Management Problem: Poor Employee Motivation at RadioShack Corporation

Management Problem: Poor Employee Motivation at RadioShack Corporation
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Management Problem: Poor Employee Motivation at RadioShack Corporation
ABSTRACT
Organizations face challenges that can be classified as management problems. One such problem involves lack of sufficient motivation for workers or employees. This scenario remains a major concern for many organizations around the world. For purposes of comprehending the weight this subject matter carries, this paper analyses the situation at America’s RadioShack Company, a retail distributor of electronic gadgets and technological items listed for trading on the New York Securities Exchange (NYSE). It goes ahead to identify possible solutions and or courses of action which the company can undertake to realize solutions to this management problem.
Issues of increased job turnover, insufficient training and development opportunities and inadequate rewards and remuneration systems represent major indicators for the management problem discussed hereunder. As such, there is an established need for RadioShack’s management to develop and implement a series of motivational policies to secure the company’s future in the long term. Additionally, a good approach to solving the management problem of poor employee motivation could involve management by objectives and a clear comprehension of specific needs of workers. This is well elaborated by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which also establishes the relationship between satisfying these needs and people’s behavior (Maslow, 1973, 47).
Introduction
It is well understood that individuals’ motivation goes hand in hand with the value placed on them as ordinary human beings with specific sets of fundamental needs. The five levels of needs as determined by Maslow’s hierarchy involve self-actualization, Esteem, Belonging, Safety and psychological needs (Maslow, 1973, p45). It is also true that if someone has a certain level of need satisfied, his or her motivation shifts to a higher level. It is therefore the responsibility of RadioShack’s management to recognize and sought to satisfy the needs of its employees for the company to develop its overall competitive advantage.
According to Krietner-Kinicki (2003, p298) "people are motivated to behave in ways that produce desired combinations of expected outcomes", this statement establishes the Expectancy Theory of Motivation. Vroom’s theory on the other hand holds that motivation is a result of one’s perception of attaining treasured or ideal desired outcomes. This model elaborates that worker input and output on the job are determined by their desired achievement (Krietner-Kinicki, 2003, p191), this is such a vital relationship of performance and satisfaction of work that any given management of a company must consider. RadioShack’s management should therefore opt to apply such theories of motivation to compel performance of employees in a strategic manner. Emphasis should be placed on influencing employee behavior by meeting their needs specified above by establishment or a strong and reliable reward system. Additionally, it is important for the company to implement mechanisms of recognizing employees’ efforts as well as conducting sufficient training and evaluation. This should be approached with the consideration that a good number of online sources of information list RadioShack among the worst companies to work in.
Background
RadioShack operates more than 7,000 retail outlets in and out of the United States where it has been in operation since 1960, when Charles Tandy founded it. Its headquarters is in Fort Worth, Texas and its main business involves distribution of electronics and accessories including telecommunication gadgets and audiovisual equipments among others. The company has over 40,000 workers and has faced many management problems over the past decade. These include financial challenges, disruption of its top leadership, poor communication and discontented employees (RadioShackcatalogs.com, 2014, p1).
RadioShack’s challenges stand to threaten and or undermine its overall organizational performance. The company’s organizational structure and culture provides limited opportunities for worker growth and development. This is largely responsible for poor employee retention. As such, RadioShack ought’s to refurbish its human resource management system. It is also understood that employee training goes hand in hand with motivation, which involves the establishment of a reward system (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001, p28).
An in-depth look at this management problem indicates that it will be much difficult for RadioShack to achieve competitive advantage if and or when its employees remain unmotivated and the management is left with no choice but to implement and adapt ideal motivation strategies. The company should hence aim to establish itself as an attractive employer in the first place, in terms of developing and retaining an enthusiastic and energized workforce. It should be established for this reason strategies for creating desired job satisfaction as an organizational objective per se. this is specifically important since according to Moynihan (2008, p3) less and less of American workers are satisfied at their workplaces and jobs, compared with the past few years. In fact, only one in four American employees recorded being satisfied with their work and workplaces (Gensler Company, 2013, p3). RadioShack’s goals and objective should involve increasing and maintaining job satisfaction to desired levels to facilitate employee motivation and ultimately performance.
Problems and Opportunities
A SWOT analysis can help elaborate the internal and external business environment factors of strengths and weaknesses of RadioShack. It remains an important aspect for the company to thrive in ‘Consumer Small Components’ market for such a long time. Even before venturing into the electronics business, RadioShack successfully engaged in other ventures like leather trading. As such, the company has managed to create a solid foundation within its market environment that heavily relies on reliability and customer satisfaction. This has contributed in the creation of a strong company image over the years.
