Case Study
Latin American Studies Association
Background:
The Latin American Student Organization (LASA) is the largest professional
association in the world for individuals and institutions engaged in the study of Latin
America. With over 5,000 members, twenty-five percent of whom reside outside the
United States, LASA is the one association that brings together experts on Latin
America from all disciplines and diverse occupational endeavors, across the globe.
LASA's mission is to foster intellectual discussion, research, and teaching on
Latin America, the Caribbean, and its people throughout the Americas; promote the
interests of its diverse membership; and encourage civic engagement through network
building and public debate.
Every eighteen months specialists on Latin America gather at the LASA
International Congress. Featuring over 900 sessions, including plenary sessions and
informal meetings, the Congress is the world's premier forum for expert discussion on
Latin America and the Caribbean. Membership is available to individuals and
institutions sharing the Association's commitment to the field of Latin American studies.
The Association also works to advances the Latin Americani community in
numerous other ways. It provides access to the Latin American Research Review, the
premier U.S.-based journal in Latin American studies; it publishes the LASA Forum, a
quarterly newsletter; it alerts members to professional opportunities; it recognizes
scholarly achievement and it represents Latin Americanist’s interests and views before
the U.S. government and at times to governments elsewhere.
The LASA secretariat is located in Pittsburgh and is partially funded by the
University of Pittsburgh. The executive director and her staff of five are responsible for
the day to day LASA operations and, in particular, the organization of the International
LASA Conference that attracts more than 5,000 participants.
Congress Coordinator Position Job Description
The LASA Congress Coordinator will assist the Executive Director in coordinating
all aspects of the LASA Congress held every eighteen months which may include:
overseeing the implementation and flow of conference projects both internally and
externally; contributing to concept development, financial reports and budget
monitoring; drafting planning documents, reports and correspondence; managing and
handling logistical arrangements for conferences; and database maintenance including
data entry and management of the on-site Congress operations. This person will also
assist in hiring, training, supervising, and managing Congress’ staff.
Case Description
In 2003, the Congress Coordinator position was created as a permanent position
at LASA to coordinate all congress related activities. In the past, this position was
temporary, for 15 months, and was located in the city wherever the Program Chair(s)
were located. The first Congress Coordinator hired by LASA at the University of
Pittsburgh was selected because of the following reasons:

She was familiar with the organization.

She had worked temporarily at LASA during peak times doing data entry,
filing, and other required administrative tasks.

She had participated in previous conferences as support staff.

