CF&F in Light of the Aforementioned Areas - Research Paper Example

Introduction The human resource mananager has a number of tasks to accomplish in any given organization. The human resources manager faces a number of challenges in an endeavour to ensure that the organization runs smoothly. In the case of CF&F, some ofn the areas that the human resources manager had to deal with include training of emplotyees, communication, and teamwork which is closely related to motivation. This paper seeks to analyse CF&F in light of the aforementioned areas. The Problem As the human resource manager of CF&F, there are some problems that occurred before joining the company. These problems regard the management of the organization and some of the things were done deliberately or through ignorance. Thus, a need arose to change management of the organization. The following are some of the problems: Training for the hourly employees and the management – after the promotion of the frontline supervisors, none of them received any managerial development training. The management of the company has been promising the hourly employees that they will get training and promotion but this has never happened. They are now afraid that the management is not adhering to the company policies. Communication – there is lack of communication in the organization. The absence of communication is felt all over the organization, that is, between the managerial positions and between the management and the employees. Teamwork – teamwork lacks in the organization. This can be ascertained by the allegations raised by both the frontline supervisors and the employees. The employees allege that the frontline supervisors do not offer them enough training. On the other hand, the frontline supervisors allege that the upper management does not support and respond to the concerns raised. Potential Causes There are a number of causes of the mentioned problems. These causes stem from the past management, for example, (a) the frontline supervisors were promoted within the company and the once promoted, they did not receive any management development training, (b) the management has been promising the hourly employees that they will get training and promotion but this has never been fulfilled, (c) the management of the company has not been adhering to the company policies and they are forcing the employees to follow the policies, this has made the employees to feel resentment, (d) the lack of training among the employees is attributed to the fact that the frontline supervisors are overwhelmed by the production schedule, and (e) teamwork lacks within the management, the frontline officers allege that the upper management does not back them when it comes to making managerial or technical decisions. Analysis of the Current State The current situation in the company is one faced by the mentioned problems; (a) lack of communication, (b) the absence of teamwork, and (c) lack of training for the hourly employees and the management. From the analysis done, the employees assert that due to the lack of communication, their safety is at risk; the employees feel that there are shortcuts use to meet the production quotas of the company and this has made them to be concerned for their personal safety. The frontline supervisors are not happy with their current situation. They feel that their concerns are not been addressed in the right way by the management and support from the upper management is not there. Desired Future State after the Change The desired future state after the change is an organization where communication is good, the hourly employees and the management are offered training, and the organization upholds teamwork. Management Strategies Increased Communication Organizational communication can be defined as balancing constraint and creativity. It focuses on how people utilize communication to reduce the tension between promoting creativity and change and functioning within the restraints of the pre-existing organizational structures. Approach to the organizational communication puts emphasis on balancing constraint and creativity and it focuses on accomplishing balance between utilizing communication that motivates the change desired and being thoughtful of the existing organizational constraints. There are five areas that are of great importance in organizational communication; leadership, teams, communication networks, organizational culture, and organizational learning (The World Bank, 2009). Leadership Leadership is described as a process of communication in which the ideas expressed in action or talk are acknowledged by others as progressing tasks that are essential to them. There are three crucial principles for successful leadership communication; (a) it associates the followers’ minds and hearts, (b) it manages the competing tensions and goals, and (c) it is context dependent (The World Bank, 2009). Teams Teams according to organizational communication can be defined as two or more individuals who have a recognizable goal or a particular performance objective that is to be achieved through the coordination of the activities among the team members. There are four crucial team qualities; (a) a clear elevating goal, (b) a result-driven structure, (c) a competent team members, and (d) a unified commitment (The World Bank, 2009). Communication Network A communication network can be described as a group of people who are identified as sharing the regular modes of communication. There are two forms of networks that exist, a centralized network and a decentralized network. A decentralized is crucial when the information is shared extensively among and flows via the many people within the organization. Decentralized networks are suitable for managing complex and turbulent environments because the members of the organization are capable of communicating the changes they deem in the business environment. Each member can partake in sharing knowledge and ideas in the management of the changes (The World Bank, 2009). Organizational Culture Organizational culture is described as the ideology, rituals, values, and knowledge that the individuals share. Unethical practices tend to appear in an organizational culture with broken promises; in such a situation nobody takes the responsibility for the decisions and actions taken, and there is minimization of dissent and participation. The language people use, the stories they make and the organization of the physical work of a company are important factors in the determination of the type of culture in the organization; this in turn determines the mode of communication (The World Bank, 2009). Organizational Learning Organizational learning entails elaboration of the organizational members’ capability to think constructively in a rich and new way that fosters coordinated activity. Organizations tend to learn when they create practices that permit them to foster a shared vision, to engage in systems thinking, develop the capability to view the situation from a number of perspectives, and encourage self-reflection (The World Bank, 2009). Training For Hourly Employees and Management Training is the process in which the individuals obtain capabilities to execute jobs. Training offers the employees with particular, identifiable skills and knowledge for the utilization in their current jobs. Organizational utilization of training entails hard skills and soft skills. Training is designed in a way to meet the objectives and it is classified into various categories: a) Required and regular training – it is offered to all the employees. b) Technical/job training – gives