HR Case Study
HR Case Study
How to work with a lazy colleague
Young is a colleague that I worked with at Tellhow Sci-Tech Co., Ltd. He is one of the laziest person that I have ever known. During working hours, he spent most of the time playing games, talking to friends on the phone or taking “long breaks”. So when I was assigned to the same working team with him, I was worried and scared. And my nightmare turned out to be true.
Our team was in charge of the new marketing strategy for our star product “Low Voltage Generator”. We divided the work and started working on it separately. One week later, we began to have group meetings to combine our individual works. At our first meeting, he told us that he stuck in traffic and couldn’t make it to the meeting. Then when the second meeting arrived, he claimed that he was sick. Finally when we were at our last meeting, he told us that his father was sick and he had to take care of him. It is hard to criticize someone facing that kind of stress. So I as the team leader spent the whole night finishing his part of the report.
One week later, after presenting our work, I was informed that not only Young went for vocation in Thailand the week before, but also his father passed away five years ago. I was so angry that I criticized him in front of the whole team and made complains to my boss immediately.
As you can see, it is frustrating to work with a colleague like this, who would lie and treat to get out of work, who not only has low productivity but also affects the morale of everyone else in the office.
However, in spite of what Young did, the way that I deal with the situation doesn’t show emotional intelligence at all. Of course I shouldn’t just ignore the situation and move on, but I shouldn’t confront the situation head on and start a conflict in front of the public either.
The best solution is to begin by communicating with my colleague privately and constantly. Firstly, I should listen to his side of the story and
How to work with a lazy colleague
Young is a colleague that I worked with at Tellhow Sci-Tech Co., Ltd. He is one of the laziest person that I have ever known. During working hours, he spent most of the time playing games, talking to friends on the phone or taking “long breaks”. So when I was assigned to the same working team with him, I was worried and scared. And my nightmare turned out to be true.
Our team was in charge of the new marketing strategy for our star product “Low Voltage Generator”. We divided the work and started working on it separately. One week later, we began to have group meetings to combine our individual works. At our first meeting, he told us that he stuck in traffic and couldn’t make it to the meeting. Then when the second meeting arrived, he claimed that he was sick. Finally when we were at our last meeting, he told us that his father was sick and he had to take care of him. It is hard to criticize someone facing that kind of stress. So I as the team leader spent the whole night finishing his part of the report.
One week later, after presenting our work, I was informed that not only Young went for vocation in Thailand the week before, but also his father passed away five years ago. I was so angry that I criticized him in front of the whole team and made complains to my boss immediately.
As you can see, it is frustrating to work with a colleague like this, who would lie and treat to get out of work, who not only has low productivity but also affects the morale of everyone else in the office.
However, in spite of what Young did, the way that I deal with the situation doesn’t show emotional intelligence at all. Of course I shouldn’t just ignore the situation and move on, but I shouldn’t confront the situation head on and start a conflict in front of the public either.
The best solution is to begin by communicating with my colleague privately and constantly. Firstly, I should listen to his side of the story and