Teamwork And Problem Solving - Research Paper Example

Name Class Unit Summary This report is based on CSC Engineering which has been losing employees through poaching by the competitor. The report starts with an essay on how the engineering team took their roles in coming up with the solution. The task shows the team dynamics and explains the Tuckman model based on the team forming processes. The tasks were allocated based on team members experience and capabilities. This led to a solution which was based on motivation, creation of a career path and work life balance. The second task includes how the problem was identified and solutions determined. Through risk benefit analysis, it was possible to come up with a strategy that had the least costs and maximum benefits. It is clear that the team success was based on cohesiveness and valuing all members contributions. Table of Contents Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Task 1 4 Task 2 6 Identification of the problem 6 Definition of Strategy 8 Evaluation of tools and methods for developing solutions to problems 8 Discussion 9 Description of 3 Solutions and how the group developed them to address the work based problem 9 1.Motivation 9 2.Creating a clear career path 11 3.Work life balance 11 Cost benefit analysis 12 Cost benefit analysis of employee motivation 12 Costs benefit analysis of creating a career path 13 Cost benefit analysis of Work life balance 13 Recommended Strategy and Conclusion 14 Detailed strategy that the group developed to resolve problem of employee poaching and evaluation of its potential impact on the wider organisation 14 References 15 Appendix 17 Introduction CSC Engineering has been losing staff leading to high staff turnover and losses. As an engineering team, working together can help the organisation come up with a solution. This involves working as an effective team to determine what the HR Director and CEO can do to address the current issues. Employee turnover is one of the greatest risks in a business. This is caused by the loss of talent and knowledge which are vital business assets (Beechler & Woodward, 2009). As employee poaching becomes a major issue, the business has to come up with ways to retain their best talent. Teamwork involves being able to work collaboratively to effectively come up with a solution (Pynadath & Tambe, 2002). It involves the ability to come up with a highly performing team. This report is based on teamwork by CSC engineers’ to come up with a solution required by the HR Director and CEO to retain workers hence reduce high turnover. Task 1 Teamwork involves individuals working together in a collaborative working environment. At ESC engineering, teamwork is essential and an integral part of operation. Team success is based on the synergy of all members involved which leads to a participatory environment. According to Tuckman theory, team goes through a four step process; forming, storming, norming and performing (Pynadath & Tambe, 2002). At CSC Engineering, working as a tem to come up with a solution involved going through all the four processes based on Tuckman. The engineering team had previously worked together for six months hence we were familiar with each other strengths and weaknesses. The team started with choosing a leader. This was not a hard task since we had been having leadership forums. The engineer chosen to lead had been a leader in a previous forum and had performed exceptionally. During the forming process, all members focused on the leader guidance only and maintained a polite distance with others. The leader listened and gave out the expectations on the task ahead (Pynadath & Tambe, 2002). In the storming stage, we were able to survive without fractions forming. Despite this, there were cases of conflicts where members working together would not agree on issues. Conflicts at this stage led to dragging of the team and ambiguity. The members made their impressions which in some cases left out the project at hand. A team level goal was decided to make the roles and responsibilities clear. It was also agreed that the team will keep on redefining roles and responsibilities in cases where they were not clear (Salas, Cooke & Rosen, 2008). The tasks were divided based on team members capabilities. The tasks that were at hand were; identifying the number of employees who have left, interviewing the remaining employees, collecting employee satisfaction data, identifying employee motivation strategies available and identifying ways in which workers are attracted to competitor. These tasks were allocated to individual engineers and in some instances team members were allowed to work in together. The team was able to reach the norming stage with all members content and decisions being made. The ideas started being turned into reality and new relationships formed (Pynadath & Tambe, 2002). At this stage, the team leader used coaching style where team were members were asked for solutions before giving his own. The team members were able to give their findings and discussed by the team members. Based on the team findings, it was found out that the problems facing the organisation could be solved through increasing employee motivation, creating a career path and enhancing work life balance. The team members found out that most of the employees felt they were not valued for their efforts. They were also overworked and there were low chances of career development. The team had to come together and look at the solutions presented in order to come up with a strategy to solve the organisation problem. The team carried out a cost benefit analysis and come up with a strategy that included the most benefit and least cost for the organisation. This was a strategy that addressed the organisation employee retention