Problems That the Administrative Staffs of Better Business Solutions Are Facing - Case Study Example

Executive Summary: It has always been argued that a supervisor/leader of administrative staffs can create or destroy the working condition for them. A transformational leader who is flexible to changes can take decisions for the betterment of the organization and its staff, while an adamant and egoistic leader can halt the inclusive growth of the organization as well as the career development of the staff working under him/her. Comparing these perquisites of a good supervisor or leader with the one at Better Business Solutions, who is responsible for recruitment and appraisal of all administrative staff, we can see that he has certain fundamental weaknesses in terms of leading the team and providing the quality staff for the organization. Adaptation of wrong policies has made the situation worse for the staff members. The climate within the corporate administrative division has become extremely problematic with high levels of stress, conflict, and absenteeism accompanied by an obvious lack of commitment and motivation typified by a number of recent resignations from administrative staff. To address these problems the CEO of Better Business Solutions must work on the problem form the root level. An administrative reform should be brought to provide the adequate working culture for the employees. This reform must be brought gradually in phases but in order to address the immediate problems of the staff a new supervisor should be appointed and proper channels of communication should be developed to understand the needs of staff. Finally, the supervisor should work with the CEO and staff for the long term sustainable development of a new administrative environment. Table of Contents: Introduction: It has always been argued that a supervisor/leader of administrative staffs can create or destroy the working condition for them. A transformational leader who is flexible to changes can take decisions for the betterment of the organization and its staff, while an adamant and egoistic leader can halt the inclusive growth of the organization as well as the career development of the staff working under him/her. Staff members feel de-motivated and do not show any interest in working for the growth of organization under such leaders. This results in higher stress level among employees and other staff members, higher turnover of employees, high level of conflicts and absenteeism and declining standards of administrative work. A study done by Professor Armin Falk, research director at the Institute for the Study of labor concludes that Employee motivation decreases significantly if workers sense distrust from their supervisors. It says if there has to be supervision; it should be done properly (Falk, 2005). Ironically, a good leader or supervisor understands the needs of its staff, motivates them, help them in achieving their desired career progression, brings them out of stress if any they feel, instills the group dynamics and team cohesiveness and brings ethics in the working culture (Kinicki & Vecchio, 1994). Two major behavioral dimensions have emerged from leadership research are those which sociologists have termed instrumental and social-emotional, or expressive, leadership behavior. Psychologists who have studied leadership have independently discovered these dimensions (House, 1971). The terms most frequently used to describe these behaviors are initiating structure and consideration. Leader initiating structure is used to describe the degree to which the leader initiates psychological structure for subordinates by doing such things as assigning particular tasks, specifying procedures to be followed, clarifying his expectations of subordinates, and scheduling work to be done. Leader consideration is used to describe the degree to which the leader creates a supportive environment of psychological support, warmth, friendliness, and helpfulness by doing such things as being friendly and approachable, looking out for the personal welfare of the group, doing little things for subordinates, and giving advance notice of change (House, 1971). Comparing these perquisites of a good supervisor with the one at Better Business Solutions, who is responsible recruitment and appraisal of all administrative staff, we can see that he has certain fundamental weaknesses in terms of leading the team and providing the quality staff for the organization. Important to mention being that he is adverse to in-house training; rather he expect employees to come with the qualities for which he/she has is hired. He also does not pay to the basic needs and expectations of the employees working in the organization. This has resulted in high levels of stress, conflict, and absenteeism accompanied by an obvious lack of commitment and motivation typified by a number of recent resignations from administrative staff. In the following pages of this report we will further and deeply analyze the causes of the present problems that the administrative staffs of Better Business Solutions are facing and then we will try to sort out these problems by discussing some of the practical approaches. Finally, we will recommend the possible solutions to the CEO of the organization to control the situation. Key Problems in the Organization: There are numbers of generic as well as some specific problems that the organization and its administrative staffs are facing. We will discuss them one by one as following: High levels of stress: There is a high level of stress among employees. This level of stress is associated with the concept of demands and resources (Robbins & Judge, 2007). Demands are responsibilities, pressure, obligations, and uncertainties that individuals are facing the Better Business Solutions