Various Issue faced by ABC Company-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the various Issues that affected ABC Company in a case study. Answer: Introduction The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze organizational behavior in workplace so as to increase project team performance. In any organization, there is need to enhance team that culminate to individual performance and team performance (Malin Maidment, 2003). However, during the process of project execution, a lot of problems arise which delay the performance from all organizational platforms. In this report, we aim at analyzing a case study that affect ABC Company few years ago. The paper will indicate the cause of the problem that made the company to experience difficulties in project performance. It will determine the level of damage caused by the problem in the case study. In addition, the paper will apply basic work performance theories and strategies so as to solve the problem in the case study. In that connection, the paper will provide mitigation strategies for solving the problems facing the company (Marshall, 2013). In any mitigation process, it is very important to suggest different recommendations that can be applied to prevent the problem from occurring in future as well as assist other similar companies from facing a similar challenge. Through appropriate recommendations, the paper will act as a benchmarking tool to be used as a reference in the future. The issue under consideration is drawn from ABC Company. This is one of the companies with huge number of workers in the region. The company deals with industrial activities of tea processing. Therefore, the number of employees in this company is quite big bearing in mind the type of activities carried on in the industry. The mode of operation in this company has not been smooth in the last few years. The main issue that affected performance in this company is low salaries and wages to employees despite long working hours. This issue has led to several other issues in the company making the situation unbearable. Therefore, more challenges in the operation of ABC Company are based on the core issue of low salaries and wages to employees. In order to fully understand the situation in ABC Company, the case study below will fully demonstrate the problem (McKenzie Pharoah, 2009). The case study will expound the issue so as to determine the level of seriousness in work engagement, work pe rformance, working conditions and working culture. It is important to consider all the asserted aspects in workplace so as to promote and increase project team performance. These working aspects have a perfect positive correlation. Any attempt to exclude one of them from the rest, the performance of the company become unbearable. ABC Company Case Study Analysis The case study on ABC Company relate to low salaries and wages to workers despite long working hours. This issue is very crucial to any company as far as performance is concerned. ABC Company was established to process tea products once the farmers harvest them from their farms. Over the last three years, the quantity harvested by farmers across all the regions has increased significantly (Reece and Walker, 2007). However, ABC Company has not managed to increase the quantity of workforce so as to accommodate the huge volumes of tea collected from the farms. Initially, the process of tea processing has been performed smoothly because the quality collected from the farms was directly proportional to workers employed by the company. Therefore, workers managed to meet targets in tea processing as set by the management of ABC Company. The company made huge profits from this activity since many investors exported large volumes of tea to other international markets. In the two years, the volume of tea collected from the farms increased at a rate of 20% more than what the farmers used to produce. This quantity is more than what ABC Company can process with the current mode of working system. The company has not increased more workers so as to accommodate this change in tea produced by farmers. In that case, the strategy applied by the company to accommodate this change is absolutely poor. When management team meet in the last annual general meeting, they agreed to increasing working hours for each employee of the company so as to increase output per worker (Sampson, 2013). This would assist the company to increase project team performance. However, the biggest tragedy with this policy is the salaries and wages provided to these employees. The management team did not increase salaries and wages top these employees despite increase in working hours per worker. This decision has brought a lot of disagreement in the company. Workers are very bitter s ince the company is exploiting them. This issue has brought several other issues and the company is likely to incur huge losses. As a result of low salaries and wages, worker have engaged themselves in civil strikes so as to demand salary increment. Very few employees are attending duties in the company. Those few who attend duty are most probably practicing go-slow (Sanders Tamma, 2015). The company is in a dilemma which may result to collapse and closure of operations in the company. Workers are also demanding deployment of more employees due increase in tea production by local farmers. Despite making huge profits in the international market, the profits are not shared equally to all stakeholders of the company (Slaper Hall, 2011). Employees of ABC Company are part of these stakeholders yet the company fail to recognize their efforts towards wealth creation. Another issue raised by the workers is poor working inputs. The company need to purchase proper inputs so as to facilitate their working process and improve working environment. Workers are not likely to resume work if these issues are not addressed by the company. This is a very dangerous dilemma that ABC Company is facing at present (Arnold, 2010). There is need to lay down strategies to resolve these issues so as to formulate a win-win situation. Otherwise, both the employees and the company will not mitigate these issues if they fail to work together. According to analysis of this case study, I find it prudent to base solutions to these issues on work motivation and organization behavior (Kanungo Manuel, 2014). Workers need to be motivated at work place so as to improve performance at personal level and team performance. It is very important to consider literature review so as to identify the most appropriate solutions to these problems in order to save ABC Company from collapse . Literature review There are a number of previous researches used in solving workplace problems so as to increase project team performance. These