Establishing a Total Compensation Strategy - Case Study Example

Ans Self-managed work teams are the teams formed in the organization consisting of around 12 to 15 employees that are then assigned the responsibilities those were formerly being handled by their supervisors. The responsibilities included the plan and design of work schedules, operating decision making capacity and to handle the problems related to work. These teams within the organization are completely by themselves, that reduces the supervisor’s role in the organization. Many of the organizations in the present scenario, has used the concept of self-managed teams successfully and effectively, but some of these were not able to convince about of team value to their employees. The employees in many of such organizations feel that co-operating the concept of self managed work team is analogous with the assistance of their own execution. “The concept of self-managed work teams is also opposed by the supervisors of many organizations who do not intend to become the facilitators”. The self managed work team violates the principal of unit of command. Studies and organizational behavior theories have proved that there is contradiction in the effectiveness of the self-managed work teams. Such a situation could also be highlighted from the case when Knowlton was not able to align himself with the objectives of the whole team after Feaster arrived and began showing his superiority in the subject matter and research worked by the team. It should also be noted that in the meeting with the sponsors of the research, except the departmental heads, bosses and supervisors only Feaster was the only employee that was invited for the meeting and was asked to give presentation about the proceedings of the research. Even though he had been an active participant in the research since his joining, other employees were also the part of the project and had been working on the same for much longer period them him. It is also observed that employees working as a part of self-managed work teams have high attrition rate and absenteeism then the people working in a conventional work groups. Ans-2 Fester’s role in the organization was determined by largely his personality. From the day he was appointed to the team and project, he was dedicated and excited to complete the research. He started getting in close connection with the Link, the mathematician of the group spending time discussing the method of analysis of the patterns that link had been worrying about over the past few months. He tried to understand the concept on which they were already working and based on his understanding wanted to re-implement the strategy. The personality of Fester exhibited leadership qualities and the attributes of a highly motivated person. Fester from his personality looked like a leader that can take initiative within the team, that has a desire to lead, integrity, self confidence, and analytical ability and knowledge about the project and the technology used for it. On top of all, he also had charisma, creativity and flexibility as its in build traits, which made him an effective leader. As discussed, from his role in the organization, Fester also looked like a highly motivated individual. Motivation consists of interacting as well as interdependent elements of three types, namely: Needs, Drives and Incentives. Needs are the basis for the drives which is in turn seeking the attainment of certain set of incentives. A physiological or a psychological imbalance in a human leads to the creation of need for something. In the case fester has made the successfulness of research his basic need. However, a psychological need can also arise without any known deficiency as well as imbalance. For e.g. a person having a strong need for progress may move from success to success. Drivers or motives prompt individuals to attain their goals and satisfy their needs. A physiological drive is a condition which causes a person to work in a particular direction. Both physiological and psychological drives push an individual towards achieving a certain goal or accomplishing a certain task. Anything that can motivate a need and decrease the intensity of drive is called an incentive. When a person obtains the incentive, the strength of the drive is reduced and physiological or psychological balance is restored. In today’s world, employee satisfaction and retention have become issues of high importance. Employees who are satisfied are more productive, innovative and show high levels of enthusiasm and commitment to their organization. A high staff attrition rate and absenteeism levels can affect the financial performance of the company because outsourcing, recruitment and retraining may give rise to heavy costs for the organization. However, only a handful or organizations understand the true implications of keeping their employees satisfied. Applying Fredrick Herzberg’s theory of motivation to real life is not an easy task. First hygiene factors have to be considered in order to create an environment in which the employee satisfaction and motivation are possible. Ans-3 Considering the Bob’s group, it could be said that conflict is only damaging when it is unresolved. As can be seen from the case, though the conflict was never open, but it was unresolved in the mind of Knowlton for which he resigned from the organization and joined some other company with higher package and same position. It had happened because of his mental conflicts with Fester on the positions they have been working on. Conflicts are common in all organizations and occur when people fail to arrive at a consensus