the employees the capability to perform their jobs well. c) Problem-solving and interpersonal training – it seeks to enhance the organizational relationship and it addresses interpersonal and operational problems. d) Career and developmental training – offers a long tern focus to improve organizational and individual abilities for the future (Jackson and Mathis, 2007). Training is supposed to focus on preparing the management to organize, coordinate, plan, control, and command for optimal performance. A better management should not entirely dwell on disciplining and improving the output of the employees but it should also address the training of the upper management (Clegg, Kornberger and Pitsis, 2005). Teamwork A company’s attitude towards the introduction of teamwork is very important as it helps in the process of applying and transforming the organizations work into a high performance workplace organization. Teamwork should not be taken as an answer (or even a solution) to all the company’s rising problems and any organizational changes that always require interventions at all levels and in particular within an enterprise. When a company decides to initiate a teamwork that will help bring success and a teamwork that will last, it has to ensure that all the teamwork is integrated in the entire organization and the structural requirements are modified to the new model (Vaskova, 2007). These conditions can help the organizational change to bring positive changes (these changes include operation efficiency, higher quality of output, better mutual relations and the improved innovative capacity) when they are taken into consideration. The principal condition that helps bring out a strong teamwork includes sufficient independence for the team members and direct participation from all the team members (Vaskova, 2007). A strong teamwork ought to have a good right team climate in order to be beneficial and innovative in all that they do. Hence, a good teamwork always looks forward for success. The participation among individual team members and multi-skilling are some of the most important preconditions that bring team effectiveness. In the multi-skilled teams, borders that are between different jobs are normally broken down so as to encourage and motivate employees to expand their skills and knowledge by trying out different sections and positions (Vaskova, 2007). Strategies for Decision Making Process in the Implementation of the Plan The entire strategic management process starts when the executives assess their present position in respect to the organization’s strategies, goals, and mission. The next step entails scanning the internal and external environment of the organization and the identification of the strategic factors that may need change. The external and internal events offer an indication that the organization might require to redefine its goals and mission or create a new strategy at the business, functional or corporate level. The final stage entails the implementation of the new strategy (Daft and Marcic, 2010). Strategy formulation entails decision making and planning that leads to the formation of the company’s goals and the establishment of a particular strategic plan. Strategic formulation may entail assessment of the internal problems and the external environment and the integration of the outcomes into strategy and goals. Managers may utilize new equipment, persuasion or changes in the organization structure in order to make sure that the resources and employees are utilized to make the developed strategy a reality (Daft and Marcic, 2010). Advise To the Management on the Implementation of the Plan The first process change management process is the submission of the change proposal. The proposal includes a comprehensive explanation of the change needed, an explanation for the change, and the benefits of the implementation of the change (Martinelli et al., 2009). In this context, change is needed in the organization management and in particular improvement in communication, training and teamwork. As the human resource manager, the proposal will explain everything to the management in regard to the changes that are required in the organization. The second step is assessing the change; the change request proposal is reviewed by the relevant authority, the authority makes a decision and puts forth the proposal to the program team for estimating the implementation and cost. The requested change may be denied; filtering nonvalue add and poorly justified changes prevents wastage of effort on the program resources. Once change has been assessed, there is evaluation of the costs and benefits in form of budget, resource, and schedule impact. The change requested may be approved, disapproved or returned for further assessment (Martinelli et al., 2009). The third step is updating the plan and documentation. The last step is the communication of the change. The change is extensively communicated and the impact it has on all the interested and affected program stakeholders. Communication is supposed to entails the change description, effect to the program, and the benefits of the change implementation. There should be no surprises in the change management (Martinelli et al., 2009). Performance Indicators to Measure the Success of the Plan Implementation Performance indicators are conducted by the entire project team and in this case the management should be aware that the project team will take the mandate of assessing the plan implementation. The project team identifies particular performance indicators and they include; the main components of the change (in this case communication, training, and teamwork), the components relationship, the requirements by the human resource, and the integration of the component networks (McCalman, Paton and Paton, 2008). It is imperative to note that these performance indicators will determine the success of the plan implementation; the management can use the performance indicators to test the viability of the proposed change management. Conclusion There are a number of challenges that CF&F experiencved in running smoothly. The new human resourecs manager had to institute a number of measures to correct previous governance failures with respect to employee training, teamwork and communication. Various measures could be taken to see the organizatsion perform better some of these including instituting timely and conntinous training of employees, proper planning to solve problems that may hamper teamwork and establishing an organizational culture that allows people to communicate freely while at the same time showing respect. References Clegg, S., Kornberger, M. & Pitsis, T. (2005). Managing and organizations: An introduction to theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Daft, R. L. & Marcic, D. (2010). Understanding management. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Jackson, J. H. & Mathis, R. L. (2007). Human resource management. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Martinelli, R., Milosevic, D. Z. & Waddell, J. M. (2009). Program management for improved business results. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. McCalman, J., Paton, R. & Paton, R. A. (2008). Change management: A guide to effective implementation. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. The World Bank. (2009). Organizational communication. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Vaskova, R. (2007). Teamwork and high performance work organization. Retrieved from http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/reports/TN0507TR01/TN0507TR01_3.htm Read More