rate through enhancing motivation, career development and work life balance. It was also made sure that all stakeholders were aware of individual team member achievements. Given the same opportunity again, the team can use alternative ways to gain the solution. The team would have used the Lencioni model to improve their functioning (Salas, Cooke & Rosen, 2008). This would make it fast to commit to decisions and reduce ambiguity. The team would enhance their teaming skills and focus more on goals and goal setting activities. The team would also ask for more support and resources from the organisation. This would have made it easier to obtain the final solution with less time and more efficiency (Tambe & Zhang, 2000). The new approach would lead to a highly performing team. Task 2 Identification of the problem CSC engineering is losing staff where resignations have become common. This is mostly due to the nearest competitor taking an aggressive stance on poaching most talented people from the company. The competitor is using attractive remuneration packages which have led to CSC losing experienced staff. The team identified the problems that led to high employee turnover as: Tension of the relationship between the employer and employees. Over exploitation by the employers. Absence of opportunities for growth and development. There is high level of tension in the relationship between the employer and employees. This is especially in some of the departments where there exists poor employee and employer working relationships. There are poor working conditions and employees are not adequately motivated (Viorel et al., 2009). Employees feel that they are being denied equitable and fair remuneration and their working standards are poor. There is faulty communication which has made the situation worse and the relations. There is high dissatisfaction on the jobs and lacks work life balance (White et al., 2003). The current level of employee exploitation at the organisation is high. Employees feel that they are being treated badly and feel that they have no job security. Most of the workers in the production department have been working long hours and not being given credit for their contribution. There have been cases where certain employees feel that they are discriminated against and given poor working environment due to discrimination. In fact, most of the employees feel that they are not valued by the organisation and are being used for firm profit only (Viorel et al., 2009). Most of the leaving employees claim that the organisation has no growth opportunities. The professionals are highly marketable and do not find adequate opportunities in the organisation. There is poor training and development program. Lack of growth opportunities in a career is a major reason employees leaves a company (Viorel et al., 2009). Most of the employees feel that it is hard to find growth opportunities in the organisation. Definition of Strategy The team worked together using focused strategic actions. The strategy involved engaging and exciting the team with a shared vision. This ensured that the team members were committed to the tasks allocated (Sycara & Sukthankar, 2006). The team has complementary skills which will help a lot during task allocation. The strategy is aimed at keeping the best employees in the organisation and avoids poaching by the competitors. This will involve attracting and keeping the experienced employees to ensure that they do not leave for the competitors. Evaluation of tools and methods for developing solutions to problems To solve the problem, there will was use of tools and methods. The tools and methods that were used to develop solutions to these problems are; decision matrix, multi-voting, decision trees, cost benefit analysis and T-charts. The teams also use brainstorming techniques to narrow down solutions (Fülöp, 2005). Through decision matrix, it was possible to evaluate all options that were given. A table was created with all options and factors that were affecting the decision. The users then scored points and weighed all factors that were seen to be of importance. This lead to narrowing of the tallied score and coming up with the appropriate option. Using a T chart, the options were weighed to ensure all the positives and negatives were addressed when coming up with the final decision. A decision chart was made which comprised of a model contemplating each option and expected outcome. Multi-voting helped to reduce the number of options given by different team members to manageable size. This helped a lot in coming up with the final decision. Through use of Pareto analyses, it was possible to prioritise the decision making process. It helped in determining which decisions were to be made first and which had the greatest overall impact. Lastly, cost benefit analysis was used by the team to weight on the financial impact each of the alternative had. This helped in coming up with a final decision which had the best economic sense (Fülöp, 2005). Discussion Description of 3 Solutions and how the group developed them to address the work based problem 1. Motivation The group brainstormed on how to reduce tension between employees and employers while at the same time enhancing level of employees’ satisfaction. They found out that motivation leads to better relationship in the workplace and enhance satisfaction. The business should consider using an employee retention program. This is through creating an environment that is capable of supporting and retaining the employees. Through employee retention, the organisation should encourage workers to remain in the organisation. Giving employees a chance to use creativity in solving problems is a method that can help in retaining them. This involves being able to share