All the same, the company bears significant weaknesses in terms of limited training and development mechanisms for its workers. The ideas of performance management as well as other aspects that involve employee welfare have remained unexploited at RadioShack. RadioShack must hence focus on implementing strategic programs to boost the working capacity of its human resources. In addition, it must be established that the company’s management is wholly responsible for developing and maintaining an ideal work environment that taps employee potential to the fullest. Otherwise, the company’s risks increasing employee dissatisfaction, which is very costly in the long term. This dissatisfaction manifests into poor job performance in addition to the alienation of organizational goals and objectives by the workers. It must also be remembered that employees form the most valuable resource of an organization and so the company should take into serious consideration not only matters of training and development but also interpersonal relations, communication, experience, intelligence and insight, attributes with potential of adding to the company’s economic value (Noe, et al. 2004, p208). RadioShack faces risks having deficiency of capable full plenitude workers. This will in turn lead to an abject and hopeless situation of negative economic performance of the company as a whole. It is no secret that RadioShack requires employees of certain qualities and talents in addition to standard training and or experience for the realization of significant success. This idea is backed by the fact that in today’s business environment, employees are not an easily replaced resource, as other factors of production, hence the need for a stable employee retention program by the company (Noe, et al. 2004, p50).
Perceived Problem
New employees at RadioShack receive basic three-week training before starting work. This management problem intervention can be categorized as insufficient employee personal and career development (at both company and individual levels): performance feedback to employees, reward and compensation and training has been apparently disregarded in this scenario. These have to be incorporated into the company’s management functions of direction, organizing and staffing. Correct staffing mechanisms will further enhance employee motivation and retention (Kreitner-Kinicki, 2003, p239). It must be understood however, that career development as an aspect of motivation is a constant and enduring process that enhances worker capability throughout their working lives and into higher levels in their respective careers. It therefore represents a fundamental undertaking for any given organization that aims to get its workers motivated. Human Resource consultants could be hired by RadioShack to provide possible solutions and courses of action to mitigate the problem of employee dissatisfaction at RadioShack with an expert approach.
Literature Review
For purposes of maintaining a motivated workforce, Organizations should come up with competitive pay polices for workers as part of a grand compensation plan. An indomitably performing company should match and or go ahead of market pay rates for specific job classes (Employee Job Satisfaction, 2009, p8). Currently, most workers of RadioShack view their pay or remuneration rates as being somewhat below the market standards. This is a crucial indicator for the company’s management that must not be disregarded. Instead, the company’s management should take up the responsibility of analyzing prevailing market and industry pay rates for similar job positions as those in the company. Furthermore, decision-making needs to be done regarding the pricing of specific jobs or classes of jobs within the organization. It is hence vital to offer employees a just, equitable and reasonable pay structure that matches their job requirements (Dougherty & Dreher, 2001, p27). It should also be considered that having a better-quality pay structure would make the organization to attract performing workers enhancing consistent performance and competitive advantage relative to other employers. All the same, this should be achieved in contemplation of the company aiming to reinforce general worker behavior with regular incentives that include fringe benefits and bonuses on top of normal compensation packages. Such benefits and incentives should be given in a flexible manner as per arising circumstances. However, this has to follow a systematic process approach especially since the workforce of RadioShack is highly diverse and so bears a wide range of preferences for the stated benefits and or rewards.
For terms that are more satisfactory, it is crucial for realization of harmony or cooperation between management and labor (employees) hence enabling workers to participate in active decision-making, this ideology is termed as ‘labor management cooperation’. This aspect can also be realized through creation of self-managing groups of employees that are sufficiently empowered to solve problems arising between the management of the company and the workers as well as engaging in dissemination of information. Having such largely defined positions within the firm will further motivate the workers as it will make them feel more valued and or recognized in addition to the training opportunities created therein (Noe, et al. 2003, p407). By so doing, the management will be obliged to evaluate the company’s overall performance in terms of customer satisfaction and return on investment as an indicator of employee input. Furthermore, it will be vital to undertake an employee satisfaction survey on a regular basis. This would be best conducted at departmental levels considering the varying needs of the diversified workforce.
However, it is also observable that another source of poor job performance on the part of workers is the existence of conflicting objectives among the different departments of the company. It is evident that the different heads of departments exhibit concern for the goals of their respective departments as opposed to the overall goals of the organization. This creates a gap in the larger structure of the firm. This represents an ineffective organizational culture that bears an adverse effect on employee commitment to the realization of the company’s goals ...