Management of Employees in the Organization
Atlas Company is a performance-driven organization. New employees are given performance standards that must be met on a monthly basis. If an employee falls below the standards, they are placed on a performance improvement plan (PIP). If improvement is not seen within 30 days, additional measures of progressive discipline are applied to the point of termination at the 90-day mark. The new hire involuntary and voluntary turnover rate is at 50% per year.
Most employees are on edge because of the aggressive performance standards, causing high levels of stress and conflict. Employees stay because of the generous and lucrative incentive package that is available. The incentives are individually-based, and cause both conflict between employees, and also between employees and department leadership. Conflicts are mostly verbal, but coworkers have at times nearly become physically confrontational. When disagreements occur, they quickly escalate – especially when an employee feels the other employee undermined their ability to make the incentive for the month.
Most managers bark out orders to employees and do not spend any time getting to know them. They are promoted internally, and derive great power from their positions. Most are technically proficient in the positions they oversee, but they seriously lack leadership abilities. No formal training is offered to managers and their approach is often learned from those who mentored them. Most employees feel under-valued and unmotivated based on the lack of connection with their manager.
You have recently been hired into the company as a new manager. You are viewed as an outsider. It is evident the other managers do not respect you because you did not “earn” your title from within the company. When you talk in meetings, some managers have actually crumpled up paper and thrown it, while others have turned away. One manager even mocks your comments and gets a good chuckle out of the larger group.
On top of all of this, you “inherited” the poorest-performing group of employees. Each of them has one foot out the door and plan to either leave voluntarily or involuntarily. They are accustomed to the top-down management approach of “barking”. It is evident that their connection to the company and to each other is non-existent. They play on social media most of the day and are not present and engaged in their work.
This is not what you signed up for, but you know that you must endure as you need the job to support your family.
Directions:
What are the specific work issues that are present it this case study?
Which work issues would you prioritize to work on first? Second? Third? Please explain your rationale.
What specific steps would you take to resolve these top three work issues? What assessments might prove beneficial in this process?
How would you measure your overall effectiveness in addressing these work issues?
What was your major learning from this assignment and how can you apply it to be more effective as a future employee or manager?
This assignment should be completed in no less than 1500 words, and no more than 2000 words. Three external peer-reviewed resources must be used and referenced within the body of the paper. Please adhere to the APA guidelines for this assignment including a cover page, reference page and using proper citation within the body of the paper.
Written assignments must be submitted in Blackboard as an attachment. Assignments need to be written using some type of word processing software (preferably Microsoft Word). Be sure to include your name in the assignment file name.
Atlas Company Case Study
Student’s Name
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Atlas Company Case Study
Introduction
Companies often face the eminent challenge of managing human resources. Corporate organizations are grappling with a plethora of personal problems revolving around the concept of change, compensation, staff issues such as retention, learning and development, organization effectiveness, human resource performance appraisal, and measurement tools, and many more! This paper seeks to unravel core issues facing Atlas Company, describe its recovery pathway, and identity fundamental lessons from this case study.
Specific issues present in this case study
This case study has a range of issues that affect human resources, hence, impacting organization performance. The Atlas Company faces a high employer turnover rate of 50 %. The high employee turnover rate is a clear indication of an organization that is unable to effectively manage its human resource. The high personal turnover rates reflect a number of underlying issues. Employee turnover, which refers to the rate at which an employer gains and losses employees, is a critical metric centered on organizations' workforce planning and strategy ( Anvari, JianFu & Chermahini, 2014). Employee turnover rate is crucial due to its far-reaching implications, including its impact on future retention rates among current staff, job satisfaction, employee engagement, and the corporate’s ability to attract talented, resourceful, and skilled personnel into the organization. Voluntary turnover is increasingly high with no evidence of signs of receding. High turnover is often associated with low loyalty from employees, hurting organizational performance.
The expected performance standards in Atlas Company cause conflict and stress. The company has set a high standard for performance, leading to increasingly aggressive efforts to achieve high expectations. Job stress is a global corporate concern impacting employees, organizations, and economies where the demands of working life are increasingly difficult, marked by imbalances between perceived needs and employees’ resources and abilities, leading to deteriorating employee wellbeing by causing stress (Nappo, 2020). The extreme work performance causes stress amongst employees, making most of them be at the edge and conflict despite being on generous lucrative packages. The issue of pay, incentives, remuneration or compensation, is always elusive. Employees pursue a different interest in workplaces. Many workers have differing opinions regarding their job-related issues such as pay, insensitivity, and job satisfaction. Some may prefer less stressful jobs even with less pay. Some people cannot tolerate job-related stress, while others may work under such conditions but negatively impact their lives.
The individualized reward system in the company is of the primary causes of conflict. Most employees disagree with this incentive system leading to conflict, verbal and physical confrontation. Some of the workers feel that their colleagues undermine them to limit their chance of getting incentives. Companies can adopt diverse compensation plans and decide on the most appropriate and effective one. Two primary incentive systems exist, including individualized and group. The individual incentive plans can deploy several approaches such as merit-based compensation, piece-rate incentive programs where people are paid according to the quantity of output, bonuses, and commissions. It is expected that the individualized reward systems are tied reasonably directly to the individual's performance level. Individual incentive systems often lead to improved individual performance in the organization. However, there are some concerns regarding this reward system. An individualized reward system can make employees compete with each other leader to undesirable outcomes for the company. This system might have inherent weaknesses, such as individualized piece rates that can maximize output performance while sacrificing quality. Besides, mistrust can arise, leading to a lack of cooperation in an individualized incentive system. The weaknesses observed in the individualized incentive reward system are exposed in Atlas Company, where workers conflict. They are in both physical and verbal confrontations, mistrusts, and allegations of employees undermining each other. Employees may undermine each other due to completion issues on who performs better than the other or enjoy more incentives.
Another issue in Atlas Company involves a lack of effective communication. The bosses bark orders when giving instructions. This approach is counterproductive because it reflects a lack of respect, poor interpersonal relationship, and infective communication. Barking orders indicate malfunctioning institutions with an apparent lack of cooperation and trust between the employees and their bosses. It is a characteristic of top-down management that occurs when senior leaders determine goals, projects, and tasks, more often, independently of their teams and inferiors. The teams and subordinates are expected to receive and implement orders and specific directives. Managers in Atlas Company only bark on employees. They lack formal training in leadership and management in an organization. As a result, they rarely engage or spend time with the employee on various issues that affect organizational performance. These are managers who cannot effectively handle change. They tend to practice a top-down management approach by ‘barking’ orders. Furthermore, they lack adequate respect, understanding and have the little spirit of cooperation. They demonstrate no respect for a new manager. Instead of supporting the new manager, they depict disdain and are critical of how the new manager qualifies to hold that position.
Issues of prioritization and Measures Taken in Atlas Company
This company deserves a holistic approach to resolving human resource-related challenges. The first issues that need prioritization involve the type of management approach deployed in Atlas. Management is a critical component ...