Tims Critical Decisions - Essay Example

? Case Study Analysis Organizations of whatever nature may face shortcomings due to conflicts that arise from the different interests between employers and employees. However, in view of this case, it is evident that the employees face the greatest disgruntlement. The issues Tim found at his new work place emanate from psychological disgruntlement. The approaches he takes to solve them emphasis the same especially in regard to his insistence in involving the employees in problem solving process. Whether, through reactive or active processes, behavioral, humanistic and cognitive, psychological theorists hold that environments shape the way human beings relate to their environment. The environment may range from tangible to intangible factors, humans to objects. However, for Tim’s case the influences are situational given the problems he sought to solve arose from non ideal situations. The situation in this case is low morale. Morale is a psychological attitude characterized by enthusiasm and energy to work. Workers in the club clearly have low morale. The second problem is the lack of adequate motivation from the employee’s environment namely the management and fellow employees. This is an analysis of the psychological ties motivation and morale has by examining the workplace discrepancies (Nelson, 2010). The first discrepancy in the organization is the conflict between the management and employees. The case study on “money is not always the best reward” points out that the first problem Tim encounters is that of employees on stress leave due to conflict with management. Barling (2005) holds that conflict may result in psychological strains such as stress. Three employees out of seventy five on stress leave is an indication that the problem is spinning out of control. This also reflects that the organization lacks appropriate conflict resolution strategies. This discovery also implies the lack of confidence the employees have in the management. Tim further discovers that additional four employees had work related accidents. Further research further shows that psychological strain may increase accidents at the workplace (Barling, 2005). Logic dictates that the club should investigate the cause of these accidents, but instead they set up a compensation policy and left it at that. A second problem at the club is that employees receiving directives from many authorities such as the board of directors overstepping their boundaries and giving direct instructions to employees. The result of this is that the employees experience conflict of interest which may lead to psychological strain. This conflict of interest goes as far as interdepartmental conflicts in between the club employees. Seeing as the employees roles were not well defined, they were not sure which functions to perform and how to perform them. In summary, the company did not a have proper job description and specification outline. The company also lacks Human Resource guidelines and Operational policies to guide the running of the institution (Nelson, 2010). Tim’s solutions: Tim’s critical decisions utilize a few psychological perspectives. Establishing that the main problem the employees have is low morale and lack of motivation as the start. Tim then set out to solve this problem. The findings of Elton Mayo concur with Tim’s reluctance to prioritize monetary reward to in solving his problems. The Hawthorne studies reveal that human needs in all spheres of life are complex; therefore, they require more than material rewards. Essentially a sociological approach, the human relations approach, however, has some essential psychological characteristics that reflect on the situation at the club. The first, vital aspect Mayo reflects on is that individuals like feeling a sense of autonomy at the wok place. As such, they prefer that the management consult them on issues that involve their work situation. Modern work perspectives view employees in an organization as key partners, a source of sustained competitive advantage as well as contributors to organizational success. Until the employer meets the employees psychological work needs, meaningful employee corporation and contribution will not be realized. It seems that it is from this foundation that Tim came up with his first solution to the club’s problems. Tim decided to involve the employees in creating job descriptions and specifications, Human Resource and the Operational policies. Through their contribution to this process, employees feel like they belong to the club workforce through ownership of job positions (MacKay, 2007). Another issue Mayo points out is that the more a manager gets involved in the affairs of the employee, the employees’ respond positively to worthwhile attention. This fact is true in relation to studies done on the concept of morale. These studies reveal that one of the causes of low morale is poor leadership. Tim’s skills as a leader are evident from the onset of the case study. It is true that the psychological state of a leader affects that of the subordinates. It is also true that the psychological state of a leader derives from the prominent leadership style an individual uses. Tim is predominantly a transformational leader as seen in the way he goes about the crisis management. Aside from being proactive, Tim displays a talent in creating bonds with employees that allow him to extract information from them. Case in point, employees confessing they sleep in instead of coming to work, Sue the operations manager was in search of employment elsewhere. Textbook descriptions aside, Tim displays a level of charisma as a leader. For instance, he inspires the employees to pursue goals going beyond their self interests through appealing to their non monetary requirements. Through this leadership styles, Tim creates psychological empowerment stemming from intrinsic motivation. Studies reveal that person oriented leadership has positive significant correlation to psychological empowerment. Psychological empowerment is essential in an organization in regard to creating a foundation through which change (what Tim sets out to accomplish) can easily occur (Messick, 2005). Fredrick Herzberg developed the two factor theory of motivation. These two factors were motivators