Domestic Issues Impacting on Work Performance, Conflict between Management and Staff - Essay Example

Running Head: Trade Commissioner Case Study Trade Commissioner Case Study Customer’s Name Customer’s Course: Tutor’s Name June 28th, 2013 Contents 1.0 INTRODUCTION 3 2.0 FINDINGS 3 2.1 Domestic issues impacting on work performance 4 2.2 Conflict between management and staff 5 2.3 Personal commitments getting in the way of work 6 2.4 Trust issues 6 2.5 Lack of staff involvement in decision making 6 2.6 Avoidance and poor communication 6 2.7 Poor planning and task organization 6 2.8 Misuse of financial resources 7 3.0 CONCLUSION 7 4.0 RECCOMMENDATIONS 7 5.0 REFERENCES 8 1.0 INTRODUCTION Management refers to the coordination of people and resources to add value and achieve organizational objectives (Rue, Byars & Ibrahim, 2012). Thus, excellent management and leadership skills are crucial to the successful running of an organization. Leadership on the other hand can be defined as the ability of a manager to inspire motivation in others to move forward towards a desirable objective or goal (Caroselli, 2000). Whereas management is focused on organizing tasks, leadership is focused on the individuals undertaking those tasks (Rue, Byars & Ibrahim, 2012). Therefore, it can be seen that leadership and management go hand in hand. When proper leadership and management is lacking in an organization, many problems are bound to happen and this can make the attainment of organizational objectives a daunting task. A managerial problem can be defined as gap between the prevailing state of affairs and a future desired state (Caroselli, 2000). This is clearly illustrated in the Trade Commissioner Case Study. When Organizational and managerial problems are identified and verified, efforts should be made to solve these problems, otherwise total collapse of the affected institution can occur (Caroselli, 2000). Problem solving can be thought of as the process of analyzing the prevailing undesired situation and coming up with the correct solutions of bridging that gap (Rue, Byars & Ibrahim, 2012). 2.0 FINDINGS The trade commission in the case study is suffering from poor leadership and management by the trade commissioner. The trade commissioner is exhibiting numerous bad management habits which are obviously devastating, not only to the underlying staff members, but also to the client businessmen and the Commission in the long run. The following organizational and managerial problems can be identified in the trade commission: 2.1 Domestic issues impacting on work performance Domestic issues are greatly impacting on Mr. Clark work. When Mr. Clark moved to the foreign city, he took his family with him. However, he sent them back to their native country since his children could not catch up with the foreign educational curriculum. In the case study, it is evident that this is a problem affecting Mr. Clark. This is because since his family left, he has been altering working hours. For example, he likes to stay late at work, not doing business work, but reading newspapers up to 7.30 pm since he is alone. Since he leaves the office late, he likes coming to work late, preferably at about 11.00 pm. One can see that this is not absolutely acceptable since the official working hours are 9.30 am to 5.30 am. This directly affects the commission’s ability to meet its objectives and goals. For example, the unusual working hours of Mr. Clark make it hard for businessmen to contact him in the mornings. Due to his late reporting hours, businessmen can only get hold of him after 11 am, which is obviously not good for the commission. Secondly, Mr. Clark’s odd working hours are also affecting other staff members in the commission. Probably the most affected staff member is the driver. The driver has to wait for him from 10 am in the morning since Mr. Clark likes reporting to work at 11 am. Moreover, the driver also has to wait for him up to 7.30 pm in the evening. This seriously inconveniences the driver since he has to actually work overtime and without extra pay for this. Mr. Clark’s Secretary is also directly affected by his late behavior. This is because she has to continuously lie to the businessmen who call early in the morning before his arrival. Last but not least, Mr. Clark’s behavior is also affecting his assistants, Mr. Briggs and Mr. Allen. This is because they cannot use the Commission’s vehicle due to Mr. Clark’s odd reporting and departure hours. As a result, they have to use alternative means of transport. 