challenges with them and acknowledging their ideas. It has been proved that motivation has the ability to reduce employees’ turnover. In this case, motivation techniques can be used in enhancing employees’ retention (White et al., 2003). To succeed in this, the team looked at different ways in which the employees should be motivated. Each member of the group had to come up with a motivation technique. The group came up with both intrinsic and extrinsic methods that could be used to motivate the employees. The group came up with three extrinsic motivation techniques as listed below where each member gave contribution: Financial rewards The team members decided after brainstorming that financial rewards can help the firm to retain the best talent. This included the firm having a bonus and stock option for the employees. The drive for financial rewards is expected to keep the employees in the organisation. It was agreed that the bonuses were to be released based on the employee contribution or performance. Praise and recognition Receiving praise for hard work is very important in employees’ retention. When an employee performs handwork, they expect to be recognised for it. The team noted that there were few instances where well performing employees had been praised for their contribution. A brainstorming session was held by the team and they discovered that the employees were not satisfied with their jobs. It was established that praise and recognition was one of the strongest extrinsic motivator (White et al., 2003). It was recommended that there is need for use of sincere and genuine compliments to motivate employees. The intrinsic motivation techniques which the group came up with are: Responsibility As an intrinsic motivator, most of the team members agreed on responsibility. They argued that addition of responsibilities to the employees can act as a motivator. This involved giving talented employees more opportunities to become leaders and managers. Through responsibility, it was agreed that employees will be able to become part of management and help in shaping the organisation future (White et al., 2003). This will reduce the number of employees willing to join the competitors. Accomplishment This involves reminding the employees on their successful accomplishments as employees (White et al., 2003). It was agreed by team members that there will be need to use the intranet and organisation newsletter to mention accomplished workers. This will also involve thanking employees for their accomplishments. Knowledge Several team members brought the suggestion that pursuit of knowledge can act as an important employee motivation factor. This involves use of training opportunities for the employees with a chance of becoming specialists (Viorel et al., 2009). There is need for assisting employees with tuition to advance their studies. 2. Creating a clear career path To ensure that there are opportunities for growth and development, the team proposed on a clear career path. After brainstorming, the team agreed on the need for a clear career path for the employees. This is due to fact that employees are looking for job that has growth opportunities. If the employees are able to see what is waiting for them ahead such as a promotion, they will be more loyal to organisation. This will make it possible for the employees to remain in the company as they hope for the top positions. The employees will not be eager to leave the company once they have hope for better opportunities within the firm (Viorel et al., 2009). 3. Work life balance To ensure that there is no overexploitation of the employees, it was agreed on work life balance by the team members which were a contribution by team member 3. After the team interviewed several of the employees, they discovered that there was low work life balance. The employees should be given a flexible working environment. For the employees who have worked long with the company, they can be given sabbatical leaves and a time off (White et al., 2003). The team agreed that employees who have a work life balance have a higher sense of responsibility and are less likely to leave the organisation. This will increase loyalty and commitment hence reducing the level of employee turnover (Viorel et al., 2009). Cost benefit analysis Cost benefit analysis of employee motivation Benefits Enhanced employee productivity-the act of motivation leads to repetition of the required behaviour. This is based on the behavioural psychology. This supports the organisation need to enhance productivity and improve on profits. It will also make it possible to reduce cases of lack of customer satisfaction. Increased employee satisfaction- when employees are motivated, less time is spend on complaining. This makes it possible to enjoy work and enhance production. Enhanced employee feedback High customer loyalty. Enhanced employee retention- The employees will be more motivated and more willing to stay with the company. This will reduce the level of employee turnover. High quality employees will be retained. Reduced employees’ absenteeism and enhanced job safety. Costs Time will be spent in designing and implementing employee motivation program. There will be time taken to motivate employees The costs of items used as incentives and bonuses Costs of coming up with new processes. Time taken to train people on how to motivate workers. Costs benefit analysis of creating a career path Benefits Workers will be able to focus and become more empowered in their careers. There will be an increase in level of productivity Employees’ skills will be enhanced The workers will be given skills to handle an increase in workload Job satisfaction and morale will be increased reducing the high turnover rate There will be an increase in job