Management Case - Assignment Example

Memorandum HR Head of the youth Union CC: Finance Head, Fund Collection Unit Head [Click here and type 29/05 Re: Low FundCollection for the youth Union The Problem The Setting The case is regarding the youth union where I have been working as the HR manager. Youth union was quite popular in the locality where it used to operate. The main function of the youth union was to raise issues which were of political importance to the localities. The youth union was not affiliated to any political party but used to put pressure on all political parties and was also a training ground for many political leaders.

I used to work as a unit HR for the fund collection unit of the youth union. Fund collection department was supposed to approach prospective donors and convince them about the benefits of donating money to our union. As there were many unions in the area and some of them were also affiliated to political parties; it was essential that the fund collection unit performed to its optimal capacity as the political unit could not function without money. The Players The major players involved in this description are the employees of the fund collection unit.

2 new supervisors who have been recently hired. These supervisors are important as they have been responsible for affecting the behaviour of the employees with their attitude towards the fund collection. I have been involved as an observer who tries to analyse the problem and solve it. The political unit is also involved in the setting where team meetings are concerned. However the political unit is an extraneous factor not immediately involved in the problem described below. The Problem In the recent past we have witnessed that fund collection for the youth union has decreased considerably.

Many reasons have been cited for the lack of fund collection and the department responsible for fund collection has usually declared that very few people have come up with donations due to the recent global recession. However being the unit HR for the fund collection unit I have done my own research regarding the matter. This research was done in the form of questionnaires and informal decision with the various employees. I also applied the naturalistic observation model to observe the different employees and their behaviour.

I have come to the conclusion that the problem of low fund collection is more of a behavioural issue where the employees are not willing to give their 100% to the job and are shirking responsibility. I tried to diagnose the problem and find out the root cause of the problem. This diagnosis has been explained below. The Diagnosis The problems with the fund collection department are the following as I have understood through the research carried out by me - Lack of Motivation – Due to the recent crunch of funds the union has reduced the amount of commission handed out from 10 % to 5% for every new donation that is brought in.

According to MARS model of individual behaviour this has led to a reduction in the employee motivation levels and which has led to a laid back behaviour and the employees are not motivated enough to bring funds for the youth union. (Mcshane, 2008)Aparat from this the motivation has been tremedously low among the employees due to global recession and the difficulty in finding donors. Work attitude in the department has been very dismal in the department. This reduction in the employee morale and the attitude of the employee may be summarised as follows – Cognitive Component No compensation for the job due to reduced commission Affective Component I do not like my job as my incentive is not enough Behavioural Component I will not perform to my potential and start looking for other job opportunities.

Prescriptions The possible solutions to these problems can be the following- The main problem has been the reduction in commission. This should be immediately brought back to 10%.From the interviews of the employees I was able to gauge that employees usually spend about 3% of the fund amount in trying to convince the donor of a successful sale. This leaves them with an effective commission of 2%.Increase in the monetary benefit will definitely increase the motivation for the employees. Use non-monetary means of benefits like satisfying the people’s need for achievement or their need for affiliation.

This means starting an annual reward system by the union for the fund collection unit. The political unit already has a reward system in place; this needs to be replicated across the union to increase the motivation of the employees. Attaching the fund collection unit with the political unit of the area – The fund collection units are independent units who have no connection with the political unit of the union. Political unit is the unit which comes up with new ideas and presents them to the masses.

Aligning the fund collection unit with the political unit will also make them more aware about what the youth union stands for. This will make them motivated to achieve the goals of the organisation and they will not be collecting funds simply to achieve their bonus. Higher supervisors and employees whose values are in sync with the values and objectives of the union. Many supervisors hired recently are working just for the commission obtained by them. This is certainly not the purpose of the youth union.

The union puts a greater emphasis on hiring quality people to its political wing. The same emphasis should be given to hiring of employees in the fund collection unit and through interview must be taken. Lack of funds will be hugely detrimental to the organisation and may cause even the activities of the political unit of the union to a grinding halt. Plan of Action In order to solve the problem the following plan of action is being recommended by me – Immediately increase the commission to the old levels of 10% as this is the immediate and the most pressing problem for the fund collection unit.

Announce a reward system for the fund collection unit which will satisfy the need for achievement for the employees. Allow employees to move from one unit to another. If a person in the fund collection unit has the potential as well as the desire to be part of the political wing; he should be moved to the wing to encourage better performance. Form a committee which will decide on the level of co-ordination and communication between the political unit and the fund collection unit. The recommendations of the committee should be implemented to ensure better communication and knowledge transfer.

This knowledge transfer will make the fund collection unit more motivated when they will know about the good work which the union is trying to do. The supervisors who have been creating a negative mindset among the employees should be personally monitored by the head of fund collection unit in order to ensure that negativity does not spread in the whole organisation. This will prevent the employees from being de-motivated. HR department should chalk out a plan for further hiring of employees for the fund collection unit.

The hiring should be made more stringent and better compensation needs to be provided to attract the best talent. The employees hired should be in-conformity with the values of the youth union. Summary The problem which has been discussed above has been a problem with a group of the youth union. This problem is mainly concerned with the lack of motivation among the employees leading to poor job satisfaction. Lack of job satisfaction has impacted the performance of the whole firm. Various solutions have been provided above which will help the union overcome the problem; increase fund collection and also the overall performance of the unit.

Bibliography Mcshane. (2008). Organisational Behavior. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education.