while, resources are things within the individual’s control that can be used to resolve the demands. Clearly it seems that the resources at hand for the staff members at Better Business Solutions are insufficiently low to handle the demands that the work nature is asking for. This gap directly brings higher stress level among employees. High levels of conflict: One of the possible psychological consequences of stress is increased levels of conflict among staff members and between staff and organization. Staffs start making unprecedented demands while organization denies even a basic demand from employees. High levels of absenteeism: As mentioned in the case higher conflict and stress level results in employees going away from their jobs and duties. Administrative staff feeling isolated and unappreciated: At Better Business Solutions staff members are denied access of intranet on the grounds of confidentiality. This makes them feel isolated from the other part of organizations. Lack of motivation: One of the possible reasons of lack of motivation is absence of recognition of the work done in the past. The other reason could be the no career growth opportunity present at the organization. At Better Business Solutions the policy of recruiting people from outside rather than giving in-house training might be one of the reasons of the lack of motivation among staff members. Lack of commitment & declining standard of administrative work: When there is no motivation to work then commitment level comes down automatically. Employees do not try hard to finish the task before the stipulated time and that directly affects the relationship between organization and customers for the organization like Better Business Solutions. Large number of resignations: This is the last recourse that employees at Better Business Solutions have. This can be one of the effective ways to show their protest against the adverse policies of the organization. This is one of the behavior consequences of above mentioned problems. Misuse of organizational information and internet: The behavioral consequence of the above problems is that employees start cheating with the organization and they start misusing the property of the organization. This is the direct result of staff not being appreciated for their work. Potential Causes of the Problems: Leadership/Supervisory cause: The Director of Corporate Administration at Better Business Solutions is responsible for recruitment and appraisal of all administrative staff. According to the role the supervisor has to understand the expectations and needs of the staff and then provide them with adequate help to overcome any problem they face. He has to lead the team from the front as well from the back. However, in this case the supervisor has adapted some of the adverse policies which are negative in nature and instills stress and conflicts among the employees. The first adverse policy is regarding the recruitment and in-house training. He is the firm believer of hiring the best possible human resource available in the market rather than developing an in-house human resource. The second policy is related with the access of intranet for the staff members, which he has rejected immediately. These two policies shows that director is adamant in nature, does not consider the staff members the permanent part of the organization, does not understand the needs of the staff, does not have motivational and appreciation skills, and does not consider himself being the part of staff members. All these have resulted in employees feeling isolated and unappreciated and which has increase stress level and conflict level among them. Lack of career growth for staff: Studies show that the organizations with better policies for their employees’ career development perform better than which prefers outsiders to take the lead roles (Matthews, 2008). The Better Business Solutions is adverse to in-house training or provision of financial support to staff seeking to upgrade their skills. The organization does not provide any career path for the staff members and hence this increases the employees’ turnover as they try to seek organizations with better career opportunities and growth. Lack of resources being made available to the staff: The administrative staff is not allowed to access the intranet on the grounds that it is only for senior executive staff to preserve confidentiality. Its necessary that senior staff maintain a level of confidentiality but by not allowing the administrative staff access to intranet the organization is making them feel outsiders. They can not feel associated with the organization. Possible Solution to the Problems: The problem at hand is related with the administration and can not be solved by changing one or two people at the top. For solving and handling the problem a complete administrative reform would be needed. The reforms must address the current situation at two levels; one at root level and other at symptoms level. The root level strategy should be targeted to solve the root cause of the problems while symptom level strategy should be directed to address the current problems that are showing among the administrative staff. As mentioned above one of the root causes of the problem is Director’s wrong and old policies. The director has been associated with organization for past 50 years but his mindset has not changed over the period of time. So in order to change the current mindset prevailing in the organization to handle the administrative staff some administrative reform should be brought. These reforms should reflect organizational stability more than organizational change (Brunsson, 2006). The organization must bring a new supervisor in the act, who can associate himself with the problems and needs of the administrative staff. The