Effective Communication Situations Questions & Answers - Page 2

In this situation, your employees’ self-discipline is in decline and is affecting their productivity. You appreciate the atmosphere in your team and don’t want to harm it, but you are also worried about this trend. Notice that the question asks about your first response.

Response A is an appropriate action. However, since the good atmosphere did work well for the team in the past, you know that it’s possible, with these team members, to have a casual atmosphere while maintaining productivity. It’s better to try other approaches before choosing this one.

Having employees taking breaks one at a time (response B) is necessary in some positions due to their characteristics. However, you know here that this is not the case. It’s better not to use disciplinary action as a first response.

Since the team is cooperative and has shown high performance before, discussing the issue with them and asking for their cooperation (response C) is likely to provide results. This direct approach shows your ability to communicate effectively and respectfully, and it demonstrates your ability to use effective strategies to increase staff productivity. Thus, this an effective way to encourage employees' development.

Announcing deadlines (response D) could be an effective response. In general, this is an effective way of increasing productivity. However, this response also includes a disciplinary action which, again, is too early to take, as you have not tried to solve the problem in alternative ways first.