Case Study on Communication Challenges
There are several challenges in communication that take place in daily life. If we identify the challenges
we can eliminate and ensure better understanding among the individuals. We shall take a case study on
communication that helps in averting any misunderstanding among the people.
Ken worked in a research department for a year as a researcher and he laid off as the entire department
was closed due to recession. He decided to meet the CEO for a possible outplacement as the
organization had several other departments to accommodate him. However the secretary of the CEO,
Diana did not permit Ken to meet by saying that CEO was busy. Ken returned without meeting the CEO.
He got better employment opportunity elsewhere and joined.
Ken, being a researcher, Wrote an article for an international journal while working in the research
department. It was published after 9 months and received complimentary copies from the publisher.
Therefore, Ken wanted to share the successful publication with his former CEO and went to meet himto
gift the book as a complimentary copy. Below was the conversation Ken had with the secretary of the
CEO.
Ken: I would appreciate if you could arrange an appointment with CEO. I want… (Secretary interrupted)
Secretary: Why did you come? We had already handed over your resume to Jim for outplacement. You
may go now.
Ken: I did not come for employment opportunity. Don’t assume that people would come here for
employment only. I have come to gift a complimentary copy where my article featured in international
journal. The CEO would be glad to share the success.
Secretary: No, No, the CEO sees everything and knows everything as every article publication is known
to him.
Ken: It is not departmental journal. It is prestigious journal globally and I want to inform him and gift
the book.
Secretary: “You will not get appointment. The CEO is busy” said firmly.
Ken: I anticipated that CEO would be busy and I have written the details of my name over the
complimentary copy.
Secretary: Okay, leave it and go. (She said impolitely and started looking here and there).
Ken handed over the complimentary copy to Secretary.
Ken: Fine, please hand over to CEO. I am leaving the place. However, I will send an email to CEO about
my coming physically to gift the book. (Secretary probably worried as the Ken had already mentally
prepared to send the email and keep the CEO informed. If Secretary had any intension to skip handing
over the complimentary copy, CEO will know as Ken would send mail)
Ken handed over the complimentary copy to secretary and departed the office. He sent an email to hi
ex-CEO about his coming and he could not meet as the latter was busy with his schedules.
After 5 hours, the secretary telephoned Ken and said family, “CEO told to return the book to you.
You come and take the book back.”
Ken replied, “It is the complimentary copy meant for the CEO only”. Secretary insisted to take back the
book immediately. Ken told secretary to courier and he was about to give his address. Secretary
interrupted Ken’s conversation and replied, “No we don’t send you through courier. You have to come
and take.” Ken responded politely, “Right now, I am far away from that place. When I come to that area
I would take back the book.”
The very next day, Ken received email from his ex-CEO congratulating Ken for the publication and
thanked coming all the way to gift the book. Ken felt excited that his ex-CEO was pleased with
publication.
Questions
 What were the communication challenges in the above case study?
 Was the secretary right in avoiding the Ken who come all the way from long distance to gift the
complimentary copy?
 Was it right for secretary in insisting to come and take the complimentary copy back physically
instead of couriering?
 Was secretary a good listener?
 Did Secretary emphize with Ken?
 What were the other challenges prevented smooth communication between Ken and secretary?
Case Study
Read and analyse the case study given below and answer the questions that follow.
Summi and Michal recently moved to a new house and were very excited. They had stretched their
financial limits to afford his house and were keenly looking forward to the possession of their flat. The
flat was in a reputed residential township which had 15 towers with double basement parking space
connected for all the towers. The tower in which Summi and michal had shifted was the most recent and
luxurious tower in the whole township. Parking spaces to the residents were allotted one month after
they shifted. Summi and the whole township. Parking spaces to the residents were allotted one month
after they shifted. Sumi and Michal realized that they had been allotted a parking space which was 500
meters away from the lift and was located under some other tower. Since Sumi was academician and
had to carry laptop bag, books and other stuff to her workplace, she founded it difficult to walk this
distance with all baggage because of her spondylitis problem. As an interim arrangement, she started
parking the car in open parking on the ground floor but was often harassed by others for using their
parking space.
