Managerial Position Challenges and Team Performances at See-Me Sheffield (SMS)

Case Study: Les’ Management Challenge
Topic Areas:
The Context: Diversity and Inclusion
The Individual: Employee Health and Wellbeing
The Team: Supporting Team Cohesions and Collaborations, including managing conflicts
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Introduction
See-Me (Sheffield) (SMS) is a marketing company owned by a German parent company whose values include innovation, integrity, excellence in execution and inclusion, and compassion. SMS is facing many key issues emanating from the managers and the employees. The case study presents several key issues surrounding Les; the line manager, Sam; her boss, and the employee teams from the social media, printed, and billboard departments. The essay analyzes the entire case study while applying key management theory to identify important managerial position challenges. It also addresses how team performances could be improved in three main topic areas from different themes. These include the context theme: diversity and inclusion. The individual theme: is employee health and wellbeing, and the team theme: supporting team cohesion and collaboration, including conflict management. Recommendations on how Sam could improve her relationship with Les, the line manager, are given. Further, Sam's strengths and room for improvement are highlighted to provide a clear picture of the necessary measures needed to improve performance and productivity. Finally, a reflection on personal learning from the module is given, articulating relevant theories to illustrate the discussion.
Question 1: Case Study Issues
In her management role, Les faces several issues and challenges, especially in managing the employees. One of the major issues highlighted is a high staff turnover rate, which the staff have justified as being motivated by poor pay and low clientele. Additionally, the staff are highly stressed, as seen in Maria's case, who is now suffering anxiety attacks. Job satisfaction is also low, with some employees complaining that they are overworked since they are understaffed. Les also experiences problem in the recruitment process, which is among the critical roles for her position. She seems to just not find the right candidates to fill in the different positions available. The way the positions are advertisement appears to be problematic, where the company advertises on national job searching websites. The applicants that are mostly attracted to these adverts are from London, which results to a significant geographical distance, between the candidates who are qualified, and their ability to relocate to the company. The applicants who have applied to fill in the social media jobs are from London, and are not willing to relocate to Sheffield at this point. Les fails to consider the ease of letting some of the employees from the social media department work remotely, while most of the tasks in that department can be accomplished remotely. Allowing remote working would considerably increase the number of qualified individuals who would want to work in the company.
Les, the line manager, is unable to help the teams resolve their conflicts and create a more collaborative environment. The three teams: social media, print, and billboards, do not get along and are very hostile toward each other. There is no chemistry or a healthy professional working relationship between Les and all the staff and between Les and her boss, Sam. In her position, Les is responsible for creating a collaborative environment, something she has failed terribly in. she fails to understand and acknowledge that all the three teams are equally important to the company. The case demonstrate that she favors the social media team more than the other two teams, evidenced by her allocating an entire budget to the team. It is a clear indication that Les needs to develop better team collaboration skills to unify all the three teams.
Various management theories can be used to explain the situation and the issues Les is facing as the manager. The contingency theory promotes the idea that managerial decisions should focus on the present situation and circumstances, not the fixed policies and standardized methods for all people (Cooke, 2018). In the contingency theory, the manager takes appropriate actions based on the factors that define the present workplace circumstance and allows everyone to participate and feel appreciated. In this case, Les is unable to bring all the employees to participate at their own pace and mode, making them either fear her or not value her decisions.
The systems theory proposes that employees have the power to influence and affect the systems around them and that workplace systems directly influence employee output and satisfaction (Bush, 2020). In this case, Les needs to understand how the workplace systems influence employee performance and how the employees affect the systems. Therefore, employees are outrightly dissatisfied with the pay, long working hours, and not being heard or appreciated by Les. On the other hand, productivity, staff unity, and collaboration are affected by the attitudes and wellbeing of the employees. For the company to be productive, all parts of the workplace systems must function together to achieve the overall objective of the company.
The chaos theory defines workplace changes as necessary and perpetual. There are some situations and circumstances in the company that can be controlled while others cannot be controlled. The Chaos theory highlights change as necessary, though rarely controlled (Cooke, 2018). In this case, the company is in chaos, considering the high turnover rate in the social media department and the evident job dissatisfaction. At this point, change is much needed to achieve the company's goals. The occurrences of the issues Les is facing are unpredictable, and the company stands as a complex, co-creative, and far-from-equilibrium system. To solve all the issues arising from all the departments, Les must quickly guide increased energy and adequate effort to maintain the company's systems and stability.