and hygiene factors. The latter are factors that create satisfaction or dissatisfaction at the workplace by the degree to which they are absent. These factors include supervision, interpersonal relations, working conditions, wages and company policies. The psychological dilemma here is that the presence of these factors does not guarantee employee contentment but their absence results in low levels of motivation. From the case study, one can see that the there is poor supervision, low wages, poor, working conditions due to conflicts and accidents and poor company policies. An important aspect of Fredrick’s approach is the fact that he categorizes wages as hygiene factors. Given what he meant by hygiene factors, he again supports Tim’s opinion that money least influences employee motivation. To the problem of motivation, therefore, Fredrick suggests approaches such as job enlargement, job enrichment and empowerment. Psychologists suggest that there are other forms of capital employees require rather than material gain. As such, job satisfaction relies on self-efficacy, resiliency and optimism (Herzberg, 2008). Though Tim’s strategies are ground breaking, most persons will not agree with his idea that monetary gain is not a crucial motivator. I will argue this point out using psychological contracts. People work in strenuous environments for years on end others even their whole lifetime. Such people report wanting to leave their current working places, but they do not go through with this need because they cannot find new jobs that match their current salary. Though a “coerced” psychological contract, it still holds ground. The second argument is that on Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In the work situation, in relation Maslow’s theory, the basic needs of employees rely on the wages they get. These needs include housing, maintaining the family. I argue that the money has little to do with physical gratification. If an employee has elegant living conditions, takes their children to classy schools and so on due to proper wages, the employee will appreciate their work more. This is to say that the employee will have a psychological inclination to give their best to an institution responsible for their outstanding life (Wilkinson, 2009). A second discrepancy in the crucial decisions Tim makes is that he assumes that all the employees hold the same view point. He indicates that he did not take the job because of the salary. However, the employees may take the job because it is close to where they live; convenience. For the case of Sue, she was doing the job while waiting for better openings. A more suitable approach would have been dividing the workforce into interest groups for instance using departments and hearing their grievances in that context. This ensures that there is no misrepresentation. I argue this way because, even in light of the numerous discrepancies at the club, the profits were breath taking. As such, some departments may not have issues something Tim does not seem to give due consideration (Wilkinson, 2009). Finally, in the case study, there is mention of Club member disgruntlement. The management should involve the consumers or customers in some of the decision making due to the nature of the club’s business. The best laid plans may not be in the best of interests in which case some plans should receive approval from the customer. Indeed, Tim’s plan will succeed, but in the future, he may have to solve other issues emanating from poor, customer management (Herzberg, 2008). Recommendations: Even in the absence of an excellent human resource management system the club saw numerous profits. However, the club lacks an organizational structure. Daft (2009) holds that a proper organizational structure creates leeway for proper communication channels. This implies that information will flow easily from management to employees. The importance of this flow of information is that the management of the club would have been aware of the employee grievances. An organizational structure also helps in employee evaluation. The supervisors for instance are able to keep track of what their subordinate’s progress at the workplace. The management would have noticed employee misbehavior for instance how the cleaners do not come to work on time. Seeing as organizational structure allow for a chain of command, setting up of functional teams is perceivable. The ultimate result of all this positive influences of an organizational structure is that the organizational goals are easy to achieve. A good recommendation for an organizational structure in view of the nature of the clubs activities is a functional structure. This system will allow the management to divide the club employees into groups in regard to functions. This structure is suitable for two reasons. The first one is that it will mitigate on the role conflict issue. Secondly, organizational structures help an organization to form change management strategies and the functional structure is no exception. Finally, organizational structures help maintain psychological tranquility that contributes to productivity. When there is organization structure, an employee is not subject to confusion in regard to when or how to do things, whom to report to and how to handle grievances (Daft, 2009). References: Barling, J. (2005). Handbook of Work Stress. New York: SAGE. Daft, R. L. (2009). Organization Theory and Design. New York: Cengage Learning. Herzberg, F. (2008). One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees? Boston: Harvard Business Press. MacKay, A. (2007). Motivation, Ability and Confidence Building in People. New York: Taylor & Francis. Messick, D. M. (2005). The Psychology of Leadership: New Perspectives and Research. London: Routledge. Morgan, M. (2010). Impact of leadership style and team context on psychological empowerment in construction project teams. Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 412 - 420. Nelson, D. L. (2010). Organizational Behavior: Science, the Real World, and You. New York: Cengage Learning. Stone, R. (2008). Managing Human Resources: Money is not always the best reward. Brisbane, Australia: John Wiley and Sons. Wilkinson, A. (2009). The Sage Handbook of Human Resource Management. NewYork: SAGE. Read More