Enhancing Employee Performance at the Ship MV Shields Hope - Case Study Example

Law and Management Introduction The environment in MV Shields Hope is not friendly to the employees among other people on board.The management portrayed laxity a feature that affects the efficiency thus the productivity of the ship. The employees lack basic equipment and resources. Furthermore, they lack basic safety preparedness both of which affects both their efficiency and productivity. The lack of efficiency in the ship arises from lack of effective human resource management with the ship’s managers portraying lack of interest in the issues affecting the welfare of the employees. The ill preparedness of the crew of the ship is a life-threatening feature, which further demoralizes the employees. Lack of effective management coupled with the lack of safety precautions in the ship are deliberate breaches of the existing International Safety Management code that requires effective redress in order to revamp the productivity of the ship as the discussion below portrays. Firstly, the ship has a crew of 14 members from different parts of the world. The engineer and the chief officer are British; the crews are polish while the other officers are Indians. This implies that the environment in the ship is a cosmopolitan society that requires an effective management structure that will succeed in creating a perfect environment for the people from various backgrounds to achieve their maximum productivity. Unfortunately for the employee on the ship, the official language for communication is English. Such is a major drawback that affects the efficiency of operations in the ship. The management does not attempt to find out the competencies of the crews in order to determine the most appropriate language to use while in the ship. Language therefore becomes a vital barrier to the communication on the ship. Numerous other mistakes arise on the ship most of which are attributable to the lack of effective medium of communication. On a voyage between Dundee and South Shields, the tanker causes a pollution incident when it spills oil from under the manifold over the main deck. Pollution is always a major concern to everyone who uses the seas and oceans among other large water bodies. Governments can always forfeit the license of ships among other vessels that pollute the sea. As such, the management of the vessels using the large water bodies must always take adequate precaution and ensure that their vessels do not cause pollutions. As such, the short voyage between Dundee and South Shields incident is a portrayal of lack of adherence to the existing codes. Cleaning the manifold was the duty of the Polish seaman. The seaman nodded at the instructions but did not undertake his duties. This portrays the evident breakdown of communication in the ship that is not only a portrayal of the magnitude of the problem in the ship but also a sign of the magnitude of the problems the ship is likely to face (Lauby, 2005). As explained earlier, communication is a basic feature of management. The management of any organization must develop appropriate channel of communication in order to enhance the efficiency of operations. MV Shields Hope is an organization that requires an effective organizational culture coupled with an equally effective model of communication, one that enhances the efficiency of operations. In order to improve the efficiency of the ship and to overcome the language barrier in the ship, the management must develop a definite organizational culture (Frey, 2002). This would include the provision that every member of the crew must have the ability to speak and write in English, which is the official language in the ship. Additionally, the management can encourage the use of various local dialects coupled with a number of professional translators to enhance the effectiveness of the communication process. The management should adopt an up-down and down-up model of communication that encourages the managers and other employees to interact thereby overcoming the challenges they face. This way, the management of the ship overcomes the management obstacles most of which affect the efficiency of operations thus the productivity of the ship. In cleaning the deck, the employees lacked detergent, which is a basic resource in the performance of such a basic task. The lack of detergent makes the cleaning both difficult and time consuming thereby compelling the management to spend more money on paying overtime. Lack of resources and equipment contribute to inhumane working conditions since the employees remain exposed to unsafe chemicals for longer. Such is a portrayal of an ineffective management. The management does not for example keep functional inventory of its resources and does not plan for any emergencies. In order to improve the situation, the management of the ship must overhaul its inventory system and strive to enhance its disaster preparedness. Lack of detergent, one of the most basic resources used in cleaning the ship, caused the management immense financial resources as it paid for overtime (Katz & Docherty, 1994). The management should prevent such loses by keeping effective and functional inventories. The ship would later suffer an 18-hour delay when it went back to the anchorage for effective cleaning. The ship has individuals whose primary task is to clean the ship. The team of employees continues to show lack of enthusiasm in doing their job a feature that contributed to the delay. The failure by the team to clean the tank effectively arises from a number of factors including lack of employee motivation and lack of resources. While cleaning the deck, the employees showed that the management did not provide adequate detergent. The same would be the case in this context a feature that would in turn demand additional employees and possible payment of overtime. Employees are mischievous individuals who would employ any tactic especially when they feel dissatisfied with their work, in order to increase their earnings. Employee motivation is a vital feature that influences the productivity of the employees thus the profitability of an organization. The management of MV Shields Hope should employ strategic employee motivational techniques in order to enhance the enthusiasm and productivity of the employees. This would entice them to work harder and better thereby clean the tank better next time. Theory X and theory Y provide effective understanding of employees. Theory Y for example postulates that employees detest work and would always avoid work at the slightest chance. Theory Y on the other hand contradicts theory X by stating that employees love work and would maintain productivity at every time. The two theories provide managers with objective understanding of various types of employees. As such, the management of the hip should for example create appropriate bureaucratic offices to supervise the employees as they clean the tank