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Activity rejected by director for personal reasons


Guest Eric

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In our case, the event director is responsible for assembling teams of people and committees to delegate responsibilities to. So yeah it's not a one-person planner per se because most of the planning is delegated. The decision to host our activity is normally delegated to a committee, but obviously this year that decision was not delegated.
 

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10 hours ago, Guest Eric said:

This is very helpful. Thank you! What is the definition of "previously adopted" in this case? Does that mean that it was voted on? What if no one ever voted on the language of the job description? Does that mean that it was not previously adopted?

It could have been adopted by vote or by unanimous consent.

So where did this job description come from?

10 hours ago, Guest Eric said:

Is this specified somewhere in RONR?

No, it is not, because RONR is a book about meeting procedures.

In every job I have had, however, whether paid or volunteer, it was generally understood that I was expected to do what my boss (whether that was a person or an assembly) told me to do, and if I didn’t, there would be consequences. Has your experience been different?

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14 minutes ago, Josh Martin said:

It could have been adopted by vote or by unanimous consent.

So where did this job description come from?

Not sure. I don't know if that's even possible to find out.

 

14 minutes ago, Josh Martin said:

No, it is not, because RONR is a book about meeting procedures.

In every job I have had, however, whether paid or volunteer, it was generally understood that I was expected to do what my boss (whether that was a person or an assembly) told me to do, and if I didn’t, there would be consequences. Has your experience been different?

Makes sense to me, but it seems that our event director would partially disagree with you. Technically the event director works for the board, and would have to abide by any decisions that the board makes, and the board works for the members, but as far as I understand, the members don't have any way to directly control decisions for the Annual Event other than at the Annual General Meeting, which only happens at the Annual Event, at which point all of the decisions have already been made.

My understanding of the Event Director's opinion on this, is that since the position is appointed, the event director should be able to have complete discretion over the event and not have to listen to its members, who do not know what is best for the organization.

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2 hours ago, Guest Eric said:

My understanding of the Event Director's opinion on this, is that since the position is appointed, the event director should be able to have complete discretion over the event and not have to listen to its members, who do not know what is best for the organization.

Yes, but as you yourself have pointed out, it’s a little late to do anything about this year’s event, so perhaps we should not spend too much time worrying about what this year’s event director thinks.

One would hope that future event directors are more reasonable people who understand how an employer-employee relationship works. I don’t think you really need to clarify that the event director is expected to carry out the wishes of the organization. I think what would be more beneficial is to adopt a motion ordering that this activity be held in future years, so there is something in writing showing that holding this activity is, in fact, the wish of the organization. The next step would probably be to elect board members with more backbone, so that they are willing to step in if future event directors also get this crazy idea of “complete discretion” in their heads.

51 minutes ago, Gary Novosielski said:

It may be too late to do something this year, but it is not too late to censure the Event Director for failure to facilitate the event.  That would certainly send a message to the current (or future) director.

I agree, but since it seems the organization is still getting used to the idea of telling its employees what to do, actually disciplining employees who do not do what they are told to do may be a battle for another day. :)

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1 hour ago, Josh Martin said:

One would hope that future event directors are more reasonable people who understand how an employer-employee relationship works. I don’t think you really need to clarify that the event director is expected to carry out the wishes of the organization.

I feel that I should introduce a motion to clarify some sort of guidance. I know that this event director is somewhat of an anomaly, however, I don't expect this person to leave politics, and also I discussed this issue with one person on the board who seemed to side with the event director saying that it should be at the discretion of the event director.

 

1 hour ago, Josh Martin said:

I think what would be more beneficial is to adopt a motion ordering that this activity be held in future years, so there is something in writing showing that holding this activity is, in fact, the wish of the organization.

I don't really want to do that because, first of all, this activity doesn't happen every year (too much work to do every year), and secondly, there could be valid reasons for the event director to reject the activity certain years. For example, not enough space at the venue. My complaint is not that we got rejected, but rather the reason why we got rejected.

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3 hours ago, Guest Eric said:

I feel that I should introduce a motion to clarify some sort of guidance. I know that this event director is somewhat of an anomaly, however, I don't expect this person to leave politics, and also I discussed this issue with one person on the board who seemed to side with the event director saying that it should be at the discretion of the event director.

I don't really want to do that because, first of all, this activity doesn't happen every year (too much work to do every year), and secondly, there could be valid reasons for the event director to reject the activity certain years. For example, not enough space at the venue. My complaint is not that we got rejected, but rather the reason why we got rejected.

Based on these additional facts, perhaps it would be advisable to amend the event director’s job description to codify that the event director is subordinate to the board and, in turn, to the membership, since some members of the society are unclear on this point, for some reason. If there are indeed members who feel that the event director should instead have “complete discretion,” they are free to offer their own motion to that effect.

Edited by Josh Martin
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5 hours ago, Josh Martin said:

I agree, but since it seems the organization is still getting used to the idea of telling its employees what to do, actually disciplining employees who do not do what they are told to do may be a battle for another day. :)

Ah, well, every battle has to begin someplace.

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