regarding the organizational goals or the means to achieve them. Most of the organizational conflicts could be classified into categories namely, Intrapersonal Conflict, Interpersonal Conflict and Intergroup Conflict. The conflict in the mind of Knowlton that has been described in the case could be classified as Interpersonal conflict. Persons always try to maintain their image and respect. When someone threatens their self-concept, they try to retaliate and this leads to interpersonal conflict. Different individuals have different tolerance levels, and this depends on their personalities. Individual with low tolerance levels get into interpersonal conflicts frequently. Often, interpersonal conflicts are the result of differences in perception and gap in the communication. Though in the case, the interpersonal conflicts of Knowlton were more of mental and this did not lead to any retaliation. He argued within his mind relating to his role in the team and with the impact of appointment of Fester in the team. As displayed in the case, conflict in the organization in dependent on the extent to which resources are shared and tasks are interdependent in the organization. The chances of organizational conflict arising are low if the organizational goals are consistent, and require employees to perform tasks that are less interdependent and do not involve much sharing of resources. On the other hand, the chances of organizational conflict are high if the organizational goals are inconsistent and require employees to perform tasks that are interdependent and involve a great sharing of resources. Barriers to communication were also a contributing factor that resulted in the metal conflict in the mind of Knowlton. Another factor contributing to this could be the size of work groups, degree of specialization of employees, role clarity of the individuals and departments, leadership style and diversity of goals and reward systems constitute structural variables. These variables have huge potential to cause conflicts. As the size of work groups increases, possible differences in the opinions increase, increasing the possibility of conflict. The same could be reflected from the case after the appointment of Fester in the group. Ans-5 There is a well designed employee appraisal program which looks into the various aspects of appraisal of any employee. Employee’s engagement is another crucial factor. Employees should believe in work that they are doing and should always feel good about it. They should also understand the issues and problems confronting the company and work in harmony to overcome such obstacles. ‘Personnel management’ has developed into ‘human resource management’ over the years. This has happened because organisations are now not run by only the set of few people who calls all the decision. With geographical diversified base and employee strength ever increasing it is now a whole circle that needs to be managed. Earlier few selected employees and personnel used to be the key to the success of the organisation. With evolving times and unions of workforce becoming stronger it has evolved into Human Resource Management. Before developing a culture for an organization, it is very important to understand what culture actually means. Culture is all about dealing with your staffs rather than your customers. This leaves a very positive note on the minds of the staff as they feel respected and being cared. Professional approaches to the non-performing side of the organisation were needed and clear accountability for all employees had to be established to ensure that all projects were properly staffed and completed on time and within budget. Since culture is all about managing people, hence it is imperative to have the right person at the right job. Therefore, recruitment is considered to be the most critical. It chooses people who are optimistic, humble, passionate and enthusiastic. It uses behavioral event interviewing as one of its recruitment process, where applicants are asked questions that would help them align their behaviors and motivations with that of the various competencies listed in its personality template. It is also important to get a team of motivated people on board who are committed, self motivated and respect their job. Employee’s engagement is another crucial factor. Employees should believe in work that they are doing and should always feel good about it. Considering the Bob’s group, it could be said that conflict is only damaging when it is unresolved. As can be seen from the case, though the conflict was never open, but it was unresolved in the mind of Knowlton for which he resigned from the organization and joined some other company with higher package and same position. It had happened because of his mental conflicts with Fester on the positions they have been working on. Conflicts are common in all organizations and occur when people fail to arrive at a consensus regarding the organizational goals or the means to achieve them. Most of the organizational conflicts could be classified into categories namely, Intrapersonal Conflict, Interpersonal Conflict and Intergroup Conflict. The conflict in the mind of Knowlton that has been described in the case could be classified as Interpersonal conflict. Persons always try to maintain their image and respect. When someone threatens their self-concept, they try to retaliate and this leads to interpersonal conflict. Different individuals have different tolerance levels, and this depends on their personalities. Individual with low tolerance levels get into interpersonal conflicts frequently. Often, interpersonal conflicts are the