Theories X and Y highlight the two styles of management that are guided by the managers' perceptions of what motivates the employees. On the one hand, some managers assume that employees dislike their work and are apathetic (Bush, 2020). In this case, they use theory X, the authoritarian management style. In this case, Les assumes that staff from the social media team who complained about being overworked are lazy and probably dislike their work. Her perception towards the employees may continue stirring dissatisfaction and a lack of trust between her and the staff. On the other hand, some managers believe their employees to be responsible and self-driven people (Bush, 2020). In this case, they use theory Y, the participative management style. Theory Y promotes healthy collaboration and unity in the workplace, an aspect missing in the company.
The principles of administrative management theory focus on how managers should interact, relate to, and organize their teams. Managers should apply various principles effectively to ensure their teams are functioning as they should by being productive. These principles include being initiative, where employees should be free to carry out their tasks and roles without being ordered around or forced (Bush, 2020). In this case, in how she treats and relates with the employees, Les takes away their freedom to carry out their various tasks without being coerced. For instance, she thinks that taking away the 10 am coffee from the print team employees would make them more productive. Another principle highlighted in theory includes proper and considerate remuneration of staff. Employees should adequately compensate for their performance using monetary and non-monetary benefits. Adequate compensation is likely to create or improve the bond that exists between the employees and the managers. In this case, there is a high turnover, especially in the social media department, where employees claim that the pay is too little. The high turnover rate has ultimately contributed to the employees being understaffed.
Question 2a: Les – Team Leader Discussion
The Context: Diversity and Inclusion
Les could improve the performance of all her employees by simply respecting their special needs, different perspectives, and potential. As a result, she will earn the trust of all the employees in the different teams, and they will be more committed to their work. Diversity and inclusion will make all the employees feel involved and supported in their different responsibilities in the company (Jonsen et al., 2021). For instance, allowing the print team to have their regular 10 am coffee will make them feel included and respected. Further, supporting all three teams in their different needs and not just focusing on the social media team will make all the employees feel important and valued. Promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace will reduce turnover rates, increase employee retention, and increase productivity and revenue growth (Jonsen et al., 2021).
As a line manager, Les could improve the performance of all employees by promoting diversity and inclusion. One strategy to do so is fostering a company culture where all the teams are heard, welcomed, and respected (Grissom, 2018). Les should apply theory Y- participative management style into the strategy, where she will hold positive perceptions concerning the employees, including being responsible, self-driven, and hardworking (Bush, 2020). By showing that she believes in their work, ideas, and perspectives, the employees will be able to appreciate and experience connectedness to the company. Regardless of the team and individual differences such as age, gender, and country of origin, Les must be able to make them feel respected and included (Syed & Ozbilgin, 2019). First, she can do this by advocating for a workforce communications platform where every employee’s opinion will be obtained on their preferred communication channel. Secondly, she should advocate for the inclusion of women in the printed team.
The Individual: Employee Health and Wellbeing
An employee's performance and health, and wellbeing are usually connected. Healthy employees are more productive, while ill or stressed employees are less productive (Colenberg et al., 2021). In the case study, increased stress levels among employees and their being overworked demonstrate how employee health and wellbeing are not being taken seriously in the company. For instance, Maria from the social media team is battling anxiety, which has made her stay out of work for months. Staying out of work means less manpower and reduced output/productivity. Additionally, due to the employees being understaffed, the existing team in the social media department complains of being overworked, which places them at risk of ill health. Promoting employee health and wellbeing will allow them to realize their abilities and effectively deal with the stressors in their lives.
As a line manager, Les could employ several strategies to improve the performance of all employees by promoting their health and wellbeing. The human relations theory proposes that promoting employee health and wellbeing improves their morale and makes them more productive (Bush, 2020). One strategy for improved employee health and wellbeing is practicing mindfulness, where the manager pays attention to the present without judging or pressuring employees. Mindfulness would reduce stress among the employees, whi...