Analysis of the Major Leadership Issues Audio Technical Ltd - Case Study Example

Case Analysis: Audio Technical Ltd. [Name] [Professor Name] [Course] [Date] Abstract: The case study of Audio Technical Ltd testifies to how leadership as the core driver for an organization’s success. Being in charge, leaders have to manage the organization’s affairs through sustenance of organizational regulations, systems as well as coordinate the employees (Jing-zhou, Xiao-xue & Xia-qing, 2008). This essay comprises a case analysis of Audio Technical Ltd, a telecommunications firm, whose leadership failed after the founding manager retired leading to hiring of three new managers. The paper identifies the major leadership issues and discusses how the company can improve the learning and training program. It further explores how CEO can solve the problem of poor levels of motivation in the production department and the problems regarding the present organization structure. Key Concepts: Leadership skills, organization structure, team building, employee motivation, training and development Leadership issues and impact on staff members Several leadership issues which have some impact on the staff members are identifiable in the case study. The issues are however largely premised on relationship-building at Audio Technical. Executive Support A major leadership issue that led to increased customer complaints, poor quality issues, unmet production targets and high employee turnovers is lack of executive support. Indeed, when Mr. James retired leading to the hiring of John, Peter and Davis, the new leaders failed to develop and nurture executive support for employees. This was the genesis of the problems that the company faced as employees began to feel ignored and unmotivated. The upper-level management should set the cultural tone for the expectations of the staff members on performance and development. If the company executives fail to nurture good relationship, collaborations or interaction with workers, it is possible that the staff members will lose their focus of working towards the organization’s vision. An effective way to solve the issue of deficient executive support is through promotion of communication culture between the senior management and employees. Indeed, there was no communication between the three (John, Peter and Davis) and the staff as they were often on trips overseas (Mackenzie 2004). Team building The second major issue is poor team building strategies. The company, particularly in Glasgow, lacked a highly functional team blamable on poor leadership. When an organization lacks efficient team building culture, it becomes less sustainable. In addition, the staff becomes less cohesive. In the present case scenario, it is evident that John, Peter and Davis did not appreciate teamwork as they tended to work independently. For instance, many members of staff complained that John Stafford failed to convene any departmental or team meetings, and only communicated with few individual staff members. To solve this issue, it is crucial that the senior management invests efforts in teaming with staff members by encouraging individuals to contribute to efforts in a project so as to work as an effective unit (Mackenzie 2004). Customer Relationships The leadership failed to promote avenues for developing strong relationship with the customers through effective and quality customer service. For instance, poor quality products were produced. Additionally, the staff members, specifically, the sale force complained that products were not completed in time to meet deadlines set by customers. The outcome is that the members of staff became complacent with the state-of-affairs further aggravating the issue. By offering the customers what they want generates a high degree of customer loyalty, which has the potential to increase the employee’s feeling of self-fulfillment, a key motivational factor. Business Partnerships and peer networks The leadership also failed to build strong partnerships with their units. For instance, Mr. Trafford and the newly hired managers (John, Peter and Davis) were not close enough to their business to understand its direction or needs. Most often, they were on trips overseas. When the staff members lack direction or coordination, they will often tend to work on their own terms, thus promoting lack of cohesiveness in the organization. Further, building peer relationships are equally crucial for leaders to maintain in order to permit the sharing of best practices. How the company can improve the learning and training program Audio Technical Ltd needs to expand its organizational capacity to deal with more complex issues. Further, it needs to build tolerance for growth as well as foster culture of change management. To ensure this, the company has to be transformed into a learning organization, which will facilitate continuous learning and training of its employees using an effective training program (Bersin 2012). First, for the Audio Technical Ltd to improve its learning and training program, it needs to create its own future or review its vision. It also needs to assume that learning is an ongoing process that develops it staff members. Further, it needs to develop, adapt and transform itself in response to the needs of the customers and the aspirations of the staff. In addition, it needs to permit individuals at all levels of an organization to improve their performances both individually or collaboratively. First, the organization should espouse a systematic approach to training. This will require it to create a training organization its HR department responsible for ensuring that employees can access the training and career development materials and opportunities. Possible alternatives include using learning management system programs (LMS) such as Moodle, Capterra or Saba to ensure that the organization’s learning and training program produces consistent results. Further, the organization needs to analyze the training needs of the employees, by evaluating their work, interviewing the supervisors and most importantly, analyzing the report of the management consultant that Brian hired. At this stage, the decision on when the training should take place as well as the employees who should attend can be made. In addition, the learning objectives can be identified. For instance, it should at this point be remembered that the key to successful training program is not a lot of formal training, but instead an environment that encourages on-the-job training: Sales workers learn through making sales calls, programmers by designing, customer service by solving customer relationship issues (Bersin 2012). Next, the training courses should be designed