Treetop Forest Products Management - Case Study Example

Name: Tutor: Title: Research management: Treetop Forest Products case study Course: Institution: Date: Research management: Treetop Forest Products case study Introduction According to Berry & Crispen (2010), organizations greatly rely on dedicated as well as committed workers. Organizational behavior is hence important in the success of an organization and it refers to the study of human behavior within organizational setting, how the behavior affects the organization and the organization itself. All these three aspects are related and essential for an all-inclusive understanding of organizational behavior. Within a bureaucracy, the standards of assessing job performance does not require to be updated since needed tasks do not change. Nevertheless, this lack of variation results to an impersonal work environment, lacking an incentive for extraordinary task performance and in the end restricts the developmental potential of individual workers. According to Hawthorne researchers, human aspect within the workplace is extremely vital. For example, productivity can increase just because employees are singled out for special treatment and therefore probably the workers feel more valued and more pressured to perform well. This article is important in this case study because it provides a solution which is, providing incentives and motivations for employees is likely to increase productivity among employees. As Muir (2006) notes, in regard to interdisciplinary focus, organizational behavior synthesizes numerous other areas of study. Psychology, in particular organizational psychology, is an important contributor to organizational behavior. Therefore, in the case of ‘treetop forest products’, the element of employee psychology plays an important roles since the employees are extremely productive when in other departments other than packaging. This clearly implies that the employees have the essential productivity skills but due to psychological elements, they do not perform well when in packaging. This article brings on an important aspect, perhaps, supervision. Since the packaging department does not have a supervisor unlike other departments, the workers are docile; this indicates that employees require supervision in their undertakings. According to Martin (2007), emotions within the workplace have an important role regarding how an organization communicates within itself as well as to the external world. The outcomes of emotional states in the workplace, namely, behavioral and attitudinal, have considerable importance for employees, organization and society at large. Positive emotions within the workplace assist workers to have favorable results and this includes achievement, job enrichment in addition to higher quality social context. On the other hand, negative emotions; nevertheless augment the predictability of workplace deviance. Therefore, the capacity of effectively dealing with emotions and emotional information within the workplace helps workers in managing occupational stress as well as in sustaining psychological welfare. This illustrates the stress reduction can be accomplished not just by reducing work demands (stressors), but also increasing the personal resources of workers and this includes emotional intelligence. Increasing emotional intelligence skills required for successful job performance can assist employees to handle more efficiently with their feelings, and therefore directly reduce the level of job stress. In this regard, the article provides the solution of emotional intelligence to help the employees deal with negative psychological effects which can be impacting the workers in packaging department negatively. Section B: Analysis section Emotional work As Martin (2007) explains, currently organizations are dealing with new challenges and often these challenges entail complex procedures of emotion within the workplace. In this case, ‘Treetop Forest Products’ clearly needs need to deal with the emotions of the employees. Studies have illustrated how emotional communication is utilized in advancing organizational goals. Therefore, the management at treetop forest products’ can used emotional labor as a commodity that can be managed, trained and set dome within employee workbook. This will produce a feeling that the employees are being care for within a convivial safe place and hence the employees will feel acknowledged and thus they will be motivated even to work without supervision especially in the packaging department which does not have a supervisor. In order to define the image the management wants treetop forest products to portray, they should use a “core element of emotional intelligence” to acknowledge emotions. Emotional labor will inhibit employees from participating within authentic emotional work (Vinson et.al 2007). This is because an individual whose feelings can be easily aroused and not easily controlled will have a far more difficult in tackling emotionally stressful circumstances. On the contrary, empathic concern is viewed as having positive impacts in responsiveness within internation as well as employees’ productivity. An employee having empathic concern will have feelings for the organization and his work and will also be in a better position to handle more effectively the organizational challenges since there