Organizational Issues and Recommendations - Essay Example

? Organizational Issues and Recommendations Introduction The organization where I have been appointed is a car manufacturing plant. The hierarchical structure followed by the firm exhibits a Tall structure. The number of personnel reporting to each manager tends to be lesser in case of Tall structures. This results in better opportunities for the superiors to monitor and supervise the activities of the subordinates (courses.jonesinternational.edu, n.d., p.185). The employees of the organization played no role in designing and running the production lines. Also the organization followed the Taylorist style of production which refers to the mass production system. The Taylorist production approach was established by F.W.Taylor, who gave birth to Scientific Management. His school of thoughts is termed as Taylorism. Taylorism believed that any job can be learnt and taught. This theory treats the humans like machines and proposed that for the achieving higher production the management must eliminate inefficiency from its functioning. However, this theory completely neglects the usual complications that happen within a normal human being (Boyd, n.d). Taylorist production style supports the assembly line system where each worker performs the same task repetitively. Here the concept of division of labor was given significance and people started getting specialized in a certain domain while the rest of the production system remained unknown to them. A strict supervision policy was maintained within the organization which created distance between the management and the employees. The repetition of same task created frustration among the workers. The quality of work started to decline which affected the management adversely. In turn the employees were threatened and scolded which ultimately resulted in more and more employee turnover. The management thought of forming groups for reducing the work pressure on individual employee and delegating each group with a particular task, like a group was responsible for making the engine and other relevant parts while another group worked on the creation of seat and the third group focused on the making the wheels of the car. The fourth group would work towards assembling the parts of the car and presenting the final product. The Issues faced by the firm The manufacturing unit realized that even after implementing the form of group work in their day to day operations, the problems like employee turnover and poor performance didn’t reduce. As they hired me as an HR consultant, I studied the various facets of the organization and reached the conclusion that the groups are suffering from several issues like role conflicts within groups, communication problems among group members, lack of cohesiveness in groups with diverse members and excessive intergroup conflict. Thus before proceeding with the recommendations towards solving these issues, it’s necessary to study the impact of each of this issue on the organization and the group in specific. The issues are discussed as follows- Role conflicts within groups This kind of conflict occurs between groups when the members feel uncertain about the role to be played by them. The group members might get a feeling that they are in charge of more than one responsibility within the setting of the organization and that the roles might prove to be contrasting each other. If the probability of two or more roles is irreconcilable, role conflict becomes prominent (Losh, 2011). For instance, a superior at a manufacturing plant might feel tensed due to the role played by him or her as the person poses to his juniors both as a friend and as a mentor at a time. Role conflict can occur due to non-availability of proper socialization facilities inside the organization. Group conflicts might take place due to several reasons which are- Misinformation and miscommunication Perceived or real disparity in the priorities and needs of the groups Perceived or real disparity in perceptions, values, culture, attitudes and beliefs Different structures existing within the groups Communication problems among group members The key task of a group is effective communication. The various Groups within an organization operate through the means of communication of ideas. An efficient group is the one which arrive at the end of a decision or a process after taking into account the extensive range of opinions. A group would have a broader array to consider if the members have a say in the decision making process of the firm. For the group to accomplish its objective, all the members are required to feel free towards their thoughts, and must get a responsible feel towards providing their valuable suggestions to the discussion conducted within the group. If all the group members do not participate, most of the benefits of group work are lost. Diversity in the workplace and lack of cohesiveness Diversity in the workplace mainly encircles people from diverse cultural backgrounds, language, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious belief and other values. Diversity is also reflected when people belong to variety of educational fields, work experiences, personality, socio-economic context, marital status etc. The concept of diversity in the workplace involves accepting the individual differences and utilizing the diversities in a positive manner for managing the workplace. The organization has to deal with people from diverse backgrounds and it’s very common that where there are individuals coming from diverse surroundings, there are high chances that conflicts can arise at any time. Different people with different culture and point of views could be confused, threatened or even annoyed by each other in the team, from views and background different from their own. It could create disagreements and disturbed political atmosphere that might slow down project advancements. Diversity in a team may often lead to conflicts, i.e. when people from different culture and experience work together, a conflict is often found to arise between them as their thoughts and perceptions differ (Knight, 1999). Conflict in diverse team may arise due to miscommunication and incompatibility in information, diversified social category, and diversified values which affects their performed tasks and their delegated authorities. In this context we can discuss the advantages and disadvantage of group work and individual work. Diversity in groups working for an organization is beneficial as information sharing in a group paves the way for a wide range of ideas and thoughts to come up. It is unlikely for innovative ideas to come up as a result of two-sided communication between the decision-maker and the individual worker. Idea sharing in a group of equal level people can arouse exceptional ways of thinking. An employer may perceive an issue from an entirely unusual perspective than the coworker of a person. However diverse groups also has some disadvantages among which the primary one is that too many viewpoints can possibly give rise to conflicts and confusions. Also in a team, the members tend to pass on their responsibility. Moreover teams which