Problem Solving with Difficult Employees in an Ever-changing Environment

You are a sales representative for a company that encourages staff to log time in the field and away from the office. You are expected to begin and end your day at the office. You notice that each day when you arrive and return another co-worker is already there, and you wonder whether this person spends most of his / her time at the office. At your weekly sales meeting, you are informed of your co-workers’ outstanding sales performance. You suspect that this co-worker is spending more time flattering the boss instead of working leads in the field, and as a result is getting the best client referrals. Your own sales numbers have steadily decreased since this other sales representative was hired.

Go to the Internet, and read the following articles:

“Einstein’s Secret to Amazing Problem Solving (and 10 Specific Ways You Can Use It)”, located athttp://litemind.com/problem-definition/.

“The Problem Solving Process”, located at http://www.gdrc.org/decision/problem-solve.html.

“Interpersonal Conflict and Effective Communication”, located http://www.drbalternatives.com/articles/cc2.html.

3. Select one (1) of the step-by-step problem solving strategies outlined in one (1) of the articles. Using the chosen problem solving strategy as a model, brainstorm ideas for each of the steps to develop a solution to the problem scenario that has been chosen.

Write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:

Analyze the problem scenario that you have chosen, and organize your analysis into sections that correlate to each step in the selected problem solving strategy.

Apply each step within the selected problem solving strategy to related elements of the scenario that you have chosen.

Suggest alternative actions to the situation(s) within the scenario that correspond to each of the steps within the selected problem solving strategy.

Speculate on whether or not the same problem-solving strategy would be effective if used with different scenarios.