Performance of Burt and Flint Engineering Ltd - Case Study Example

BURT AND FLINT ENGINEERING By s Table of Contents Executive summary 3 Introduction 4 Steps to reduce companies staff turnover 4 Importance of efficient management of change process 6 Factors to consider when pricing products 8 Best pricing method 9 Executive summary Flint and Burt engineering ltd is a company that deals with a variety of engineering components; it specializes on fabrications, welding and machining. The company has been experiencing a perennial problem of employee turnover, shortage of space, poor infrastructure and poor performance. On its quest to improve performance, it appointed a task force to look into the problem and offer a solution. The taskforce made numerous findings and recommendations. The current managing director was forced to take a back seat role and pass the battle to the new general manager to take forward the company and manage the process of change. This paper illustrates some of the issues about the company presented in the case, as well as recommendations on some strategies that can help improve production in the company. Introduction High employee turnover impacts negatively on the company; research shows that it costs heavily on the company when an employee quits. These expenses result from recruiting expenses; time spent on screening and interviewing candidates, lost productivity as the new employee gets used into the system. Additionally, the fears of uncertainty that the new hire will not be suitable and the company may be forced to repeat the exercise is another setback that companies encounter when an employ quits. Notably, changes can damage morale among remaining employees, as a result, negatively affecting productivity. In order to retain employees and keep them happy, companies should work to create a favourable work environment, as it will save time and money. The company should engage in the recommendations discussed below. Steps to reduce companies staff turnover The company management should understand that it’s the one paying employees and, therefore, employees’ wasted time translates to the company’s wasted time. Managers should avoid habits of keeping employees waiting while they finish up their phone calls or summoning regular meetings that no one knows their purpose as this can pummel employees’ morale. Such engagements send a clear message that the employees’ time does not really matter. Additionally, the company should encourage face to face meetings as they will be quicker and more productive (Hee and Ling, 2011). The culture of employees seeing each other regularly on upcoming developments in the organization or use of electronic missive should be discouraged. The company management should put into a stop consistent weekend or late night emailing and declare a policy of ‘no unnecessary emails’ and also abolish writing at odd hours. The management should discourage habits such as bragging by employees about who stayed the latest, who worked the longest or who made the most sacrifice for the company as these culture will breed resentments in the long run, instead talk to them on ways they can work more efficiently and make them understand they are not on the competition. The company should help the employees prioritize by not making them choose as the company may run the risk of them making a wrong guess since they may not precisely read the employers mind (Costello, 2006). It should be the responsibility of the company’s management to help the employees to prioritize every time they hand over a new project, the company management should encourage the employees to question them in case they falter in their duties. The company should be honest and get real about employees expectations; the company should be aware of the employees’ contract and be very clear on promises made to them. If the staff is working very hard they should be remunerated in a similar fashion; the payoff should be worth their hard work. The company should try out rhythmic methods whereby the company should understand its seasons and know when they expect a burst of activities from their employees. The company should make employees understand the rhythms and when they can look forward to a calmer time as people have the ability to get through anything when they have a deadline to look forward to (Costello, 2006). The company should help the employees develop a growth plan by looking out for their employees’ interests and aspirations and giving them relevant support so as to make them perceive the company as a place where they can grow their career, hence making them develop long term interest in the company. Before firing employees for incompetency, the company should try to train the employees to master time management by helping them map out their days since helping employees to prioritize may not be enough as they may not have experience to figure out how to put the pieces together (Orrick, 2008). The company should always keep its employees’ involved and informed, but should not surprise them. The company should keep their employees apprised to decisions early enough, involve them in decision- making process and always the company management should walk the employees through their thought process to make them understand where they are coming from, as no one want to be kept in the dark and execute commands like a robot without understanding the broader context (Aa, et al., 2012). Keeping employees informed and involved satisfies their curiosity and makes them feel like they are part of the company. The company management should once in a while give their employees non-expected rewards to boost their morale. These surprise rewards should be distinct from the usual holiday parties and end year bonus. The surprise should come at the right time and should coincide with the needs of the employees at that moment in time. Research shows that rewards are more meaningful when they are unexpected (Costello, 2006). Finally, when employing the company, should carefully interview candidates to ensure they have the right skills and their abilities to conform to the companies’ cultures, co-workers and managers. Importance of efficient management of change process Organizational change is a structured approach in a company to ensure that changes are successfully and smoothly implemented to achieve long lasting benefits. Changes are an inevitable part of the business and are not always embraced by employees and managers regardless how important and unstoppable the change is since changes are very stressful (Mento, et al., 2002). Human beings are hesitant to take new grounds due to already established comfort zone. Though an efficient management change process has the following benefits. Employees will have a firm understanding of the reasons why the change is taking place and therefore less likely to oppose, compared to when the