Lisa Benton - How Did Benton Get Into This Mess?

How did Benton get into this mess?        

The reason Benton got into this mess was both her fault and the situation’s.

        To begin with, it is true that Benton chose to work with Houseworld, not Right-Away, which is clearly a more risky choice. However, such choice was a reasonable one considering the fact that Houseworld was a leader in the industry and offered better marketing training. Therefore, Benton’s choice was a contributing factor, but not something that she could be blamed for.

        Actual problem emerged when she got Houseworld. Her bosses, Linton and Scoville, both held personal grudge to MBA graduates. I think this is quite a big factor. It wasn’t a result of any of Benton’s actions, but still it is one of the bigger factors.

        Benton’s contribution to this mayhem was that she wasn’t patient with dealing with her work and her peers in her team. It is true that the Linton and Scoville didn’t give her a lot of chances, but she, knowing that they already have bad impressions of MBAs, should’ve laid low and avoided conflict during the copying incident or the analysis incident.

        Those incidents, altogether, has gotten her into the mess she’s in.

Could she have done anything differently?

        As I’ve mentioned on the previous slide, Benton can’t do anything about the fact that she chose to come to Houseworld and the fact that her bosses have feelings against MBA graduates. As long as Benton can’t foresee the future, she couldn’t possibly have known.

        However, she could’ve avoided conflicts. To me it seemed that Benton fully acknowledged that she’s a trainee. As a trainee, when she had faced uncertain situations, she should’ve asked people what to do when she noticed the typing error on the chart. Correcting the error herself when it’s not her job is exactly the kind of action that Scoville and Linton deemed “arrogant”.

        Same goes for the copying incident. It is true that simple copying is below her. However, she shouldn’t have made it so obvious. Copying is a tedious job, but it is also a chance to prove that she’s a team player. Eventually, Scoville would’ve been pleased with Benton’s work and reappraised her presence.