Organizational Behavior - Math Problem Example

Question 1 Isabelle behavioral description Isabelle is an outgoing and social individual as evident from her love to organize social functions in the resort. She values integrity and honesty, she also loves new challenges, she enjoys her job, she also loves making quick decisions based on situations that develop along the way, this is evident by the fact that she has been in trouble for making such decisions. She makes such decisions ignoring facts and that is why she occasionally finds herself in trouble with her boss. Isabelle is also somewhat disorganized; this could be attributed to her lack of proper consideration of facts when making decisions. In the other hand, Isabelle has good listening skills, ability to empathize with others and thus a strong ability when dealing with customers. Isabelle is also a good team members, this is evident by the fact that she always works with her colleges’ even use their ideas to perform her tasks. She also likes getting involved in working rather than watching others performs the task. Using other people’s ideas frequently could also be a weakness on her part since it seems that she is not very creative since she depends on others ideas to perform her normal tasks. Isabelle is dissatisfied with her current job because of a number of factors, first she was promised a number of growth and development programs which have not been met by the resort six months down the line. Her manager is not understanding and very rigid in the way he handles and does business, the company’s bonus reward scheme is not fair, there is not performance review plan in the company and hence the genesis of less motivation and dissatisfaction of employees. Michael behavioral description Michael is a rigid manager, he believes in handling people with commands rather than through dialogue, he also lacks integrity and honesty as evident by the fact that he prefers overcharging customers in order to satisfy the senior management. More so, Michael lacks good communication skills and people’s skills, he does not inspire his junior employees or motivate them through better strategies; he does not appreciate their effort yet quick to condemn when things go wrong. As evident by the fact that he only gives orders to his junior employees like Isabelle. He does not perform performance review and hence leaving room for uncertainty in his junior employees. This is evidently a demonstration of incompetency in his part; he lacks necessary management qualities necessary to drive success in the company. He also lacks the required integrity and honesty, this is because of the extent that he goes in order to please the senior management; he overcharges some customers whose accommodation fees are paid by corporate accounts. Michael also lacks good knowledge of other people, he believes that everybody behaves or does things the way he does, and this is a notable bad character on his part since he is a manager and ought to understand people better. Comparison of their profiles A notable similarity between Michael and Isabelle is their behavior towards the management; they all act in order to please the management. Isabelle works hard and under pressure in order to please his manager Michael. In turn Michael also goes to extreme length of overcharging some customers in order to please the senior management. More so, they both lack necessary inspiration and better ways of undertaking their daily tasks, this is probably due to the bad culture created by the management. Michael clearly demonstrates lack of fundamental management skills such as communication and people skills; this is evident from the way that he handles his junior employees, he uses commands and rebuke to ensure that his junior employees perform their tasks. Isabelle on the other hand lacks inspiration from her immediate boss who only works with commands instead of fostering understanding. Contrast of their profiles Isabelle and Michael contrast in many areas, first Isabelle is an outgoing individual who likes new challenges; Michael on the other hand prefers work done in the usual way. He is therefore rigid and does not prefer new challenges. Isabelle values integrity and honesty as a driving tool towards ascending through ranks, on the contrary Michael shows little regard to integrity and honesty, this is demonstrated by the fact that he overcharges some customers paid by corporate accounts in order to please the management and tries to cover-up his underperformance. Isabelle likes handling tasks as they came rather than as planned, this is not the case with Michael who is rigid and prefers things done in a normal way. Another notable contrast between the two is the fact that Isabelle empathizes with people and likes working with people, this is not the case with Michael who is bossy, shows little regard to others and instead prefers ruling over the others. Analysis of their suitability for their jobs As per their varying behavioral profiles, Isabelle is more suitable for her job despite the fact that she is dissatisfied. This is because of her willingness to experience new challenges and learn more about what is demanded in her career. She sometimes shows lack of creativity and somewhat disorganized, this is basically because she lacks a role model, someone to inspire her to be creative and enjoy her work. The management has not motivated her; she has no new challenges as the manager Michael prefers issuing orders and ensuring that things are done in their usual way. Another notable positive character of Isabelle is her high regard towards integrity and honesty; this is a basic requirement for every employee regardless of the rank. It is the fundamental requirement for gaining other skills required to perform different and challenges tasks (Hollenbeck, 2006). Michael behavioral profile on the other hand demonstrates a great deal of lack of integrity. Michael does not value honesty and integrity, he prefers going against this fundamental requirement by being dishonest to some customers in order to please the management and cover-up his underperformance. From this alone, Michael is by far not suitable for his post. More so, since he is manager, he needs to lead by example, provide necessary inspiration to his juniors and cultivate a culture of tackling new challenges. This is what is fundamentally lacking in the resort and hence the genesis of numerous customer complaints and employee dissatisfaction (Wefald, 2011). Question 2 Improving Isabelle’s job satisfaction and motivation A consideration of fundamental theories and the working condition in Sunshine resort is essential in establishing theoretical underpinnings of addressing job dissatisfaction and lack of motivation as evident in Isabelle’s case. According to Borkowski (2010) there are a number of motivational theories that provide for how employees should be managed in order to get the most out of them. The first