are formed with members having conflicting thoughts can often lead to failure and prevent the team from achieving the organizational objectives (Kreitz, 2007). Intergroup conflict From the theoretical and organizational point of view, group conflict is the term which represents breaking down of a standard decision making process so that the group members finds it difficult to attain a decision (Rahim, 2011, p. 15). Conflicts can be intergroup or intra group in nature. In this particular organization, an intergroup conflict exists in which problems occur between two teams mostly in regards to resource sharing or shared decision making processes. Intergroup conflict is one of the most significant forms of conflict in a firm, as a firm is organized by following the pattern of numerous reciprocally dependent task clusters. These groups can be either informal or formal, and the group members work together with each other for various reasons. These groups vary in objectives, work structures, prestige and power. The inception of intergroup conflict happens due to such differences. The diverse grounds for intergroup conflict in an organization consist of diversity of objectives, segmentation of goal, ill-assorted objectives, and work interdependence, allocation of resources, disparity in compensation structure, task insecurity, task ambiguities, and disparity in perspective, disparity in values, excess load on specific groups and the implementation of change. Recommendations for resolving each problem In order to deal with the role conflict issue faced by the employees it is highly recommended for the organization to follow the transformational style of leadership. In this style the leader guides and transforms the staff. The leader makes continuous efforts to address the grievances of the employees and motivate them for improved performance. Here open communication between the staff and the leader is always encouraged and the leader follows participative style of management. The staff gets highly influenced by the leader in Transformational Leadership Style. Also the leaders should take the help of extrinsic for motivating the employees. Intrinsic The extrinsic rewards are tangible in nature and include wages, bonuses and awards. This type of rewards has no direct relationship with the job itself and is totally based on individual expectations and values. Also an efficient communication structure would clarify the roles of the employees. In order to make the communication structure of the organization efficient enough, the firm should install an online chat interface for keeping the employees and the employers interconnected. Also there should proper upward and downward flow of communication which will help the employers to get instant and valid feedback from the employees regarding the various policies and rules of the company. The grapevine communication should be restricted to the possible extent however it must not harm the friendly atmosphere between the workers. Also the organization can arrange for soft skills and communication training for the employees so that they could learn the proper accent and the proper grammar which will help them to communicate better. For dealing with the diversity issue it is recommended that the organization should come up with a grievance resolving cell and a proper employee engagement structure. The introduction of the same would offer all the employees some space to discuss their issues and get guidance regarding those. For instance, when a female employee get harassed or when an aged employee becomes the subject of mockery, they can report the issue to the concerned HR department. Moreover people belonging to diverse cultures, would feel comfortable while practicing their own culture as well as while experiencing the diversities across the other religions. A collaborative learning style can also be followed for dealing with the issue. It is a method of learning where the trainees are grouped for the purpose of attaining an organizational objective. Here the targeted people to whom the method is applied, remains responsible for each other’s improvement and development (Garvin pp.19-20). This process of learning promotes exchange of thoughts and ideas which enhances the critical thinking aspect of an individual. The issue of intergroup conflict can be best solved by the introduction of improved communication within the organization. Another way out is to provide an efficient Employee Assistance Program to know about the sources of grievances among the employees and the groups that are causing disturbance in their professional life and in turn are compelling them to get involved in conflicts with the members of other groups, to leave their job or to take frequent leaves. More specifically the organization should follow the content theory of motivation which is all about the needs of the workers in the work field. According to this theory the individual need of the employee is more important to take care of, for the betterment of the company. The strong point of the employee must be identified by the authorities and the management should also know how to motivate them (goldsmithibs.com, n.d, pp. 3-4). Conclusion It can be concluded from the study that the organization includes people from different backgrounds who belong to different culture, ethnic group, religion and who speak different language. As a result there are high chances that conflicts could arise within the various professional groups due to the difference among them. This conflict arises mainly due to lack of proper communication structure. After going through the recommendations provided for the given scenario and the issues faced by the organization, it can be concluded that poor communication, lack of motivation, inexperienced leadership and lack of proper HRM programs are giving rise to the discussed issues and therefore each of these issue can be solved with a proper communication structure, employee assistance program, grievance resolving cell, employee engagement structure, identifying and serving the training needs of the employees and offering them with enough scope to implement their innovative and creative skills. Reference Kreitz, P. A. (2007). Best Practices for Managing Organizational Diversity. [Pdf] Available at < http://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-wrap/getdoc/slac-pub-12499.pdf> Garvin, D. A. (2000) Learning in action: A guide to putting the learning organization to work. Boston: Harvard Business Press goldsmithibs.com, n.d. Motivation. [Pdf] Available at: http://www.goldsmithibs.com Knight & et. Al. (1999). TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM DIVERSITY, GROUP PROCESS, AND STRATEGIC CONSENSUS [Pdf] Available at < http://web.cgu.edu/faculty/pearcec/TMT_diversity.pdf> Rahim, M. A. (2011) Managing Conflict in Organizations: Fourth Edition. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group. courses.jonesinternational.edu, (n.d.) Organizational Structure and Change. Available at http://courses.jonesinternational.edu Boyd, A. n.d. TAYLORISM. Available at http://www.uh.edu Losh, S. (2011). Group behavior in organizations. San Diego: Bridgepoint Education, Inc Read More