4th Dimension

MADDY · Diamond Hubber Joined: 25 Dec 2004 Posts: 7180

A story i wrote for my office magazine but got unselected LOL

.....since i wrote something relevant to office environment, there would be lot of words/terms related to my work environment, please pardon..... Very Happy

**Dedicated to my ex-colleague Jon Cobburibias**

Quentin’s Choice
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20th October 2008

Anurag’s mobile phone rang furiously. He picked up and voice on the other side: “Hi Anurag, good morning, this is Quentin. I have made up my choice. I felt I had to explain to you first, on why I chose Abbas as the next Delivery Manager”

Anurag looked on, speechless.

Interview of Anurag
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16th October 08:12AM IST

Anurag settled himself in 04-12-CR and dialed a number on “Avaya” phone in front of him.

Automated Female voice from the phone:“Welcome to reservation less plus conferencing, enter your conference code followed by pound or hash sign” Beep “Please enter your name followed by hash or pound sign”

Anurag : “Anurag” beep

Female voice: “to mute your line, press *6, to unmute your line press #6” , “Anurag” “Has joined the conference”

Quen’s voice from the other line “Hey, Anurag, good morning”

Anurag: “Good evening, Quen”

16th October 08:16 AM IST

Quen continued “Anurag, you have 12 yrs of work experience, 4 years with us and your performance is praise worthy. In your words, why would you qualify to replace me for this post”

Anurag said “Quen, as you know, I have led the team technically on 5 deliveries since I joined and I have maintained impeccable customer satisfaction ratings. I relish working for customer and resolve their routine and complex issues by engaging our delivery team. I would go the extra mile to put a smile on customer’s face”

Quen quipped “will you drive your team also in getting this vision”

Anurag replied with a smile “ofcourse yes, Quen”

Interview of Rajat
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16th October 04:08 AM IST

Rajat went on “I have achieved excellence in all the metrics that was kept before me all these 16 years. I have achieved operational efficiency by incorporating automation and processes that were prescribed by our company.”

Quen “how do you propose to manage team in America by being in India?”

Rajat frowning, looking confused, “Quen, can you repeat please?” Quen repeats the question without rephrasing it.

Rajat answers with a gentle laugh “Setting goals and expectations will help me measure an employee’s performance irrespective of whether he is India or America. We also have the technology like video conferencing to help in that”

Interview of Abbas
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16th October 12:04 AM IST

Quen asks “Abbas, why would I recommend your name to Martin?

Abbas, in his bright red shirt, answers “I have total work experience of 8 years and 4 yrs with this company as tech lead. I have confidence backed by ability, in me and my team, to overcome any issues. I believe I have the right credentials and aptitude to handle people and groom them into a winner team and give them the joy of working together”

Quen asks “focus on customer?”

Abbas replies “Customers are in a way people too. If we cant keep the people in team happy, how can we keep people of customer happy?”

Quen raises his eyebrows and coughs. Drinks, a glass of water.

Quen “excuse me. There was a “inappropriate behavior” allegation from Monica on you. How do you react to that?

Abbas’ voice trying to control emotions “Quen, my team and my HR stood with me and we proved all allegations false”

Quen remarks “hmm…”

Performance appraisal of Quentin
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12th October 08:04AM EST

Quentin seated in office of Martin, his manager. Quentin admired the ever impressive Che Guevara art portrait behind Martin’s desk. Martin continued: “your results have been remarkable and you have exceeded expectations in almost all the goals that were set. Especially you have exceeded all the other managers in “finance” dimension.”

Quen’s face beamed in pride.

Martin says “But, there were areas of concerns too. Attrition was very high during your period and the feedback from HR suggests that you didn’t take necessary steps to control it. I, personally noticed that, you resorted to “laying off” employees whenever account team couldn’t help you out and the finances became tight.”

Quen retorts “Martin, we all are going through tough times and it might take a year to clear this up. I didn’t have any option but to cut down costs”

Martin replies “our delivery model is totally insulated from recession since we have pre-emptive SLAs and flexible contracts with the customer. You had choice of various avenues to cut down costs but you chose laying off employees. We lost a good employee, Christopher, because of this drastic measure. Team members seem to struggle without Chris’s expert guidance, which could affect our operations and customer ratings in the long run. Did you talk about this to the team?” He pauses and then asks slowly “do you talk to your team?”. Quentin’s face turns expressionless searching for an excuse.

Martin continues “I’m moving you to Engineering team. Please identify your successor from India and let me know. The people I have in mind – Anurag, Rajat, Abbas”

Quen “Martin, but I did everything in accordance with company’s vision and keeping customer in mind”

Martin, gets up and walks towards Quen’s chair, looks at him “Customers are not from Mars, they are people too. If you can’t keep people in your team happy, how will you keep people of customer happy?”
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Clueless