Managing Organisations, People and Self - Assignment Example

?Managing Organisations, People and Self Table of Contents 0.Introduction 3 2.0.Problems Evaluation 3 2 Motivation 4 2.2.Leadership 5 2.3.Organisation Culture 6 3.0.Recommendations for Improvement 6 3.1.Enhancing Motivation in the Workplace 6 3.2.Enhancing Leadership 7 3.3.Enhancing Organisational Culture 8 4.0.Conclusion 9 5.0 References 9 1.0. Introduction It is evident that success or failure of any sort of business is largely proportionate with the performance of various factors associated with it. A business is deemed to get benefited from the positive performance of the people and other resources associated with it and consequently get affected unfavourably from the negative results of the same (Brandi, 2001). However, in order to depict the overall efficiency of the performance of any business, the effectiveness of the influencing factors will need to be evaluated with utmost priority. According to the case study, John Barker owns the double-glazing business “Hole in the Wall” and built it completely on the basis of his own skills and capability. He also employed a small group of people and provided his services on a small scale. The business had registered immense growth in the tenure of its operation over the years. In the recent years, the business had to deal with several key issues that harm its operations and reputation considerably. Contextually, this assignment will analyse the prevailing problems in the business that resulted in its performance decline and certain recommendations will be discussed in solving the same. The suggestions would certainly help the business to improve its performance up to a larger extent. 2.0. Problems / Evaluation John Barker started his double glazing business with employing 20 people in the initial stages of the operation of the business. However, with the retirement of his friend/supplier, Barker occupied the factory of his friend and thus expanded his business operations with the inclusion of more staffs. He also took the approach of making extensive advertisements in the local newspaper and the media in order to target the customers of the local market. The company had experienced considerable growth in recent times in the form of building better business reputation amid the customers. However, the growth of the company had been hindered by certain specific problems in the workplace that are yet to be evaluated. It can be viewed in this similar concern that there was increased number of complaints from the end of the customers about the quality of the services or the products of the company, which further damaged its better reputation amid the customers. Moreover, it has also been observed that the employees of the business have become quite inefficient and their performance had declined considerably. In addition, a few of the employees had also left the company without providing any notice, which further harmed the operational efficiency of the business up to a larger extent. This aspect can resemble with the problems that prevail in the workplace of the business. From the analysis of the case study, it can be stated that there were problems of motivation that might be impacting the approach of the employees and steering them towards an undesirable direction. Moreover, the leadership and business management abilities of Barker can be questioned with regard to the poor performance of the business. The problems have been further identified and discussed in detail hereunder. 2.1. Motivation Motivation is regarded as one of the imperative aspects, which impacts the behaviour of an individual. It encourages people to conduct their work in an efficient and dedicated manner (Reem, 2011). In the case study provided, the employees of the business and their conduct were deemed to be affecting the welfare of the business up to an extensive extent. Contextually, it has been observed that the performance of the company owned by Barker in recent years had showed certain inefficient results, which are a matter of concern for the same. Analysis suggests that each of the personnel working with Barker is paid fairly in accordance with the jobs that they perform. The prevailing scenario in the workplace depicts that those who work more will be liable to obtain more payment as remuneration. Moreover, the sales team was also working on the basis of commissions, which is also regarded as an important aspect of motivation. However, despite of all this efforts of motivation from the end of Barker, the performance of his staff had fallen in recent times. Observably, money is not always considered as the best means of motivating employees in the workplace. The monetary motivation of commission applied for the employees in various departments of business in the workplace was quite inconsistent in nature; since they are paid only when business was able to earn maximum profit. Monetary incentive approach of Barker was hurting the team work of the company as it was divided on the basis of monetary benefits that were further impacting the aspect of coordination and cooperation among the workforce (Katzenbach & Khan, 2010). The approach of Barker was lacking with certain other aspects of motivation. Notably, Barker was entirely concentrated towards motivating employees of the company through extrinsic motivators i.e. through monetary rewards. Hence, a clear negative impact can be depicted in the conduct of the employees in the absence of certain intrinsic motivation from the end of the company. 