The first problem is a classic case of Taylorism. The work practices have been broken down to their component parts leading to de-skilling within the company, making the work repetitive. This situation calls for a less manufactured way of running the company i.e. the rules and the work have been manufactured to suit the speed of the company rather than to suit the needs of its employees and its customers. I think that the problems here are both context and content the rules being context and the work being content. If we apply Frederick Herzberg’s motivator hygiene theory (1966), as identified by Cherrington D (1990) and change the content of their jobs and give the staff a little more control over the hygiene factors i.e. allowing them to personally reply to customers that need more information that can be given in a standard letter. Also the team should be given to the ability to reorder the way in which their workday is structured. This will lead to higher self-esteem and self-actualization, which are the two top needs on Maslow’s theory of basic hierarchy of basic human needs.
The second problem is context; the way the company handles customer relations needs to be changed. I feel that all members of staff need to be trained in customer relations and a rotation of who deals with customers on a day-to-day basis needs to be arranged. Job rotation was proposed by Herzberg to combat monotony and increase employee motivation. This should reduce dissatisfaction and improve levels of satisfaction making staff feel more motivation within the work place.
Problem three is that skills within the company are going unused, and this is extremely wasteful. Management need to do a skills check including everyone at the firm, find out what people are actually capable of doing and start delegating jobs accordingly. I also feel that a rotation of jobs would be in order for those people with skills in the same area of expertise, this would also be a good way of training staff who are less skilled in certain areas of the company. This means that staff will also become multi-skilled and through job enrichment programs will experience greater job satisfaction.
Applying McClelland’s learned theory of motivation (Mullins L. 1998) could solve the fourth problem, as some people that have greater nPow (the need to influence others and situations, to be dominant, to control) and may respond better to the re-delegation of work and the additional responsibility that comes with delegated work. When this has been applied productivity should improve and management will have more time to get on with some of the more important jobs within the company giving them the opportunity to do a few jobs well rather than a lot of jobs less effectively.
The fifth and sixth problems can be analyzed by applying equity theory. (Cherrington D 1990) The secretary Dawn has been on countless courses on I.T. to try and rectify a feeling of imbalance caused by being given basic work when she is clearly capable of more. Dawn is very intrinsically motivated so management needs to start taking notice of her efforts to improve her capabilities and listen to her ideas on how she can save the company money through better use of her I.T skills. Bill also has ideas on how the company could save time and money; this said I feel the company needs to be more approachable allowing employees to feel they can come to management with any new ideas and any relevant suggestions they have. This will satisfy the extrinsic motivational needs of the employees.
Problem seven is again due to Taylorism. De-skilling has led to departments and people not communicating with each other, forcing alienation on to the employees who clearly want a more team orientated working relationship. Self-managing work groups (Management Concepts and Applications 4th ed) would be a good way of bringing the employee’s together as a team and would enable communication between departments. This will promote a feeling of affiliation with other members of staff and other departments making them feel less like a cog in a machine and more like a member of the team.
Maslow’s hierarchy of basic human needs (Cherrington D 1990) states that self-esteem is very important to the motivation of employee’s in the work place. With management constantly reprimanding and giving orders individual employee’s self-esteem needs are not being met. Management needs to be able to recognize good, hard work and praise the work that has been done. Also, rather than reprimanding every time an employee makes a mistake management need to start giving feedback on what they have done wrong and then give them the information needed to complete the task correctly.
Finally the staff in personnel is not giving enough support to the employees that need it the most. It seems that personnel are not focused enough on the employees’ needs or their ideas for improvement. Personnel should be there for the people working for the company, they need to be more approachable and supportive. They need to take more notice of the problems that the employees may be having and make a point of trying to solve the individuals problem and be seen doing so to make the person in question feel there is help or a solution to the problems that arise at work.
In conclusion if the company applies these theories and ideas for improvement the employee’s should enjoy greater motivation in the workplace and management should see a marked improvement in productivity, although these theories and ideas may not apply to everyone in which case we would need to address the needs of those individuals personally.
Information in this report was obtained from An Integrated Approach to Business Studies 4th ed. Management Organizational Behavior 2nd edition by Laurie. J. Mullins and Management Concepts and Applications 4th Ed.
