Blackman-Dodds

(This case was prepared by Richard C. Hedgeson (1964) under the direction of
Professor Abraham Zaleznik)

This case consists of an interchange between a superior and subordinate in a research

laboratory. The subordinate, a newly hired professional research worker made an
appointment to see the director. The following interview took place.

Dr Richard Dodds, physics research worker entered the office and showed his superior,
Blackman, a letter. This letter was from Prof Wilkin of another research institution
offering Dodds a position; Blackman read the letter.

Dodds: What do you think of that?

Blackman: I knew it was coming. He asked if it would be all right if he sent it. I told him
to go ahead; if he wanted to.

Dodd: I did not expect it, particularly after what you said to me last time……I’m really
quite happy here. I do not want you to get the idea that I am thinking of leaving. But I
thought I should go and visit him – I think he expects it – and I wanted to let you know
that just because I was thinking of going down, that did not mean I was thinking of
leaving here, unless of course, he offers me something extraordinary.

Blackman: Why are you telling me all this?

Dodds: Because I did not want you hearing from somebody else that I was thinking of
leaving here because I was going for a visit to another institution. I really have no
intention of leaving here you know, unless he offers me something really extraordinary
that I cannot afford to turn down. I think I’ll tell him that I am really willing to look at his
laboratory, but unless there is something unusual there for me, I have no intention of
leaving here.

Blackman: It’s upto you.

Dodds: What do you think?

Blackman: Well, what? About what? You’ve got to make up your mind.

Dodds: I don’t consider this job too seriously. He is not offering anything really
extraordinary. But I am interested in what he has to say, and I would like to look around
his lab.

Blackman: Sooner or later you are going to have to make up your mind where you want
to stay.
Dodds: That depends on the offers, doesn’t it? (sharply)

1
Blackman: No, not really; a good man always gets offers. You get a good offer and you
move, and as soon as you have moved, you get other good offers. It would throw you into
confusion to consider all the good offers you will receive. Isn’t there a factor of how
stable you want to be?

Dodds: But I am not shopping around. I already told you that. He sent me this letter, I
didn’t ask him to. All I said was I think I should visit him, and to you that’s shopping
around!

Blackman: Well you may choose to set aside your commitment here if he offers you
something better. All I am saying is that you will still be left with the question of you
have got to stay some place, and where is that going to be.

Dodds: You really don’t think that I could find a better job than the one you have offered
me here?

Blackman: I do not know. I am not thinking about that.

Dodds: How would it look if I were to leave?

Blackman: To me, if you wanted to go, I would say fine, if that’s what you want. But
frankly I think there would be few raised eyebrows if you were to leave now.

Dodds: But I’m not shopping around, I want you to understand that.

Blackman: You’ve got the problem of all young men who are sought after, you’ve got to
decide what you will accept and what you won’t.

Dodds: Look, I came in here, and I want to be honest with you, but you go and make me
feel all guilty, and I don’t like that.

Blackman: You are being honest as can be.

Dodds: I didn’t come in here to fight. I don’t want to disturb you.

Blackman: I’m not disturbed. If you think it is best for you to go somewhere else, that is
O.K. with me. We can get another plasma physicist any day as good as you. They are
standing in line to get in here. What bothers me is how restless you want to appear to me
and Wilkin. For one thing, you’ve got everything analysed out in terms of what you want;
tenure, appointment, and space. Things like that.

Dodds: That’s obvious. I can’t understand you. You really think that no one will ever be
able to make me an offer that will make me want to leave this place.

Blackman: All I’m saying is that it looks funny. You asked me how it would look, and
I’m telling you it would look funny so soon after you getting fixed up here.

Dodds: Well, I was just trying to be honest, and…….

2
Blackman: (Interrupting) All the jobs you get offered at this stage in your career are the
same. They are all the same. One may give you a little more salary but it will have a
lousy lab. Another may offer you tenure and higher title, but you would be dead in ten
years if you went there. What you should be looking for is an opportunity to do work and
to develop in an environment. Your colleagues, the really important ones, don’t give a
damn whether you are a Junior or Associate Research Worker. Don’t get me wrong. I
don’t want to hold you back. I just want to give you some advice.

Dodds: But I don’t see what this has to do with me. All I said was I would consider his
offer if it was so good I couldn’t afford to turn it down. Do you think I should turn it
down even if it is a better job?

Blackman: All I’m saying is may be it’s too fast.

Dodds: What of it? Are you telling me that a young person coming up shouldn’t take the
best job offered to him?

Blackman: What should they take?

Dodds: Young people should take the best jobs they can get, and go where they want.

Blackman: Yes, but not too fast.

Dodds: How fast?

Blackman: I don’t know. Enough time to settle in and do a job of work.

Dodds: One, two, three years?

Blackman: It depends.

Dodds: When should I be thinking of leaving this laboratory, then? When do you think
would be the best time for me to go?

Blackman: I think it would look like Dodds had a lot of opportunism and self interest.
You know what I mean? Like he was restless. It would not look good.

Dodds: I don’t understand you. I came in here to be honest with you and you make me
feel guilty. All I wanted was to show you this letter, and let you know what I was going to
do. What should I have told you?

Blackman: That you had read the letter, and felt that under the circumstances it was
necessary for you to pay a visit to Wilkin, but that you were happy here, and wanted to
stay at least until you had got a job of work done.

Dodds: I can’t get over it. You think there isn’t a place in the world I’d rather be than
here in this lab…………….
3
Definitions:

Career: The sequence of a person’s work-related activities and behaviors and

associated attitudes, values and aspirations over the span of one’s life. Internal
focus & external focus through series of jobs held by him.

Career planning: A deliberate process for (1) becoming aware of self,

opportunities, constraints, choices and consequences; (2) identifying career
related goals; (3)programming of work, education, and related developmental
experiences to provide the direction, timing, and sequence of steps to attain
specific career goal.

Career management: An ongoing process of preparing, implementing and

monitoring career plans undertaken by the individual alone or in concert with the
organisation’s career system.

Organisational
career
development

Career planning Career management

Subprocesses Subprocesses
Occupational choice Recruitment and selection
Organisational choice Human resource allocation
Choice of job assignment Appraisal and evaluation
Career self development Training and development

Question for class discussion: If you were in charge of the Laboratory (in place
of Blackman), how would you have handled the career aspirations of your
research workers.