among other parts of the ship in the future. With dedicated supervision and punishing nonproductive employees, the managers would safeguard the efficiency of the ship thus enhancing its profitability (Heneman, 1992). The Indian officer mandated with the maintenance of the safety equipment in the ship portrayed confusion and lack of preparedness when he argued that he does not know his duties. His laxity jeopardized a safety drill in the ship a feature that risked the lives of the numerous other people on the ship. The case was the second instance of confusion where employees claimed to be unaware of their duties. This shows the seriousness of the lack of effective structure of communication in the ship. Language is a basic barrier to communication given the fact that the employees are from various backgrounds. The master of the ship calls the Indian employee a number of despicable and demeaning names. The evident lack of respect between the master of the ship and the rest of the employees is a major factor that contributes to the dwindling productivity of the employees of the ship. Fire drills are primary requirements in the ISM safety codes. The purposes of the codes include ensuring safety at sea, preventing pollution of the sea and preventing human injury (International Maritime Organization, 2002). Fire drills are ways of ensuring that the people on board a vessel can respond appropriately in case of a disaster thereby saving their lives. When the Indian officer failed to avail the breathing apparatus, he jeopardized the drill thereby risking the lives of those on board the ship. The mishap with the drill portrayed the larger problem that could have resulted in the loss of lives in case a real scenario could have materialized while at sea. The International Safety Management code requires vessel managers to ensure the safety of both their vessels and crews. The management of MV Shields Hope did not safeguard the safety of its employees by failing to ensure that the ship had functional safety measures. In order to improve the situation at the ship, the management must ratify its operation by hiring competent employees who understand their roles. Additionally, the management of the hip must create an effective organizational culture coupled with the use of an understandable language to all the employees. The Indian did not know his duties a feature that could arise from the lack of effective communication. The master on the other hand called him stupid among many other undesirable names. The management of the ship should change its management approach in order to enhance the productivity of the employees. Loh, Schapper, Wrathall & Monash University (2000) explain that the management should carry out dedicated supervision of the employees with the view to ensuring that they undertake their roles appropriately. Other equally important factors that were affecting the morale and productivity of the employees while on the ship included the fact that the employees had stayed on board the ship for an extra month and received lower wages. As explained earlier, employee motivation is a fundamental factor that influences the attitudes of the employees thus their productivity. Staying on the ship for an extra one month affected their morale and they therefore required effective motivation to continue working. Unfortunately, the management of the ship pays the employees low wages. Money is a primary factor that motivates the employees in any industry. Paying the employees of the ship low wages coupled with the fact that the master of the ship calls them names affects their productivity. The management of the ship should strive to motivate the employees. If they are to stay on board for extra durations, the management must provide the employees with commensurate rewards and work in a friendly environment unlike the current state where the master abuses the employees and disrespects them (Milkovich & Wigdor, 1991). When the chief officer decided to overhaul the Mooring Winch System, he found out that the Second Engineer had ordered for the stripping of the hydraulic system. The scene shows the level of disorganization and lack of coordination among the employees in the ship. The top-level management lacks coordination and does not value the employees. The chief officer for example decides to overhaul the winch system whenever he feels like without communicating his decision to the rest of the employees in time. Such impromptu decisions often frustrate employees thereby contributing to the laxity the employees have exhibited in the past months. Additionally, the master expresses his low opinion about the employees. He expresses disinterest in the actions of the employees and concludes the he limits his work to the paperwork thereby leaving the rest of the employees without adequate supervision. In retrospect, MV Shields Hope continues to experience immense operational mishaps and failures most of which arise from the ineffectiveness of the management. The ship lacks an effective organizational culture that can manage the diversity of the employees thereby sustaining the profitability of the ship. The use of English as the official language in the ship for example is a major impediment to the communication process in the ship given the fact that most of the employees are from different continents. Coordination within the management is key to the success of an organization. The lack of coordination arising from the management attitudes against the employees continues to cause loses for the ship. The management should show interests in the affairs of the employees and carry out effective supervision in order to ensure that the employees carry out their roles as stipulated. References Frey, B. S. (2002). Successful management by motivation: Balancing intrinsic and extrinsic incentives : with 11 tables. Berlin [u.a.: Springer. Heneman, R. L. (1992). Merit pay: Linking pay increases to performance ratings. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. Katz, B., & Docherty, J. (1994). Enhancing employee performance. Didcot, Oxfordshire: Management Books 2000. Lauby, S. J. (2005). Motivating employees. Alexandria, Va: ASTD Press. Loh, D., Schapper, J., Wrathall, J., & Monash University. (2000). The Maslow revival: Maslows hierarchy of needs as a motivational theory. Caulfield, Vic: Monash University, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Management. McAfee, R. B., & Poffenberger, W. (1982). Productivity strategies: Enhancing employee job performance. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall. Milkovich, G. T., & Wigdor, A. K. (1991). Pay for performance: Evaluating performance appraisal and merit pay. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press. International Maritime Organization. (2002). ISM Code: International safety management code and revised guidelines on implementation of the ISM code by administrations ; 2002 ed. London: International Maritime Organization. Read More