Alleviating Riordans Declining Job Satisfaction - Essay Example

Case Analysis: Alleviating Riordan’s Declining Job Satisfaction Case Analysis: Alleviating Riordan’s Declining Job Satisfaction Much as we are aware about the significance of the human resource aspect in organizations, a strategic form of management applied within the arena of human resources permits the easier facilitation of organizational change. Although the human resource agenda have immemorially been incorporated in the principles of strategic planning, an understanding of the applicability of these processes in organizational management is relatively new. Today, as more companies recognize the benefits that organizational development and the role of human resource management, sturdy provisions reengineered with applicable implementation guidelines could often promote positive outcomes in operations. Case Scenario at Riordan Manufacturing This is a case analysis of the Riordan Manufacturing, a global plastics producer employing 550 people with projected annual earnings of $46 million. The company is wholly owned by Riordan Industries, a Fortune 1000 enterprise with revenues in excess of $1 billion. Production is divided among three plants: plastic beverage containers in Albany, Georgia; custom plastic parts in Pontiac, Michigan; and plastic fan parts in Hangzhou, China. Research and Development is conducted at corporate headquarters in San Jose, California. Riordans major customers are automotive parts manufacturers, aircraft manufacturers, the Department of Defense, beverage makers and bottlers, and appliance manufacturers. The cause of the problem that Riordan Manufacturing is facing is rooted from several strategic changes in the way it manufactures and markets its products. The declining sales and uneven profits over the past two years not only forced the company to change its sales processes, but prompted them to adopt a customer-relationship management (CRM) system. So now customers are serviced primarily by sales teams rather than single salespeople, with each team focusing on a particular customer segment. Teams typically include a sales person, product engineering specialist and customer service representatives. The company is hoping that the team approach will improve sales. With some work being redirected to a new manufacturing facility in China, and plants have been restructured into self-directed work teams, the changes implemented have caused the employee retention numbers to decline. An employee survey showed a decrease in overall job satisfaction, particularly in the areas of compensation and benefits. Riordan’s employees comprise three major demographic groups. Baby boomers make up the bulk of the managerial and about half of the manufacturing staff; GenXers make up the majority of the professional staff, as well as some of the manufacturing staff; and the GenY contingent are the newest hires, found primarily in manufacturing, engineering and IT. These three groups have radically different perspectives on rewards and motivation, valuing everything from interesting work to bigger paychecks. Recent performance data identified about 25 percent of the employees as high achievers, a large group of mid-tier performers and a small group of people who are not performing well at all. Unfortunately, the current reward system is barely based on performance, instead recognizing cost-of-living increases, seniority and position. Faced with declining morale and work ethic, Riordan managers have been pressuring the CEO to "do something" about the rewards system. New Concepts in Strategic Management With the recent changes going on in employee relations, tackling the workplace requires a new form of public management based on the following building blocks (Barzelay, 2001): Strategy – What is the public value the organization is really trying to create? Answering this question forces the managers to figure out their policy goals and exactly what role their agency should play in fulfilling those goals. Workplace design – Like a good roadmap, a sound design helps managers reach its ultimate policy and operational destination. Connecting the network – Technology is the glue that can hold networked company together, allowing employees to share knowledge, business processes, decision making, client information, workflow and other data. Ensuring accountability – Ensuring accountability in a networked arrangement is a matter of getting the following four things right: incentives, measurement, trust, and risk. Human capital transformation – In addition to knowing about planning, budgeting, staffing, and other traditional company duties, networked management requires becoming proficient in a host of other tasks, such as negotiation and mediation. Manufacturing methods in the workplace excited particular interest and, during the 1980s, wide-scale implementations of practices such as just in time production, total quality control and team-based work organizations (Voss and Robinson, 1987). The strong Japanese identity of many of these practices ensured that issues of the feasibility and desirability of the transfer of these practices attracted widespread debate about the "Japanization" phenomenon (Elger and Smith, 1994; Oliver and Wilkinson, 1992). This debate was extended by the publication of the influential ‘The Machine that Changed the World’ (Womack et al., 1990) which coined "lean production" to describe management practices found in their purest form among Toyota and its suppliers in Japan, but allegedly transferable anywhere in the