Basic needs i.e. Food, water, and oxygen
Within the case study job related barriers exist whereby features of the job itself, the repetitiveness, the ‘them and us’ feelings towards management and sales staff and the lack of interaction with friends result in a loss of direction and persistence. Therefore all of these features need to be addressed. Debs and the staff need to feel they have some kind of input. Possibly the first thing Dave could do is set up a social group and put Debs in charge of it, giving her the opportunity to organise her fellow workmates. This social group could in turn meet with members of management staff on a quarterly or monthly basis to discuss aspects of the job that could be improved. This is something Debs had previously suggested.
Debs is obviously ambitious as it is shown in her attitude towards the job. She feels as a member of the company there should be some type of ladder to work her way up. Dave has offered her a chance to go on a company-training course, which to Debs doesn’t seem a realistic chance because there is no time period attached to the offer. Dave should either set a time period and re-offer the training course to Debs or simply send her on it now. I think that it would be a wise decision to promote Debs to a semi-supervisory role within the firm whereby she was responsible for the work of those around her. Although she wouldn’t be management she could overlook and help train the other operatives.
The job titles are also shown to be an issue. I would change not only Debs’ job title but also the job title “operative”. Debs should receive the job title “Supervisory assistant” or something similar, whilst the operatives should be referred to as something like “telephone management team”, which, whilst sounding more important, also has the word “team” in the title which automatically lets the person feel they are part of something.
Dave needs to rid the company of its high staff turnover, not just to keep Debs happy but also to prevent the loss of earnings whilst new people come in and are trained. To do this I would introduce some kind of staff loyalty scheme. In my previous company members of staff could gain air miles for a good monthly attendance record and receive a tax free payment for services exceeding ten, twenty, thirty years and above. Schemes such as these would encourage people to stay despite the possibility of boredom. Dave could possibly introduce a Christmas bonus and decorate the offices. In the long term Dave will save money because he will reap the rewards of having trained staff fully available to him.
The operatives need to feel they are contributing, not just to the salesmen’s figures but also to the company and to their own ambitions. To contribute to the company, a voting system could be put in place on small-scale decisions like holiday leave or sick pay, whereby the votes of the staff are taken into account by management. To help relations between salesmen and operatives Dave could instruct Debs to arrange social events for the two parties so that, hopefully relations will improve.
The problem with un-attributable errors should also be solved. The technology exists to single out each worker and determine if they have been accurate. Dave could simply demand that each operative and salesmen write their names by each interaction with a date and summary. Dave could then set up a rule whereby the most accurate operative could go on a company-training course each year provided their attendance was satisfactory. The environment the operatives work in is described as boring, so Dave should allow them to decorate their work-space as long as the items aren’t offensive. This would allow the operatives to personalise their environment into conditions within which they feel the most comfortable.
So, in conclusion Dave needs to work on improving the job itself, the title, the need for intrinsic as well as extrinsic satisfaction, staff relations and staff turnover. He also needs to prevent accuracy falling, and the targets are fine as long as the operatives are rewarded in some way for meeting them. The operatives should, of course be supervised but that doesn’t mean they have to be “treated like children”. The staff should hold mutual respect for each other in the knowledge that one section couldn’t function without another. Therefore supervision should not be so intense. To begin with though, Dave should call Debs back into his office to tell her that, while she was wrong to voice her objections in the way she did, they have been taken into account and action will be taken.
