated unfairly by both Abdullah and the company. Her new job and responsibilities have not been defined clearly enough and she has not received any training nor has she been prepared for the job. She also thinks that Abdullah is struggling to cope with his new job and that as a result he is taking out his frustration and lack of ability on her. However, she does not express her thoughts.

One day, Abdullah is called to a financial review meeting with the Managing Director, Mr Omar Mubarak AlHammadi, and he takes Shamma along with him. During the meeting Omar asks a question about how much late payment from customers had been reduced in the last week. Shamma replies that she has not had time to chase any of the money that is still outstanding because she has been busy doing the salaries and preparing information for the present meeting. Abdullah immediately loses his temper, saying that she should have found the time and that if she did not concentrate on minor issues all the time, she could have done it. Shamma defends herself by shouting back that if Abdullah was a better manager and explained himself to her properly everything would get done. The meeting collapses in chaos.

1. Describe the TEIque framework of Emotional Intelligence. What are its main features and what are its strengths and weaknesses?

2. Describe the ESCI framework of Emotional intelligence. What are its main features and what are its strengths and weaknesses?

3. With reference to the descriptors of the 15 facets in the TEIQue model, identify which combination of facets you think Shamma is likely to have a low or average score for and that she would benefit from developing further. Use evidence from the case study to justify your response.

4. Using the ESCI model of Emotional Intelligence, which areas do you think Abdullah needs to develop? Justify your response using examples from the case study.