literatures can be applied in solving problems addressed in this case study so as to formulate possible solutions. Relevant theories in workplace motivation will form part of literature to be applied in the case study of low wages and salaries at ABC Company. The issues mentioned in the case study relate to policy formulation by management team and workplace motivation for workers (Hitt, 2014). Therefore, literature to be applied in this report will narrow down to those two areas of organizational behaviors. A review of employee motivation theories and their application in solving workplace problems is based on several theories. They include theory on Maslows Hierarchy of Needs, Herzbergs Two-Factor Model, and Neuro motivational theory. By use of these motivational theories in workplace, then we will be in a position to formulate the most appropriate solutions to problems facing ABC Company. It is important to understand that successful management team has employees who are motivated to work at high level (Holmes, Hughes, Mair Carlsen, 2015). In this literature, we will learn what motivation is and how understanding motivation can help ABC Company succeed. In the case study, it is clear that employees at ABC Company lack motivation at work which make them raise issues on salaries and wages, long working hours, lack of proper inputs and poor working conditions. Motivation is attributed to how individual behave. Individual behaviors at work place are defined by level of motivation applied by management team (Kotler, Bowen Makens, 2010). Therefore, understanding motivation at ABC Company is about aligning the interests of employees, shareholders and customers with those of organization. The reverse is also true. Management team at the company need to know motivation is not based on how well they manipulate behaviors of employees in the company. The first approach that ABC Company should apply in this scenario is intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. In that connection, there exist numerous theories, models and frameworks that focus on motivation of workers (Krugman, Obstfeld Melitz, 2012). These theories have been researched and analyzed as applicable in the universal world. Basically, none of these theories apply absolute doctrine of motivation. It is important to realize that motivational concepts are universal. First, we consider extrinsic motivation theory. This theory borrows ideas from external forces surrounding the organization under consideration. External factors considered under extrinsic motivation include money, vocation time and awards. This theory assert that these external factors need to be put into consideration in motivation process (Marylene, 2014). If we relate this theory to our current case study, the subject matter is employees. We find that management team at ABC Company fail to motivate employees extrinsically. Low salaries and wages are demotivating factors that limit increase in project team performance. Therefore, in order to solve the problems affecting employees at ABC Company, there should be increment in salaries and wages. This will act as a form of extrinsic motivation (Thomas, 2009). Management team of this company need to realize that work performed should correspond to salary to be paid. Again, working hours should be reduced so as to allow employees to re lax. This will motivate them to increase project team performance. This solution will be beneficial to ABC Company as asserted by extrinsic motivation theory. Another theory of motivation to be reviewed in this case study is intrinsic motivation theory. I believe there is a perfect positive correlation between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. However, intrinsic motivational theory borrows ideas from internal factors unlike extrinsic motivational theory that borrow ideas from external forces (Thomas, 2009). According to intrinsic theory, motivation is inbuilt. It should generate from inside ideology of an employees. In the current case study, employees are the subject matter. They lack intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation involves factors that are internal to the employees (Ryan Deci, 2017). They include drive to excel, desire to be acknowledged and fear of failure. From the analysis of the case study under consideration, I find it difficult for employees of ABC Company to develop intrinsic motivation. This is because the condition exposed to them by management team are undesirable thus limiting intrinsic motivation how ever small. Therefore, the solution to this issue based on intrinsic motivation involve management team revising work engagements. If management team provide proper work engagements with employees, then intrinsic motivation will be developed by default. There are two other popular theories of workplace motivation that can be applied in the case study. That is, Maslows Hierarchy of Needs and Herzbergs Two-Factor Model. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs is based on level of priorities (Maslow, 2013). Om the other hand, Herzbergs Two-Factor Model presents job factors as contributing to either satisfaction or dissatisfaction (Richard, 2013). These theories are universally acceptable in solving workplace problems. There will be equally applicable in solving ABC Company problems. Most recent research build on ideologies asserted by these models. According to Abraham Maslow, motivation is based on levers of priorities. He developed this model in 1954. His idea addressed five levels of needs for humans. Each level required to be a fulfilment before an individual could be motivated from a certain level to another by high level factors. Maslow asserted that positive feedback could not motivate an individual if his basic psychological need is not met (Maslow, 2013). His idea was applied to provide an explanation how the work condition motivates employees to increase project team performance. In that connection, employees aim at satisfying their needs in a hierarchical order. If ABC Company fail to recognize this order, then employees will not work according to set standards of work engagement. If we connect Maslows ideas to the current case study, the priorities that need to be addressed by ABC Company include increase in salaries and wages, rescheduling long working hours, provision of proper working inputs and improve working e nvironment (Maslow, 2013). If these issues are implemented by the company, the problems facing employees will be solved. This is how Maslows Hierarchy of Needs become applicable at current scenario. According to Herzbergs Two-Factor Model, Frederick Herzberg asserted his idea on workplace motivation. He was interested in the perfect positive correlation between workplace motivation and