You have been asked to head a small working group within your organization. When your group was assembled, you were pleased to see that a colleague named Ron had been assigned to your group. Ron is reputed to be a very bright and creative fellow who was part of another highly successful group in the organization. However, Ron has been arriving late to group meetings and recently showed up halfway through the meeting and was clearly unprepared.
You overheard two members of the group discussing Ron’s behavior. One group member, Marsha, was wondering why Ron had not been removed from the group yet; the other team member, Bill, speculated that Ron has been having some problems at home and suggested that everyone should cut him some slack.
Next week your group is expected to complete an important project so that the results can be passed along to other members of the organization. Each team member is responsible for a different part of the project, and Ron is responsible for the two most important parts. Your group is scheduled to meet tomorrow to do any last minute coordination that may be required. Based on that timetable, you gave the head of your Association your personal guarantee that the project would be done by Monday.
Ron calls you today and says he doesn’t have his sections finished and probably won’t be able to finish them before the meeting. He says he just needs more time.
What would you say to Ron? Write in your own interpretation on exactly how you would respond to Ron to address this situation.
