CASE NOTE: THE TROUBLE WITH MARTIN - Essay Example

Case The Trouble with Martin This case is about a dossier written by Frank Baxter concerning the controversies of working conditions at the Martin Manufacturing Company. In this piece, Frank took the initiative to reveal everything about the company. As a former employee, he is bitter because he was not satisfied with the management strategies that had been employed by the company to run its day to day affairs. Having served here for a long time, he knows much about the company. Thus, he acknowledges that it plays a very significant role in the economy of the country.

At the same time, he praises the management for being concerned with the welfare of its employees. However, he accuses the Accounting Department in which he was attached, for incompetence, favoritism, discrimination and mistreatment, behaviors that have killed the dreams of many promising workers. Indeed, the information contained in this dossier can be used to shed more light on the management strategies applied by the company. By stating that the company has been committed to motivating its staff, it means that the management can be credited for applying the principles of Herzbergs motivation-hygiene theory that states that the morale of employees within an organization can be greatly determined by the existence of motivators and hygiene factors.

As Frank wrote, the employees in the company are motivated by policies such as attractive remunerations, monetary rewards, credit facilities, insurance schemes and offering of training opportunities to employees. Such initiatives motivate the employees because they feel empowered. However, there still exist hygiene factors that demoralize employees in this company. Although the company has brilliant Human Resource initiatives, the employees in the Accounting Department are not motivated at all.

As Frank says, they are led by incompetent and rude supervisor who engages in unethical practices such as discrimination, harassment and disrespect to his juniors. For instance, he does not offer sick leaves to employees and often hates to be asked questions even it is in a good faith. Besides, he does not show any regard to merit and qualification when promoting his workers. Most of the times, he gives priority to his cronies even if they are not competent and do not deserve any promotion. Such behaviors have really demoralized his juniors.

This has definitely crushed the individualism of such employees because they can not progress. Based on the assessment, I would like to point out that Frank’s work history is not so good. Even if he was appreciated by Mrs. Sharon Healey for being a team player and a committed employee, his evaluation depicts him in a bad image. He must have been an incompetent employee who could not cope up with the expected standards at Martin Manufacturing Company. This justifies why he had been put on probation and probably why he had to voluntarily relinquish his position.

However, based on his dossier, there might be chances that his bad record was produced by his supervisor with whom he was not in good terms. Based on these observations, I would like to conclude by saying that Sharon should not disseminate the report until the surrounding controversies are resolved. Otherwise, it might damage the reputation of the company.