2.2. Leadership Similar to that of motivation, the aspect of leadership is also quite crucial in ensuring effective performance for any business. Leadership is one of the decisive aspects, which requires to be taken into concern for proper and practical execution of the strategies of a business unit. It can be affirmed that without proper leadership, a business can never reach towards its ultimate goal (Gallos, 2008). Analysis of the case depicts that the approach of Baker was quite stern and can be seen to be autocratic in certain scenarios. His approach does not seem to be participative with the employees; rather there was a lack of interaction from his end with the employees. For instance, Barker does not interact with the purchase manager of the company regularly, which eventually hindered him from knowing the problems pertaining in that particular operational segment. Correspondingly, his detachment with the employees in other operational sections had also affected the business up to a considerable extent. The leadership of Barker lacks the approach of working in a unified manner, which cannot be regarded as a good sign for the overall operation of the business. He believed that employees are not interested to work with him anymore, which is again a sign of leadership failure from his end. Hence, Barker has failed in leading the team towards accomplishment of the ultimate goals of the business. 2.3. Organisation Culture Culture in the workplace is the other imperative component, which steers the performance of any business. A positive culture in workplace is quite vital in similar to other factors that motivate employees towards conducting their work in an efficient manner. Notably, the management of any business is largely responsible for maintaining a positive culture in the workplace (Schermerhorn, 2010). However, in this particular case study, the management of the company had failed to maintain any sort of culture, which ensures firmness in the operational activities of the business. Observably, there was no interaction of Barker with various departments of the business. Employees left the organisation without providing prior notice to the management. The purchase manager of the business mostly deemed to be missing from the workplace. The receptionist of the company took maximum number of leaves. Furthermore, there seem to be a lack of coordination prevailing amid various departments of the business, which not only affected the pace of the operational process but also impacted the quality of the work delivered in an unfavourable manner. Hence, it can be depicted that the workplace culture of the business lies in complete disarray position. 3.0. Recommendations for Improvement Apparently, the above analysis depicts three key problems that might have contributed towards hampering the performance of the company in recent times. Contextually, certain recommendations have been discussed in the following to deal with the same. 3.1. Enhancing Motivation in the Workplace Apparently, Barker was concentrated mostly towards motivating employees through providing monetary/extrinsic rewards to them, which proved to be ineffective in developing the performance of the overall business. In this regard, it can be stated that the management of the company will need to implement certain other approaches of motivating the employees in the workplace. Contextually, it can be depicted that the company will need to come up with strategies to enhance the aspect of motivation in the workplace. There are several theories of motivation among which Barker might consider the ‘theory of motivation’ depicted by Maslow. According to this theory, needs of individuals comprise several categories. Barker is only concentrated towards fulfilling the monetary needs of the employees, which only fulfils the physiological requirements of the individuals. He should also come up with the approaches of meeting the safety, esteem and the self-actualisation needs of the employees in the workplace. Contextually, Barker can adopt certain approaches such as enhancing the safety of the employees in the workplace. He should also need to create a culture of team building and support that will ensure coordination and cooperation among them. Additionally, the company will also need to value the contribution of the employees made towards the well-being of the business, which would further decipher their importance to the company. Furthermore, the management of the company will also need to set a specific goal for the business, which is further considered as a powerful way of motivating people as per the Locke's Goal Setting Theory (Anthony, 2007; Locke, n.d.). This aspect will not only motivate the employees but will also enable the company to retain maximum number of employees. 