Actions for Jory and Saul -- communication problems
The following scenario describes a communication situation in a workplace. The situation does not involve writing. Rather, it involves verbal communication.
Feeling rushed by a looming deadline for a report her manager wanted right away, Jory asked Saul to help by getting her some marketing statistics. "I need the figures from the last three years," she said. "Will that be a problem?"
"Not at all," Saul replied.
But by mid-day, Saul had still not gotten the statistics to Jory-and her report was due first thing in the morning. Saul was out, so she left him a voicemail: "This is Jory," she said. "I was wondering, how soon do you think you can get me those stats for the marketing report?"
Two hours later, Jory received an e-mail from Saul: "I'll have those stats to you the day after tomorrow."
Jory called Saul again, relieved to find that he was in his office. "Friday's too late," she said. "The report's due tomorrow."
"Why didn't you say you needed them so soon?" Saul said. "I'm sorry, but I have to leave in twenty minutes, and I'm at an off-site meeting all day tomorrow."
Jory thought she had told Saul what she wanted, and Saul thought he had heard her. But no real communication took place in this situation, and now Jory is left without the statistics she needs to complete her report.
Please answer the following questions:
1. What happened in this situation? What did the Sender perceive, and what did the Receiver perceive?
2. Comment on Jory's priorities and Saul's priorities. How did they differ, and how did those differences inform this situation?
3. Have you experienced a similar situation in your workplace or community interactions? If so, briefly describe the situation (without divulging people's names, the names of organizations, etc.) A short paragraph will suffice in answering this question.
4. Assume you are Jory. Please write a memo asking Saul for the information. Don't worry about the formatting of the memo for this discussion. Simply type the content of your memo to Saul.