Directions: The following cases represent problematic situations that require employees to be dependent on others for information, resources, or support. Please read each case carefully and indicate which strategies you might empl oy if you were faced with the situation described.

Rank the strategies described below. Indicate a (1) for the strategy you would use first, a (2) for the strategy you would use second, a (3) for the strategy you would use third in the situation, and so on until you reach (6), the last strategy you would attempt. If you would never attempt a particular strategy in the hypothetical situation described, leave a blank space to indicate your lack of usage of that strategy. Please read each description carefully before you complete your rankings.

Situation #1. You have been serving in your present job for over three years, and you have recently decided that it is time for a change. A position in another department, for which you are qualified, has become available, and you would very much like to take the position. The new job would provide you with additional visibility and recognition, since you would have the chance to work on a "hot" new project. Last week you went to your boss to discuss the possibility of a transfer , but your boss seemed unwilling to let you move at the present time. It is true that you are currently working on a project that needs your special expertise, but it could be handled in a short period (if you did some overtime). The other department ne eds to fill the position quickly, and the manager of the department would very much like to hire you for the job. You are dependent on your boss to release you from your present position; you need the support of your boss.

If you were in this situation, what would you do? How would you handle the situation?

A.	_____	Ask the manager of the new department to discuss the situation with your boss on your behalf.
B.	_____	Discuss the situation with your boss, explaining your reasons for wanting the job transfer.
C.	_____	Try to do your boss a favor by putting in a few weeks’ overtime on the specia project so you could ask for your release a second time.
D.	_____	Find another way to obtain the transfer by bypassing bureaucratic channels and asking higher-ups to grant your release
E.	_____	Put pressure on your boss by threatening to leave the company unless he or she supports your transfer
F.	_____	Accept the situation, decide that it is not the right time, wait for the next opportunity, and hope for the best.

Situation #2. You have been working on a project for a few months that requires you to interact with members of another department to gain the information that you need. In particular, you need information from a peer in the other department w ho has the necessary expertise to help you solve some of the problems on the project. This individual has a tendency to put off your requests for information because he or she has a great deal of work of his or her own to accomplish. You are dependent o n this individual because he or she is the only person who has the necessary information readily available to help you do your work. A deadline for your project is approaching fast, and you really need your colleague to give you some critical information in the next few days.

If you were involved in this situation, what would you do? How would you handle the situation?

A.	_____	Put pressure on this individual by threatening to go to his or her boss if help is not forthcoming.
B.	_____	Try to do this individual a favor early in the week so that he or she will be more willing to do the work you need when you ask him or her later in the week.
C.	_____	Discuss the situation with this individual, letting him or her know how important the information is to you and the fast-approaching deadline.
D.	_____	Try to find another individual in the same department who may be able to provide some of the information.
E.	_____	Accept the situation, wait for the next opportunity, face up to the situation with your boss, and hope for the best.
F.	_____	Ask your peers in the department to support your cause by discussing your situation with this individual at the next opportunity.

Situation #3. Your boss has just been handed the assignment of heading up a task force on a coveted project, and you want very much to become a member of the task force. Your boss will be making selections of candidates for the task force shortly, and you very much would like to get on the list. It is a project in which you have a great deal of interest, and your background and qualifications show that you have expertise that may be helpful in assessing the project. You are dependent on your boss to get on the task force, for your boss is the only person who will be making the selection decisions.

If you were involved in this situation, what would you do? How would you handle the situation?

A.	_____	Discuss your desire to become a member of the task force with your boss, highlighting your qualifications and interest.
B.	_____	Do your boss a favor by finishing some extra work ahead of time to put you in the right position to discuss the task force assignment.
C.	_____	Put pressure on your boss by threatening to leave the company if you can’t ge on the task force.
D.	_____	Ask another manager who has been supporting your career to support your cause in a meeting with your boss.
E.	_____	Find another way to get on the task force by accessing valuable information the task force members will need. This way, regardless of whether or not you are selected, they will need you to be part of the task force.
F.	_____	Accept the situation, wait it out, and hope for the best.

Situation #4. To complete a special project, you need to use a piece of equipment in another department. Your manager has told you that you have permission to use the equipment at any time, but every time you try to use the equipment, someone else is on the machine. You are dependent upon your peers in the other department to let you use the machine, for you are not a direct member of their group. A deadline is fast approaching, and your career hinges on meeting that deadline.

If you were involved in this situation, what strategy would you use? How would you handle the situation?

