Effective Communications - Bitts - Essay Example

Bitts Case Study Table of contents Terms of Reference 3 Conclusion 13 Works Cited 15 Terms of Reference Change Management: This is the set of management practices and controls which ensure that any organizational change is not negatively affected by the individuals involved in the change process. Change is often seen as negative since it is disruptive and there are interested parties who do not want to see change established in any company. However, change is also necessary since a business that does not adapt to changing situations is moving towards decline and possible ouster. Motivation: In the simplest terms, motivation is the desire to do something. In business terminology it can be translated as the intrinsic or extrinsic drive which helps individuals become more productive. A lack of motivation will make employees lethargic and careless while a presence of motivation will present them as energetic and full of verve. Responsibilities: While every individual connected to a company or organization has certain benefits which s/he derives from working for the company, there is also a set of responsibilities which the individual has towards the company. Responsibilities change depending on how and where a person is placed within a company but certain responsibilities like loyalty, following company norms and going by the rules of the company are expected to be followed by all members connected to the company. Theory X and Theory Y: These are two management styles which were given by Douglas McGregor as a part of his discourse on management. Theory X of management assumes that people dislike work and must be controlled by strong means if they are to remain productive. Further, people need direction and not independence while they work. Theory Y is the complete opposite of this since it suggests that people are naturally inclined towards work as they are towards play and rest. Additionally, people find satisfaction in work and will use imagination, creativity and their personal skills to solve work related problems if they are allowed to work as they please (NetMBA, 2005). Executive Summary There are several problems which are being faced by Bitts of which the primary problems are said to be; the lack of communications between directors, the management style being followed, the coming changes in the company/industry, and the HR related problems of the company. With effective communications and following the correct decisions outlined in the recommendations section, the company and the directors can expect to pull out of the spot they are in presently. Of the recommendations, the first is a change of style closer to Theory Y, the second is the promotion of the top sales executive and the third is creating effective tools for communication and management. Main Body At the moment, there are several problems which are being faced by Bitts and the most important as well as pressing problem is the difference in the management styles of the two directors. Margo appears to be operating under the dictums of Theory X while Jerry comes across as a believer in Theory Y. These management styles as well as the personalities of the two directors of Bitts are polar opposites and if they are brought closer to each other to find a happy medium, Bitts can improve their market standing. In case the differences between the directors are too deep and there is no way they can see eye to eye then Bitts is in trouble. Given that the market situation does not leave them much room to experiment or even take their time as they make decisions, they have to consider some drastic measures which will help the company survive rather than turn it into a place where anyone can do anything without the fear of reprisal. Margo and Jerry simply seem to have different visions for the company and it can be assumed than neither of them are clear about what direction the company should take in terms of partnerships, products or employee relations. This is a big problem for them as their different styles and visions are not letting the company move in any clear direction. The second issue which the company is facing is the condition of the employees who come across as slightly complacent. Even though they are winning clients and giving a relatively good level of output, Margo is correct in her assessment that if the situation continues as it has in the past, sooner or later the discipline and the stability of the company will be at risk. It is clear that Margo is having difficulties in getting her point across to the employees since there are more personnel absent after she tried to talk to them. The third significant issue is the threat of losing a key player from the company to a rival from which the company was hoping to attract some buyers. The top sales manager of the company (assumed name Jack) is rumoured to leave the company to go and work for the competition. At the same time, the industry analysts are also not too hot on Bitts which has made the customers vary and the staff nervous about their positions. This situation also points towards the fact that there are trust and responsibility issues between the employees, the management and the directors of the company. Finally and perhaps most importantly, there seems to be a lack of communication throughout the company since the directors’ meetings become heated arguments and messages are not clearly transmitted between management and the workers. This is the most important issue because many of the problems outlined above stem from a lack of good communications and quite a few of the solutions given in the recommendations section depend on good communications between the management and the employees. Summary of Issues The central problem of the company is the lack of communication between the two directors. Without good communications they can not make good decisions or control the company which hurts the business. They need to decide