People, Management and Organizations - Case Study Example

People, Management & Organizations Table of Contents Introduction 3 Evaluation of the Problems 4 Centralized Decision making Process 4 Ethni and Incompetent Personnel 4 Lack of Professional Attributes 5 Inadequate organizational Communication Process 6 Analysis of the Problems 7 Recommendations for Case Resolution 9 Conclusion 11 References 12 Introduction Cox’s container company was established in the year 1946. The organization is one of the largest manufacturers of medium sized plastic boxes and large metal road haulage that are used in fragile goods’ transportation. Both the small specialist production companies and large transportation delivery organizations are the major clients of this organization. However, the organization is facing huge challenges in terms of organizational behaviour and workplace performance that can affect the business performance of the organization for both long term and short term time period. It is clear from the case study that Cox’s Container Company is suffering from several internal issues related to the workplace culture and organizational behaviour. It is highly important for an organization to adopt and implement effective change management process in order to overcome the current issues and challenges. However, it is highly important for the Cox’s Container Company to implement change management process in the organizational culture in order to enhance strategy development and decision making process. In addition to this, it will help the organization to overcome the current issues that is affecting the profitability and business performance of the organization. This case analysis will outline and analyze the current internal issues and problems related to the organizational structure, organizational behaviour and work culture of the company. In addition to this, this report will discuss about motivation and change management theory that can be implemented in the management of the organization in order to overcome the issues. Lastly, the study will provide some recommendation plans in order to overcome the current issues. Evaluation of the Problems Being one of the leading and profitable organizations, the management of the Cox’s Container Company failed to overcome the organizational behaviour related issue. The organization was founded by Harold Cox. This part of study will outline and analyze the problems that are affecting the business performance of the organization. Centralized Decision making Process The management of the organization was following family ownership structure. It can be considered as the consideration, adoption and implementation of the centralized decision making process. The organization faced several issues due to the adoption of centralized decision making process. It is highly important for an organization to ensure effective strategy development and decision making process in order to overcome the issues (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010, p.73). Poor management capability and lack of effective leadership style of the managing director forced the organization to face several issues. Poor business performance and reduced business profit can be considered as the major consequences of these problems (French, 2011, p.29). It is clear from the case study that the market is becoming highly competitive and saturated. Therefore, this centralized decision making process was stopping the management of the organization to ensure effective knowledge sharing that would have helped the organization to develop effective strategies for the future perspective. Ethnicity and Incompetent Personnel It is highly important for several organizations to ensure skilled and knowledgeable workforce in this competitive business environment in order to gain potential competitive advantages. The founder and managing director of the organization, Harold Cox is highly regarded within the local community due to his financial and political support for the ethnic minorities (Mills, Bratton and Forshaw, 2006, p.48). Harold Cox took several initiatives to ensure the welfare of this minority ethnicity group. Production department can be considered as an important department for this type of organization. It is highly important for the organization to maintain high employee number in this department to produce products according to the market demand. However, the organization ensured over two-third of total employees in the production department. Most importantly, majority of the jobs are held by the individuals of this minority ethnic group (Ahmed, Gilkar and Darzi, 2008, p.87). Lack of effective skills and knowledge of the employees about job role, job function and job responsibility affected the workplace performances. In addition to this, rising industry competition and demand for differentiated products or services affected the business performance of the organization. Inadequate recruitment and selection process created difficulty for the organization to develop a strong and competent workforce (Aquinas, 2006, p.69). In addition to this, the organization did not implement change management process in the business operations that could have helped the organization to increase its core competency in this competitive business environment. Lack of Professional Attributes It has been mentioned earlier that the organization failed to maintain effective workplace environment. It is true that centralized decision making process, inadequate strategy development process and lack of control over the business operation practices and activities affected the profitability and business performance of the organization. The organization failed recruit and select effective and skilled employees in order to increase the core competency to survive in this competitive business environment. Strong and skilled workforce can be considered as one of the important aspects for the organization in this present era of globalization and technological advancement as several organizations within a similar industry are trying to gain potential competitive advantages by ensuring skilled and knowledgeable workforce (Cole, 2000, p.52). In addition to this, the management of the organization did