Case Study: How to Approach Employee Problems

Case Study:

HOW TO APPROACH EMPLOYEE PROBLEMS

Jane Hoffler is a first-line supervisor on the assembly line for BMX, a tire
manufacturer. The section that Jane supervises is responsible for painting the strips on the
tires and attaching other emblems that appear on them. She supervises twelve employees.
During the year that Jane has supervised the painting section, she has had few
problems. She was promoted from assemble painter to first-line supervisor. She knew the
job and the people with whom she worked. Her workers respected her and worked hard
for her. Her first nine months were good ones, but several of her employees later obtained
better jobs in other departments. During a period of three months, six employees left the
section and new ones were hired.
This turnover created some problems for Jane. She had no difficulty
supervising her friends, who were good workers. However, the new employees did not
immediately respond to Jane, and she was not sure how to handle them.
After the three-month period, the tires from Jane’s section began being
rejected by the quality-control inspectors because of sloppy painting. Furthermore,
several of the new employees began to be absent from periodically, creating problems in
production and quality control. Jane’s employees were starting to grumble, and her
supervisors were unhappy with her section’s current performance.

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Questions:

1. Explain how Jane might approach the problem by applying the Classical Theory of
management.
2. Explain how Jane might approach the problem by adopting the Behavioral Theory of
Management.
3. Explain how Jane might approach the problem by adopting Modern Management
Theory.
4. Which approach do you favor? Why?

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 Case Study: How to Approach Employee Problems

Question # 1:

Explain how Jane might approache the problem by applying the Classical Theory of
management.

Answer:

Jane, if managing under Classical Management School of Thought, should first and
foremost focus on the specialization of tasks. She should select workers scientifically
based on their qualifications to perform their jobs in the most optimal manner. Jane
should standardize work for her employees, simplify the painting and emblem processes,
and keep an eye on them to avoid any unnecessary motions so as to increase efficiency
and use the minimum amount of time and produce maximum output. She should carefully
select workers for each task like painting, applying emblems etc according to their
knowledge, skills and abilities. She should train each and every member of staff for a
specific task developing rules of motion. She should exclusively work as a manager
acting as an upper hand. Jane should make sure that things are going according to plan
and if she sees any deviations, necessary/corrective measures should be taken
immediately. She should have a highly professional outlook and an attitude free from any
favoritism and nepotism. Compensation and wages should be planned according to
performance and without any personal motive. She should be completely involved in
production, maintenance and effectiveness. Her main focus should be to keep managerial
principles and work methods optimal, competent and wide apart from each other. She
should be aware of the decisions made while recruiting, so that she gets to know the skills
of the employees and match tasks in accordance. Job assignments and promotions should
be completely impersonal in order to forte ability and merit. All efforts should be made to
establish genuine cooperation between workers and management based on mutual self-
interest. Jane should take up complete responsibility for planning, organizing,
coordinating and controlling the work activities and eventually the workers should be
instructed properly to implement the plans made. Moreover, her job is to help people in
the organization and achieve an integration of interests. She should develop skills in
implementation and a good sense of timing to ensure success and avoid labor unrest.

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Question # 2:

Explain how Jane might approach the problem by adopting the Behavioral Theory of
Management.

Answer:

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 Case Study: How to Approach Employee Problems