who should be promoted and what path the company should take both in terms of management style and the relationship which they wish to have with their employees. The highest recommendation for the directors is to stabilise their decision making process and include key personnel while they are making the decisions which will affect the future of the company. Recommendations The recommendations for the company are connected primarily to the management styles of the directors as well as means by which the company can adapt to changing scenarios in their industry as well as the company. Many of the recommendations which apply to a company going through changing situations can be applied to Bitts and the directors would do well to learn the lessons which were gathered by other companies in similar situations. Given that the two directors believe in different management styles, they first need to hammer out exactly what protocols they will follow at the company to maintain employee discipline and what is important for the company. Each person connected with the company has a certain set of responsibilities and is accountable for certain parts which make the company function to the best of its abilities. In this situation, while the employees seem to be working with theory Y, the manager (Margo) appears to be following theory X. The responsibilities which Margo assumes employees will carryout are not being met even though their performance is relatively high. In such a situation, it is recommended that Jerry should also take an active part in management under theory Y so both the director and the workers are on the same wavelength. At the same time, Margo should also look into the production work and the technical aspects of the company since in those areas theory X may be more suitable. At the same time, a middle path which unites input from both the directors is also very important for the smooth operations of the company. As recommended by Dunn (2004) with change management a company has to look at three different aspects of change which include the social, the technical and the business issues. From the information gathered in the study as well the information provided about the industry it is clear that changes are coming and the company needs to be prepared to change management. It has been recommended that change management is one of the most important aspects of success for a small company and Bitts is no exception (McLagan, 2003). However, as changes come to the company all interested parties and stakeholders need to know about the coming changes otherwise the changes would not be successful or not as successful as the directors would like them to be. A similar case was handled by CHW when they needed to bring certain changes into their own company and they made extensive use of technology to keep all employees abreast of coming changes (Havenstein, 2005). Since Bitts is a technology based company which works with computers it can be assumed that the employees at Bitts are more tech savvy and can certainly use technology to their advantage especially when it comes to management. If the company has access to resources for software development, they can create in-house tools to manage change or they can use the help of outside freelancers with which they already have a level of comfort. In terms of promoting and keeping key HR players in the company, it is highly recommended that instead of promoting an excellent sales manager, Bitts should promote their top sales manager who is under threat of being recruited by the competition. By offering him a position as a director in the company, Bitts will certainly sweeten the honey pot and show their customers as well as industry analysts that Bitts is growing rather than shrinking. At the same time, they can tie in his increments and benefits to the increased output which he brings as a director for sales rather than increase his salary from the first day. On the other hand, they can use their top employees as a means of motivation if the company rewards them in monetary as well as other means. Good HR is important at any given time for the company and it becomes doubly important when the company is a delicate point in its course (Dejager, 2006). With this, the company could also look into developing career paths for managers and others in senior positions and look into the future of its various employees in terms of how they can grow as individuals with the company. Motivation comes across as something of a problem for the company and it seems that the management style used by Margo is not effective in motivating employees who are not factory line workers. Using the idea of responsibilities and duties, the management of the company could be improved if the company gives employees more freedom but also gives them stronger targets which would mean that individuals would have to be responsible for creating their own work-life balances. Margo could be made happy if the targets are being met and certain numbers of core hours are spent in the office. On the other hand, Jerry would be happy since employees would not worry so much about being on time or coming to the office and be open to work creatively. It is essential for the directors to remove their personal differences since it can be assumed that their arguments are being heard by other people in the office which reduces their credibility. Change management comes with the requirement that change is to be management, which means that the persons responsible for bringing about the change know what they need to do and resolve their differences before they can present a united front to the rest of the workers within the company. As told in the details about the two major players, they have both worked and came across as successful operations managers and there is little to suggest that the differences are anything more than management styles. Trusting other employees seems to be a key issue with Margo since