Management Case Study Essay

The case study below takes place at the Sir Charles Wilberforce Hospitals cafeteria, which is experiencing problems with the interchange management. Due to the new management undertaken by Keith Davis, on that point was a major issue of inadequate communication channels, as Keith told his employees what to do rather than consult them, peculiarly with the decision-making. The best selection to rectify this problem is for Keith to adapt to a consultative management style, in order for employees to take ownership in their body of work weare imparting their opinions and aroma more valued, however still suspending Keith to still make the final decision.Another major issue speech communicationed in the Cafeteria was the amount of unmotivated module. As employees feel unsatisfied with their work, the best solution to this issue is last rearting. Through employees shot strategic goals they forget increment their motivation through achievement of these goals which result lea d them to set more challenging ones. Lastly, the third major issue recognised was Keiths short leadership skills which made it ambitious for employees to fulfil expectations and become enjoyment in the workplace.The best alternative solution for this problem is to retrain Keiths leadership abilities so he is able to adopt all the qualities compulsory to become a better leader in his managing role. Although this whitethorn be an expensive method, the new leadership qualities Keith will learn will make a happier work environment for his employees and build a better employer/employee relationship. 3. Problem identification Poor communication channelsKeith focuses on top down communication channels, providing a one way communication which is from him to his employees, rather than two-way which endures his employees to communicate ideas with him. This negatively impacts the hospital as the Keith is unable to discuss problems or ask questions amongst employees to see if there atomi c number 18 any problems going on amongst the workers and therefore leading to job dissatisfaction employees. Although Keith tried to soothe Julia when the issue between her and Madison was brought to his attention, he did not fall out it up or treat it as an importance.Lack of staff motivation Prior to Keiths managing, Annes original foundations of self-satisfaction and close family ties seemed to motivate the employees at Sir Charles Wilberforce hospital. Keiths changes were made to become more efficient, employees were left struggling to agnize satisfaction and motivation in order for themselves to achieve their hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1954). In this hierarchy of needs Maslow developed, employees have five needs, physiological, safety, social, wish, and self-actualisation, once they fulfil one of their needs they can graduate to the next one to fulfil it and so on.Without fulfilling the social needs of forming social ties or self-actualisation of gaining enough experience at bottom the kitchen to become a supervisor, it became unknown to the employees of what they are capable of and decreased their enticements to complete tasks and feel satisfied. meager leadership abilities Keith lacks major leadership qualities, as the organisational layout he uses is to tell employees what to do, depriving them of guidance and support. The Hersey Situations leadership model suggests that leadership focuses on followers readiness (Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson, 2001).This theory suggests that at Sir Charles Wilberforce, if the employees feel they are unable to complete a task Keith should pull in those clear and specific instructions. If they are willing and confident Keith needs to provide them display high task orientation, and if employees feel able but are unwilling Keith would need to use a supportive approach. Lack of teamwork The teamwork environment of depute tasks amongst of employees was not addressed by Keith. He believed that employees needed to fin ish work on duration, plan menus monthly and take on cleaning responsibilities, whereas, theuse of team work would have provided a better suited magazine managed system. Through having each employee assist with cleaning duties, intend menus, helping out another if time was short as well as assisting each other to get all food out and made the kitchen would be less chaotic. This would have aided with issues if someone was ill, allowing more than one person to prepare greater portions of meals. 4. Statement of Major Problems The three major problems that are brought to the attention at Sir Charles Wilberforce Hospital are Inadequate communication channels Unmotivated staffInsufficient leadership abilities The poor communication channel Keith utilises is top-down communication from Keith to his employees. As this is a workplace that depends on seeking ideas from others and support from each other, two way communications between Keith and his employees is necessary. This will allow e mployees to feel part of the decision making and feel they can share their ideas to repair the workplace. Following this Keith must then alter his leadership skills, putting his employees first and assisting them with any help and support they need in order to achieve a positive workplace.This may involve Keith revising the organisations culture, or distinguishing the strength and weakness of each employee so he knows how to assist each of them. Once Keiths leadership abilities are improved, staff motivation must be identified and given, in order for employees to become plenteous within the kitchen and gain job satisfaction, increasing their abilities and allowing them to feel the want to work. 5. Generation and Evaluation of Alternative Solutions Inadequate communication channels Regular work meetingsSet regular meetings within the kitchen, in order to concerns amongst employees to be discussed as we as evaluation on how the business is going and openly discuss ways to improve o r maintain it. Advantages Allows for feedback Employees can listen to each persons idea and encourages discussion openly Evaluate the earnings to the previous week and that time the previous year, allowing each person to suggest ways to improve or maintain their profit margins. Disadvantages Some employees may not attendMay be time consuming to discuss all ideas Consultative management style Implement a Consultative management style in order to increase two-way and open communication between Keith and the employees. Advantages Allows employees to feel ownership in decision making Allows employees to share their ideas and opinions Gives confidence to employees Disadvantages Employees may feel held back to express their opinions because they do not feel comfortable Employees may feel offended if their ideas are not taken into consideration Time consumingUnmotivated staff Goal setting Implement setting goals, which involve employees setting goals that motivate them to improve their cap abilities. Advantages Gives self-satisfaction Increases productivity and causeance levels Disadvantages Time