not implement the concept of workplace diversity in the workplace. It would have enhanced knowledge sharing aspect within the workplace. In addition to this, it could have helped the organization to increase the capability of the entire workforce. It is clear from the case study that several employees and managers were not so much skilled and efficient to stick to the particular job roles and responsibilities. In addition to this, lack of value and respect among the employees or the managers of different department affected the workplace culture of the organization. Therefore, it can be stated that lack of professional attribute within the workplace affected the workplace performance as well as business performance of the organization. Inadequate organizational Communication Process It is highly important for an organization to maintain effective and clear communication between the management and employees of the organization. In addition to this, transparent communication process between the managers or employees of several departments is also important for an organization to reduce different types of workplace conflicts. It is clear from the case study that Cox’s Container Company was suffering from several internal issues due to inadequate communication process (Martin, 2001, p.99). Abdul Aziz was the long serving manager in this company. The founder of the organization understood that it is important to implement change management process in the decision making process to overcome the current issues. The organization developed a new central administration department to control entire business operation activities and John Straw was recruited as the manager of this newly developed department. However, John Straw found out that incompetency and negligence of Aziz is affecting the workplace performance and organizational culture. John Straw immediately called for a meeting for resolution of the issues, but Abdul Aziz denied attending the meeting due to some professional conflicts within the workplace. It affected entire workplace environment of the organization. Analysis of the Problems It is clear from above discussion that the business performance of Cox’s Container Company was affecting due to several reasons. Several leading organizations around the globe are trying to capitalize on the potential opportunities that have been developed due to the globalization and technological advancement. In addition to this, several leading organizations are also trying to enhance effective human resource management practices in order to gain potential competitive advantages. It is clear from the above evaluation part that the Cox’s Container Company is following the family ownership structure and centralized decision making process in order to get the direct control over each and every business operation activities. It is true that several organizations are trying to develop flatter organizational structure in order to ensure effective organizational communication process, conflict free workplace environment and effective organizational culture (Corbett, 1994, pp. 154-155). It is clear from the case study and above evaluation part that the management of the organization chose the employees who have the cultural background of minority ethnic group of local community. First of all, it was important for the organization to adopt and implement effective change management process in the organization in order to overcome the problems. The recruiters were stick to a particular cultural background while selecting the applicants. Therefore, inadequate workplace diversity process affected the entire workplace environment as effective workplace diversity can help an organization to ensure effective knowledge sharing. Several organizations are trying to consider decentralized decision making process and flatter organizational structure. Adoption and implementation of these aspects in the workplace can help an organization to improve the motivation and self-confidence level of the employees. According to the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, it is important for an organization to consider both the personal and professional needs of an individual in an organization. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the organizational leaders to implement effective leadership style in order to gain potential competitive advantages. It is clear from the case study that inadequate managerial skills and lack of implementation of motivational tools affected the performance of the employees (Singh, 2009, p.35). In addition to this, the organization did not implement change management process for a long ten years of time period despite several internal workplace and organizational behaviour related issues. Family ownership structure affected the efficiency of several business operation efficiencies. In addition to this, lack of presence of administration department and inadequate monitoring or controlling process affected the business performance of the organization. It is true that the business performance of an organization strongly depends upon the effectiveness and skills of entire workforce. In this modern era of competitive business environment, it is highly important for an organization to maintain strong workforce with sufficient number of skilled and competent employees. It is clear from the case study and above evaluation part that the organization did not even bother to recruit new and skilled employees for a longer period of time in spite of facing huge business loss. However, limited number of employees and incompetent personnel within the workforce affected the entire business operation activities of the organization. Several organizations try to implement change management process right after facing challenges and problems within the workplace. It is true that the management of several leading organization always tries to maintain effective workplace environment by ensuring significant personal attribute within the workplace. In addition to this, several leading multinational organizations try to ensure effective collaborative workplace performance by enhancing good team work and clear communication process among the employees or management of different departments. It