Organizational Behavior and Negotiations

Organizational Behavior and Negotiations

Part One: Personal Case Study

Redants is a company that manufactures and sells consumer products. It has approximately 500 employees distributed in various departments. This is a private company that was founded in 1990 but still sells its products only in its founding country despite being in operation for more than twenty years. I was employed in that company on June, 2012 and worked for only one year before I handed in my resignation letter on June, 2013. When I was there, I realized that the rate of labour turnover was quite high with at least one employee leaving the company every month. This case study will address some issues in relation to employee motivation and offer solution to this problem.

Around March, 2010, I spotted an advertisement in a local newspaper where the Redants Company required a person to fill the vacancy of a marketing officer. After scrutinizing the advertisement, I realized that I had the required academic qualifications but lacked the eight years experience that was stated. However, I made a decision to apply for the job and waited for the feedback. I did not receive any feedback until the end of May. I had already given up because they had stated in the advertisement that applicants would be contacted within one month either for a job offer or with a regret letter. When I failed to receive any form of communication from them, I dismissed the company as a hoax. My attitude was however changed when I received the letter requesting me to show up for an interview and be ready to start working immediately if I passed the interview.

Upon my arrival at the company, I was welcomed by the receptionist who then directed me to the human resource manager. To my surprise there was no formal interview as the manager only requested to see my papers and told me to start working the following day.  Furthermore, he promised to prepare the employment contract that I was supposed to sign the following day but he at least mentioned the salary the company was willing to pay me. I could not hide my excitement and thanked the manager for the consideration.

During my first month at Redants, I realized that most employees were coming late to work. I decided to be a good example for them by always ensuring that I arrived by seven in the morning and left at 4.30pm. Most of my workmates were laughing at me that I was too enthusiastic and that it will not take me long to fit into the company’s culture. Surprisingly, the employees who were reporting in the morning were the first ones to leave in the evening with some of them leaving their work stations even before the stipulated time. The more I tried to understand this situation, the more I became confused since the employees were not willing to reveal much. At some point, I approached one of my closest colleagues in the company, Eric, and asked him to enlighten me on what was happening to the employees since most of them were not enthusiastic with their work.  Despite being my friend, Eric was not ready to brief me on what was the issue but he told me that I would learn through experience.

Determined to prove everyone wrong, I remained focused, timely, and result-oriented in the first one month because I was optimistic to receive my first salary with the company. As I continued with my punctuality and dedication to accomplish my duties, I realized I was making more enemies and only very few people wanted to associate with me. Being a person who is not deterred easily, I decided to ignore them also and only engaged those who are in my department. When the end of the month was getting closer, I decided to visit the human resource manager since I realized I had not yet signed my employment contract. Upon arriving in the human resource manager’s office, the manager told me not to worry of petty issues and that will receive my salary by the end of the month. He even went ahead to convince me that my salary was among the highest in the company and that I needed to safeguard it and prove that I was qualified to earn it. True to his word, I received my full salary by the end of the month.

This motivated me to work even harder in the second month. Within the first week of the second month, I noted there were five new employees who had joined various departments. To me, this was an indicator that the company was determined to increase its employees as an expansion strategy. When I mentioned this observation to some of the employees, I was surprised to learn that an equal number of employees had left the company on the same month on their own volition. I went ahead to ask an employee for how long he had worked in the company and told me it was his fifth month. During the same month, I fell sick and was admitted in a hospital for two days but the company did not pay any amount of that bill. The salary for the second month was not paid as I kept on being told it will be paid until it rolled over to the third month.

Eventually, the salary for the second month was pushed to the third month and this continued to be the trend in all the other salaries. During my tenure at the company the managers did not call us for any meeting but they seemed to be comfortable as they drove expensive cars and received hefty allowances. Employees were not given a chance to raise their grievances or to share new ideas with the management. Actually, the only time that managers met their employees was in the corridors of the company as they carried on with their duties. Towards June 2013, the Chief Executive Officer called all employees for a meeting. The agenda of the meeting was that the company had reported numerous losses in that year and that sales had reduced drastically. Moreover, employees were being poached by the competitors and if that trend continued the company was in the verge of collapse. It was on the same day that I handed in my letter of resignation, and until today I have not been paid my salary arrears of two months. I blame myself for accepting to work without any formal contract but I still ask myself what the management needs to do to deal with the problem and save the company.

Part Two: Analysis Report

Looking at the Redants Company, it is clear that the company has a problem in dealing with its employees. The high labour turnover in the company also indicates that employees have low morale and are not satisfied with their jobs. According to Miner (25) such employees are lacking motivation. Motivation is essential as it helps in improving employees’ performance which eventually leads to increased productivity.

The recruitment process can be one of the ways for motivating the employees. With an effective recruitment process, employees feel more confident to work in the company. In this case, the recruitment process is not taken seriously considering that the company hires employees without taking them through all the necessary recruitment procedures (Weiner 18).  For instance, the company has taken a habit hiring workers without any employment contract. This makes the workers to feel insecure as they keep imagining how they can lose their money. For this reason, only employees who are desperate to get a job will accept employment without any formal agreement. Ideally, the employees at Redants lack both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

According to the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory, human beings feel satisfied when most of their needs are met. In the case study, the employees’ needs are not met fully because they are not paid in time. This makes them not to solve their basic needs in time (Grenway 41). For instance, when the salaries are late, employees may be unable to pay their rents in time and may end up losing their shelter. This eventually affects their self-esteem and job security.

The Herzberg’s two-factor theory may also be used to address the problem in this company. This theory states that employees can be motivated through hygiene factors and motivators. In Redants Company some of the hygienic factors that need to be addressed include timely payment of the salaries and improved interpersonal relationships between the managers and the employees. The interaction between the managers and the employees can also be improved through regular meetings where employees share their idea and problems with the management. For the motivators, the management needs to recognize employees’ efforts and personal growth. This can be done by training them to acquire the latest skills in the industry (Thomas 37). This will also assure the employees that the company appreciates their effort by creating room for career advancement.

The management at Redants needs to let their employees see the benefits of working hard.  According to the expectancy theory, employees make the choices about the level of effort they will invest in work by comparing working hard and working less. It is for this reason that employees at Redants come late to work and move out early because they don’t see the benefit of reporting early (Lauby 13). A pay increase and rewards are some of the methods that can be used by the company to influence employees to be committed to their work and to have high expectations in the company.

There is also a problem at Redants because the senior managers seem to be comfortable than the employees of the lower cadre. This is in contrary to the equity theory which highlights that people asses the equitability of their treatment through social comparison. For instance, the managers at Redants drive expensive vehicle while other employees are not even paid in time. This form of inequity can be addressed by avoiding underpayment and overpayment of employees (Miner 36).  As a result, the employees will not feel discriminated. If employees at Redants are motivated they will increase their productivity which will eventually lead to increased profits for the company. Likewise, the labour turnover will reduce where employees will not be poached by the competitors.

Works Cited

Grenway, Bernard. The Relationship Between Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction of           African-American Human Service Employees. London: Pro Quest, 2008. Print.

Lauby, Sharlyn. Motivating Employees. Michigan: ASTD, 2005. Print.

Miner, John. Organizational Behavior: From theory to practice. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2007.    Print.

Thomas, Kenneth. Intrinsic Motivation at Work: What Really Drives Employee Engagement.          New York: Read How You Want, 2010. Print.

Weiner, Bernard. Human Motivation. Boston: Psychology Press, 2013. Print.

 

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