The Partys Over, Time for the Favors - Essay Example

              The Party’s Over, Time for the Favors For a party favor company, there does not seem to be much fun being had for the employers of Oriental Trading. Sam Taylor, the CEO of the company, was given an enlightening opportunity to appear on Undercover Boss for his business. Mr. Taylor was in for a rude awakening with his lower level employee’s opinions about working for the company. A leader must have direct communication throughout all levels of his followers. Sam Taylor took accountability for his lack of concern for the lower level employees. A great leader will take ownership for his or her faults within the company, and find ways to improve. The journey Mr. Taylor chose to take through “Undercover Boss” not only opened his eyes but his heart. An effective leader is a person who has the ability to recognize organizational failings and acknowledge that those failings are an opportunity for improvement.  Undercover Boss gives corporate leaders the chance to experience first hand what their company’s organizational failings are and use what they witness as a learning experience, since the most important quality a leader can possess is being an active learner.  For Sam Taylor, the CEO of Oriental Trading Company, the experience gave him the chance to understand the company from a new perspective.  By undertaking several of the more blue collar jobs with other Oriental Trading Company employees, it highlighted just how big the information gap was between the upper management and the warehouse employees.  This information gap was possibly the biggest failure in the company; people in the warehouse had suggestions to improve the company, but no way to reach the management.  On the other hand, management had no way to understand what the warehouse employees valued and without knowing what the workers valued they were rewarding them in the wrong way.  This gap was causing more than low company morale; it was starting to cause a serious lack of company loyalty.  Sam had to realize that the more you are engaged in learning, the more successful you are as a leader.  By encouraging other members of management to get involved with the everyday operations to discover what their constituents valued, the company can grow and develop into a more unified corporation.   After watching this episode, we found Sam made a few mistakes that most other leaders commonly make as well. First, many leaders, including Sam, often reward their workers in ways they think the workers would like to be rewarded. Often times however, the employees would rather be rewarded in other ways. In this episode, Kim shares with Sam that she would rather do away with the family picnics the company provides and have the company focus on taking care of their employees while they’re there. This is a common mistake made by many leaders and can be resolved by simply asking the employees how they would like to be rewarded. Employees could even offer multiple choices of reward including more vacation days, a free meal, a raise, money towards college fund, etc. The employee could then pick from the list so the higher-ups wouldn’t have to guess and potentially be wrong. Another common mistake made is that managers and other higher-level employees are impersonal with their lower level employees. Troy mentions that he feels like he is just a number, and therefore does not enjoy working for Oriental Trading Company. This is a mistake that is easy for many managers to make, however it can be detrimental to the happiness and willingness to work hard of other employees.  Our book states that, “ Social support enhances productivity, psychological well-being, and even physical health.” This statement alone shows the importance of treating employees well and as more than just a number. Just by being supportive, friendly, and knowing their actual name, productivity will greatly increase and employees will be happier with their jobs. Finally, another common mistake leaders make is running a company based on profits rather than culture. In this episode, virtually every employee Sam talks to mentions how the cut backs he has made are negatively impacting their view of the company. In the beginning of the episode, Sam discusses why he had to make certain cut backs, however he does not see the impact it has on his employees. The book Good to Great emphasizes this point. In this book, Jim Collins states, “Sustained great results depend on building a culture full of self-disciplined people who take disciplined action.” Going along with the example from this episode, because Sam removed the sports drinks from the refrigerators, his employees were very dissatisfied and less willing to work hard. Rather than focusing on the amount of money removing the sports drinks saves, he should focus more on how much more productive and happy a simple sports drink can make his employees. By focusing more on the company culture rather than amount of profit, employees will be happier, work harder, and in the end this should show in increased profits. The best leaders are aware of their own capabilities and their followers concerns. They understand their skill sets and the limitations of what they can and cannot do. By continually evaluating the demands of a situation and their ability to handle it, the best leaders usually avoid lucky breaks, mistakes and neglect. The best leaders know when to consult, ask for help, and say no. Like everyone else, leaders make the occasional accident and make a mistake. What then? The answer separates the effective from the ineffective leaders. You must learn from your mistakes so that you never repeat the same one. As the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me” After a mistake or misstep the followers, and the leader, may be disappointed, but the leader’s good-faith effort has set a positive example, and no one feels duped or abandoned. The leader must: reflect on their misstep, openly apologize, make amends and think about how to things better next time. In this situation the CEO of Oriental Trading owned up to the mistake he made after viewing firsthand what was going on in his company. Laying the responsibility elsewhere, spinning the mistake as a triumph, or pretending there was actually no mistake are all defensive reactions grounded in the fear that admitting a mistake may cause the group to lose respect for the leader. CEO Sam Taylor anted up and took ownership of his mistakes. Now that the company employees know that he understood what he did wrong and corrected the mistakes, there will be a positive moral throughout the company, resulting in an exceptional work environment and increased production. As another old saying goes, “It’s not how you fall; it’s how you get up.” No mistake is a failure if you persist. Sam Taylor will never forget this experience of “Undercover Boss.” The lesson he has learned about his own faults within the company was truly eye opening. No longer will any employee feel that they are just a number, but an actual human being. A great leader understands that it is their responsibility to change the dynamic of the company if it has becoming unpleasing to employees. This new perspective will encourage these Oriental Trading employees to work even harder because they realize that the “big man” cares very much for them. Leaders have the ability to change areas in the company everyday, but with Sam Taylor’s journey, he was able to change lives. Read More