Question

You have been able to have confidential conversations with many employees at all levels in the company, and have had access to company data, statistics, and internal employee surveys. From this investigation, you have identified the following negative conditions that you believe are significant in preventing the company from achieving the success it desires, or at least matching the success of its competitors. Current employees frequently cited feelings that their ideas or concerns were not given serious consideration by their managers. B Current employees relayed frustration that many times the solutions to problems or new ideas that would improve processes were readily apparent to them, but obtaining approval to implement beneficial changes was difficult and time-consuming. B Current employees in many interviews mentioned that often their jobs or priorities were changed without notice and without explanation, which caused them to experience significant stress. For each of these identified negative conditions, first, describe and explain probable causes for the condition and, second, provide a recommendation for actions to correct the negative condition, explaining how the actions will result in benefit to the company and employees.

Answer 1

Employee Ideas and Concerns were not addressed by their managers

Probable Cause : Its likely that managers are more focused on their operational metrics they and their teams are graded upon. Their performance score card may be designed to tap key KPI's or dat to day known operational performance indicators but it may lack capturing abstract and intangible data points like process improvement.

Solution or / Recommendation : An ideal solution would be to incentivise the manager to focus on process improvement through employee feedback by making it a part of their performance score card. Since it'll be a KPI that they'll have to meet, they'll pay more attention to their team members.

Bureaucracy is hampering implementation of ideas and solutions

Probable Cause : This could have more to do with organisational hierarchy and its systems and processes.

Solution or / Recommendation : Implement a lateral reporting structure instead of a top down hierarchy . In this form of an organisational structure. employees do not report to one particular leader but two or more leaders who over see a project and its integrity and implementation. This way the employee executing a project always has the freedom to approach any manager and the project isn't under the mercy of one individual.

Job roles and responsibilities were changed without notice , which caused a lot of stress

Probable Cause : Poor operational planning, understaffing and a general lack of work force management. Employees are often moved between job roles and responsibilities when not enough thought has been put into work force management

Solution or / Recommendation : Operational Strategy #1 WFM or Work Force Management : A new and efficient Workforce management allows the operations team to track staffing and workforce tasks on a real time basis and allows them to be re skilled to or assigned to high priority tasks based on their skill levels and competency only they're needed to. This will ensure that employees can have a schedule or a calendar with their tasks mapped out well ahead of time and will ensure that their paired with work that's congruent to their skills .