I work in a medium-size company which has been operating at national commodity market for several years. There are more than 40 employees in the organization who work in different departments and have different responsibilities. In particular, it is possible to mention our Sales Manager, Mr. Roger Campbell, a 46-year old business coordinator and experienced negotiator, who is the head of the Department of Sales, and our Marketing Manager, Mrs. Juliana Parkinson, a 28-year old charming and sophisticated lady, who is responsible for the work of the company’s Marketing Department.
The first and the most important difference between these two employees is their leadership style. Mrs. Parkinson is an example of pure liberal leader who trusts in her subordinates very much and frequently delegates many important obligations and decision making to her assistants. Mr. Campbell can not be called an autocratic leader and his style has obvious elements of democracy, however, in many situations he is too very bossy and even applies some elements of dictatorship. In particular, he involves in every little matter of his subordinates and insists on making the decisions or choices he points to.
The second difference is their attitude and approach to the work. Mr. Campbell is a very focused and responsible employee, who always pays attention on details. He has to spend a lot of time out of the office. All of his meetings are scheduled for early morning and he is never late to start his working day. He follows a strictly official dress-code. Mrs. Parkinson is also a responsible worker, but she takes her duties much easier. Besides, she is less disciplined, prefers dressing casually and often comes late to the office, but usually she compensates this with working in the evenings. She spends the majority of time in the office.
Personal traits and characters are other considerable differences between these two colleagues. Mr. Campbell is quite cold and self-collected person, who rarely speaks loudly and never shows his true reactions. He is always totally concentrated on work and hardly ever talks about his private life or interests. However, Mrs. Parkinson is more opened and sensitive personality, who always demonstrates friendly attitude toward everything and everyone. She is very communicative, emotional and willingly shares interesting episodes from her personal experience or family stories.
Another difference which is related to the previous one is the reputation of these executives among the other workers. Generally, the majority of the employees try to keep some distance from Mr. Campbell due to his coldness and certain inflexibility. Nevertheless, everybody respects him for his high qualification and successful performances at work. In contrast to him, Mrs. Parkinson has a lot of good friends among the colleagues. It is quite easy to find common language with her and all the employees in the office value the most such qualities of hers as understanding and tolerance.
Yet another difference is their future outlooks and perspectives of their career development. It seems like within some years Mr. Campbell will receive a promotion and become the General Manager of our company. He reached good understanding with our founders, that’s why we tend to think that they will appoint him. As to Mrs. Parkinson, her perspectives are quite uncertain, because she has no opportunity for some good career growth in our company. That is why we suppose that sooner or later she will have to find a job in another company, which would offer her more competitive salary and better opportunities.
Therefore, these two employees are quite different, as well as all the other colleagues who work in our company. Undoubtedly, if a business organization is ambitious and really wants to be successful, it is necessary to select qualified, competent and determined specialists, who must be different in their styles and demonstrate different approaches. This allows such company to be more flexible, mobile, and adaptive, as well as to react faster and more effectively on any changes in economic situation and business environment.