result of differences in perception and gap in the communication. Ans-6 Encouraging and Involving his subordinates to participate in the decision making process because it is they who are working at the shop floor and better understand the problems and requirements. Being a role model for others by exhibiting positive habits like coming to office on time, showing care and concern to his subordinates’ needs, not forcing them to do unsafe tasks and always making sure that they take all safety measures before engaging in any such unsafe activities. Give them enough autonomy and authority to carry out certain tasks on their own. This would increase their confidence and make them self motivated. The success mantra for any successful leader is not to just have focus, clarity and good business plan but the ability to bring together a team of strongly motivated, determined and brave people is more important. Looking at these instances, it would be rather appropriate to classify his leadership style to be that of “bossing people around” which is a more abusive and unprofessional style of leadership. With the advent of changing technologies and growing competition, it has become imperative that employees should be motivated to learn new things and abandon old ideas. This can be done by a participative leader rather an autocratic one. Though equally risky, this kind of authoritative attitude is required in a highly centralized and structured organization and during short decision making time. Fester’s role in the organization was determined by largely his personality. From the day he was appointed to the team and project, he was dedicated and excited to complete the research. He started getting in close connection with the Link, the mathematician of the group spending time discussing the method of analysis of the patterns that link had been worrying about over the past few months. He tried to understand the concept on which they were already working and based on his understanding wanted to re-implement the strategy. The personality of Fester exhibited leadership qualities and the attributes of a highly motivated person. Fester from his personality looked like a leader that can take initiative within the team, that has a desire to lead, integrity, self confidence, and analytical ability and knowledge about the project and the technology used for it. On top of all, he also had charisma, creativity and flexibility as its in build traits, which made him an effective leader. Ans-7 Challenging cut throat competition, public relations & Human resource management (HRM) are becoming very critical for quick restaurant industry. In this context it becomes very critical to make sure that employees all over the world are happy. It becomes very important as we add on our base of our employees that we start following a standard procedure for recruitment and selection. Recruitment and selection will be happening all over the world as organization is a MNC. The regions should be deciding when to recruit and where to recruit from. They are in best position to assess the capability of the work force in the region. Minimum criteria for employees should be set from the global headquarters and that should be mandatory when selection procedure is done. After short listing the candidate on the basis of minimum criteria, the next stage of evaluation should be completely based on the requirement of the region and the desired profile that region is looking for. The legal framework of the country should be kept in mind when the compensation plan for the country is drawn and it should be stringent enough so that any loop holes are not left open. This will make sure that the regional division of the organization does not move into any kind of legal proceedings. Though in the case, the interpersonal conflicts of Knowlton were more of mental and this did not lead to any retaliation. He argued within his mind relating to his role in the team and with the impact of appointment of Fester in the team. As displayed in the case, conflict in the organization in dependent on the extent to which resources are shared and tasks are interdependent in the organization. The chances of organizational conflict arising are low if the organizational goals are consistent, and require employees to perform tasks that are less interdependent and do not involve much sharing of resources. On the other hand, the chances of organizational conflict are high if the organizational goals are inconsistent and require employees to perform tasks that are interdependent and involve a great sharing of resources. Barriers to communication were also a contributing factor that resulted in the metal conflict in the mind of Knowlton. Another factor contributing to this could be the size of work groups, degree of specialization of employees, role clarity of the individuals and departments, leadership style and diversity of goals and reward systems constitute structural variables. These variables have huge potential to cause conflicts. As the size of work groups increases, possible differences in the opinions increase, increasing the possibility of conflict. The same could be reflected from the case after the appointment of Fester in the group. References: Human Capital Institute. (2009). Retrieved Nov 29th, 2010, from http://www.hci.org/cfe/topic/total-compensation-strategy Compensation Strategy. (2009). Retrieved Nov 29th, 2010, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3257/is_n7_v43/ai_7752391/ Establishing total compensation strategy. (2006). Retrieved Nov 29th, 2010, from http://www.porticopossibilities.com/solutions.asp?p=solutions§ion=3&pg=1 Read More