supervisor must work as a good leader as well as a good mediator who can not only solve trivial problems of staff but also take those problems to the higher authority if he can not address them adequately. The organization must develop a new policy for the career development of administrative staff. Under this policy the assessment of the development needs should be done to know the skills that they want to learn. And then adequate training should be facilitated to them (IRS Employment Review, 2000). Apart from this the problems of staff should be listened properly and they should be addressed in a fixed time period. Adequate facility of internet and other tools should be given to them to restore the lost confidence and trust. Conclusions: The problem of stress, conflict, turnover etc. among administrative staff members sometimes can be due to the supervisor who is insensitive towards the needs and wants of them. These supervisors maintain a wide communication gap between them and the staff and also make sure that the gap is maintained between the other top people and the staff members. This kind of nature may be due to the personal egos or adamant to the changes etc. In any case they should be addressed properly so that they can be stopped before all the loyal and true performers of the organizations go somewhere else in search of better career opportunities. But the biggest problem comes in identifying such insiders. And for that proper checks must be established within the work culture of the organization from the very beginning so that the moment any of such cases arises they can be deal with properly at an early stage.. Recommendations: Recommendations for the CEO: The administrative reforms can not be brought over night. It’s the long term process and depends upon sustaining the good practices. The CEO must work as a transformational leader to give the reforms proper platform and then bringing those reforms in reality. The CEO must decide proper time period to make the changes required to bring the reforms. Its possible that initially some of the staff members may not support the idea but ultimately they need to be convinced logically by telling them the benefits of reforms. The role of CEO must be as a torch bearer for the new supervisor who would be hired for the direction of recruitment and administration of staff. He must address the necessary needs and problems of the supervisor so that he/she can start working as soon as possible for the betterment of staff. Finally, the CEO must ensure that proper checks are put onto places so that anyone misusing the organizations facilities could be handled properly. Recommendations for the Supervisor: Followings are the recommendations for the new supervisor and the actions he must take to bring back the strayed staff (National Research Bureau, 1995): 1. Provide staff the information needed to work better – The staff should be provided with the environment with clear communication and direction. 2. Give regular feedback – The continuous verbal and non-verbal feedback from the supervisor would prevent the staff to feel frustrated if the work is not done adequately. 3. Take insights from the staff members in taking decisions that affect them – Through reverse communication supervisor can bring a sense of belongingness among staff members. 4. Establish proper channels of communication – The supervisor should encourage both the formal and informal modes of communication which reduces the communication gap between staff and supervisor. 5. Know what motivates an individual staff – Each individual is different and so they feel motivated through different means as well. Supervisor must go and talk to them directly what make them feel motivated. 6. Give written feedback in form of notes – Through this way the feedback process is consolidated. 7. Appreciate the staff to recognize the good work done by him/her – This works as a new morale booster for the staff. 8. Make appropriate resources available to finish the task adequately – Just as proper information is important to complete the task the adequate facility of tools and other resources are also important. 9. Know and understand the needs of staff – The personal as well as other needs of staff should be addressed properly. 10. Promotion must be performance based – The performing candidates must be rewarded adequately and they should be given preferences in promotion rather than other who are just senior in age to them. 11. Establish the policy of giving proper career development opportunities to each staff - It's de-motivating to see positions go to outside applicants when employees were working hard to eventually grow into the job. Supervisors can motivate by creating feelings of job security and worth showing staff members that they have truly made an investment in hiring them. References: 1. Brunsson, N. (2006). Administrative reforms as routines. Scandinavian Journal of Management , 243. 2. Falk, A. (2005). German study shows negative effect of supervision. Personnel Today , 6. 3. House, R. J. (1971). A Path Goal Theory of Leader Effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly , 321-339. 4. IRS Employment Review. (2000). Employee retention -- the tools and techniques. Great Britain: IRS Employment Review. 5. Kinicki, A. J., & Vecchio, R. P. (1994). Influences on the Quality of Supervisor-Subordinate Relations: The Role of Time-Pressure, Organizational Commitment, and Locus of Control. JOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR , 75-82. 6. Matthews, V. (2008). Stay together. Personnel Today , 35. 7. National Research Bureau. (1995). Twenty sure-fire ways to kick-start a burnt-out staff. Supervision , 1-8. 8. Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2007). Organizational Behavior. USA: Pearson Education Inc. Read More