is no direct sharing of emotions. This means that if “treetop forest products” trains its employees regarding emotional intelligence, they will be able to handling organization’s challenges without attaching any negative emotions and hence increase productivity (Martin 2007). Coping with unproductive employees Defining the problem; the management should define the problem, identify the cause of the problem and establish the plan of correcting the problem. This means that the management should find out why once employees are assigned in the packaging department are unproductive and plan on how to rectify this. The fact is that there is always a reason for the poor performance of the workers. Therefore, the management should establish if there is an element of laziness when the employees are in packaging department. Once they have eliminated laziness as the reason for the poor performance of workers, it is time to move forward and define the problem, identifying its cause and putting a plan in place to correct the problem (Vinson et.al 2007). Since the management at Treetop Forest Products already knows what is wrong, defining the problem is not difficult. Nevertheless, each situation engaging poor performance can be traced to some sort of confusion of the part of the workers. There is a probability that the workers in the packaging department are not aware of what is expected of them; probably they cannot understand the work itself. As a result, the management at Treetop Forest Products should provide a detailed and clear plan of what is expected of the employees once they are in the packaging department. The managers should also offer the timeline and deadlines as well as targets of what is expected of employees and give the ensuing actions to be taken upon the employee who does not meet the target (Vinson et.al 2007). Identifying the cause of the problem; this will need the cooperation of the employees. For instance, whereas the management may be able to see the cause of the problem, that is face-frame that is affecting the employees, getting them to deal with the problem effectively will first take an admission of the problem by the employees. The employees should be ready to own up to the precise causes of their un-productivity if they are to move to forward. In this case, the management can call a meeting with the employees and inform them regarding the problem. The management can then agree to a fast-track solution with a definite schedule. Equally important, it is important to let employees know that their progress will be examined and give them support and encourage them to succeed. The corrective action plan should include an unwavering schedule and requirement which should be fulfilled. It is also important to note that the main aim is to develop Treetop Forest Products business and hence these employees should be nurtured. As the business studies note, a fair manager is tough and a tough manager is fair (Smith 2008). Internationalism According to Norinha (2006), internationalism is an approach that Treetop Forest Products can be used in understanding behavior within organizational setting. Internationalism tries to explain how individuals chose, interpret and change a variety of states of affairs. The interactive theory indicates that plain cause-and-effect portrayals of organizational phenomena are not sufficient. For instance, one study suggested that job changes will result into improved employee attitudes which are important in the case of Treetop Forest Products’ employees. Another study implies that employee attitudes affect how individuals perceive their jobs. Basically, the attitudes of employees can impact job perceptions and these perceptions can impact future employee attitudes. Through understanding the organizational behavior of the employees, the managers at Treetop Forest Products can better understand and appreciate the behavior of employees and establish ways of tackling difficult behaviors as portrayed at Treetop Forest Products. Generally, most managers within an organization are directly responsible for the work-allied behaviors of the employees; their immediate subordinates. Distinctive managerial activities within this area encompass motivation of the employees to work harder, making sure that their job are appropriately designed, resolving conflicts, assessing performance and assisting employees set targets to accomplish rewards. The area of organizational behavior proliferates with theory and research regarding all these functions (Nina 2005). Section C Performance standards To carry out assessments perceived as fair by workers, Treetop Forest Products should establish performance standards. To do this, the organization should maintain a list of updated job descriptions that clearly show what elements of employee performance will be measured for every job. The elements of employees’ performance to be evaluated must be practically achievable. Additionally, employees at Treetop Forest Products should take part in establishing standards and they should be aware of the standards at the start of the review period (Delta Publishing 2006). Campbell (2004) explains that performance evaluation can consist of objective and subjective assessments. In the case of Treetop Forest Products, objective measurements like packaging numbers per hour in the packaging department are clearly reliable