Business Studies: Strategic Management and Human Resource Management - Case Study Example

Business Case Studies: Strategic Management and Human Resource Management Case a. of each case study scenario Employee relationships within the work place are an important aspect of organizational performance and success. For a healthy working relationship, employee cohesion and interaction are important. The rift between the two employees, Mark and Sally has adverse effects on the working relationship between them. The two being colleagues should work together to achieve organizational goals.

However, personal interests and lack of respect strains the relationship between the two workers. Mark having worked for organization for 8 years and being a team leader, has the feeling of ownership of the team. Mark considers herself as an expert in the field and believes that Sally her colleague tactfully fights proposed changes in a number of ways. Either, Sally opposes these changes, or reluctantly agrees to the propositions, later subtly undermining them. In fact, Sally does not have an idea how he could work with Mark, and as such, bullies her around.

The situation has worsened, as not unless it is necessary, the two do not talk to each other. b. Identification of management issues Williams (2014) argues that while teams are an important managerial tool for achieving organizational goals, more often than not, they do not work towards these goals. Managers should understand this very well if achieving their goals and objectives is their own commitment. Some team members fail to realize the importance of working as a team, thus assuming these teams as individual groups.

Conflicts are likely to occur in every team as members disagree in various issues (Williams, 2014). However, it is important that management understand the very essence of having teams in their organizations. Moreover, the existence of informal groups within the existing teams could yet be a reason for the existing problem. Informal groups exist parallel to the formal organization (Noe, et al., 2014). They have leaders and have norms and rules governing actions of the informal group. Failure of a member of a formal group to belong to the informal group, discrimination, and side-lining among the members could be the biggest problem facing the team members (Williams, 2014).

This notwithstanding, poor leadership skills are a major contributing factor to the differences existing between Mark and Sally. While Mark claims ownership of the group, Sally does not consider her as his leader whatsoever. Finally, motivation could be yet another reason for the tense relationship between mark and Sally. Weak policies and structures for employee development and could exacerbate the problem further. Battling each other to gain recognition could spark such incidences within the organization.

A poorly motivated work force could also portray such characteristics. c. Recommendations for solving the problems identified Understanding each employee personally is the first step towards solving the conflict existing between the team members. Closely scrutinizing the problem could reveal deeply rooted issues than just the issues existing in the disagreements. The management should understand that regardless of the competition between Mark and Sally, other factors contribute to such behaviours.

Hence, this should act as a revelation for the management discovering other problems existing within the organization. Empathy, which involves building a rapport between the team members, is the short-term solution to the problem (Williams, 2014). While organization development could solve the problem completely, especially with the existence of informal groupings among employees, restructuring of the employee development structures could be an alternative to the problem (Noe, et al., 2014). This would reduce unnecessary competition between employees, regardless of the positions they hold whether in teams and in the larger organization.

Finally, team-building exercises that would help with the identification of employee differences and train employees on leadership skills would also help in solving the problem (Noe, et al., 2014). d. A conclusion Organizations use a number of ways in achieving their goals and objectives. Teams and groups yield the best results in an organizational context. However, group and team dynamics could be a hindrance to the performance of the organization. If marred with conflicts and disagreements, such teams end up not achieving their intended purposes.

Just like in the case of Mark and Sally, where Mark claimed ownership of the team and Sally had no respect for her as his leader, various factors play in such situations. e. References Noe, R. A., Wilk, S. L., Mullen, E. J., & Wanek, J. E. (2014). Employee Development: Issues in Construct Definition and Investigation ofAntecedents.Improving Training Effectiveness in WorkOrganizations, ed. JK Ford, SWJ Kozlowski, K. Kraiger, E. Salas, and MS Teachout (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1997), 153-89.

Williams, S. (2014). Group dynamics for teams. Action Learning: Research and Practice, 11(1), 109-111. Case 2 a. Description of each case study scenario Corporate level managers believe in achieving set targets of the organization as they work towards the vision. They develop strategic plans, which they pass over to line managers for implementation. Further, they allocate resources against the set strategies, hoping that line managers will implement these without failure. In this case, strategic managers do not consider the running of the operational activities of the organization and that in addition to the strategic plan document; the organization should maintain its core business.

Inadequacy of funds to meet all the requirements, coupled with employee inability to deliver on the strategic plan causes disagreements between the strategic level decisions and the implementation level. Additionally, the CEO by forcing the implementation of high profile IT projects leads to a dissatisfied and an overworked operational team. They work under pressure, knowing that failure to deliver would jeopardise their work, even if they have no capacity to handle new things. As a line manager, getting my people to worker smarter and not harder require dedication and sacrifice.

While employees feel that they cannot deliver on the new strategy, a manager need to encourage them to remain committed to the overall corporate goals and objectives of the organization. b. Identification of management issues Communication between the corporate level managers and line managers contributes to the problem currently facing FinxCoop. In an attempt for the corporate managers to achieve the strategic plans for the organization, they developed a strategic plan document too ambitious for the operational level officers to implement.

These managers have little understanding of the actual situation at the ground (Bryson, 2011). Because they do not engage with the actual implementation of the organizational plans, they have little understanding of the issues inherent in these lower levels. Sitting in the board and formulating policies appear an easy task. However, the actual implementation of these strategies is the biggest problem. These managers seldom do they understand this. Instead, by equating policy formulation to policy implementation, they hold the belief that achieving these targets is easy (Bryson, 2011).

On the other hand, employees have no capacity to implement these strategies in whatever manner. The lack of resources to finance high profile IT projects and run the daily operations is yet another management issue. The decision by the corporate management to channel all resources towards the corporate strategy disregards the daily operations of the employees. Some have no capacity to handle the new tasks presented by the document. This creates anxiety among the employees, as they struggle to learn their new roles and deliver on their duties. c. Recommendations for solving the problems identified Improving communication between the corporate level managers and the line managers is the first step to solving the issue.

Because of poor communication between the line and strategic level managers, especially because there is no feedback from the lower levels to the upper levels, solving such problems becomes difficult. Managers cannot identify with the problems facing employees at lower levels unless they engage with them in the performance of tasks. The best managers are leaders who lead by example. According to Wang, et al. (2011) transformational leaders engage with their employees, and seek to understand the requirements of performing a particular job.

They know the capability of their employees and will avoid over burdening them with work. Therefore, strategic managers should engage with the line managers in understanding the actual problems facing the organization. Despite the expectations by the corporate line managers to have successful implementation of these strategies, lack of resources for all organizational requirements could cripple these operations (Bryson, 2011). Therefore, drawing a budget will ensure that there are adequate resources for all the organizational requirements.

This way, managers can identify any underfunded projects and overfunded ones, hence channelling money where most appropriate (Bryson, 2011). Finally, I would provide employees with the required training on performing their new duties for them to work smart rather than hard. The lack of technical knowhow on the implementation of IT projects is the main reason they feel threatened in their work, which affects their performance. d. A conclusion Even as strategic management draws strategic plans for their organization, understanding that the implementation of these goals is a collective responsibility of the organization is important.

Successful corporate managers spend time with their line managers trying to understand the state of the organization. They consult with these managers on the resources requirements, the technical knowhow of their employees and identify training needs. This way, such managers can achieve their corporate strategies faster and more easily than those that spend most of their time in boardrooms. e. References Bryson, J. M. (2011). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement.

San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Wang, G., Oh, I. S., Courtright, S. H., & Colbert, A. E. (2011). Transformational leadership and performance across criteria and levels: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of research. Group & Organization Management, 36(2), 223-270.