consuming to distinguish allot and achievable goals Goals ay appear as unattainable and lead to employees to give up Job plan Mr Dev can alter the job design to assist in identifying and correcting any deficiencies that affect performance and motivation. AdvantagesJob enlargement, can be apply to increase motivation by giving employees more and varied tasks so the employee is motivation to try new tasks Job rotation allows an employee to work in different departments or jobs in an organization to gain better insight into trading operations motivating the employee to increase his/her skills and knowledge about other jobs. Disadvantages Job enrichment may lead the employee transferred too much responsibility in the kitchen and independence in the planning and control aspects of the job which may suppress motivation levels Reward and RecognitionEvaluating each employee to i dentify which people are performing to their maximum, and rewarding them financially or non-financially for their hard work, therefore motivating other employees to improve their work standards. Advantages Employees will increase performance to obtain more rewards Will produce higher standards amongst the employees Self- enrichment Disadvantages high-ticket(prenominal) to keep purchasing rewards and reassess each employee to recognise After a while employees may feel that rewards may not motivate them anymore Keith may not want to undertake the idea of rewarding and recognising employeesInsufficient leadership abilities Retrain Keith Retraining programs for Keith within the company or externally will allow Keith to develop better leadership qualities and create a happier workplace. Advantages Positively effects employees to feel avow and support from Keith Keith can evaluate themselves as to what skills are judge to lead the employees Disadvantages May take a while for Keith to l earn and adapt to these skills May be expensive Dismiss Keith Dismissing Keith will demolish the issue of poor leadership abilities and will allow the business to replace him with a more experienced manager.Advantages Re-appoint a new manager who possess all correct leadership skills Employees are in a happier environment where they can get the support they need More time appropriate and efficient than retraining Disadvantages May be hard to find a replacement Employees may find it hard to adapt to a new manager and may be resistant to give them a chance due to their bad experience with Keith 6. Recommendation Consultative management style A Consultative management style is the recommended alternative for Keith to address to his employees.The type of management style used by Keith at this point is autocratic, which involves him making decisions for the hospital kitchen unilaterally. Although regular meetings are a good alternative by providing mediation and assistant towards employe es, the consultative management style involves a permanent change to the organisation. The consultative style would involve Keith discussing ideas of possible changes to be made within the kitchen, as well as employees being able to give their opinions and ideas.By implementing a consultative management style, employees at the cafeteria will be able to perform to their optimum level, concentrating on increasing common sense approach for Keith to meet the needs and wants of the employees, as well as making employees realise their own abilities and capabilities in performing tasks, (McClelland, 1987). Similarly to regular meetings, the consultative approach gives open communication, however unlike meetings the consultative approach is more permanent in the workplace and is used daily, for example in decision making, gaining assistance with a task or getting support with a concern.This will benefit the kitchen, as the employees will move more positively to any changes to feel more a p art of the workplace and a sense of belonging. Keith will benefit from this style, as he will be given a broader range of ideas as well as maintain his authority to make the final decision. Goal Setting Setting goals is the favored alternative for Keith to use within the kitchen. Despite the fact being rewarded motivates someone to maintain if not improve performance to be rewarded again, goal setting gives motivation. Goal setting enables employees to measure their processes and work performance.This enables employees to gain feedback on their results, unlike rewards and recognition which just motivates employees to try harder to gain another reward rather than possessing the want to gain the self-satisfaction that they have improved. Edward Lockes theory of goal setting outlines that in setting specific and challenging goals it enables process and outcome improvement (Locke Latham, 1990). Similarly, job design suggests a different form of motivating to increase their skills of d ifferent tasks, however it to a fault does hold the ability to measure the improvement that setting goals do.If goal setting is adapted by Keith, his employees would be able to achieve towards a higher performance, as well as motivating them to set higher goals with increasingly difficult tasks, once they have been achieved. Through Maslows hierarchy of needs, this can assist in setting goals with Locke and Lathams theory. Maslow theory suggests that although no need is every to the full satisfied, a substantially satisfied need no longer motivates an individual to satisfy that need (Robbins, Bergmann, Stagg and Coulter, 2012, p559).This suggests that in identifying each need, physiological safety social esteem and self-actualisation, employees at sir Charles Wilberforce can pinpoint what tasks they need to complete in order to graduate to the next level. For example one of the employees may find that they feel they dont belong, in order to achieve this level they can set a goal to form relations with other employees on a lord basis. Once this goal is achieved they can move on to develop their esteem needs. Retraining KeithAlthough, retraining Keith may be considered a time consuming process, compared to the alternative of dismissing Keith, it appears to be a more logical approach. Through retraining, Keith is able to gain leadership skills that he may not be aware are essential skills he needs in order to be a manager. This will transform him from telling his employees what to do, to instead assisting and guiding them through changes. Despite the expenses of this method, it may also be difficult for Keith to cooperate as well as understand the concept of these skills however unlike dismissing, he will be able to improve and allow for a happier work.The trait theory suggests that it is impossible to identify and isolate characteristics from leaders from non-leaders. However there are seven traits associated with leadership, these being drive, the desire to l ead, ingenuousness and integrity, self-confidence, intelligence, job-relevant knowledge and extraversion, (Robbins, 2012, p605). Eventually with the retraining, Keith may possess these seven leadership abilities to involve his employees in decision making process and form a trust bond.