motivation is fair reward scheme, with the hard economic times, employees want to earn and be able to feed their families from the salaries and bonuses they get from their employer. It is therefore required to ensure that the pay for every employee in the organization is fair as per the level. The bonuses should also be distributed fairly to the lowest level. Most organizations who disregard good reward scheme experience high employee turnover as well as employee dissatisfaction, this results in lower performance and hence the overall performance of the company. As noted by Griffin & Moorhead (2011) training is also another employee motivational strategy of getting maximum input from employees. Training ensures that employees have the necessary skills and techniques to handle different tasks within the organization. Training can be technical for technical people and soft skills for people who deal directly with customers. With the changing environment, the norm of doing business is always and hence the need for training. Organizations that embrace technology and put for the necessary strategies of ensuring that all the employees acquire new skills will always remain relevant in the competitive world. As stated by Hellriegel & Slocum (2007) performance is the sum of motivation, ability and environment, motivation is thus an important variable of performance. As such variorum motivational strategies begin from the culture created in the organization, there ought to be a good communication system in the organization, this will ensure that understanding of different needs of employees and the company as a whole. Sunshine resort is a luxury six start hotel that caters for high end consumers; it has however faced challenges due to customer dissatisfaction as well as employee turnover due to poor working conditions. First the major issue with the resort is the fact that employees don’t get necessary motivation as well as reward. Isabelle for example is dissatisfied because of not receiving what she was promised, she is also not allowed to use her own skills to undertake different tasks, and creativity is therefore not cultured. It is also clear that the management lacks the necessary management skills, the manager like Michael for instance he is also wanting in terms of people’s skills as evident from the way he handles the employees in the company, he lacks empathy and basic understanding of what is required from the management of his level. He uses commands instead of mutual understanding when instructing the junior employees to perform varying tasks. Another key issue lacking from the Sunshine Resort is integrity and honesty (Ashraf, 2002). This is a fundamental requirement for any company that aims at becoming relevant in a competitive environment. Michael for instance responds to the senior management by falsifying customers receipts in order to make more earnings for the company. This is against the beliefs of Isabelle and could be one of the main reason why she is dissatisfied with her work in Sunshine resort. The best recommendations for Sunshine is first to change its working culture, more training on soft skills is required especially on the part of Isabelle. More so, a strong culture which values integrity and honesty should be cultivated, this is important because if customers find out that they are being cheated, they would probably stop visiting the resort and opt for others instead. With the ever increasing competition and value added services, dissatisfied and unmotivated employees is the last thing a company hoping to be sustainable needs (Robbins & Judge, 2008). The cause of customer dissatisfaction and high employee turnover could be attributed the bad culture. The senior employee needs to understand the need to motivate and inspire its employee in order to get the best out of them. The reward scheme as it is not fair, the management needs to appreciate the important role played by the junior employees as they are basically the first contact with the customers. They show the image of the company and hence the need to ensure that they are motivated through a proper reward scheme (Robbins & Judge, 2008). The cause of Isabelle’s dissatisfaction is lack of challenges, poor management as evident from the case of Michael, lack of appreciation, less regard to values such as integrity and honesty, failure of the company to fulfill its promises, and tight working schedule. In order to ensure that Isabelle is motivated, all the initial promises made need to be fulfilled, the management needs to learn and appreciate people skills, incorporate integrity and honesty as basic values of the organization as well as finding new and challenging ways of working, this can include letting employees manage their roles from their best knowledge and guiding them on doing the same. More so, Isabelle lacks someone from the resort to appreciate her effort, she is only condemned for her mistakes instead of being appreciated for her best effort. This has resulted to her job dissatisfaction (I-Fei Liao, 2009). The management simply needs to change, Michael should be transferred to another area which demands minimal contact with customers or employees, and he can then be given a chance to learn basic management skills. Isabelle needs somebody with better understanding of the hospitality industry. Somebody who can inspire her to be creative, experience new challenges and so forth. Another essential requirement that needs to be implemented immediately is creating a clear Key Performance Index for Isabelle; this will basically create a clear assessment method for Isabelle every financial year or quarterly and the results of the same in terms of increasing the salary and other rewards schemes as well as promotions (I-Fei Liao, 2009). References Ashraf, T. (2002). Organizational Behavior. pp. 155-165. http://www.unesco.org/education/aladin/paldin/pdf/course02/unit_14.pdf Borkowski, N. (2010). Organizational behavior in health care. Michigan: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Pp. 40-54. Griffin, R.W., & Moorhead, G. (2011). Organizational Behavio., Sidney: Cengage Learning. Pp. 70-80. Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J.W. ( 2007). Organizational behavior. Canberra: Cengage Learning. Hollenbeck, John, R. (2006). ‘A structural approach to external and internal person-team fit. Applied Psychology.’ An International Review 49(3), pp. 534-549. I-Fei Liao, C. (2009). Individual Characteristics, Organizational Justice and Job Attitudes of Employees under Non-standard, International Journal of Management, 26(3), pp.23-34. Robbins, S.P., & Judge, T. ( 2008). Organizational Behavior. Canberra: Pearson Prentice Hall. Wefald, Andrew J. Reichard, Rebecca J., & Serrano Shawn A.(2011). ‘Fitting Engagement into a Nomological Network: The Relationship of Engagement to Leadership and Personality.’ Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 18(4), pp. 521-537. Read More