Serendipity

Unit 17, Activity 5

Index Activity 6

Task 1

Read the following scenarios and identify what kind of communication the person uses:

Scenario 1

Steve has to work with Debbie to come up with ideas for a product launch. Steve has a lot of ideas to contribute, but Debbie just brushes each one aside. Disappointed, Steve agrees with Debbie’s ideas.

Scenario 2

Jenny is a secretary in the small branch office of a big company. When her boss asks her to go out and buy cigarettes for him, she does it without complaint even though she feels she shouldn’t be asked to do such a thing. However, when the area supervisor visits, she makes sure she drops it into the conversation and her boss gets in trouble for it.

Scenario 3

Brenda has a busy weekend planned. On Friday afternoon, when her boss suddenly asks her to take some work home, she gets upset and shouts at him.

Scenario 4

Martin has noticed that his secretary is particularly moody these days. Although he doesn’t usually like to get involved in such matters, he makes a point to sit with her and ask her what has made her so upset.

Scenario 5

Rosia is irritated by her workmates’ constant yakking and horsing around. She waits until everyone has gone home and prints out notices that say, ‘Please think of others. You are here to work, NOT to make noise and fool around’. She puts them up all around the office.

Scenario 6

Sven’s coworker has been asked to give a presentation. He asks Sven to give it for him, insisting that he has a sore throat, amongst other excuses. Sven agrees, even though he doesn’t really want to do the presentation either.

Scenario 7

Ahmed works in a busy hotel. When he sees a guest looking flustered in the hotel lobby, he immediately stops what he’s doing and goes over to offer help.

Scenario 8

Norman‘s office has hired some interns for the summer. When one of the interns asks Norman for help to unblock a paper jam in the photocopier, Norman replies, ‘Can’t you see I’m busy? Go and bother someone else.’

Task 2:

In groups, go over the scenarios again. How would a different personality type react in each case?