world. Several authors have argued that the successful operation of Japanese production systems depends on human resource policies, which deliver "willing co-operation" rather than mere compliance on the part of the workforce (Pil and MacDuffie, 1996). Whether the net result of such policies is one of mutual gain for management and workers, as argued by commentators such as Womack et al. (1990) or one of increased subordination (Dohse et al., 1985), where workers are denied an independent voice and "locked" into the firm, is a debated point (Delbridge et al., 1992). However, the basic logic is fairly simple; if production operators are required to take responsibility for a wider repertoire of tasks, such as problem solving and continuous improvement activities, then a closer, more co-operative climate is needed within the firm (Wickens, 1995). Discussion about the Case at Riordan It is easy to see why changes have not been implemented by the HR department and the HR leaders are not motivated themselves. Riordan CIO Dale Edgel, serving as the overseer of HR activities should be relieved of this task. The HR should be left to stand on its own feet and let them decide on what’s best to motivate the unsatisfied employees. Dale’s attitude towards implementing change is also seen as negative, thus it might be recommended that he concentrate more on tax and management position rather than dipping his fingers in HR. Human Capital Consulting’s recommendations are quite agreeable as they have clearly outlined the various changes that should be implemented to enhance the rewards and benefits that the company should adapt. I think Yvonne should be given a free hand to formulate a re-designing of the compensation and rewards system. With her working with the Human Capital Consulting, it would be beneficial for her and the company because Dale would not be critical what her moves will be because she’s with a team hired by the company to oversee what’s best for their human resources strategies in alleviating the satisfaction of their employees. Dreher and Dougherty (2001) argued that motivation involves employee’s willingness to exert effort toward a goal. These employees had plenty of ability but were not motivated by the rewards available in their jobs, which, although fairly well-paying, were routine and mundane. In other words, they were not willing to exert high levels of effort. During the hiring process, not enough attention had been paid to the needs and the rewards sought by these types of applicants. The Riordan employees had little opportunity to challenge themselves in their work and to advance to higher positions within the firm. Thus, effectively diagnosing and suggesting solutions for problems such as in Riordan begins with an understanding of the concepts of ability, motivation, and opportunity. At present, lots of pressure come from the current economic conditions because prices usually go up when inflation rate is up. Naturally, employees are directly affected that’s why sooner or later they will demand higher wages. In order to maintain long-term survival and be profitable at the same time, organizations must react to these turbulent external environments where change becomes inevitable, even critical. As organizations react to change and begin to change themselves, the effects of the changing environment and new behaviors begin to be realized internally by the organization. In the enhancement of development strategies, it is of sublime significance to consider not only organizational culture as a concept, but also the internal and external factors that affect organizational behavior. With the era of globalization at hand, necessary transformations are required in the pursuit of excellence above all competitors. In order to introduce transformations, going back to the basics is the key. The key ingredients for improvement are good leadership, effective communication, healthy learning environment, ownership, reward and recognition, all of which are basically imbued in basic human resource development strategies. References Barzelay, M. (2001). The New Public Management: Improving Research and Policy Dialogue. Los Angeles: UC Press. Delbridge, R., Turnbull, P. and Wilkinson, T. (1992). "Pushing back the frontiers: management control and work intensification under JIT/TQM factory regimes", New Technology, Work and Employment, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 97-106. Dohse, K., Jurgens, U. and Malsch, T. (1985). "From Fordism to Toyotism? The social organisation of the labour process in the Japanese automobile industry", Politics and Society, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 11.5-46. Dreher, G. & Dougherty, T.W. (2001). Chapter 2: Some Basic Theory about Ability, Motivation, and Opportunity. Human Resource Strategy, McGraw−Hill. Elger, T and Smith, C. (1994). Global Japanization?, Routledge, London. Oliver, N. and Wilkinson, B. (1992). The Japanization of British Industry: Developments in the 1990s, Basil Blackwell, Oxford. Pil, F. and MacDuffie, J. (1996). "The adoption of high-involvement work practices", Industrial Relations, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 323-55. Voss, C. and Robinson, S. (1987). "The application of just-in-time techniques", International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 46-52. Wickens, P. 1995. The Ascendant Organisation, Macmillan, Basingstoke. Womack, J.P., Jones D.T. and Roos, D. (1990). The Machine that Changed the World: The Triumph of Lean Production, Rawson Macmillan, New York, NY. Read More