A.	_____	Discuss the situation with your peers, explaining why you must use the equipment in short order.
B.	_____	Put pressure on your peers by threatening to go to their boss
C.	_____	Find another way to use the equipment by working overtime and using it at night and in the early morning hours.
D.	_____	Accept the situation, wait it out, and hope for the best.
E.	_____	Do your peers a favor by helping them with something they need; then ask them to help you.
F.	_____	Ask your boss to talk to the manager of the department to ensure that you have sufficient time to use the equipment.

Situation #5. You are a manager of a group of production workers, and your boss has just given you a deadline that must be met by the end of the month. Lately, a subset of your group of subordinates has been working more slowly than usual, and they are taking longer coffee breaks and lunches. You have not mentioned anything to them about this issue, because they are generally a good group of workers characterized by a strong sense of camaraderie and friendship. However, you are dependent upon them to work steadily until the end of the month in order to meet the deadline set by your boss. You feel this may be a test set by your boss to determine whether or not you should be promoted to the next level.

If you were involved in this situation, what would you do? How would you handle the situation?

A.	_____	Discuss the deadline with your total group of subordinates, highlighting its importance and necessity.
B.	_____	Ask some of your other subordinates (not members of the problematic group) to do some voluntary overtime work.
C.	_____	Put pressure on your problematic group of subordinates by threatening that, if they don’t shape up, there will be some repercussions by the end of the month.
D.	_____	Ask your other subordinates to outline your need to make the deadline to the problematic group.
E.	_____	Do your problematic group of subordinates a favor by saying that you won’treport their recent behavior if they will work to capacity until the end of the month.
F.	_____	Accept the situation, decide you don't want to rock the boat, and hope for the best.

Situation #6. You are the manager of a technical services group involved in several active national projects. A conflict in your schedule requires you to be in New York for a meeting and you also are scheduled to attend another meeting in Bost on at the same time. Neither meeting can be rescheduled to a different day, and your boss has requested your participation in the Boston meeting. the only subordinate who is capable of representing you at the New York meeting has been traveling a lot lately and does not want to do. You are dependent upon her to represent you since she is the only one with the expertise from your group to participate in the New York meeting.

If you were involved in this situation, how would you handle it? What would you do?

A.	_____	Discuss with your subordinate your need to have her represent you at the New York meeting.
B.	_____	Do your subordinate a favor by giving her a few days off to compensate her upon returning.
C.	_____	Find another less qualified subordinate from your group to attend the New York meeting.
D.	_____	Ask other subordinates in your group to impress upon her how important it is that she attend the New York meeting regardless of her concerns.
E.	_____	Put pressure on your subordinate by saying that if she doesn’t attend the meeting, there will be repercussions later.
F.	_____	Accept the situation, talk to your boss about the meeting conflicts, and hope for the best.

Situation #7. Your department is a field function designed to provide crisis support on out-of-the-ordinary service problems. The members of your department are highly skilled and have trained for many years to develop the qualifications needed to provide second-tier support. Over the weekend a new equipment installation will take place that might potentially fail and require the crisis support of your team. The three employees whom you wish to assign the weekend work just completed a lengthy service request and are looking forward to taking the weekend off. In addition, one of the three members is supposed to be attending a wedding this weekend and another has nonrefundable airplane tickets to Florida. You are dependent on these three members to agree to the additional weekend assignment, as you believe and your boss agrees that these three individuals are the most qualified for the job and should be placed on call.

If you were involved in the situation described, what would you do? How would you handle the situation?

A.	_____	Accept the situation, assume that things will work themselves out, and hope for the best.
B.	_____	Discuss the situation with your employees, stressing the importance of the assignment.
C.	_____	Do your employees a favor by promising that if they work overtime this one time, you will provide them with additional time off at a later date.
D.	_____	Find another way to get around the situation by assigning other members who might be less qualified to the team and hope for the best.
E.	_____	Ask your boss to intercede in the situation by discussing with your employees the importance of the weekend assignment and his reasons why they should be placed on call.
F.	_____	Put pressure on your employees by telling them that their first responsibility is to their work and unless they work overtime they can expect no raises at year’s end.

Situation #8. You have been arguing for months that you need to hire two additional people to support the amount of work that currently is being expected of your department. Due to a downsizing that took place in your division a year ago, your department was left understaffed and overworked. Your employees are finding it difficult to handle the stress of the increased workload and recently have begun to complain. Your boss, however, is trying to "toe the line" and maintain control over the head count of the departments for which she is responsible. Over the past week, two people from another division became available and have indicated their interest in transferring to your department. You are dependent on your boss to give her approval to negotiate the transfer quickly or else this opportunity will be lost.

If you were involved in the situation described, what would you do? How would you handle the situation?