she comes across as someone who wants to monitor employees closely. This could be troublesome for those employees who are already performing to a high level and could even improve their performance if they are given a part in the decision making process and included as a part of the force which drives the change at Bitts rather than the stagnant section of the company which needs to be changed. This would of course shift the management policies towards theory Y, but given the lack of success the company has had with theory X, it just might be the catalyst which drives the change. Any change or important decision making process in the company will come with an automatic generation of speculation and the rumour mill going into overdrive (Bordia et. al. 2003). The situation could be mitigated if the employees are able to get answers to any questions which they may have about problems or process changes which might affect them. As the company is seeking to bring together different management styles, any rumours of a director leaving or a key worker quitting can be disastrous. Therefore if employees are told the truth and it is shown to be the truth, the chances of any rumours starting about the company become very limited. Lewis (2001) gives an interesting look at how companies can change or drive change. He says that if people resist change; see what happens when you offer them a brand new car without any strings. Obviously, very few people would resist such a change and that is exemplified by the case study where people are afraid of change since their jobs are threatened. If they are assured that the coming changes will be for the benefit of the company and employees who are performing have no cause to fear job security, it will certainly ally their fears on many different levels. The problems being faced by the company are none such that will cripple the company. If managed effectively, all the problems can be turned into opportunities which serve to motivate, energise, retain and bring the employees closer to the targets of the company. However, the only way in which these recommendations can be implemented is by having effective communications between the two partners and founders of the company without which no plans or recommendations can work. Finally, the company should try and make change a part of its creed. The computer industry is such that it changes much faster than other manufacturing industries like automobiles or aerospace. Additionally, a company which is able to include change as a part of its make up is also able to move quickly when it needs to if and when the company situation changes (Maurer, 2005). Given that Bitts will not be totally out of the woods once they have controlled this crisis, a change management program and some training for senior managers and directors is highly recommended. Conclusion Effective communications seems to be the highlight of the study since without communication no drive for change management or a control of the employees can be created for the company. The historical record for the company has shown quite clearly the company has been doing well since the six years it has been established but the directors as well as the employees know that the industry wide changes which are coming will have some sort of an effect on the company. If the company is well prepared in advance with plans for HR, communications and control the changes will come for the benefit of the company. On the other hand, if the heated discussions in the director’s office continue as they have then the problems will only multiply. The company as well as the directors have to trust the employees which have been with the company for many years and even though the structure of the company has changed from a family owned business being run by six people to a mid size company with more than 200 employees, the onus of ensuring the success of the company remains with the two directors who originally created the company. A few years ago their differences would not have mattered much to a small company but as they have grown in size they also need to lay down rules, responsibilities as well as guidelines under which employees can be made a part of the directors group as they rise in stature with the company. Clearly, there can be no finite set of recommendations for Bitts since their problems are not finite. A personality clash at the highest level can only mean that the directors have to be mindful of each other’s personality and both need to understand each other’s viewpoint. In certain situations, theory Y as it is followed by Jerry may be more useful while in others theory X as it is used by Margo may be more successful. However, to apply the theory on a case by case basis would only waste the director’s valuable time and it would be much better if they can figure out a set of guidelines under which both would abide by. Works Cited Bordia, P. et. al. 2003, ‘Management are aliens! Rumours during organisational change’, Australian Journal of Psychology, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 116-117. Dejager, P. 2006, ‘Confessions of a recovering change inflicter’, Computing Canada, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 11-12. Dunn, R. 2004, ‘The change triumvirate’, Plant Engineering, vol. 58, no. 8, pp. 11-12. Havenstein, H. 2005, ‘CHW Takes Creative Approach to User Resistance’, Computerworld, vol. 39, no. 51, pp. 53-54. Lewis, B. 2001, ‘Controlling change’, InfoWorld, vol. 23, no. 38, pp. 40-41. Maurer, R. 2005, ‘Taking Stock of Change Management’, Journal for Quality & Participation, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 19-20. McLagan, P. 2003, ‘The Change-Capable Organization’, T+D, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 50-59. NetMBA. 2005, ‘Theory X and Theory Y’, Internet Center for Management and Business Administration [Online] Available at: http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/mcgregor/ Read More