Question

Need help asap. This course is management principle

EXERCISE 2 Case study: Managing a seven-day dairy You are the owner and manager of a successful seven-day dairy. Your shop is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. A lot of university students live in the area and the shop is on a busy road with constant vehicle and foot traffic. Your busiest times are from 8 to 10 a.m., 12 noon to 1.30 p.m., 3 to 6 p.m., and then from 8.30 pm until you shut at 10 p.m. One person can manage the shop by themselves, but there are times when customers have to wait for a while when it is busy. Your current staff are: Joan: permanent, works from 8.30 a.m. to 5p.m., her hourly rate is $10.80. Gill: permanent, works from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Friday, and from 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday; hourly rate is $12.80 because of the unsocial hours. You also employ four part-time students who fill in the other hours and work when it is Your weekly net return varies between $1700 and $2400 (depending upon the time of year and whether or not students are about). Your rent and outgoings are low at $200 per week, as you live in the same building as the shop. The situation You are exhausted because of the extra hours that you are working to help out at the busy times. Attention to the management basics has been slipping and sometimes items are out of stock because you haven't had time to regularly go to the wholesalers and purchaso them. The other worrying thing is that university exams are coming up soon and two of the students who work part-time have already asked you if they can reduce their hours of work over the exam period. You are not happy about this, as the exam period is busy with increased sales of snack food, cigarettes and other convenience items! At the moment, three of your part-timers (Janet, Troy and Elsie) are consistently arriving at work late. None of them have offered any reason for being late, and it is causing a problem because the permanent staff members have to stay longer at work to provide cover. The lato-comers say they like their jobs and are happy with their hours of work, and you don't want to dock their wages because you are afraid that they might leave. You have been doing some reading about organisational behaviour and you think that a behaviour modification program would be the most effective solution. Questions 1 What management problems are occurring here? 2 What other motivation theories might be used to understand the problem of lateness at work? 3 Outline a behaviour modification scheme to encourage attendance at work. Be sure to identify a specific behaviour, an appropriate reinforcement and a reinforcement schedule.

Answer 1

Question 1: There are so many issues in managing a seven-day dairy. The management problems are:

· Improper resource organizing

· Staff monitoring problem

· Failed to allocate the resources as per the demand

· In ability to maintain the staff timings

· Lack of knowledge on staff schedule

· No proper work knowledge to run the dairy

· Lack of managing skills

· Lack of inventory knowledge

Question 2:

A team building activity is important in this case to understand the business need and ability to deliver the business goal.

The motivation theories are more important for any business to align the staff with the organization goal by coordinating and communicating the business need. There are different motivational theories that are based on content and process. The content theory is mainly focus on what. Whereas the process focus on how human behaviour is motivated. These two motivational theories are more effective in the organization to motivate on what and how. Let’s discuss the motivational theories to understand the problem of lateness at work:

• The motivational theory of B.F. Skinner’s is more effective to understand the behaviour of the staff. The theory describes the idea behind the behaviour and its consequences. The necessary actions or punishments will be made for the less likely of such behaviour. That means this theory work for an individual or group to develop behaviour to a certain action.
• Maslow theory of motivation is one of the most famous theory that is used widely at workplace to motivate. This motivation basically considers as pyramid type where self-actualization, self-esteem, belongingness and love, safety and security and physiological needs etc. are defined to motivate in which the staff understand and develop self-realization
• Even Herzberg’s theory is also work in this case to understand the staff extremely satisfaction, neutral and dissatisfaction towards the work in the organization. The Herzberg’s factors of the job satisfaction also work in this case to motivate for achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility and advancement etc. These motivational theories help to motivate the staff to feel responsible, the work culture and work for the recognition etc.

Question 3:

Behaviour is more important at workplace because that brings respect and recognition at work.

The recognition and reward scheme would be more appropriate to encourage attendance at work. This will not only help to maintain staff attendance but also improves the production. Because always work hours are work important and proper schedule following is very important.

The positive reinforcements need to develop to encourage the staff by appreciation, grade system or incentive system to follow the timings and other activities at work place. These kind of acts always encourage or motivate the staff more production and dedication towards the work environment.

The positive reinforcement is the best principle that every organization follow to encourage the staff. For their exceptional strong job performance, profitability results and growth to the company etc.

The proper feedback need to provide in a positive way to motivate the staff to maintain work schedule. There are two type of reinforcement schedule they are fixed and variable which are considered as best response. So following these two would be more effective at workplace to improve the attendance.