Strategies For Achieving Workplace Change And Employee Engagement In An Essay.

The Top Trucking Company's Workplace Practices

Questions:

1.How do the new workplace practices introduced by the new yard manager complement one another?

2.What are the risks to sustaining these changes if George or the yard manager moves on?

3.Do you think tough blue collar unions like the Transport Workers Union are more of less likely to engage in workplace changes like these than public or service sector unions? Why? How would you find out if you are right?

1. The Top truck company is recognised as a high performance workplace in the local region but earlier the company’s scenario was completely different from what it is now. The credit for the turnaround of the company’s and employee’s situation goes to the new yard manager and its new workplace practices. These are:

1. Unlike the old yard manager, the new yard manager believed in listening to the concern of its drivers and union representatives. He had a pragmatic approach towards the problems arising in the organization and he made sure that the blame should not be put on the employees rather the root cause should be identified so that the same situation does not arise in future. This created a strong employer and employees relationship which was missing earlier. The result of strong employer and employee relationship is that it increases the productivity of the employees and also they are more motivated in working towards achieving the organization’s goals and objectives (Abbah, 2014).
2. Worker’s safety is the most important concern in any organization. It is the responsibility of the employer to take necessary steps to ensure worker’s safety. The old owners were hardly interested in the maintenance of trucks which may impact the driver’s safety during working hours (Mensah & Taiwah, 2015).. The manager made sure that the drivers receive appropriate training in technical and customer service area. Giving a safe working environment resulted into driver’s commitment towards their employer and the organization and it also resulted into employee’s loyalty towards the organization (Gyeke, 2005).
3. As soon as the top truck company was purchased by the New Transport group the company saw a major turnaround. Workers were given new uniforms and their workplace was cleaned. The benefits of working in a clean environment are healthy employees with improved productivity and increase in employee’s satisfaction and low turnover rate (Sarod & Shirsath, 2012). Along with this, the new manager installed computer system which was first resisted by employees at the end it helped to boost the performance and morale of the employees (Odukah, 2016).
4. The Yard manager also involved the union delegate George in managing the workplace performance. A strong bond between a manager and union is very important as the synergy of both will help the organization to achieve organization goals. Unions at workplace should be considered as the business partners because they contribute strategically in solving employee’s related problems. This will help to gain the trust of the drivers in the management (Dobre, 2013).
5. The other very effective workplace practice which was used by the yard manager was to update the driver’s about the yard’s performance. When crucial information like these are shared by the employees they feel that a sense of belongingness towards the company and they are motivated to work more productively in order to increase the organization performance (Acas, 2009).

All these workplace practices have been proven to be quite successful and complementing each other because they all directed towards increase the truck driver’s performance and productivity so that the organization can achieve a competitive position in the industry.

2. The role of a manager is very important in sustaining the change management process initiated in organization. The role of a manager is not just limited to implementing the transformation strategies but also to review it on the timely basis whether the new workplace strategies implemented at the workplace is contributing in achieving the long term goals and objectives of the organization or not. If the yard manager moves on, the impacts can be:

• The yard manager is responsible for planning and organizing the operations. Planning is a pervasive function and it should be done on regular basis. In the absence of the manager, the only responsible person is the union delegate George and he cannot fulfil this responsibility as it requires managerial skills and expertise (Cielinska, 2007).
• The yard manager is also responsible for managing and utilising both the human and financial resources of the organization. In his presence he managed to remove the “bad eggs” of the organization which significantly boost the employee’s morale and also the financial resources were utilised in an effective way to improve the workplace. In the absence of yard manager this cannot be possible and the company will move back to the same position that it was used to be earlier in the presence of old manager (Ragupathi, 2013).
• The major positive change in the old and the new manager was that the new one follows a democratic style he openly communicated with the employees and the union delegate George. In the absence of manager the drivers will not be able to communicate their issues to the top management (Spaho, 2011).
• Also, after the new workplaces practices the reviewing of the results is very important. If the manager will not measure the performance of the employees in comparison to the workplace practices introduced then the management will not be able to take decisions for achieving the goals of the company.

In case where George moves out of the organization there shall not be much impact because even when George was present when the old manager was managing the drivers, he could not do much to improve the working condition of the truck drivers. But still the role of George is important because he remains in the direct contact with the truck drivers. He communicates all their problems and issue to the manager. George is the grievance listener of the drives. Also he is responsible for supporting the worker’s right during the time of old yard manager. George was also responsible in interpersonal interactions with the drivers which they may have not done with the manager (Mwamadzingo & Chinguwo, 2015).

Both George and the new yard manager have been responsible for managing and directing the performance of the employees to achieve leadership in the region and enhancing the employee’s performance to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization.

3. Blue collar unions include workers or individual who are involved in performing manual tasks in an organization. Blue collar unions are more likely to engage in the workplace changes than public or service sector unions. The reason being:

• The blue collar workers are much underpaid and are not much skilled, that is why they are exploited easily by the managers and authority. They usually belong to a background community and have a very low career opportunities in an industry/. The only thing that motivates them is a fat pay check. They don’t understand the organization vision and mission and clearly have no interest in achieving them but there efforts are very important to achieve strategic goals of the organization. A manager can easily improve the performance of the workers by rewarding them justly in according to the work done by them. Higher the performance, higher the rewards. The manager can easily engage blue collar workers in the workplace changes by offering them fair rewards.
• The managers and staff in public sector organization are not much trained and they are paid very less as a result managers in those organizations are not willing to pay much attention in engaging and motivating union workers in the workplace changes but in private sector managers are well paid and qualified. They design effective strategies to engage union workers.
• Another reason of high engagement of workers in blue collar unions is that the motivational factors to induce them into workplace changes are very basic. Provide them with good working condition at the workplace they are satisfied and work efficiently. Treat all of them equally and provide them with fair wages which will ensure quality living. Also ensuring their safety at the workplace will increase employer loyalty and they will work hard to fulfil their goals and objectives.
• Job security among blue collar workers is a major concern because they are not much skilled so that is why they are easily replaceable with other workers who are willing to work at a lower wage. Also the use of machinery and technology has led to increase in the laying off ratio of wage workers in the industrial sector. Due to this the workers are highly demotivated and do not perform productively. On the other side public unions already have job security and it cannot be used as a motivational factor. By providing blue collar workers job security the manager can easily motivate them to work productively and engage in workplace changes. It will also ensure job satisfaction among them and they contribute strategically in achieving the long term goals of the organization (Ganta, 2014).

Increasing the engagement of the blue collar workers in workplace practices will not only increase the productivity of the workers but it results into decrease in the attrition rate and absenteeism rate. It also helps to maintain a healthy relationship between the management and the workers (Kirkegaard & Larsen, 2011).

Conclusion

The report concludes that the managers and union delegates play a very important role in employee’s engagement in strategically achieving the goals of the organization. The report also discussed about the effect of new workplace practices introduced by the new manager in the Top Trucking Company. Each of the practices introduced by the manager complement each other in such a way that it improves employee’s motivation and engagement in the workplace practices. The role of a manager has been considered as very important in sustaining the changes in the organization.

References

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