Issues Affecting the Overall Performance - Essay Example

?Human Resource Management Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Review of the present situation 3 Issues affecting the overall performance 6 Recommendation 9 Reference 11 Introduction Human resource is an important aspect of the organisation. Therefore if the issues regarding human resource management are not dealt efficiently, could hamper the overall organisational performance. The present case is reflects some major issues which a department of Presto Manufacturing Company is facing currently, which have hampered the overall departmental performance. Review of the present situation George Ryder is about to take place of retiring Departmental Manager Stan Robinson of Semi-Finished department within two weeks. In order to know the workings of the department and the team he is placed with Robinson for two weeks. George’s department produces semi-finished products delivered to Final Assembly department. The department’s team has 20 people engaged in 3 shift rotation of 35 hours per week. Recent changes in the company includes no spare labour to cover the absences, no team of inspectors for the departments and adoption of ‘right first time’ policy and attached 5% bonus to control the quality of the work. In turn workers have consented to take responsibility of the quality and zero machine downtime. The daily target for all the operators is 100. The shift timings are 6.00-2.00 with three breaks- 8.00-8.10, 10.00-10.30, and 12.30-12.40. George Ryder observes the operators as follows: Joe Sudato: Frequently late or absence from work sometimes without notice and sometimes with an excuse of illness or car problem. So far no official proof of sickness is provided and hasn’t got his car repaired. John Walker: Allowed occasional unofficial break by the supervisor because his performance is good. Mike Scott: Frequently complains machine breakdown and so difficulty in reaching targets. During this time he doesn’t work and chats with Joe Ridley despite instructions of Robinson to make himself useful. Joe Ridley: Performance gets affected whenever is involved in chat with Scott. Wesley Johnson: Despite consistent performance he is always criticised by fellow operator Tony Krass over the quality of his work which according to Krass is reducing the bonus of the department. The dispute between the two is quite frequent. Tony Krass: He is specifically critical of Wesley Johnson’s quality of work. He is also involved with discussions over departmental issues. Overall he unnecessarily involves himself in issues the responsibility of which is not conferred upon him by his managers. Jack Burns: Robinson suspects him of making excuses such as illness of wife so as to be able to spend time in leisure activities. He also arrived late and stated an excuse of over-sleeping. The Trainee: Appears to be in conflict with two fellow operators. He once accused John Walker and Joe Ridley that they are giving him troubles such as hiding his safety glasses. In another instance explaining his late appearance, claimed to have been locked in the toilets. Next day asks for early leave and appeared upset but did not explain the reasons. Remained absent the following day without any notification. Phil Graham: Asked only once for break for doctor’s appointment. On the objection of Robinson (department manager) he claimed to be able to get appointment at that time only. Despite these problems Semi-finished department faces other issues as well: Complaint from the Final Assembly department supervisor Brenda regarding the quality of their products and unmet production targets every week that has affected her department’s bonus. Reject Rate is consistently at 5% which is unacceptable by the Quality manager. The conflicts between the two departments- Semi-finished department and Final Assembly department due to the rejection rate of 5% in semi-finished products during the last three consignments which in turn have resulted in unmet targets by Final Assembly department. Lowering of work levels evident from increased defect rates at an average of 5.2% (previous week: average 4.7%). The target defect rate for 2010 is 2.1% which the Semi-finished department achieved in only 4 months i.e. March, August, September and October. In other months the departments’ defect rate has exceeded the target. The finished goods production is affected due to the performance of Semi-finished department. Issues affecting the overall performance In the previous section the overall present situation of Presto Manufacturing Company has been studied in detail. After analyzing the current situation from all aspects some typical serious issues have been identified which are particularly hampering the performance of the production department. Among the various issues which the production unit is currently facing, the major issues which are adversely affecting the overall performance of the company are organisational conflict, lack of proper performance management, evaluation and appraisal, lack of effective motivation tools and techniques, indiscipline, unhealthy employee relation and improper management of grievances. These are very serious issues which could create havoc in the organisation if not managed properly. Organisational conflict can be described as a conflict within the organisation which normally occurs due to any type of misunderstanding, any type of noncooperation or breakdown of organisational structure etc among the employees of the organisation. Conflicts can arise at various levels like conflicts among the individual employees or group of employees which are generally termed as inter-personal and inter-group conflicts. There may be a variety of reasons behind the organisational conflicts but the most important reasons are economic reasons, value and power. The economic reasons or economic conflict as it is famously known as signifies attempt to achieve higher gain. Every individual attempt to achieve higher gain and in doing so many times their motives and actions clashes with others which creates a conflict. Change in values, principles, ideologies and practices. As the principles and values of an individual guide the action of the individual therefore difference in values and ideologies often creates conflicts. Another major reason behind conflicts is power. In an organisation many times employees desire to attain more power by maximising the influence and control over others. Thus the tension which generally occurs while struggling for attaining more power creates conflicts. Apart from difference in values, power attainment and economic reasons miscommunication often creates misunderstanding which gives rise to a lot of conflicts. Difference in perception and ambiguities in perceived role, responsibilities and expectations often creates conflict (Fisher, 2006, p.1-3). In the case of Presto Manufacturing Company, conflicts are occurring both at interpersonal level and intergroup level. John Walker and Joe Riddle wants to exert their power over the trainee and want to influence his actions which the trainee is not ready to accept this is creating