3.2. Enhancing Leadership Observably, the aspect of leadership in the company is seen as a problem, which had impacted the operation of the business in an unfavourable manner. Contextually, there is a need for devising the leadership approach of Barker. According to the Great Man Theory of leadership, there should be considerable difference between a leader and a follower. It is important that leaders understand their responsibility and ensure proper execution of the same (Ledlow & Coppola, 2010). Contextually, Barker needs to understand his importance as a leader in the business. As the business is conducted in a smaller scale, Barker as an owner should intend to ensure his active presence in various domains of the business. His approach should be more participative rather than stern and autocratic as it might harm the loyalty and goodwill of the employees towards the attainment of business goals. Contextually, it can be recommended that Barker should follow the transformational approach of leadership in the operations of the business. According to the study of Mullins (2010), transformational leadership will allow Barker to motivate the employees in the workplace and support them to enhance their operational performance at large. As per the case study, it can be noted that Barker had little interaction with various departments of business, which further hindered him from understanding the problems associated with the business. In this regard, he will need to implement the approach of transformational leadership and develop strategies to have periodic interaction with the employees along with various operational departments of the business. This will certainly allow him to be acquainted with the current situation of the business and enable him to predict any sort of threat of ineffectiveness accordingly. Precisely, it can be depicted that Barker will need to be more active in his approach and should take his decisions in accordance with the welfare of the employees and other stakeholders of the business. 3.3. Enhancing Organisational Culture Absence of a proper organisational culture is another vital problem, which contributed towards deteriorated performance of Barkers’ business in recent times. Contextually, certain steps will need to be taken into concern with the intention of enhancing the culture of the workplace. In this regard, Schein’s theory of developing organisational culture will be vital to consider. According to the theory, in order to ensure development of the organisational culture, it will be vital for Barker to depict the problems in different levels of the same (Miner, 2007). Contextually, the management of the organisation require setting a specific target of the business and each and every employee of the organisation should be aware of the same. This is one of the prevailing problems in relation to the organisational culture, which needs to be addressed. This will assure that all the personnel of the business are well acquainted with the respective roles along with the responsibilities and strategize their conducts accordingly. Furthermore, the management of the business should also lay down certain effective lawful regulations that will maintain etiquette of the people in the workplace and also towards the business. This will also work towards the development of the organisation culture as per Schein’s theory. 4.0. Conclusion From the overall analysis of the assignment, it can be summarised that performance of business is influenced by various factors. This can be seen from the performance of the business of Barker, which had deteriorated in recent times owing to lack of effectiveness in various domain of the business. Analysis depicted that the performance of the company became deteriorated owing to certain issues such as motivation of the employees, leadership style along with approach of the business owner and inappropriate organisational culture among others. All these factors contributed in the downfall of the company. Certain recommendations were made to the company that will facilitate in addressing the problems depicted above and most significantly ensuring sustainability along with stability in the operations of the business. 5.0 References Anthony, R. N., 2007. Management Control Systems. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Brandi, J., 2001. Building Customer Loyalty: The 21 Essential Elements in Action. The Walk the Talk Company. Gallos, J., 2008. Business Leadership: A Jossey-Bass Reader. John Wiley & Sons. Katzenbach, J. R. & Khan, Z., 2010. Money is not the Best Motivator. Forbes. [Online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/06/money-motivation-pay-leadership-managing-employees.html [Accessed Dec 08, 2013]. Ledlow, G. & Coppola, N., 2010. Leadership for Health Professionals. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Locke, E. A., No Date. Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation: A 35-Year Odyssey. Home. [Online] Available at: http://faculty.washington.edu/janegf/goalsetting.html [Accessed Dec 08, 2013]. Mullins, L.J. (2010), Management and Organisational Behaviour. Pearson Higher Education. Miner, J. B., 2007. Organizational Behavior. M.E. Sharpe. Reem, Y. 2011. Motivating Public Sector Employees. Working Paper. [Online] Available at: http://www.hertie-school.org/fileadmin/images/Downloads/working_papers/60.pdf [Accessed Dec 08, 2013]. Schermerhorn, R. J., 2010. Management. John Wiley & Sons. Read More