A.	_____	Promise your boss that by adding two to your head count now, you will make changes in your head count by year’s end so it will not adversely affect he departmental quotas.
B.	_____	Find another way around the situation by arranging the transfers without your boss prior approval. Then tell your boss about the opportunity and the need to move quickly.
C.	_____	Ask the manager of the department arranging the transfers to discuss the situation with your boss and to recommend the transfers.
D.	_____	Accept the situation, assume things will work themselves out, and hope for the best.
E.	_____	Discuss the situation with your boss, underscoring the importance of this new opportunity to arrange a quick transfer.
F.	_____	Put pressure on your boss by stating that unless these people are moved to your department quickly, departmental performance will suffer and you will have no choice but to request a transfer on your own.

Situation #9. Because your boss has been dissatisfied with the work of one of your colleagues on an important project, she has reassigned the project to you. You have been instructed to work with your colleague to gather the necessary information and prepare a project report by the end of the month. However, your colleague, upset about the reassignment, has not been forthcoming in providing information to you concerning the project. You are dependent on this colleague to provide you with the information as you will be unable to make the deadline at the end of the month unless he cooperates.

If you were involved in the situation described, what would you do? How would you handle the situation?

A.	_____	Find another way around the situation by enlisting the help of the people who work for this colleague to provide the information you need.
B.	_____	Ask another colleague to intercede with this individual to impress upon him the need for teamwork against a deadline.
C.	_____	Put pressure on this individual that unless he cooperates, you will have no choice but to tell the boss.
D.	_____	Accept the situation, assume things will work themselves out, and hope for the best.
E.	_____	Discuss the situation with this colleague, and impress upon him the need for cooperation as a team.
F.	_____	Do your colleague a favor by stating that if he cooperates, you will intercede on his behalf with your boss.

Situation #10. For months you have been carefully building to a sale with an important customer. This customer will be on site in two days and has requested a tour of the plant. You assigned one of your employees the task of escorting this important customer that day. However, this employee came to your office this morning complaining that he did not want to perform this "Mickey Mouse" assignment. He felt that his time could be better spent working on other projects that had been assigned, which he was now bringing to a close. You recognize that this employee is working on a number of projects, but you believe that he is the most knowledgeable to answer questions about the plant and therefore want him to serve as the escort. You are dependent on him to do a good job as an escort without demotivating him.

If you were involved in the situation described, what would you do? How would you handle the situation?

A.	_____	Ask one of your most trusted subordinates to privately discuss the situation with this employee and to impress upon him the importance of the customer’s visit.
B.	_____	Put pressure on this employee by threatening the loss of his job unless he takes the customer on the plant tour.
C.	_____	Accept the situation, assume things will work themselves out, and hope for the best.
D.	_____	Discuss the situation with this employee, explaining the importance of this on-site customer visit.
E.	_____	Do your employee a favor by promising him that if he takes the customer on tour, you will provide him with uninterrupted time for the next several weeks so that he can complete his favorite projects without interference.
F.	_____	Find another way to get around the situation by asking another less qualified employee to escort the customer around the plant.

Situation #11. The people who work under you are hardworking and deserving of promotion. However, they lack the necessary educational qualifications to make the grade to the next level. Recently you proposed a new "technical advancement ladder" that will circumvent educational qualifications for promotion and reward individual contributors for good work. However, your boss has been reluctant to support the new system as he views this as a major shift in emphasis for career development at your firm. Without your boss’s support, you will be unable to promote your people under the standard system. You are dependent on your boss for his support if this project is to move forward.

If you were involved in the situation described, what would you do? How would you handle the situation?

A.	_____	Discuss the situation with your boss, impressing on him the need for a new promotional system.
B.	_____	Negotiate with your boss that if he will support the new system, you will ensure that increased work quotas are achieved by year’s end.
C.	_____	Find another way around the situation by enlisting the support of other managers at your boss’s level.
D.	_____	Ask another manager with whom you have contact at the next level to discuss the situation with your boss.
E.	_____	Put pressure on your boss by threatening that unless he supports the new system, you will be unable to ensure that your employees will remain in the department in the long term.
F.	_____	Accept the situation, assume things will work themselves out, and hope for the best.

Situation #12. A new installation of computer equipment is about to take place, and you are responsible for the installation. You must make arrangements with members of the support team to do the prep work required to aid the installation process. You are acquainted with the manager of the support team, and you have heard form the grapevine that he can be difficult to deal with on projects like this one. You sent two memos to enlist his cooperation, but he has not answered your requests for help. You are dependent on him to provide support because if he does not cooperate soon, the entire installation project will be backlogged. Peers already are complaining that the installation is late as they want their upgraded equipment as soon as possible.

