Answers
1. Decision dismiss underperforming employee from the workplace
This decision was as a result underperformance from an employee due to absenteeism. It started with recognition that there was a problem in the workplace caused by employee unavailability to perform duty. I gathered information on how the underperformance would be boosted in the department and the most appropriate thing to do. I also gather information that showed how the employee underperformance had impacted productivity of the workplace. I then analyzed the situation to have alternatives that would be carried out to solve the problem. These alternatives included suspending the employee, penalizing the employee or completely dismissing the employee. I then decided to dismiss the underperforming employee from the workplace. This alternative necessitated placement of the employee from another department. This decision improved productivity of the workplace.
The difficult steps in this decision were in outlining alternatives and deciding on the alternative to fire.
2. Resistance for change scenario in workplace;
Adopting a new technology- I would train and develop employees’ skills to align with the new technology requirements. I will use my technical skills as a supervisor to upgrade employees’ skills and make them appreciate the new technology (Morselli, 2015).
Employees resist change in management- I would ensure that employees interact with the new management so that they can understand one another (Canato, & Ravasi, 2015).
Organizational culture change- In this situation I will lead in changing and shaping attitudes, beliefs and perspectives in the organization.
3. The following conflict management techniques were applied in the workplace during a change process conflicts;
i. Avoiding technique. This technique would not settle a conflict after conflicts arising from organizational change. If this change is used, I would adopt collaboration technique that will act as a counter strategy to incorporate all stakeholders in the organization in handling conflict.
ii. Compromising technique. This conflict technique would not be appropriate in instances of handling conflicts from resistant to change. I would use accommodating technique to bring harmony and enhance goodwill in the organization to mange conflict (Sudhakar, 2015).
4. An employee can appear in two quadrants of a situational leadership model. For example, an employee can move from having high wiliness and low abilities to high wiliness and high ability. This situation will require different leadership approach. Leadership in high wiliness and low ability will require coaching leadership while leadership in high willingness and high ability will require delegation approach. Coaching will enable an employee who has wiliness in the organization to develop and acquire high ability to handle tasks in the organization. After the employee has acquired high skills and has maintained high wiliness to achieve, the leadership approach should change to delegation. These two situations are different and an employee in a certain quadrant will require different leadership approach in order to perform well.
5. I think some workplaces underutilize performance appraisal in management of human resource. The performance appraisals are not set and therefore no evaluation is made on the employees’ performance. This limits the ability of the management to timely realize need for training and development of employees, compensation and promotion. In order to increase usage of performance appraisal as a performance management tools I will set a framework in the workplace that will have employees standards on that and performance of an employees will evaluated on standards. This framework will outline need for training and development in the workplace (Sever, 2015).
6. Workplace politics and power are both good and bad depending on their usage in the organization. Positive politics encourages productivity and interactions among employees in the organization. Positive politics also encourages quality work culture in the workplace. Negative politics develops culture and increases conflicts in the workplace. Negative politics decrease productivity and increase employees turnover. When power is positively used in the organization, it leads to increased production. Positive influence encourages employees to make decisions and enable employees to work under minimum supervision. Positive usage of power in the organization motivates employees and reduce employees turnover. On the other side, negative power influence in the organization leads to disrespect and less job satisfaction in the workplace (Owoyemi, & Ekwoaba, 2014). Therefore workplace politics and power impact in a workplace depend on their usage.
7. Equity Theory of Motivation
Employees in an organization differ in age, lifestyle, and preference as well as social and economical class. When employees are treated equal, they feel differently about the mechanism used to motivate them. For instance, giving employees a paid vacation to a certain destination does not give them equal motivation. Instead, the reward demoralizes high level employees who are on top of the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Therefore, offering equal reward for motivation does not in return motivate the employees but rather decreases motivation to some employees. In this situation, I will prefer differentiating employees and their hierarchy of need to tailor their reward accordingly. This situation will make employees feel motivated in their own way (Angst, & Borowiecki, 2013).
References
Angst, L., & Borowiecki, K. (2013). Delegation and motivation. Theory And Decision, 76(3), 363-393. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11238-013-9370-7
Canato, A., & Ravasi, D. (2015). Managing long-lasting cultural changes. Organizational Dynamics, 44(1), 75-82. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2014.11.009
Morselli, A. (2015). The decision-making process between convention and cognition. ECONOMICS & SOCIOLOGY, 8(1), 205-221. https://dx.doi.org/10.14254/2071-789x.2015/8-1/16
Owoyemi, O., & Ekwoaba, J. (2014). Organisational Culture: A Tool for Management for Management Control, Motivate and Performance Enhancement. American Journal Of Business And Management, 3(3). https://dx.doi.org/10.11634/216796061403514
Sever, I. (2015). Importance-performance analysis: A valid management tool?. Tourism Management, 48, 43-53. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.10.022
Sudhakar, G. (2015). A REVIEW OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES IN PROJECTS. Brazilian Journal Of Operations & Production Management, 12(2), 214. https://dx.doi.org/10.14488/bjopm.2015.v12.n2.a3