is clear from the case study that the conflict between Abdul Aziz and John Straw affected the workplace environment as well as the business performance of the organization. Therefore, it can be stated that inadequate control over the business operation performances of the management of the organization increased the possibility of workplace conflict that resulted the incident which can be considered as one of the critical workplace conflicts. Recommendations for Case Resolution It is clear from above evaluation and analysis that the centralized decision making process, family ownership organizational structure, inadequate organizational communication process, incompetent workforce and lack of workplace diversity are the major reasons behind the underperformance of the Cox’s Container Company. First of all, it is highly important for the founder of the organization to change the organizational structure. In addition to this, the management of the organization should decide the appropriate and experienced applicants for the top level management posts in the organization. It will enhance the strategy development and decision making process. In addition to this, the organization should try to develop a flatter organizational structure. It will help the organization to motivate the employees to share their issues and problems with the management of the organization quite easily. This aspect will help the organization to improve the workplace performance of the employees. Secondly, it is important for the organization to change the decision making process. It is clear from above discussion that the organization was finding it difficult to get success through the adoption and implementation of decentralized decision making process. It is true that the adoption and implementation of decentralized decision making process will help the organization to enhance knowledge sharing process within the workplace. In addition to this, it will help the organization to improve the self-confidence and motivation level of the employees. Thirdly, it is highly important for the organizations to adopt and implement workplace diversity in work place by the consideration of the change management process. Workplace diversity can help the organization to improve the knowledge sharing process among the employees as different views and suggestions of the employees of different cultural background will help the organization to overcome possible issues and challenges that can hamper the workplace performance as well as the business performance of the organization for both short term and long term time period. Fourthly, it is highly important for the management of the organization to include important internal stakeholders in the decision making process in order to develop effective strategies. It is highly important for the organizations to develop both employee and customer centric business operation strategies in order to gain potential competitive advantages (Wilson, 2003, p.32). Last but not the least; it is highly important for the management of the organization to change both corporate and organizational culture in order to reduce the possibility of several types of workplace conflicts. In addition to this, it is highly important for the management of the organization to ensure open communication process. It is clear from the above evaluation and analysis part that inadequate communication process between the managers of different departments created workplace conflict that has affected the workplace environment and business environment of Cox’s Container Company. Conclusion Cox’s Container Company can be considered as one of the leading organizations in terms of profitability. However, the centralized decision making process and family ownership structure affected the business performance of the organization. It is clear from above analysis that inadequate strategy development process and lack of workplace diversity aspect affected the business performance of the organization. Slowly and gradually, the number of internal issues and challenges started to increase due to poor managerial skills of the managers and leadership style of the organizational leaders. After a longer period of time, the managing director of the organization thought about the implementation of change management process in the business operation strategies to overcome the issues as the organization was facing business losses for a longer period of time. Incompetent workforce and lack of skills of the employees were affecting the business performance of the organization in the competitive business environment. In addition to this, lack of effective and transparent communication between the managers of different departments within the organization resulted workplace conflicts which have affected the workplace environment as well as business performance of the organization. Therefore, it is highly important for the organization to develop flatter organizational structure to motivate the employees to perform effectively. In addition to this, application of decentralized decision making process can help the organization to develop effective strategies as it can enhance the employee motivation. Lastly, it is the responsibility of the management of the organization to ensure open communication process to reduce the possibility of workplace conflict. References Ahmed, S., Gilkar, N., and Darzi, J., 2008. Organizational Behaviour. New York: Atlantic Publishers. Aquinas, P., 2006. Organization Behaviour. New Delhi: Excel Books India. Buchanan, D., and Hucznski, A., 2010. Organizational Behaviour. New Jersey: Pearson. Cole, G., 2000. Organizational Behaviour. Stomford: Cengage Learning. Corbett, J. M., 1994. Critical cases in Organizational Behaviour. London: Palgrave Macmillan. French, R., 2011. Organization Behaviour. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Martin, J., 2001. Organizational Behaviour. New York: Thomson Learning. Mills, J., Bratton, J., and Forshaw, C., 2006. Organizational Behaviour in a Global context. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Singh, K., 2009. Organizational Behaviour: Text and cases. New Jersey: Pearson. Wilson, F., 2003. Organizational Behaviour and Gender. London: Routledge. Read More