MKT525 Digital And Social Media Marketing

Pharmacy management

Increased turnover of the skilled employees from a well-run pharmacy can lead to loss of productivity and repudiation of the organization. There are several factors behind the increased turnover of the employees- that is lack of motivation, excessive workload and burnout, occupational safety and might be remuneration issues. Transition of the employees from one profession to the next can also be due to some self-factors (1). Working in the comfort zone sometimes might bring stagnancy in the job, and such employees feel deep inside that the next level of responsibility requires learning of new skills and get used to be uncertain, and thus wants to learn and face fear once again (1). Hence, in this case Leah might have felt a stagnancy in the job. From the case study it is evident that Leah had a poor sense of self-regulation and a low level of communication skills, due to which he could not reach out to the managers to clear out his grievances. Again the idea of stagnation might be a contradictory with the statement of the pharmacy manager as he has expressed that Leah always came up with new ideas and worked enthusiastically, except for the last few days when the employee looked a bit demotivated and distracted from the work.

Demotivation among the employees might occur due lack of career visions and in majority of the cases, money is one of the prime reason for the employee’s motivation (1). Some of the other reasons that might have caused demotivation in the concerned employees are- job security, feeling undervalued, poor leadership skills, conflict and the unrealistic workload. According to the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, employees remain motivated by the fulfilment of the physiological needs, the self-esteem needs, safety needs, social needs and needs of self-actualization. Hence it has to be understood that un-fulfillment of any of these needs might lead to demotivation among the employees.

One of the main reasons for the employee turnover is the lack of proper management. Employees need to feel that they are being valued (2). It is evident from the case study that the number of the management staffs had been cut short due to the financial constraints. Hence, Leah might not have got the scope to share his difficulties with the manager. Furthermore it is the duty of the managers to look after the needs of the employees which requires frequent feedback from the employees (3). In this scenario it can be clearly seen that there were no provisions of feedback due to the shortage of staffs. This displays lack of proper leadership skills. Some of the critical leadership skills that was lacking in the managerial group was provision of any sorts of recognition or awards to the employees. In spite of coming up with the new ideas, Leah was not provided with any kind of appraisals. It is necessary to make a contagious vision and provide opportunities to the employees to follow that vision ,but in this case it can be found that no innovative strategies has been introduced so far since last two years.  Strategic communication skill among the manager was lacking (9). The management of the pharmacy lacked long term views regarding the organization and thus did not implement any innovative strategies for long two years, which indicates that the managers might be lacking the courage to challenge the status quo or were afraid to take implement changes in the organization (4). In certain cases, managers often are afraid to implement any change in fear of the conflicts that might take place after the implementation of the measures. In this scenario, conflicts among the employees might be a reason for the resigning of the concerned employee. Conflict resolution is common at the workplace and can hamper the workflow of the organization that can disrupt the momentum of the work in the organization. However it is duty of the managers to resolve any kind of conflicts (3). A proper leader should be able to gather data, analyze data and choose and implement the best solution (3). Poor time management, lack of leadership and management, personal conflicts have been recognized as one of the important reason for staff turnover.

Empathy is an important aspect of the leadership skills. In the case scenario the manager displayed poor skills of empathy as he did not notice that one of the employees might have been suffering from some emotional problem (6). Leah might have had an Amygdala hijack as he might have felt emotionally threatened which could have been managed by proper counseling.  Proper counseling and motivation might have retained the employee at work. A proper leader understands that human development are the core element for the growth of an organization (4).

Staff turnover can be reduced in the future by following proper transformational leadership policies. Some of the important aspects of a transformational leadership are- creation of an agenda and then disseminating the vision to the other employees, reflection on their own mistakes and thrive for the best to avoid the in future (5). Managers should excel themselves as leaders and should apply proper conflict management strategies such as obtaining regular feedback, displaying empathy and active listening to their opinions, welcoming others opinions (9). A leader should be able to train his employees regarding dealing with the workload and working beyond the comfort zone (7). Rewards and recognitions, looking after the health and safety of the employees, respecting their cultural beliefs and showing them empathy can be recognized as one of the important strategy for retaining employees like Leah.

It has to be mentioned that proper managerial and leadership skills help to strengthen the economic output, increases job opportunities, motivates the employees and decrease staff turnover.

References

1. Sajjad A, Ghazanfar H, Ramzan M. Impact of motivation on employee turnover in telecom sector of Pakistan. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly. 2013 Sep 1;5(1):76.
2. Kim S. The impact of human resource management on state government IT employee turnover intentions. Public Personnel Management. 2012 Jun;41(2):257-79.
3. Das BL, Baruah M. Employee retention: A review of literature. Journal of Business and Management. 2013 Nov;14(2):8-16.
4. Ayoko OB, Konrad AM. Leaders’ transformational, conflict, and emotion management behaviors in culturally diverse workgroups. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal. 2012 Nov 2;31(8):694-724.
5. Yang YF. Studies of transformational leadership in consumer service: Leadership trust and the mediating-moderating role of cooperative conflict management. Psychological Reports. 2012 Feb;110(1):315-37.
6. Roueche PE, Baker III GA, Rose RR. Shared vision: Transformational leadership in American community colleges. Rowman & Littlefield; 2014 Aug 1.
7. Sadri G. Emotional intelligence and leadership development. Public Personnel Management. 2012 Sep;41(3):535-48.
8. Batool BF. Emotional intelligence and effective leadership. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly. 2013 Mar 1;4(3):84.
9. Thompson J. Transformational leadership can improve workforce competencies. Nursing Management. 2012;18(10):21-4.