The Poorly Informed Walrus

It is evident that the communication barriers in this fable are due to the walruses being fearful of the Old Man’s reaction, considering he is known to have a terrible temper that has been revealed in past experiences. The Old Man had no communication with the other walruses, only Basil, who was the second walrus in command who relayed the messages. The Old Man’s demeanor and lack of concern for the walruses caused the walruses to not feel that they could go to the Old Man with concern’s, fearful of his reaction. The Old Man was therefore, unaware of the walruses gradually moving on, by the time he had they were all gone. In addition, the Old Man didn’t understand why or how this could have happened, especially since everything was going so well, so he thought. Effective communication has to be effective on both ends, but I ultimately believe that it starts with the Old Man. If he had been less uptight and more approachable and friendly, there would have not been an issue of the walruses fearing to tell him bad news, and because they were fearful to tell him bad news, they just chose to leave. Therefore, the Old Man was boggled by how this could happen and lost all of his walruses. The communication “lessons” that this fable provides to those who are serious about careers in the new workplace is that to have and run an effective organization, you must have effective communication. The leader must maintain an approachable demeanor and not be perceived as intimidating. Otherwise, employees will not approach the leader with potential problems the organization may be facing that need immediate attention. This is important because time efficiency is critical in keeping the organization afloat. As with the walruses, it was too late. Another lesson is that you will lose employees if you don’t show you care about their needs. Ranting and raving all the time causes intimidation and perhaps a lack of productivity, causing employees to “walk on egg shells.”
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