changes are imposed on them. The employees participate in both seeking for solutions and the change itself .thus making the employees less opposed to the changes since the changes are part of their ideas. Some employees might bring in board brilliant ideas which can improve the company’s performance since they are at the grass root and therefore they are better positioned to understand problems crippling the company much better than the management at the top (Chosnek, 2010). When employees make a personal decision to support change, they acquire new training which is used to build up their skills and knowledge, therefore, an overall improvement in the company’s performance. Employees also get an opportunity to get additional skills that enhance their career. An effective change management identifies resistance and deals with it early in the process before in grows into a problem, these ensure that, in the future, the changes run smoothly with no or little oppositional challenges. An effective change management process gives a platform for senior leaders to demonstrate their commitment and the organization’s commitment to changes, therefore, giving guidance and cultivating an atmosphere of commitment to the junior staff (Anon., 2008). The change will be supported when there is an efficient change management process hence making the process smooth and fruitful. It creates a coalition of support among managers and senior leaders there after it builds up momentum throughout the organization, due to the fact that there will be unity in the organization and an uniform voice from the stakeholders therefore hastening decision making in crucial matters. There is a significant increase in the probability of meeting project objectives; the company will be better placed in its quest to achieve set objectives since there will be easier management and cooperation between employees and stakeholders. Factors to consider when pricing products Pricing is one of the pillars of marketing; pricing appears simple but in the real sense it is complicated based on the fact that pricing not only depend on physical factors of cost and profit, but also it is subjected to psychological factors. In determining the pricing of the company’s products, the company should sum up all their costs and then divide by the number of hours they bill per year, not forgetting to take into account the holidays, sick days, and other hours without work (Munnukka, 2006). All the hidden costs of the company like insurance and taxes must be taken into account. The company should consider how much money they are trying to make above breaking even, keeping in mind they are in business. The market demand, the company’s products that are in high demand should be made more expensive, and those that are of low demand be cheapened up so as to compete favourably. The company management should survey on other industry standards by finding out what larger businesses charge and the services they provide for that money and then use the information to fit carefully into the market. The skill level involved in the production, the price of the company’s products must be commensurate with the skills involved in production. Experience should affect how much the company charges since more experienced companies have better client skills and are able to foresee problems and intuitively understand audience needs and so on. Business strategy, the company, should figure out how it is pitching itself and use that to help determine the price. If the company is rated highly in the market, it’s more likely to sell same goods with other companies but at a higher price. Services provided the service provided to clients make a big difference on the price tag, the price should be adjusted to the level and type of service provided. The clients also determine the pricing; pricing often vary with clients as clients’ needs also vary hence price variation is necessary to cater for these diverse factors. Best pricing method Avoid action paralysis by limiting choices as this can demotivate consumers. Consumers are inclined to defer the decision to taking action when similar items have same price. Hence consider the slight change in price on similar goods. Use of price anchoring technique, anchoring, is the human tendency to rely heavily on the first piece of information offered when making decisions (Achdou and Pironneau, 2005). This tactic works best by placing premium services and products near standard options to create a clear sense of value to potential customers, as they will view your product as cheap by comparison. Trying out an old classic of the power of number 9 works wonders, research shows that price ending with number 9 are more effective, and they are able to outsell even lower prices even of exact same product. Always compare the price with a reason and never ask consumers to make a comparison between competitors’ price and yours as they can lose trust in your marketing message. In the pricing always keep the price very simple, research shows that more syllables seem drastically higher to consumers hence when pricing always make an effort to avoid all unnecessary additions to the pricing and always give priority to simplest style possible. In conclusion, the company is expected to improve on its performance since production will not be affected as effective change management practices were applied hence smooth transition expected, also good pricing strategy expected to be embraced and the general reduction of staff turnover. References Aa, Z. V. D., Bloemer, J. & Henseler, J., 2012. Reducing employee turnover through customer contact center job quality. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(18), pp. 3925-3941. Achdou, Y. & Pironneau, O., 2005. Computational methods for option pricing. Philadelphia: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Penguin Books: New york. Anon., 2008. Guidelines for the management of change for process safety. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley-Interscience,. Chosnek, J., 2010. Managing management of change. Process Safety Progress, 29(4), pp. 384-386. Costello, D., 2006. Leveraging the Employee Life Cycle.. CRM Magazine,, 26 December, pp. 48-48. Hee, C. H. & Ling, F. Y. Y., 2011. Strategies for reducing employee turnover and increasing retention rates of quantity surveyors. Construction Management and Economics, 10(9), pp. 1059-1072. Mento, A., Jones, R. & Dirndorfer, W., 2002. A Change Management Process: Grounded In Both Theory And Practice. Journal of Change Management, 3(1), pp. 45-59. Munnukka, J., 2006. Pricing method as a tool for improved price perception. Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management , pp. 207-220. Orrick, D. W., 2008. Recruitment, retention, and turnover of police personnel: reliable, practical, and effective solutions. Springfield, Ill: Charles C Thomas. Read More