conflict between them. The interpersonal level conflicts are mainly occurring because of difference in perception, values and attitudes. Conflicts have both positive and negative outcomes. In one hand conflicts can improve decision making and cohesiveness and on the other hand conflicts can enhance stress, increase unwanted office politics and increase the employee turnover (Mcshane and Glinow, 2007, p.196). In this case the negative the department is witnessing the negative outcomes of organisational conflicts. The productivity of the department is declining due to the interpersonal conflicts in fact the stress level is also escalating due to the conflicts as a result the trainee has stopped coming to work. Moreover the intergroup conflict between the production department and the assembly department is limiting the department s to find out the exact cause of the declining quality so that necessary actions could be taken to reverse the situation. Another serious issue which the department is currently facing is increase in indiscipline behaviours and grievances among the employees. Every organisation has certain rules and regulations which are equal for every employee. Discipline not only creates accountability and increases the benefits of organised actions but also creates a sense of unity and belongingness among the employees. Therefore breach in discipline often creates grievances which hamper the overall organisational performance. In an organisation discipline can be implemented through self control and orderly behaviour. The organisation lays down certain code of conducts which have to be followed by the employees. Breach in any code of conduct is considered as indiscipline behaviour. In general there are mainly four types of misconducts which generally occurs in an organisation and requires immediate attention, these are intentional and unauthorised absence from work, unacceptable behaviour while working and other type of activities which can hamper the organisational performance. Intentional and unauthorised absence from work reflects the employee’s disloyalty and irresponsible and commitment less attitude (Cheminais et al, 1998, p.174-176). This type of attitude and lack of values and adversely affect the performance of the organisation in long run. While working unacceptable behaviour like abusing someone or rebelliousness or any type of disobedience not only affects the indiscipline employee’s performance but also affects the performance of others. Neglecting the job responsibilities also affects the performance of the employee which in turn affects the performance of the organisation. In case of Presto Manufacturing Company, the undisciplined behaviour of John Walker, Mike Scot and Joe Sudato shows their irresponsible and commitment less attitude. As the management is not taking any action against them therefore a lot of employees who are following the code of conduct are having grievances against them. These grievances are adversely affecting the organisational performance. If this type behaviour is not corrected then in future more employees might follow the actions of John Walker, Mike Scot and Joe Sudato which would not only hamper the organisational performance but will also decline the performance level to a great extent. Another main issue which is adversely affecting the organisational performance is lack of motivation. While reviewing the case it was found that the employees were getting more or less equal payment irrespective of their performance. Although the organisation gives five percent bonus for those performing as per the quality standards but apart from this no other financial and nonfinancial tools were used to motivate the employees. The performance of an individual is often defined as the product of motivation and his ability. This implies that if an able person is motivated can give high quality of performance (Stah and Grigsby, 1997, p.259). As some of the employees met their targets and most of them reached very near to the targets hence it can be said that the employee have the potential to perform better but due to lack of motivation they are not able to deliver the desired performance. Many financial and nonfinancial techniques are used to motivate the employees like providing bonus, profit share, fringe benefits, job enrichment, job enlargement quality circles etc (NGfL Cymru, 2008. p.2-3). The organisations try to increase the morale of the employees by enabling them to participate in decision making and recognising their performance through promotions. The declining performance and quality level highlights the lack of motivation among then employees. Recommendation On analysing the current situation prevailing in the production department of Presto Manufacturing Company it can be concluded that the main issues which are adversely affecting the performance of the department are lack of conflict management, indiscipline and lack of motivation. These are the main issues which should be resolved at the earliest. As discussed in the paper that conflicts have both positive and negative consequences therefore the management should try to manage the conflict in such a way that it gives positive outcomes. This could be done by developing effective communication among various groups and individuals so that matters could be resolved easily. In order to correct the indiscipline among the employees first of a formal warning should be given to the concerned employees. If after giving warning also they do not show any improvement, then they could be demoted or dismissed temporarily as a disciplinary action. The organisation should use both financial and nonfinancial techniques to motivate the employees. Special fringe benefits and other financial rewards should be provided to the employees who reach their targets both in terms of quantity and quality. Moreover the organisation should enable the employees to participate in decision making through quality circle, brain storming session, Delphi techniques etc. Moreover the organisation can also implement a more transparent performance appraisal system so that grievances regarding the performance evaluation and incentives can be kept at minimum level. All these steps would help the organisation to resolve the current issues which are affecting the departmental performance of the organisation. Reference Cheminais, J. et al. (1998). The Fundamentals of Public Personnel Management. South Africa: Juta and Company Ltd. Fisher, R. (2006). Sources of Conflict and Methods of Conflict Resolution. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.aupeace.org/files/Fisher_SourcesofConflictandMethodsofResolution.pdf. [Accessed on: January 12, 2012]. Mcshane, S. T. and Glinow, M. A. V. (2007). Organizational Behavior: Essentials. India: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. NGfL Cymru. (2008). Financial and non-financial incentives. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/financial_and_non_f_motivation.pdf. [Accessed on: January 12, 2012]. Stahl, M. And Grigsby, D. W. (1997). Strategic management: total quality and global competition. USA: John Wiley & Sons. Read More