employee attitude. His idea wanted to determine various factors that made employees feel satisfied and dissatisfied in the workplace (Richard, 2013). Through rigorous researcher on employee workplace motivation, he managed to establish a motivation theory called two-factor theory. According to Herzberg, there are two set of factors that made employees feel satisfied and dissatisfied in workplace. The first set of these factors was hygiene factors. These factors addressed issues that make employees feel dissatisfied at workplace. These factors are extrinsic ion nature. Basically, they are linked to factors such as job security, compensation, working conditions, organizational politics, relationship between supervisors, peers and subordinates, quality of leadership and management (Richard, 2013). Th ese aspects do not motivate workers but they demotivate employees. They are likely to cause dissatisfaction at workplace if they miss in the organization or cases where they are inadequate. If we connect these hygiene factors with our case study, we realize lack of proper compensation to employees at ABC Company result to dissatisfaction. This in return trigger civil strikes, civil unrests and go slows. The company need to ensure hygiene factors are put in place so as to solve the problems facing the company. The other set of factors asserted by Herzberg is motivators or satisfiers. These factors are intrinsic in nature since they are linked to employee motivation. These are conditions affecting work directly at employees level (Richard, 2013). They are referred to factors of satisfaction by Herzbergs Two-Factor Model. They include achievement, opportunities for growth, advancement, recognition, job satisfaction and responsibility. To apply this model in the current case study, the company need to formulate strategies to enhance satisfaction at workplace and mitigate dissatisfaction. However, according to Herzbergs Two-Factor Model, it is really difficult to balance the two (Richard, 2013). This is because, the opposite of satisfaction is no satisfaction and the opposite of dissatisfaction is no dissatisfaction. Therefore, the company need to address both hygiene factors at a time and later on address motivators. This will finally assist ABC Company to resolve the problems under confirmat ion. There are many other theories of workplace motivation that can be applied to solve organizational issues and increase project team performance (Hausman, 2007). These theories provide ideas to solve organizational issues by relating to current scenarios. It is therefore clear that a lot of literature gaps remain unrevealed. However, if ABC Company apply the asserted theories, then the problems regarding employees engagement will be resolved. Recommendations The analysis of ABC case study and literate applied in this report will be useful in providing recommendations to mitigate issues highlighted in the case study. It is important to acknowledge that a problem exist and need to be mitigated. The following recommendations will be applicable in ABC Company. Review salaries and wages of employees. The management team should ensure that employees are paid according workload and working hours allocated to them. Through salary increment, management team will facilitate extrinsic motivation. Employees in the company will engage a higher gear in work performance at personal level and group performance (Fletcher, 2012). The company need to realize that employees are the first stakeholders and their interests should be considered when they arise. This is why many motivation theories have been designed so as to motivate workers. The performance achieved by ABC Company depend highly on individual and team performance formulated by employees. Low salaries may result to low performance while better salaries and wages enhance extrinsic motivation hence a better performance for the company. Engage more workers. If management team at ABC Company finds it difficult to increase wages and salaries, another option to be recommended so as to mitigate issues raised in the case study is employing more workers (Dunn Norton, 2013). This will enable the company to reduce the working hours subjected to each employee. In this case, employees will work in shifts. At that, the current salaries and wages will be sustainable. The payment will correspond to working hours. This option will also assist in solving unemployment problems in areas where the company operates. This will be a better way to deal with organizational behaviours in the company as well as the environment under which the company operates (Dann Dann, 2007). This option will also assist the company to select the best candidates to carry out different tasks in the company. Use modern technology in processing industry. Although this option will face resistance from employees, the company may also apply technology to solve some issues. Technology may be used to undertake several activities in the industry via use of machinery and equipment (McGregor, 2012). These will be used reduce workforce engagement. Thus, working hours subjected to each employee will be reduced. In that case, the current salaries and wages will be sustainable. Conclusion From the report, a lot of issues come in place. These issues relate to motivation of workers at workplace. Management team in a company needs to understand the importance of motivation to employees. Through intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, workers are likely to work better thus increasing project team performance (Thomas, 2009). Issues affecting any company need to be addressed with ultimate urgency so as to prevent damages that are likely to arise. Theories analyzed in this report are clear indicators of importance of proper work engagement. ABC Company has a lot to do in order to solve these issues. If the above recommendation is implemented, then there is a higher likelihood of increasing project team performance in the shortest time possible. Management team need to make policies through close consultation with other employees. This enhances win-win situation (Daft, 2015). Feasibility and viability of ideas in work engagement are developed through working together. It is important to understand the opinions of other stakeholders in the company so as to make viable decisions and judgments. References Arnold, J. (2010) Coaching Skills for Leaders in the Workplace: How to Develop, Motivate and Get the Best from Your Staff. How to Books. Pg. 37-42. Daft, R.L. (2015) Management. South Western College Pub. Pg. 79-85. Dann, S., Dann, S. (2007) Competitive marketing strategy. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education. Pg. 179-185. Dunn, E.W Norton, M.I. 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