efficiency. Costs There will be costs incurred in training employees. Time will be used for the process of training and development There will be hiring of training and development personnel. New tools and equipment will be required. Cost benefit analysis of Work life balance Benefits Productivity- flexible working conditions leads to an increase in productivity. Reduced absences- use of flexible work life balance can help in reducing absence. Retention- work life balance will lead to a reduction in employee turnover and associated costs. Costs High implementation costs which includes administrative costs. Reduction of working hours. Diminishing benefits over time. Recommended Strategy and Conclusion Detailed strategy that the group developed to resolve problem of employee poaching and evaluation of its potential impact on the wider organisation To resolve the issue, the group came up with a detailed strategy that addresses the entire three problems. The organisation should focus on keeping their employees happy in their work positions. This is due to fact that poaching is based on the ability to retain employees. Employees will not leave if they are content with their working conditions. First, the organisation has to motivate their employees. This is through offering a competitive salary and appreciating the employees. The organisation must come up with a comprehensive motivational package where employees are rewarded for job well done. Through motivation, it will be possible to keep the employees engaged and loyal to the company (Viorel et al., 2009). The motivation package should include pay bonuses, rewards and acknowledgement when a job is well done. This includes use of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors. This strategy should be supported by work life balance to ensure that employees are happier. This may include of use of flexible time and alternative hours. Lastly, the organisation must encourage growth. Most of the employees leave their profession when there are no growth opportunities. There is need for career advancement opportunities in the organisation (Ramlall, 2004). The organisation will face cost challenges in addressing employee poaching through this strategy. This is due to fact that there will be costs to cater for employee motivation and development. To come up with a training and development program, motivation program and work life balance, time will be spent. For the strategy to be successful, the business has to ensure that change is implemented in a manner that does not lead to chaos. This is due to fact that organisation change leads to different reactions from the stakeholders including resistance. References Beechler, S., & Woodward, I. C. (2009). The global “war for talent”. Journal of international management, 15(3), 273-285. Fülöp, J. (2005, November). Introduction to decision making methods. In BDEI-3 workshop, Washington. Pynadath, D. V., & Tambe, M. (2002). The communicative multiagent team decision problem: Analyzing teamwork theories and models. Journal of artificial intelligence research, 16, 389-423. Ramlall, S. (2004). A review of employee motivation theories and their implications for employee retention within organizations. Journal of American Academy of Business, 5(1/2), 52-63. Salas, E., Cooke, N. J., & Rosen, M. A. (2008). On teams, teamwork, and team performance: Discoveries and developments. Human factors, 50(3), 540-547. Sycara, K., & Sukthankar, G. (2006). Literature review of teamwork models. Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 31. Tambe, M., & Zhang, W. (2000). Towards flexible teamwork in persistent teams: Extended report. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, 3(2), 159-183. Viorel, L., Aurel, M., Virgil, M. C., & Stefania, P. R. (2009). Employees motivation theories developed at an international level. Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 18(4), 324-328. White, M., Hill, S., McGovern, P., Mills, C., & Smeaton, D. (2003). ‘High‐ performance’Management Practices, Working Hours and Work–Life Balance. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 41(2), 175-195. Appendix Contribution statement of all team members The undersigned members of the CSC engineering team agree on all the information that is presented in this statement and that each of team member has contributed to the project. Each member of the team indicates his/her contribution to the team and the type of work done. Team member 1 Contribution to the team: Acted as the team leader, was involved in providing directions and assigning tasks. Was involved in coming up with creative solutions on reducing employer-employee tension through motivation and work life balance. Drafted the final solution in collaboration with team members. Team member 2 Contribution to the team: Came up with data on the number of employees leaving. Carried out an interview to determine employee satisfaction in their workplace and work life balance. In collaboration with others, helped in determining intrinsic and extrinsic motivation techniques that can help in enhancing employees-employer relations. Team member 3 Contribution to the team: Came up with work life balance technique to reduce feeling of exploitation by workers. Carried out cost benefit analysis in collaboration with others. Team member 4 Contribution to the team: Came up with career and development technique to enhance growth and development opportunities. Collaborated with others to carry out cost benefit analysis. Team member 1 signature________________________________________________ Team member 2 signature________________________________________________ Team member 3 signature_______________________________________________ Team member 4 signature_______________________________________________ Read More