Question

Jack Nelson's Problem

As a new member of the Board of Directors for a local bank, Jack Nelson was being introduces to all the emplohees in the home office. When he was introduced to Ruth Johnsons, he was curious about her work and asked her what her machine did. Johnsons replied she did not know what the machine was called or what it did. she explained that she had been working there for only two months. She did however know precisely how to operate the machine. According to her Supervisor, she was an excellent employee. At one of the branch offices, the Supervisor in chare spoke to Nelson confidentially, telling him that 'something was wrong' but she didn't know what. For one thing, she explained, employee was too high and no sooner had one employee been put on the job than another one resigned. With customers to see and loans to be made, she explained, she had little time to work with the new employees as they came and went. All branch Supervisors hired their own employees without communication with the home office or other branches. When an opening developed, the Supervisor tried to find a suitable eimpoyee to rep;ace the worker who had to quit. After touring the 22 branches and finding similar problems in many of them, Nelson wondered what the home office should do or what the action he should take. The banking firm was generally regarded as a well-run institution that had grown from 27 to 191 employees during the past eight years. The more he thought about the matter, the more puzzled Nelson became. He coulen't quite put his finger on the problem, and he didn't know whether to report his findings to the president.

Question 1: What are the issues in this bank?

Question 2: What can Mr Nelson do to resolve the problem?

Question 3: Should he report the matter to the President?

Answer 1

1.

One of the most important problem the bank has is a decentralized recruitment process that causes more confusion because there is no control over people coming in and going out. The home office is never been informed about the employee recruitment.

Second problem is inadequate training facilities. It’s because the supervisor at the local branch do not have enough time to handle both the employee training and looking after the customers.

Finally, there is lack of communication between the local branches and the home office which further causes more confusion.

2.

Mr. Nelson can centralize the recruitment and training process thus saving the burden of the local supervisors. This would also help the new recruits role ready.

He could set-up a communication link to share important information to the local branches and set-up periodical review session with the branch supervisors.

He can develop a portal where people can request for additional training or the company itself can choose people from different branches in order to be trained on the new machines and processes.

3.

He should report to the president with his findings and suggestions in order put things into action because he is responsible for the entire operations although the supervisors are individually responsible. He shouldn’t wait for a magic to happen but get the help of the president in this matter as it needs the president’s approval for centralizing recruitment, training and reviews.