Her background and work experience matched the job description.
The Congress coordinator began working for LASA in October, 2003 (one year before
the conference).
After three weeks of work, the Congress Coordinator requested a flexible
schedule. Instead of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., she preferred to work from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
and not to work on Fridays. The Executive Director approved this new schedule. After
two months, the Congress Coordinator refused to do any data entry arguing that she
was afraid of making mistakes; she needed an assistant to do it. At the same time, the
Congress Coordinator was requesting one and/or both of the administrative assistants
to do data entry, mailing, and other tasks for her. The Congress Coordinator was on the
phone most of the time, arguing that she was solving Congress problems. The
administrative assistants started to complain because of the extra work they had to do
for her. The Executive Director did not know any of this until one of the administrative
assistants informed her of the situation.
______________________________________________________________________________
MEMO
TO: HR Director
From: Executive Director, Latin American Student Organization
RE: Extension of provisional period: LASA Congress Coordinator
According to our previous conversation, I would like to request a 6 months extension of the
provisional period for J, LASA Congress Coordinator. The reasons for this request are:
It is not clear that the incumbent has understood the scope of the work expected from her. This
may be just a misunderstanding or the need of a longer learning curve than expected. I have
clarified to her the need to do a variety of work in her area of responsibility (i.e. use of congress
database, data entry at peak times, handling of mailing, etc.) and have stressed the importance of
this. I need the extra provisional time to see that the candidate improves her behavior in this
area. LASA will be paying for a database course to improve her technical skills.
The candidate is not totally clear about her level of authority and there have been some
unpleasant situations due to this. I have had some recent conversations with her explaining what
she is allowed to do and what she is not. I would need the extra provisional time to see that she
has clearly understood this and she acts according to the stated parameters.
__________________________________________________________________
Case Analysis
LASA’s environment is based upon a foundation of communication and
feedback. However, in this current case, the program is having difficulty in these areas.
It seems that no formal processes were established for employees who had a
complaint or problem; this prove difficult when employees wanted to communicate
theses problems to their supervisor. When Juana began asking other administrative
assistants to perform her job functions, they did it, as to not disrupt the work
environment, but soon the requests to”help” Juana with her work became increased.
The administrative assistants waiting until the problem had escalated before they
reported it to the Executive Director. This shows that problems need to escalate before
employees feel comfortbleenough to speak up. This is an example of the lack of
upward communication in this office.
This could be an issue of the work environment, but most importantly it is an
issue of lack of communication. The Executive Director or Juana’s supervisor should be
the one responsible to ensure that the lines of communication are always open. It is
their responsibility to make the option of approaching a superior with a problem or
question regarding anyone’s role in the office very clear.
The administrative associates should have been told what the new Congress
Coordinator’s role and expectations would. Also, they should have also been told if
their job requirements would change by the hiring of a full time LASA Congress
Coordinator. Having a new person come into an office especially in a newly created
position, is difficult; the new employee and current staff must adjust the culture of the
environment.
There seems to be a strong dominate culture in this office. It takes tim before a
new employee can adapt to the situation and change is not readily accepted by the
staff. Juana in particular was having difficulty in her new role adapting to the office
culture. She had been a member of this office before, but now she was there in a new
context and was having difficulty with the culture and her new expectations.
Expectations for the new Congress Coordinator were set in the job description
that Juana was hired to fill. She should have also been very familiar with the
requirements having worked as a temporary employee in this arena in the past. Juana
should have understood what was expected of her, but did she really know how to
achieve these expectations? Juana had always been a member of the support staff for
the conference, not the coordinator. Did she fully understand what was required of the
role and how tasks were completed to get the end result of a successful conference?
Having tasks written down in a job description does not necessarily mean the person
knows how to be successful in completing the tasks at hand.
More importantly, it appears that the Executive Director has not clearly stated the
expectations of performance that is required of the Congress Coordinator position.
Without knowing what was expected, Juana was, in essence, free to set her own
aspirations. Expectations influence our behavior. When people know what is expected
of them, they are more apt to perform in the manner that is expected of them. Since
Juana had only performed limited administrative functions in the past, she was not clear
on what was expected of her. This was clearly a performance problem. Had she been
advised up-front of her actual duties, some of the problems that arose could have been
avoided.
The Executive Director should have gone over the position’s duties with her. If
there were any areas of concern, they should have been addressed with courses of
action planned. The Executive Director should not have taken it for granted that
expectations were established and that Juana had a clear understanding of them.
Juana performed data entry before; why was it a problem now? These expectations
should have been set forth as non-negotiable- since they are required to complete the
job. A conference with a large number of attendees and the reputation of the LASA was
a stake. Although, from Juana’s point of view, she probably felt that these tasks were
one that the administrative assistants should perform as she did in the past on a
temporary basis. Juana was very familiar with the clerical part of her job (such as data
entry, database queries), so this part should have actually been one of her easier tasks
to follow through. Not being able to completed familiar tasks should have been a red
flag to the Executive Director of proceeding job performance problems. The Congress
Coordinator may have felt by giving these clerical tasks to others she would be more
able to focus on projects and reports. The Executive Director was lax in establishing
specific performance expectations and in providing good management support to help
Juana make the transition from temporary administrative assistant to Congress
Coordinator.
Juana needed help in setting goals and laying out the best objectives to achieve
those goals. Goals that are more specific get better results. She needed guidance, she
has been the support before and now in her new position she may have felt that other
things were more important than the clerical work that was part of the position. The
Executive Director should not have assumed that because the person hired had
experience with the organization as a temp, it was expected she would quickly learn
what the Congress Coordinator needed to do, from a coordination point of view, with
some general guidelines from the secretaries (as previous congress coordinators had
learned the job anyway). Juana also needed accountability for her work. In setting
goals she would be able to directly see if she was making her target; and if not why?
She would be accountable for any work not completed and learn to prioritize her work.
The Executive Director needed to sit down with Juana and communicate her
expectations clearly. She needed to express these expectations both verbally and in
writing. The Executive Director was responsible for capturing all of the tasks of Juana’s
position description into one document, sighting both a timetable and constraints in
meeting these goals. The Executive Director also needed to follow up with Juana’s
performance in intervals of one month, three months and at six months to find out if
there was any problems or concerns; and keeping track of successes.
The LASA coordinator only worked 4 days when it seems like the positions
entailed a lot of communication and delivery with different vendors, registrants. If Juana
requires flexibility in the workplace, then the Executive Director needs to keep track of
these accommodations and share them with the rest of the staff to see that they adopt
them as well. Grounds for legitimate reasons of job flexibility need to be implemented.
It is important in such a small office like this one that coworkers mutually support one
another. The Congress Coordinator and Administrative Assistants need to focus on the
common goal of the LASA and work together.
This relates perfectly to the article,
“Flexibility versus Fairness?”1. The Congress Coordinator was being rewarded when
she had not yet proven her capabilities. Perhaps there was no problem with this
arrangement, but there has to be some resentment in the office when other members of
the staff are required to come every day. This idiosyncrasy may lead to a hostile work
environment; especially coupled with the fact Juana is requesting that the administrative
associates assist her with her work. The administrators may begin to lack motivation,
seeing their work as not as valuable or having more to do without being compensated.
Effective work means strong relationships need to be built and respect cultivated among
all workers in the office. An Executive Director wants to do everything possible to
create a results-oriented environment that cultivates learning and teams; rather than
each individual out for themselves.
While it is clear the Executive Director has spoken to Juana about her
performance; the memo to Human Resources does not explicitly indicate how the
Juana’s performance problem will be solved. The Executive Director herself needs to
come up with a strategy on how she will demand better results from Juana. She may
want to implement a policy for the entire office staff; focusing on vital goals that the
office can work towards achieving together and the rewards for achieving these goals.
If monetary rewards are not permitted, other incentives could include a lunch at a nice
restaurant, gift cards to coffee shops—anything to let the workers know you appreciate
their hard work and dedication.