6.5 Chapter Exercises

The following case is based on a consulting experience of one of our colleagues. Names and institutions have been altered for this case.

Janet, an organizational consultant, was approached to serve as an executive coach for a financial wizard at an auditing the firm named Jerry. Jerry had everything senior management was looking for in a star employee. His projects came in on time and always under budget using fewer company resources than his counterparts. However, there was one problem the company had with Jerry—no one wanted to work with Jerry. Jerry was known for belittling and yelling at subordinates who did not turn in assignments on time and up to Jerry’s high standards.

Janet was contacted to work one-on-one with Jerry and help him develop various interaction skills. The company wanted to keep Jerry, but it needed Jerry to start acting and playing like someone on a team. Janet’s first contact with Jerry went about as bad as one would expect. Jerry didn’t understand why Janet was there and really thought the whole coaching process was a waste of money. Furthermore, Jerry really believed that there was nothing wrong with how he communicated with others. In his own words, “I’m just honest. I may be blunt, but that’s because I don’t have time to play wet nurse to a bunch of junior colleagues who shouldn’t be in corporate America.” Over time, Jerry became more and more aggressive as their coaching sessions continued. In fact, Jerry showed a clear resistance to coaching and the reports of aggressive behavior from his subordinates to human resources escalated.

1. Can all employees be coached?

2. If you were Janet, how would you handle this situation?

3. Is it every appropriate for a consultant to fire a client who just has no desire to change?

4. If you were Jerry’s boss, how would you handle his behavior and his lack of a desire to change his behavior?