Workplace Experience at Caltex Company - Essay Example

? Workplace experience at Caltex Company Caltex Company is a multinational company that deals with petroleum and other oil products. Being the organizational manager of the company meant that I was coordinating the whole company and all its operations. I had to ensure that the organization was meeting the set objectives and that there was a smooth flow of work. Therefore, I had to ensure that reports from every department were forwarded and well written giving the full view of the operations of the department. I also ensured that all the company’s activities were run according to the set plan. This is mainly to ensure that there would be no discrepancies between the plan of the company and the results obtained. Being a multinational company, Caltex experienced a number of changes in its operations. Therefore, as the organizational manager, I had to ensure that I identify all activities which are to be performed in the company, and any changes that could have occurred. In addition, I also had to organize activities according to departments. This is whereby; activities of the personnel department would be separated from activities of the accounting department (Sims, 2002, 9). This helped me to be organized and to ensure that there was no conflict in the activities of the company. The learning theory that extremely helped during my work is the Kolb’s experiential learning theory. This involved; a clear observation of all the experiences that occurred in the company. After any particular occurrence, whether good or bad, I would take time and observe its causes and its implications. For example, during a time when the company’s sales were falling, I observed the issue carefully and the possible mechanisms that would help to increase the sales back. Other experiences such as fall in the customer numbers, conflicts among employees or poor media coverage also helped me to learn from them. Afterwards, I would then try to formalize the concepts that could have been associated with the occurrence. I would then generalize these concepts in order to access the possibility of the situation occurring again. For instance, in a case where the sales of the company were falling, I would use concepts such as new promotion methods, or increasing the sales personnel. If there were employee conflicts within the organization, I would use concepts such as having peace talks within the organization, and counseling of the employees. After assessing the concepts that are applicable to a new situation, I would then use them on a new situation. Therefore, in case of future falling of sales or future employee conflicts, I would know the concepts to use. This learning theory has really helped me to learn from challenges and make use of them instead of getting discouraged (Leonard, 2002, 69). Substantive Topic Applied: Managing Organizational Change Organizational change occurs when a company goes through a transition from its current state to some desired state (Inc.com, 2012, 1). Therefore, managing organizational change is the process of planning, controlling and implementing change in the organization. This is important because; in some organizations change is resisted by the employees. In addition, managing organizational change is important since; it might be very costly for the company at times. In Caltex Company, we experienced a series of changes especially with the improved technology. For instance, the company introduced electronic payment of bills by customers. This is whereby; customers could purchase fuel and pay for it electronically without requiring an attendant at the petrol stations. The company also introduced online purchasing of petroleum products and door-to-door delivery of the products. This technology had a lot of impact on the company since; it reduced the number of employees thus, lowering the salary expenses. With introduction of online purchasing, the customers also increased greatly. The company had to embrace the technology and hence, there were a lot of changes in the operations since, not all employees were willing to embrace the changes, especially knowing that the new technology might replace them. In order to reduce the resistance of the employees, I had to ensure that the change was well communicated to the employees and that they understood the importance of the change to the organization. As the organizational manager, it was my duty to ensure change in the organization was fully embraced with very minimal resistance. To reduce the resistance from the employees, I decided to begin by identifying the major causes of resistance. I found that most of the employees were resisting change since; they felt it was a threat to their job security. Others also lacked faith in the management that was imposing the change, and others felt that change in the organization might lead to large load of work (Tamayo, 2009, 12). I then focused at reducing the resistance by countering these causes and dealing with them one after another. This is by ensuring that all the employees in the organization were well informed about the change and they knew the reason for the change and its importance. In addition, I also ensured that the change was well communicated to the employees and thus, they were all aware of the change that was taking place in the organization (Iqbal, 2011, 47). I also used training as a strategy of reducing resistance of the employee. This is mainly by ensuring that; all the employees were well trained on the new applications that came with the change. For instance; if the change involved use of new technology, I would ensure that all the employees concerned were well conversant with technology. In future, I would perform my duties as an organizational manger first by setting a good example to the rest of the employees. This is because; from experience I have learnt that this is only way one can earn respect from the employees. Therefore, apart from directing them on what to do, I will first have to set an example by doing what I tell them to do. I will also set a good example by meeting the deadlines of operations, minimizing costs and being responsible in my actions. This will make the employees to also have the same outstanding attributes at work. In addition, in future I will assess the organizational change to ensure that the change is imposed on the employees. This is because; this is a major cause of resistance by the employees. Employees do not like being forced to embrace changes in the organization. However, they like to see the advantages of the change and to be certain that the change is worth their effort (Inc.com, 2012, 1). In addition, in future I would also ensure that changes are not implemented in the organization rapidly. This is because; this puts stress and pressure on the employees. Therefore; in future