Lisa Benton Case

In the Lisa Benton case, Lisa Benton, a fresh MBA graduate is placed in a difficult work situation. She is excited about the organization she is working for, looks forward to the training programs, and enjoys the other employees of the business. However, her direct boss and coworker are providing a difficult work experience for her. They advise her to do things she believes are not beneficial, is not treated the same as the other coworker, and feels she may not be getting the training and guidance she needs. As a future MBA graduate, this case provides a variety of situations I may encounter.

The first thing Lisa notices that may be amiss is that her boss, Deborah Linton says she does not like MBA graduates. Linton says MBA graduates are arrogant and pretend they know more than they do. As an employee on your first day of work, this may be an intimidating and difficult comment to address. Lisa does her best to say she is not that type of MBA graduate and is willing to prove it.

In this situation, I think it may have been important to do more probing to find why Linton has such a negative opinion of MBA graduates. It is important because it provides Linton a way to sort out her feelings of MBA graduates. Solving her unresolved issues may be what she needs. Also, if Benton knows exactly why Linton has such an opinion of MBA graduates she will have an easier time fixing that perception. However, this may be something better to do in a series of steps throughout the next few days of work. The sooner the issue is addressed, the better.

Another issue is that Linton is not giving Lisa the attention and training a new employee typically receives. Instead, Linton keeps saying "later" in regards to meetings and training. Lisa took the job because she was attracted to the marketing training she would receive. It had been four months and she hadn't received any of the marketing training she expected.

If marketing training was discussed in the job description, I would continue pushing for that training. I would not give up as easily as Lisa did. I would remind my boss of the training or ask for specific areas I would like training in and try to provide the opportune time for such training. I would specifically try to tell my boss that given the amount of time I've been at the company I should be able to do X,Y,Z. I would then provide an argument that I am not capable of that yet and behind other employees at the same level I am in. If my boss persisted in avoiding the proper training, I would talk to a superior. I took the job because of the promise of marketing training and that is what I should receive.

Throughout the case study, a variety of examples show that Lisa's experience and skills are underutilized. This is contributed by the actions of both her boss and her coworker. She knows she has ideas and opinions that could contribute to the product, but she is told to keep them to herself