Critique: The Case of The Homeless Visitor
Instructions
Critique Procedure:
Each of us is held accountable for what we do and say in an organization. Given that ethical leadership is exercised in the quality of memos sent to colleagues and 30-second comments at meetings, learning to put words around our decisions is useful.
Purpose:
The purpose of the Critique is to give fair, constructive feedback to colleagues. As we learn to fairly evaluate each other please remember to:
- Compliment that which is genuinely good;
- Ask for clarification for that which you don’t understand; and
- Offer thoughtful suggestions for improvement.
Criteria to justify awarding of Stars:
In 200 or so words, evaluate the memo using the following criteria:
- Background of the problem: Could you get a sense of what the problem was? Did you have enough of the facts to be able to make sense of the memo? Could you tell what values were in conflict?
- Responsibility to constituents: Could you tell whether the decision-maker had considered the impact of the decision on the various constituents?
- Statement of decision: Could you tell what the decision was in the one-sentence summary?
- The rationale for the decision: Did the decision-maker use the tools of analysis that were part of this assignment? Was the rationale clear? Were you persuaded? Would you have accepted the rationale and willingly adopted this decision?
- Forward-looking conclusion: Did you find that the decision-maker closed with a statement that would encourage you to be part of the team?
Answer Preview
On the matter at stake, the main concern would be, ‘how to stop the homeless visitor from getting into the company building where she spends about three hours taking a cup of tea, resting in the waiting bay, and taking bath in the ladies room’. The focus should be, ‘how do we accomplish the need to obstruct the homeless visitor from scaring other visitors and employees in the organization without causing circumstantial disruptions of the organizational operations that can harm the company reputation?’.
Word Count: 2800