I would check to ensure that changes in the organization are conducted in a more organized manner and without any rush. Examples of changes that I will see to it I implement in the company include use of the latest technology in operations, change of the workers layout and change of the organization structure. Workplace experience at Peggy’s Outfits as a sales person’s representative At Peggy’s Outfits my duty was to oversee the sales operations of the Company since it deals with sale of clothes. Since the company is also in the import-export market, the sales of the company are usually high and thus a lot of management is required. Therefore, as the representative of other sales persons in the company, I had a lot of work in managing both the local market sales and the international market sales. I had the duty to ensure that the goods of the company were well promoted in the market. I ensured that the products were well promoted and that they had a solid market. In addition, I also ensured that all the sales men and women were well coordinated and that all of them well distributed in the areas that required promotion. As the sales representative at Peggy’s Outfits, it was also my duty to device strategies and techniques of achieving the set sales targets. I also had the duty of motivating the sales persons, and encouraging them to achieve the set objectives. Since I was the one directing the other sales personnel, I also had the duty of selecting the personnel to be hired and those to be laid off. This required a lot of wisdom and keenness, since; it is this sales person who determines the sales volume of the company. I also had the duty of carrying out the performance appraisal and job evaluation of the sales personnel (Bose, 2010, 145). The learning theory that really helped me in work as a sales representative in the company is the Kolb’s experiential learning theory. The theory helped me to learn from my experiences with the sales persons. For instance, in case the sales persons were striking, I would device strategies to use in order to calm them down. For example, we could hold a meeting and discuss the issues together as sales persons. Substantive topic Applied: Managing Organizational Conflicts Organizations normally have conflicts among the employees or between the employees and the employers. Therefore, conflicts cannot be avoided but it is possible to manage them (Turkaj, Fosic & Dujak, 2008, 505). Management of conflicts mainly involves identifying the major causes of the conflicts and people causing the conflicts. As the sales manager, I had to ensure that I note cases that may bring up differences in opinions. I had to understand the causes, Koltheories, approaches and strategies of conflict management. One of the theories that I used to resolve conflicts in the sales department is the collaboration theory which states that people should be allowed to give their differences and thereby find solutions to the differences (Siddiqui, 2009, 1). Therefore, I would allow employees to write down their character traits including their likes and dislikes. This is mainly done to acknowledge the fact that people have different personalities, different perceptions, abilities, different levels of intelligence and different attitudes. This way, those individuals who differ in character would be able to socialize, get to know their weaknesses and work on them. I would also allow members of the department to be inter-reliant, to interact candidly, and be committed to developing and preserving mutually beneficial relations. This would also be beneficial to the company since, it would reduce the level of conflicts and disagreements in the company (Derr, 2008, 77). A second approach of conflict resolution is the power play method. This is a method that is complete opposite of the collaboration method. It involves complete separation of the employees with differences in characters in order to avoid conflicts in the organization. This method is however not very beneficial to the company since, it will lead to separation in the company. In addition it cannot lead to unity among the employees since; employees will not be allowed to interact with those of a different character (Pathak, 2010, 3). An example of a scenario of a conflict between employees is when employees disagree on what strategy to use in performing a particular duty. This is because; each employee will be thinking his or her method is the best. In such a case, the manager would come in give them another strategy to use which neither of the two strategies of the employees. This is to avoid biasness by selecting one of the employee’s strategies. In future, as a sales manager of a company I will struggle to ensure that I unite all the personnel in the department because; this is the only way the department will be able to achieve more. Therefore, in future I will ensure that all employees are well known to each other and that they have developed solid relationships among each other. This will be done by holding social gatherings for the employees and ensuring that they socialize together and develop solid relationships. This is because, with such relationships, the company will even avoid conflicts and disagreements among the employees. In future, I will ensure that I maintain as low substantive conflicts in the organization as possible. Based on my experiential learning, I will also apply methods learnt from past conflict scenarios. For instance; I will allow organization members to suggest ways of resolving conflicts among themselves. This is because; strategies of conflict resolution suggested by members will work well than strategies imposed on them by other parties (Rahim, 2002, 210). Therefore employees should be allowed to participate in the conflict resolution process. References Derr, C. B. 2008. Managing organizational conflict. Organizationa Management, 21(1), 76-83. Inc.com 2012. Managing Organizational Change. Inc.Com, 1(1), 1. Iqal, N. 2011. MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE. People’s Journal of Management, 1(1), 40-46. Leonard, D. C. 2002. Learning theories, A to Z. Westport, Conn: Oryx Press. Pathak, M. 2010. Managing Organizational Conflict. journal of Oeconomics of Knowledge, 2(4), 2-12. Rahim, M. A. 2002. 13(3), 206-235. Siddiqui, F. 2009, December 11. Understanding and Managing Organizational Conflicts. Expertscolumn.com. Retrieved from http://expertscolumn.com/content/understanding-and-managing-organizational-conflicts Sims, R. R. 2002. Managing organizational behavior. Westport, Conn: Quorum Books. Tamayo, A. 2009, March 24. How To Manage Organizational Change [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/ghael0625/how-to-manage-organizational-change Turkalj, Z., Fosic, I., & Dujak, D. 2008. Conflict Management in Organization. Organizations management, 4(1), 505-515. Read More