Managing People and Organisations - Assignment Example

nаging Реорlе аnd Оrgаnisаtiоns 3a - What advice will you give to Sam? Write 375 words (maximum) to answer the question. Draw on the context you selected from Week 2 to do so. I would advice Sam to find a way of working with some the team members since it is still possible to win their confidence. There is a problem of lack of cohesion among the team members that Sam is supposed to work with. Some of the employees, like Anne are already overburdened by other responsibilities. Other members appear to be dissatisfied with the work environment in the organisation and are therefore not keen on working on the new project. For example, Felicity is furious over the manner she was treated after addressing a client. On the other hand, Abdullah is too silent while Deborah, who is a new recruit, is nervous and not ready to take on the project. Sam can handle this situation by reaching each of the team members individually since each member seems to have a valid reason why they would not like to take on the new task. In particular, it appears that many of the employees’ needs are not being met. With reference to Maslow’s theory of human needs for instance, it appears that Sam’s organisation is not keen to satisfy the employee’s social and esteem needs. Social needs include a sense of belonging, affection and love (Viscuso, 2015, p. 144). Esteem needs include things that reflect people’s personal worth, achievement, self-esteem, accomplishment, respect and achievement (Viscuso, 2015, p. 144). It appears that the team members that Sam was supposed to work with are not recognised by the organisation and the organisation does not engage them when embarking on new projects. Therefore, Sam needs to talk to each of the members at an individual level on the importance of the project to the organisation. Since the new project is a “major opportunity with major rewards for the business,” Sam needs to convince the members that taking part in the project will enhance their prospects and those of their organisation. As well, Sam needs to talk to other people in the organisation, such as Chris, the Executive Manager, on the need to reward and recognise the members for the work that they do for the organisation. By doing this, Sam will be able to win the confidence of some of the members so that they can be involved in the project. 3b - How would you know if it was good advice? Write 375 words (maximum) to answer the question drawing on three relevant concepts from your reading so far. I would know that I have given Sam good advice because the advice has touched on three key issues: the need to address the reason why the team members are not keen on working with Sam in the new project (disengagement), the need to involve members when making organisational decisions (poor communication), and the need to satisfy the members’ social and esteem needs (poor motivation). I believe that if these three issues are addressed, Sam’s team members will feel more empowered and will be motivated to work on the project. Regarding the need to address the reasons why the team members are adamant to work with Sam on the project, this issue can be evaluated by applying Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X presupposes that people hate work, lack ambition, act in an irresponsible manner, and like to be led (Schermerhorn, Jr, 2011). In contrast, Theory Y presumes that people like to work and take responsibilities, and are creative and self-directed (Schermerhorn, Jr, 2011). At Sam’s organisation, there appears to be a notion that the team members do not like to work or that they act in an irresponsible manner. It is for this reason, for instance, that Sam’s team is considered the “hardest to work with”. As well, Felicity was deemed to have acted inappropriately towards a client. The fact that Peter that was more interested in taking the annual leave can also be interpreted to mean that he does not like work. However, there is need to identify and iron out the specific reasons why the team members did not like the project. For instance, it is important to find out why Abdullah was silent and why Deborah was nervous. My advice is that there is need for Sam to find out why the team members are disengaged. Turning to the need to involve members when making organisational decisions, it is clear that there is poor communication since “nothing was ever addressed directly”. Having more open communication would help Sam address his team members’ problems. Lastly, I have advised Sam and the organisation at large to ensure that the members’ social and esteem needs are met. This will help in making the employees feel more valued and respected in their work. 4. In what ways is your advice to Sam similar or different to that of your chosen post of another member of your group? Support your discussion with reference to relevant concepts. My advice to Sam is similar and different to the advice given by my colleague, Madeline Blatch, in various ways. The similarities are as follows. To start with, I advised Sam to identify the reasons for employee disengagement within his team. This is comparable to the point that Blatch also noted that the employees are disengaged and not willing to actively take part in the project. As such, Blatch advised Sam to find a way that he can use to motivate his team members so that they can see the importance of working on the project. Notably, I also advised Sam to convince the members on the need to be involved in the project in question by showing them how their participation will enhance their prospects as well as those of their organisation. It is important to note that the points that I provided as well as those that Madeline Blatch provided focus on making the team members see the importance of playing a role in the project that Sam was tasked with. Also, the pieces of advice that we have given to Sam are aimed at identifying the root cause of employee disengagement and dealing with the problem. In literature, it has been argued that employee engagement is promoted by four key factors: the work itself as well as the opportunities that are available for development; trust and confidence in the leadership of an organisation, rewards and recognition; and organisational culture (Rothmann, 2014, p. 176). In Week Three, I learned that organisational culture refers to the shared beliefs and values that develop within an organisation and guide the behaviours of members. Where the four aspects that have been mentioned above are missing, the opposite of employee engagement – that is employee disengagement, is likely to occur. Employee disengagement is evident at Sam’s organisation in various ways. For instance, it appears that there are no shared values and beliefs (i.e. culture) that the employees identify with. Also, the employees do not seem to have confidence and trust in the leadership, as shown by the team members’ behaviours towards Sam. These are some the issues that my advice as well as that of Madeline Blatch has touched on. We both noted that Sam needs to interact with the team members at a personal level so as to resolve the issues that are leading to their disengagement. Another similarity between my advice and that of Madeline Blatch is that we have both mentioned the need to ensure that some of the employees’ needs in regard to Maslow’s human needs theory are met. In particular, we both mentioned social and esteem needs. The point of difference is that Madeline Blatch went further to mention self-actualisation needs. All in all, the importance of helping employees to meet their social, esteem and self-actualisation needs is that doing so helps motivate employees. There is no doubt that if the employees working with Sam felt respected and valued, they would easily volunteer to work on the project with Sam. There are also differences between my advice and that of Blatch. For instance, while Blatch focused only on how Sam can solve the problem, I went further to include Chris, the Executive Manager. My point here is that employee disengagement needs to be addressed by people at all levels of leadership, as noted by Quirke (2008, p. 702). Specifically, dealing with the problem at all levels of the organisation will help ensure that the top managers are aware of the needs of the people at the lower levels, which will reduce the lack of trust between the leaders and their subordinates. Another difference in the advice that Madeline Blatch and I gave to Sam is the fact that Blatch addressed the issue of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions while I did not. While understanding Hofstede’s cultural dimensions is important for managing people from diverse cultures (Romani, 2004), I did not mention it because the case study did not reveal whether the problems bedevilling Sam’s organisation were related to cultural diversity. References Quirke, B. (2008).Making the connections: Using internal communication to turn strategy into action (2nd ed.). Aldershot, Hampshire: Gower Publishing Limited. Romani, L. (2004). Culture in management: The measurement of differences. In A.-W. Harzing, & J. Van Ruysseveldt (Eds.), International Human Resource Management (2nd ed.) (pp. 141-166). London: SAGE Publication Limited. Rothmann, S. (2014). Employee engagement in a cultural context. In C. Truss, R. Delbridge, K. Alfes, A. Shantz & E. Soane (Eds.), Employee engagement in theory and practice (pp. 163-179). New York: Routledge. Schermerhorn, Jr, J. R. (2011). Management (11th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Viscuso, F. (2015). Step up your teamwork. Tulsa, Oklahoma: PenWell Corporation. Read More