Principles of Management - Essay Example

Principles of Management INTRODUCTION The reasons identified through the exit interviews reveal that the company currently faces problems like dearth of leadership qualities among the employees, failure to comply with the standard operating procedures, employees losing enthusiasm for work, regional staff finding it difficult to coordinate with the foreign coworkers and lastly the poor communication skills possessed by the managers. RECOMMENDATIONS Being a manager, I would deal with each problem step by step. In order to come up with the solution of the problems, decision-making process would be employed. The decision making process entails recognizing the issue, choosing an alternative and assessing the usefulness of the decision taken (Robin & Coulter, 2004). Since the problems have already been identified, I would proceed with the latter aspects of the decision making process. As being new to the company, I would try to gain the trust and confidence of the employees. For this purpose, they would be lead by exemplary performance in the firm. I will listen to their problems and would strive to solve them. Informal sessions would be conducted to find out the employee way of performing job role prior to my appointment. This would give me an idea as to how changes should be implemented. Bringing changes in Company XYZ would not only involve alterations in the current organizational structure but also in the behavior of the employees. To bring about this change, there would be a requirement of a team of change agents which will assist me in implementing the change. It often happens that people show resistance to change. To overcome this problem, I, along with my team members, would communicate the changes to the employees and address their grievances or fears related to the change. These problems would be dealt in the following manner: Dearth of Leadership Qualities Leadership is an important aspect in any organization. With sound leadership, companies can prosper. On the other hand, the weak leadership can lead to the downfall of any organization. Leadership is not only important for employees in the top management rather it is essential for employees at any level; be it top, middle or lower level. The reason why leadership is necessary at all levels is that through effective leadership skills, employees can influence other employees (especially their subordinate) and thus obtain good results and performances. The question here arises is what are the leadership skills? Or more importantly, what leadership skills are lacking in the employees of Company XYZ? According to the trait theories, based on the research conducted in 1920s and 1930s, seven traits were identified. The traits were: sociable, ambitious, willingness to lead, self-assurance, intelligence and knowledge related to the job being performed (Robbins & Coulter, 2004). To inculcate these traits in employees, I will organize training session in which the focus would be on case studies providing scenarios of how leaders act in the time of crises or deal with conflict. After the training session is over, I will make teams and assign projects accordingly. This will provide the employees a chance to display their leadership skills. I will then evaluate the performance of these individuals with the assistance of my team. Failure to Comply With the Standard Operating Procedures Standard Operating Procedures are vital to the survival of an organization. They are important for a mechanism to work effectively and efficiently. To overcome the problem of non compliance of standard operating procedures, I would formulate certain rules to ensure standardization. Trainings will be provided to the managers, highlighting the importance of following the standard operating procedures. These trainings will teach the managers how the SOP’s ensure accountability and provide transparency to the entire working environment. Managers will be told that following standard operating procedures will help the Company XYZ to conform with the International and governmental rules and regulations and that the failure to do so would result in law suits against the Company XYZ. I would make clear to the managers that Company XYZ can never compromise on quality and ignoring the standard operating procedures will definitely affect the quality of the products made by Company XYZ. Managers will be warned that ignoring the standard operating procedures would be considered a serious offense and will be dealt with strictness. I would use negative reinforcement to deal with this issue imposing fines on the perpetrators. These types of managers would be constantly monitored to ensure that they are complying with the standard procedures. On further violations, the managers will even face a suspension or termination. In order to make sure that managers are well-versed about the standard operating procedures, these procedures will be displayed in the printed form on the office bulletin board so that managers can easily view them. This would help them memorize the procedures and they would not have to rummage through the files to find the standard operating procedures if need arises. Employees Losing Enthusiasm for Work Losing enthusiasm for work is a common problem in various organizations. To address this problem, I would restructure and redesign the jobs of the employees by providing them a chance to work in diverse fields. ‘Variety is the spice of life’ is an old maxim but it is valid in the frame of reference of jobs. Employees often get bored when they are doing the same job over and over again. I would make use of the Job Characteristic Model and will provide variety, autonomy and meaningfulness of work to the employees. Jobs which provide skill variety and freedom to the employees allow them to experience a sense of independence, ownership and the feeling that they are making an impact in other people’s lives. I will use the design of the Job Characteristic Model to restructure jobs in the following manner: Increasing the scope of the job (Job Enlargement) Increasing more responsibilities (Job Enrichment) Assigning the responsibility to complete the entire task (Job Depth) Assigning different tasks to employees (Job Rotation) (Robbins & Coulter, 2004). These steps would definitely motivate the employees to work enthusiastically and will act as deterrents against low morale or low enthusiasm. Another way in which I would boost the morale of the employees is through rewarding them with incentives for successfully achieving the targets. Moreover, they would be provided with paid time off so that they can relax for a while and return to workplace rejuvenated. I would also initiate employee recognition programs like ‘Employee of the Month’ to acknowledge their good performance. These measures would ensure that employees do not lose enthusiasm for their jobs (Robbins & Coulter, 2004). Coordination Issues with Foreign Coworkers This is a very common problem experienced by companies where there is a diverse workforce. For this purpose, I would organize informal discussion forums within the company. These forums will include both the local and the foreign staff. The forum will entail discussions by employees on various aspects of their culture, their likes and dislikes. These discussion forums will help the employees to get acquainted with each other’s cultures and dispositions. This will address their coordination issues too. Moreover, I will organize sessions on teaching the basics of different languages so that both local and the foreign employees can overcome the communication barriers. Poor Communication Skills Possessed By the Managers Managers must possess effective and excellent communication skills so that they can convey their messages to their subordinates. Furthermore, managers need to state important announcements or give feedback on the performance of the employees too. Poor communication would only lead to problems which can turn to big disputes if not addressed on time. In order to improve the communication skills of the employees, I would provide them with training. Training sessions will involve teaching them the proper usage of communication devices like email, internet, intranet, teleconferencing, voice mail and videoconferencing etc. Managers would be provided ample practice on these devices to ensure that they have learned their proper usage (Robbins & Coulter, 2004). My next move would be to teach them appropriate verbal communication and inform them about the barriers to effective communication. They would be taught how to deal with the problems of employees and show empathy to them so that they know that the managers will help them out. I would also teach them the way in which they can modify their communication skills according to the target audience. For instance, when conversing with the top management, the use of jargon would be fine but while talking to a group of line employees, use of simpler language would prove to be effective (Robbins & Coulter, 2004). I would also invite guest speakers who would emphasize on the importance of the non verbal cues while communicating. These speakers and trainers will also emphasize on the use of ‘politically correct’ communication. This would help them in dealing with the employees from a diverse range of backgrounds and different skills and capacities. ‘Politically correct’ communication would teach employees things like calling a person with physical deformities as ‘physically challenged’ rather than a ‘handicap’. Managers would learn that they need to get feedback from employees to make sure that they have understood what was conveyed to them. Furthermore, employees would be taught to restrain from communicating when they are emotional or angry as then the chances of miscommunication are at a maximum (Robbins & Coulter, 2004). At the end of the training sessions, employees will be able to identify and implement whatever they have learnt through their training. Furthermore, managers will be assigned tasks like giving presentation to their employees in order to improve their communication and interpersonal skills. CONCLUSION Thus, I would bring about the changes using a participative management style by empowering my employees and leading them by example. With this, I would conduct ample training sessions so that my employees are equipped with the necessary skills which are needed to perform the job effectively. REFERENCE Robbins, S. P. & Coulter, M. (2009). Management. 9th Ed. Pearson Prentice Hall. Read More