2.2 Conflict between management and staff There is evidence of conflicts between Mr. Clark, who is the highest ranking officer in the commission and the underlying staff members in the commission. First of all, there is a conflict between Mr. Clark and his assistants. One cause of this conflict is due to the fact that assistants feel deprived of their right to use the commission’s Mercedes Benz. As a result, the assistant trade commissioners have to seek alternative means of transport. This creates an ill feeling between Mr. Clark and his assistants. Another source of conflict between Mr. Clark and his assistants is the former’s practice of signing every report and project himself, leaving the correspondence for them to sign. This is unfair to both Mr. Allen and Mr. Briggs since all Mr. Clark does is to sign the report while they are the ones who did the actual groundwork. The assistants are worried since ministry officials believe that all the commission’s reports are solely done by him. The assistant trade commissioners often complain about this; Mr. Briggs in particular is worried that such practices can affect his career prospects. The relationship between Mr. Clark and Mr. Allen has also deteriorated due to the fact that the former forces the latter do much of Mr. Briggs’ work. This is obviously overwhelming to Mr. Allen, leading to ill feelings between him and Mr. Clark There is also a conflict between Mr. Clark and the Commission’s support staff including two officers and a general clerk. This conflict is caused by Mr. Clark’s practice of dividing most of his work between the staff members. This significantly increases their workload and as a result, they have to find extra time for example by shortening their lunch break and working overtime in a bid to do work that Mr. Clark was supposed to do. 2.3 Personal commitments getting in the way of work Mr. Clark is pursuing a PHD at an American university. This has a negative impact on the quality of his work since he spends most of his time doing research for his thesis instead of doing commission work. Moreover, he is also an active member of a local economists’ association. This also affects his productivity since he regularly turns down meetings with the consul-general in order to attend luncheons organized by this association. 2.4 Trust issues Members of the support staff feel that they are not trusted by Mr. Clark. This is because he regularly checks whether they have displayed current posters on the boards. He also regularly checks their filing and information system effectiveness. 2.5 Lack of staff involvement in decision making This is evidenced by the fact that Mr. Clark did not involve his assistants in any matters relating to the interior design of the new office. The assistants later found out that Mr. Clark had used over half of the office space just for his own use. 2.6 Avoidance and poor communication Mr. Clark likes to avoid face-to-face communication as much as possible. This creates a challenge in the communication process by prolonging the time taken to make a reply (Rue, Byars & Ibrahim, 2012). 2.7 Poor planning and task organization It is obvious that the commission is run in a lackluster manner this is evidenced by the manner in which the list of people to attend the party was prepared. 2.8 Misuse of financial resources Mr. Briggs found out that Mr. Clark had bought meals for his friends and family and debited the commission’s business account even though these were not business lunches. 3.0 CONCLUSION There is enough evidence of organizational and managerial problems at the trade commission. Most of these problems happen as a result of poor management of the commission by Mr. Clark. These problems need to be addressed and solutions found, otherwise total collapse of the commission is likely to happen. 4.0 RECCOMMENDATIONS According to the problem solving cycle theory addressed in Rees and Porter (2008), a problem needs to be identified, verified and root cause analysis done before desirable solutions and recommendations are found. Since I have already identified the problems and their root cause in the above section, I would like to offer the offer the following recommendations: Since the top management in the commission is wanting, a leadership change should be done and a new, competent and focused trade commissioner brought in the commission to replace Mr. Clark. Alternatively, Since family issues are affecting the performance of Mr. Clark, He should bring his family back and hire a private tutor from his own country for them. This way, his children can still do exams set according to the curriculum of their home country. If his family comes back, this can solve the problem of odd working hours. Dialog and mediation should be used to solve the conflict between Mr. Clark and his assistants. Mr. Clark should strictly adhere to the official working hours and thus the assistants can also have access to the vehicle. Mr. Clark should take part time or evening classes for his PHD course. Alternatively, he should put his course on hold for some time and concentrate on his job. Mr. Clark should trust his support staff more. This can boost their morale and create a better working condition for them (Rees & Porter, 2008). It should be made mandatory for Mr. Clark to involve other staff members while making crucial decisions. Face to face communication should be encouraged. This can greatly eradicate the culture of avoidance (Rees & Porter, 2008). The Ministry of Commerce should thoroughly audit the commission’s business account in order to verify that the commission’s financial resources are not misused. 5.0 REFERENCES Caroselli, M. (2000). Leadership Skills for Managers. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Rees, W. D, & Porter, C. (2008). The Skills of Management (6th Ed). Farmington Hills, MI: Cengage Learning. Rue, L, Byars, L. & Ibrahim, N., (2012). Management: Skills & Application. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin Read More