If you were involved in the situation described, what would you do? How would you handle the situation?

A.	_____	Negotiate with this manager, telling him that if he accelerates your request for support, you will provide him with information he needs about a different project.
B.	_____	Find another way around the situation by enlisting the help of another department to provide site preparation support.
C.	_____	Ask a colleague whom you know well to intercede on your behalf with this manager.
D.	_____	Put pressure on this manager by sending him another memo documenting the situation and stating that unless a reply is sent immediately, you will have no choice but to accelerate the situation to the next level.
E.	_____	Accept the situation, assume things will work themselves out, and hope for the best.
F.	_____	Discuss the situation with this manager, imploring him to do the site preparation as soon as possible.

Situation #13. You are the manager of a group of highly skilled computer programmers. One of your subordinates is considered the "star" performer of the computer group in the company. This subordinate developed the company’s premier software a year ago and has contributed a great deal to software development in the company. Recently, however, this individual has not been concentrating on his work. He took a number of days off lately to spend time on his new boat, and upon returning to the office he spent more time on the phone talking to the marina than doing work. You promised your boss that you would have the new software package delivered by the next divisional meeting, and that meeting will occur next month. You are dependent on this subordinate for the technical development of the software; no one else in the company shares this individual’s level of expertise.

If you were involved in the situation described above, how would you handle the situation? What would you do?

A.	_____	Try to do this employee a favor by promising him that if he concentrates his efforts on software development over the next few weeks, you’ll grant him additional time off for his boat later.
B.	_____	Find another employee to assist your "star" performer so that when he loses concentration, someone else can continue the work.
C.	_____	Have your boss meet with the employee while you are present so both of you can discuss the urgency of the software development and the need to work together as a team.
D.	_____	Threaten to fire this employee unless he concentrates his mind on the software development task.
E.	_____	Accept the situation, decide that you can only push a computer genius so far, and hope for the best.
F.	_____	Discuss the situation with this employee, explaining the urgency of the software development.

Situation #14. You like your job and would prefer to continue working for your firm, but you have just built a new house and are in desperate need of a raise. Your spouse has encouraged you to request a raise from your boss. You have heard from one of your peers that your boss is disinclined to offer any additional raises this year as a proposed restructuring is about to take place and budgetary allocations for salaries are about to be thrown out of whack. In fact, your colleague told you that with this news, job security for the entire department may be in jeopardy. Your yearly performance review is about to take place. You are dependent on your boss to provide support for your request with higher-ups, and, further, you need his assurances that your position will remain viable even after the restructuring.

If you were involved in the situation described, what would you do? How would you handle the situation?

A.	_____	Discuss the situation with your boss, imploring him for a raise at this time.
B.	_____	Do your boss a favor by proposing to help with the restructuring. This way, your boss will feel compelled not only to retain your job, but also to give you a raise when the time comes.
C.	_____	Find another way around the situation by sending out your resume to determine what other offers might be available.
D.	_____	Ask your mentor to discuss your personal finances with your boss to encourage his support of your raise.
E.	_____	Put pressure on your boss by threatening to leave the firm unless you get a raise and assurances about your future job security.
F.	_____	Accept the situation, assume that you will retain your job despite restructuring, and hope for the best concerning your raise.

Situation #15. You want to take all four of your vacation weeks together this year, but your boss has a policy that at least two of the managers at your level must remain in the office at all times. Two of your colleagues also want to take their vacation weeks at the same time you planned, and their weeks will overlap the month that you wish to take off. This will compromise your boss’s policy. Unless your colleagues are willing to compromise, you are unlikely to be able to take your vacation time all at once. This would be unfortunate as you already have put down a deposit on a rental cottage for the month and have paid your nonrefundable airline reservations in advance. You are dependent on your colleagues to compromise their vacation times if your vacation is to take place as planned.

If you were involved in the situation described, what would you do? How would you handle the situation?

A.	_____	Ask your colleagues to discuss the situation with your boss to get him to overturn his vacation policy this year.
B.	_____	Put pressure on your colleagues that unless they help you out with your scheduling problem, you will be unable to help them in the future.
C.	_____	Accept the situation, assume that things will work themselves out, and hope for the best.
D.	_____	Discuss the situation with your colleagues, stating that your airline tickets are nonrefundable.
E.	_____	Find another way around the situation by identifying someone who could take your place during the overlap weeks.
F.	_____	Negotiate with your peers that if they reschedule their vacation weeks this year, you will accommodate their wishes next year.

For scoring, please go to Dependency situation - Scoring Key. Scoring will take a while but you should end up with four scores -- your approach vis a vis superiors, peers, subordinates, and overall.