Another problem was that both their cars (Toyota corolla and Honda City) did not fit un the two back-toback parking space allotted to them. At the time of booking, they had been informed by the sales
Manager of the company that two single parking spaces were not available and hence back-to-back
parking spaces, which could accommodate two sedan cars, would be allotted. Michal had some
apprehensions about the issue at the time of booking but the sales manager assured that there was
plenty of space in the designated car parking and both their vehicles could be parked easily. Michal had
booked the flat based on the assurance received that there would be no parking trouble.
Michal was not able to park his car anywhere due to stringent car parking norms which Michal truly
appreciated. However due to inconvenience relate to parking his car in the allotted parking, he decided
to take up the matter with the Residents welfare Association (RWA). He was informed by the RWA
officials that the parking space had been allotted based on the date of booking, that is, the buyers who
booked early got parking near to the lift. Moreover, during discussions with higher officials, the RWA
was informed that no more parking space was available and that the builder was not concerned what
the executive had promised at the time of booking.
Michal realized that the RWA did not have powers to resolve the issue; hence he decided to escalate the
matter to the senior authorities of the builder. He wrote repeated mails regarding
The issue but received no acknowledgement or response. Michal felt cheated since no one from the
builder’s office was willing to discuss or take responsibility for the problem.
Later on, in an interaction with other residents of the same tower Michal got to know that there were
three more families who were allotted their car parking space far away from the lift, although they had
booked flat in the initial stage. All these four families decided to collectively take up the issue with the
higher authorities of the builder to negotiate for a possible amicable solution to the issue.
Questions
1. From the viewpoint of both the parties- concerned residents and the builder – identify the
issues that have led to this impasse.
2. Discuss the communication barriers that may have led to the current situation.
3. Discuss the instances indicating various stages of conflict and how they might have led to the
current crises.
4. Discuss the conflict resolution strategy that may be most effective to resolve the current
situation. Justify your answer.
5. Identify the builder’s and residents’ BATNA, WATNA, ZOPA that may be useful for effective
negotiation.
Case Study
Read the case study given and answer the questions that follow.
It was August of 2013 and speculations regarding promotions were rife amongst the employees of
concepto a stationary manufacturing firm. Annual appraisal interviews at concepto had been conducted
in June 2013 but the announcement of result of the interviews had got quite delayed for the year. The
employees were anxiously waiting to know the fate of their career in the organization as many of them
were expecting their long awaited promotions.
On 22 August 2013, an SMS- “congratulations! You are being promoted!”- From concepto MD, Sameer
Khanduja, created a stir among the employees. This SMS was received by very few employees, and as
the day progressed, grapevine spread and the employees discussed who all had received the message.
Amidst all this discussion, a rumor spared that eight people had received the SMS and hence were being
promoted. People started congratulating the ones who had supposedly got the message from the MD.
As the nature of the grapevine is, in this list of eight people, there were two employees who mentioned
that they apparently had not received any message.
The company premises was full of different versions of information and the two employees, who had
not received any message, but were in the list of eight people, took an offence on being congratulated
by their peers as if it was meant to be a deliberate act of demeaning. There was also a significant
number of people who were expecting promotions but had not received any message. An ill- feeling
towards the management had already started brewing in them they approached the senior
management with their grievances. This commotion continued for one week and significantly disrupted
the productivity of employees.
On 29 August 2013, an office order was sent across to all employees through an e-mail mentioning the
list of the employees who had been promoted. The list included the names of seven employees for
whom strong speculation were being made. It was surprising that in this list, out of two employees who
had not received any SMS from MD, only one was promoted.
The entire episode of appraisal and promotion created even more rivalry and disappointment amongst
those were not promoted. The employee whose name was being talked but was not promoted felt
offended and embarrassed.
Questions:
1. Was sending the personal message a good idea in this case? Could this confession be avoided by
reducing the gap between sending the message and official order?