Julia and Lauren were working for a fashion company. They were given an important assignment to work as a team to pick a few looks for a major fashion magazine cover. Each of them picked outfits they liked. Lauren, however, dismissed Julia’s outfit repeatedly, saying it probably won’t be used for the cover. Julia stood by her choice, tolerating all the skepticism from Lauren.
When the magazine was released, the chosen cover outfit turned out to be Julia’s outfit. The manager asked the girls “So which one of you pulled the great cover outfit?” Lauren immediately spoke up and lied that she was the one. Julia gave Lauren a shocked look, frowning and opening her mouth in disbelief. The manager noticed Julia’s facial expressions, but he did not inquire about it. Julia could not bring herself to confront Lauren.
At the launch party of the magazine’s issue, Lauren took full credit for the successful cover look, receiving many praises. She did not bother giving much credit to Julia, neglecting her. The senior editor of the magazine, who was at the party, later offered Lauren a coveted job at his magazine. Only then did Julia have the courage to confront Lauren about her lie, but she just shrugged off the accusation.
Frustrated at Julia’s behavior, Julia began to complain about Lauren to her colleagues. This reached the ears of her manager, who chided Julia for her unprofessionalism and for not coming directly to him about the conflict instead. Also, little could be done about the job offered to Lauren now. Lauren, who heard about how Julia had been talking behind her back, vowed to take revenge on her.
Should Julia have spoken up earlier about Lauren’s lie? Could this communication breakdown between Julia, her manager and Lauren have been avoided?
Hey Renuka
ReplyDeleteThe conflict you mentioned is rather interesting. I feel that Julia should have spoken up earlier on Lauren’s lie. The act of Lauren claiming Julia’s credit is rather unfair to Julia. Moreover, to make it worse, Lauren actually criticized about Julia‘s cover outfit. Conflicts are unavoidable when people work in teams. However, I feel that we should not be too harsh in our words when we reject other people’s ideas. Lauren should have given feedbacks to Julia to ask her to choose a better outfit if what she chose was really not nice and not to directly and repeatedly criticize Julia’s poor choice. Julia should have told the Boss in front of Lauren that the outfit was picked by her so that she would receive her well-deserved compliments. This will also avoid all those frustrations, complains and revenge on Lauren and this will also not make things worse.
Hey Renuka:
ReplyDeleteThe conflict you mentioned, well it sounds a bit drama to me but i know it can happen, people do crazy stuff for fame/money.
I think things could be better if julie raised the problem first when the manager was questioning them. Lies should never be tolerated esp if it doesn't server justice. Julie's quietness merely serves as a testimony to her cowardice in Lauren's eyes, and her later attempt at debasing Lauren's reputation is also rather untactful as it will just reinforce people's perception that julie is coveting Lauren's prospects.
Time is of the essence, isn't it.
However, i still think its not too late to tell the manager the fact. Provided that Julie has all the supporting documents, the manager will be able to revert the decision and treat Julie in the way she deserved.
Hey Renuka,
ReplyDeleteLauren sounds like a horrible person! And yes, I would definitely have confronted Lauren before things progressed - someone stealing my work is something I cannot take lying down. But I don't think it's too late to salvage the situation? I am sure there is *some* way in which Julia can prove that the design was hers... Maybe she has drafts of her design or something? I would personally contact the senior editor privately with said evidence and explanation. Lauren's professionalism is clearly compromised and this should be made known to her employers.
Hey Renuka,
ReplyDeleteEven though Lauren is wrong to dismiss Julia’s outfit repeatedly and lie to her manager, Julia should have spoken up earlier about Lauren’s lie and she seems a little weak not to defend herself. It will be better for Julia if she talked with her manager before the launch party (though I think Julia should bring herself to confront Lauren when Lauren was lying to the manager.) so that she would receive what she deserved earlier and would not make communication breakdown between Julia, her manager and Lauren more serious. Another mistake that Julia made is that she had been talking behind Lauren’s back. There is nothing wrong with Julia, but it is not good to talk behind other’s back. It seems that Julia did not handle this problem well and made matters worse.