A Link Between Employee's and Management

Over the past couple of months, I have investigated complaints from the hourly employee's that management has not been keeping their promises concerning employee training and promotion. My investigation also revealed that employees are concerned that management is not adhering to company polices, yet forcing the hourly employees adhere to these policies. The hourly employees feel resentment over this. High demand for our products have lead to overwhelming productions schedules to meet this demand, Frontline Supervisors are not training employees properly and they leave a lot of decision making up to the hourly employees. Some of the employee's are voicing concerns of lack of communication, professional development and leadership from management and are concerned for their personal safety. During my investigation I have found out that the Frontline Supervisors are not happy either. They claim that upper management will not back them up when it comes to making technical or managerial decisions.

The following report outlines a diagnosis of the problems. I have also developed strategies that will guide management in their decision-making process regarding plan implementation, and a clear plan regarding how I will advise management on direction and focus as they implement the plan. Every member of the team should embrace the plan for change. I have developed indicators that will allow me to track development and tell me if the if the plan is successful.

Method

I conducted my research though investigation by interviewing both the hourly employees and Frontline Supervisors. Using the Internet and other resources at my disposal I have developed a plan that will increase communication, training, professional development and teamwork across all functional areas of the department.

Diagnosis of the Problem

My investigation included an open-ended question interview with the hourly employees and Frontline Supervisors. This allowed the hourly employee's to respond freely and unconstrained in answering. (Brown and Harvey, 2006, pg 136) This also allowed me to probe the interviewees' to ensure I was understood the situation completely. After my investigation I have identified the following problem areas.

1)
Employee's resent hiring tactics that the company is are using to save money. This is not the first time I have heard of nepotism in this division, it was brought to my attention when I was first hired.
2)
Hourly employee's feel as though company policies are enforced upon them, however management is not adhering to these same policies.
3)
Frontline Supervisors are not training employee's properly.
4)
Frontline Supervisors are leaving the decision making up to hourly employees.
5)
Hourly employees are voicing concerns that due to lack of communication, professional development and leadership from management, they are concerned for their personal safety.
6)
Frontline Supervisors are not happy that upper management will not back them up when it comes to making technical or managerial decisions.

Recommended Solutions

I recommend that we address resistance to change, communication, training, professional development and teamwork across all functional areas of the Tech Division.
The most important aspect to change, is before we begin is to develop strategies is to lessen resistance. We must create and define a vision for company. Not only must the CEO create this vision, they must implement it by selling the idea to the employees. The vision must be sold to all employees so that they accept it.
Communication from top management to lower management and then from lower management to top management when changes are not working is very important. For instance, we may be reorganizing a department, but keeping all employees but just changing their positions. It is important that employee's know they still are going to have a job with the company. One technique is open-book management where employees can see the company's financial records, expense and sources of profit. (Harvey and Brown, 2006, pg 167). "The importance of change is then appreciated directly by employees at all levels" (Harvey and Brown, 2006, pg 67).
The ability to reward employees when change has increased company profit or has saved the company money is important. It is so important to let employees know their efforts are appreciated.
At the company we are currently using a "Sluggish-Thermostate Management approach. The Sluggish - Thermostate Management refers to as "a managerial style based on low risk, with formalized procedures and a high degree of structure and control." (Brown and Harvey 2006, pg 37). This model is typical of organizations with a highly centralized structure. Using this type of model we are at a disadvantage, it tends to not take advantage of or reward those based on performance but on seniority. (Brown and Harvey, 2006, pg 38). As we have seen with the company, using this model, employees resist change and tend to keep with tradition, or keep doing things as they have done in the past. (Brown and Harvey, 2006, pg 38). The renewing / transformational management model would be best suited for the company. It will allow us to "maintain a competitive edge" and provide new opportunities for the company and it's employees. (Brown and Harvey, 2006, pg 39) This model refers to "introducing change to deal with future conditions before these conditions actually occur." This would take into consideration the lack of concern for safety and putting into place environmental and quality controls that is needed in the Tech Division. Using this type of model we could put into place for future training of frontline supervisors before they are promoted. In addition, we can plan for the company's future using this model by not allowing favoritism to judge promotions within.
Bridging the Gap between Hourly Employee's and Management

The Tech Division of the company is a natural work team. To bridge the gap between hourly employee's and management at the company, we must clearly define the rolls of the positions. (Flynn, OSU Leadership) For example, the plant manager's responsibility is to make all the daily production decisions. His staff of production supervisors is to monitor the production cycle and report to him for direction. If everyone understands his/her role in the company, employee's will be less likely to have resentment towards each other.
The employee's at the company must learn to trust each other, accept people for who they are, and be able to openly communicate their ideas, concerns and knowledge. (Flynn, OSU Leadership) We can institute these ideas though training exercises done weekly at the Tech division. There are many different team building, collaboration, and communication activities we can use to improve these techniques. (OSU Leadership Center, 2003) In addition, not only can the human resource division facilitate these activities, I can train middle and upper management to facilitate these activities to their natural work groups. Thus, opening the lines of communication between management and hourly employee's, building trust to the point that "team members believe in each other, work for each other's success, and know that they can count on each other." (Flynn, OSU Leadership Center)

Tracking and Measuring the Success of my plan

"Collaboration is defined as "a process through which parties who see different aspects of a problem [or issue] can constructively explore their differences and search for solutions that go beyond their own limited vision of what is possible" (Gray, 1989, p. 5)." (Lynne, 1999) Though a collaboration checklist we can quantitatively measure over time how the Tech Division plan to improve its natural work teams is successful. Using a collaboration checklist can also help management determine a course of action to achieve our goals. The Collaboration check list covers areas that include; communication, sustainability, research and evaluation, political climate, resources, catalysts, policies, history, connectedness, leadership, and community. (Lynne, 1999)

In addition the human resource department will conduct closed ended question interviews to quantitatively measure on a monthly basis to measure the overall feelings of the workforce in the Tech Division. The human resource department will also continue investigate new problems as they arise and make appropriate suggestions to management as needed.

Conceptualized Conclusion

Within three years the company will achieve the honor of winning the Baldrige Award. This award is given annually to U.S. organizations that have exemplary achievements in quality. This award is the framework for guiding and assessing organizational performance.

To achieve this award the company will adapt TQM (Total Quality Management) characteristics. These characteristics will be the framework and principles that the company will abide by. First and foremost, TQM is organization-wide. This means that not only can we improve quality on the production line, but in our customer service, accounting, warehousing and all the other departments within the Tech Division. Secondly, and just as important, the CEO and other managers will visibly support it. This means everyone. We will also institute a reward system to ensure continual support. Continuous improvement throughout the organization, and quality will become known as "how we do things around here" (Brown and Harvey, 2006, pg 374) Lastly, we will development a partnership with customers and suppliers. Our products will exceed customer's expectations.

Reference List

Borden, Lynne M., April 1999, Journal of Extension, "Assessing Your collaboration: A Self Evaluation Tool [Electronic Version] retrieved on January 16, 2006 from http://www.joe.org/joe/1999april/tt1.html

Brown, Donald and Harvey, Don, 2006, 2001, "An Experimental Approach to Organizational Development Seventh Edition", Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 07458.

Flynn, Beth, OSU Leadership Center, "Building a Collaborative Team Environment" [Electronic Version] retrieved on January 16, 2006 from a download available at https://campus.ctuonline.edu/MainFrame.aspx though the cybrary.
Gray, B. (1989). Collaborating. San Francisco, CA: Josses-Bass
OSU Leadership Center, July 2003, "Team Building Activities" [Electronic Version] retrieved on January 16, 2006 from http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~bdg/team_building.html