and developed. At this stage, a project plan outlining the learning tasks, the resources required and the schedules of the training can be made. The training materials should be based on the allocated budget. The learning and training can afterwards be delivered through scheduled classes, focus groups or hiring consultants. To assess the effectiveness of the learning and training programs, the company will have to track participation, monitor performances and conduct follow-up surveys using application programs such as SurveyMonkey. Indeed, the learning and training program should embrace the principle that human potential lies locked in the organization and should therefore be developed. Central to this conception is the assurance that when all employees of an organization get to develop and put into practice their human capacities, the resulting alignment between the organizational and individual objectives, goals and visions will release the potential. How CEO can solve the problem of poor levels of motivation in the production department The CEO should set the tone for how the employees are treated at Audio Technical Ltd. For instance, Brian should ask himself whether his employees are valued for what they do on individual, communal and how frequently, as well as whether the employees are treated in a way that drives their incentive to focus their energies on fulfilling organizational objectives (Dosi, Hobday & Marengo 2000). First, the CEO can solve the issues of poor motivation in the production department through various ways such as through appealing to their ego by praising them when they achieve something. For instance, since not all rewards are tangible, the CEO can give the employees at the production department public praise when they make successful choices. However, in the present scenario, the workers in the production team do not take pride in their work, as exceptional performances often go unnoticed since the senior management is often away. Next, the CEO can further motivate the employees at the production department through opening effective communication channels. Communication in this case can be virtual or physical, verbal or non-verbal, or overt or covert. By communicating freely with the staff, the staff members feel cared for and recognized by the CEO. However, to achieve this, the CEO will have to convey thoughtfulness, care and kindness while communicating as curt, surly or rude messages may further de-motivate the workers (Wiley 1997). Through incentives, the employees get to feel special as well as love the workplace. To achieve this, the CEO can motivate the workers at production department by giving them cash rewards, bonuses or gifts. As this may not be frequent, an alternative is holding personal developments each week, where employees are helped to overcome personal issues outside of work so that they can feel that the company cares about their personal problems (Lindner 1998; Wiley 1997). An important organizational culture that the CEO should promote is that of transparency. Brian should learn to be completely honest and open about any issue affecting the company with the production team, as this will enable the team to have a sense of ownership in Audio Technical Ltd (Lindner 1998). Another effective way of motivating the staff in the production department is by letting their voice to be heard. The CEO should have an open door policy where the members of the department can meet him at any time with their concerns or ideas, and in return do his best to meet their needs. By encouraging the staff members to feel they have a voice enables them to feel they have a stake in the company. In addition to encouraging innovation, it will in return motivate them. State how Brian Schultz can solve the problems regarding the present organization structure In the present case scenario, the report by the management consultant that Brian Schultz hired revealed that the present organization structure had a structural problem where roles of the newly hired senior managers either had close correspondence or authority-task gaps, where decision making roles are unclear (Becker & Ballof 1969). Brian can solve this problem using a problem solving tool called organizational design. Brian should strive to focus on team building and process improvement groups. Basically, the team will assemble people and resources across the company. Further, Brian should set the right goals of each department, hold the managers accountable, streamline back-to-back processes and set up appropriate disciplines. He should as well make sure that the organizational structure is aligned with the corporate strategy, since it seems that the strategies with the coming of new managers (Dosi, Hobday & Marengo 2000). In conclusion, the hiring of three new managers after James retired led to the emergence of authority-task gaps at Audio Technical Ltd. This led to leadership issues that have increased the employee turnover rate, led to low productivity and poor customer service at the company. In summary, Brian should align the organization around value addition processes and building strong customer relationships. Train and develop the managers through human resource development and mentoring to improve their leadership skills. Encourage the managers to communicate and build peer groups with the workers, reduce all barriers to communication in the organization and lastly, encourage conflict resolution measures by improving the leadership capabilities of the workers and the managers (Mackenzie 2004). References Becker, S. & Ballof, N. 1969. “Laboratory Studies of Experimental Organizations.” Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 260-271 Bersin, J. 1 August 2012. 5 Keys to Building a Learning Organization. (Online) Retrieved from: Accessed 26 June 2013 Dosi, G., Hobday, M. & Marengo, L. 2000. Problem-Solving Behaviours, Organisational Forms And The Complexity Of Tasks. (Online) Retrieved from: Accessed 26 June 2013 Jing-zhou, P., Xiao-xue, Z. & Xia-qing, Z. 2008. "The role of leadership between the employees and the organization: a bridge or a ravine? -an empirical study from China." Journal of Management and Marketing Research. 1-12. (Online) Retrieved from: Accessed 26 June 2013 Lindner, J. 1998. “Understanding Employee Motivation.” Journal of Extension. Vol 36. No. 3. (Online) Retrieved from: Accessed 26 June 2013 Mackenzie, K. 2004. Organizational Problem Solving Tools. Practitioner's Guide For Organizing An Organization.(Online) Retrieved from: Accessed 26 June 2013 Wiley, C. 1997. "What motivates employees according to over 40 years of motivation surveys." International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 263-280 Read More