If Jane follows the Behavioral School Management, first things first, she needs to take
intense care of the needs of employees. She needs to be a rigorous supervisor and a
vigorous overseer so as to ensure that all the workers do not get distracted and if they do
she should be able to get them back on track through motivating them and supporting
them. Jane should ensure that each and every employee is well taken care of; appropriate
rest hours should be allotted to every single employee so that they don’t get over-
stressed, over-burdened and traumatized. She should combine motivation of her
workforce with resources and capabilities. She should foster collaborative systems
between the laborers and her. Jane should pay special attention on the satisfaction of the
needs of the employees. Every individual should be given the confidence and provision
of physiological and social satisfaction, safety, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Jane
should pay a lot of heed to the satisfaction of the needs of her employees. She should
make sure that every employee is given his/her salary and remuneration on the
appropriate time. Provision of proper food, rest and encouragement should be made sure
so that the employees aren’t hesitant to give their best. She should endow her workforce
with safety, proper care in case of injuries, and security of all sorts. Jane should
appreciate, regard, recognize and acknowledge them on every step in case of superior
performance. She should be cognizant of the work that they do. Such motivation
encourages the employees to work harder. Individual attention would ensure a sense of
belonging and they would establish an easy to go and comfortable working environment.
Jane should realize that for individual satisfaction and for organizational efficiency, it is
necessary to discover how people perceive their jobs in terms of need satisfaction. Jane
should, make sue that that every individual working under her, is contended with his/her
job and work on efforts to develop self-fulfillment derived from the individuals’ working
position. Social needs of an individual, group processes and subordinate-superior
relationships should be an integral component in her practice of management. Lastly,
workers who tend to be a little lazy and sluggish should be given a drive, a forceful push
so that output is maximized through efficient input. Therefore, in short, participative
decision making, task variety and giving responsibility to low-level employees should
serve the purpose.

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Question # 3:

Explain how Jane might approach the problem by adopting Modern Management Theory.

Answer:

If Jane were to follow the Modern School of Management Thought, at the outset, she
needs to look beyond the organization’s boundaries and should be able to scan the forces
and conditions in the external environment. She should carefully examine the
environment and select the best raw material for the painting of her tires and application
of emblems or insignias. Jane should act as a boundary linking pin among the various
subsystems within the organizational system. She should be in constant communication

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with the managers of other departments, and pick up the information that she needs for
her workers to perform better, she should realize that all individuals are different and
hence require different managerial strategies. She should give the confidence of long
term employment to her workforce, so that they aren’t hesitant to give their best. Jane
should develop a constant purpose for continual improvement of her job and those
working under her. Building quality along with appropriate price input should be Jane’s
goal. Moreover, she should institute modern methods of training, adopt and institute
leadership aimed at helping people do a better job, drive out of fear, encourage effective
two-way communication, breakdown barriers between different departments, lease
independence on mass inspection, builds quality side by side with price exhortations for
the workforce. Elimination of quota and numerical targets, appraisals and encouragement
of further learning and skill development would make the grade for Jane.

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Question # 4:

Which approach do you favor? Why?

Answer:

Out of all three approaches, the Modern Management Style can be considered the most
appropriate, because it has eliminated all the deficiencies in the Classical and Humanistic
Management Style. First things first, under the Modern Management Style Jane won’t
ignore the most important factor affecting productivity which is the external environment.
She would analyze her environment, take all the good from it that she can get and then
use that information to achieve organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Secondly, she
wouldn’t be secluded from other departments in her organization. Since, she would be in
a constant interaction with the rest of the departments; the end result would be a coherent
achievement resulting in organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Let’s say Jane has
the most skillful workers and an extraordinary managing potential in her, but what good
would it be her if they don’t synchronize. In addition to this, under this management
style, there would be a little flexibility for the workers, their needs will be satisfied but at
the same time, there would not be a chaotic environment and the atmosphere would be
conflict free. Each employee would be given the opportunity to speak for themselves but
there would be an explicit control over them which would result in decreasing monotony
and at the same time organizational goals will be achieved. Long-term employment
would give the employees an incentive to work harder and team-work would reduce
stress. Once a team decides on a course of action, there would be full commitment to that
action and all the members would work towards achieving that goal but in case of any
wrong done on part of an employee, only that particular person would be held responsible
and not the whole team which would result in a fair and queer judgment leaving no
employee dissatisfied.

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Consequently, summing up we can say that Modern approach is the most favorable
Management Style because it is a perfect blend of the Autocratic Style of Management
and a completely Democratic Style of Management.

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