and fair. On the other hand, subjective measurements are problematic since of the likely bias and also imprecise measurement can result into frustration of employees and apathy as well. Some objective compensation methods have turned out to be extremely popular incentives. Examples of objective compensation methods that can be used at Treetop Forest Products include commissions, piecework, although creative additions have been added lately. Gain-sharing programs bind incentives to increased productivity or quality improvements. Profits sharing ties pay rises within organizational profits, and employee stock option strategies base increased compensation on an organization’s stock performance. The aim of these programs is to make all employees’ vested interest within the company clearer and more immediate through their paychecks. These concepts are also important in controlling labor costs, since workers do not get the rewards unless the organization performs well (Delta Publishing 2006). Recommendations Managers at Treetop Forest Products can utilize their knowledge in organizational behavior to better understand their own behaviors and feelings. For instance, understanding individual needs and motives, the techniques of improving decision-making abilities, how to react to and control stress, how to better communicate with employees and the way whereby career dynamics unfold can all be of great importance to individual managers. Organizational behavior offers important insights into these concepts and processes and hence it will help the managers at Treetop Forest Products in tackling the current crisis in the company. Managers should interact with employees in the company. Understanding attitudinal processes, personal differences, group dynamics, departmental needs, organizational culture as well as power and political behavior will assist managers in handling interactions more efficiently. In addition, managers can interact with diverse people form outside Treetop Forest Products and this includes suppliers, clients, competitors and joint venture partners. Additionally, special understanding of the environment, technology, and progressively, international matters is also of importance. Again, organizational behavior provides managers with numerous insights into how and reasons why things happen. In this regard, the managers will be able to understand why the employees at the packaging department are unproductive and productive while in other departments. The packaging department should also have a supervisor to supervise the workers and ensure that there are no delays and that employees stick to the schedule and there are no cases of delays or extended breaks during lunch and coffee breaks (Smith 2008). Conclusion Treetop Forest Products’ managers have the managerial challenge of navigated carefully through the changes and maintain balance in all the departments. In other words, the aspects of tackling the current challenge should be managed sensibly to make sure that there is positive psychological for the employees and economic outcomes for the organization. Employee attitudes towards the packaging department should be analyzed and the management should strive to influence individual-level outcomes of the employees. Levels of job satisfaction or dissatisfaction, organizational dedication as well as organizational participation are all significant within organizational behavior. In order to motivate employees, the management at Treetop Forest Products can assign difficult, but achievable performance goals. This is because a target that is too easy to archive will not bring about the preferred increments within performance. All employees at the packaging department should be given targets that they are expected to meet. At the same time, the employees will work hard to achieve challenging goals as long as the goals are in the limits of their capacity. Lastly, while setting goals in packaging department, it is important to include employees in it since workers are likely to be dedicated in achieving the set goals, because they have rationalized their decisions to set those goals. Bibliography Berry, D, & Crispen, C., 2010, The Relationship among Survivor Qualities: Attitude, Commitment and Motivation, Journal of Business Management, Vol.4/5. Campbell, F., 2004, Customer Satisfaction and Organizational Justice, Facilities, Vol.22/7. Delta Publishing, 2006, Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior, Delta Publishing Company, Los Alamitos. Martin K., 2007, Emotion Helpers: The Role of High Positive Affectivity and High Self-Monitoring Managers, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 60/2. Muir, C., 2006, Emotions at Work, Business Communication Quarterly, Vol. 69/4. Nina, O., 2005, Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace: Exploring its Effects on Occupational Stress and Health Outcomes in Human Service Workers, International Journal of Occupational Medicine & Environmental Health, Vol. 28/2. Norinha, E., 2006, Managerial Perspectives, Glob. Bus. Rev, Vol. 6/2. Smith, R., 2008, Refining Lodahl and Kejner’s Job involvement Scale with a Convergent Evidence Approach: Applying Multiple Methods to Multiple Samples, Organ. Res. Meth, Vol.4/2. Vinson, G., et.al, 2007, Workplace Emotions: The Role of Supervision and Leadership, Journal of Applied Psychology, 92/5. Read More