Question

Special Checking Is Handed a Loss Sammy Benson supervised greater Downtown Bank's Special Check Sorting Unit, which processed odd-sized, foreign, and damaged checks. Once the checks were sent to his unit, they were manually interpreted, recorded, entered into the appropriate account transactions, and filed for return. Sammy supervised three check sorting clerks in his department. These jobs were staffed by relatively untrained, entry-level individuals who had just graduated from high school. During the summer, Greater Downtown Bank hired low-income, disadvantaged young people for various jobs throughout the company as part of its Community Upbeat campaign. To participate in this effort, representatives from the Human Resources Department visited selected high schools to interview students. Since the students were already prescreened by the school, the interviews were little more than "get-acquainted" discussions. Last summer, Sammy's unit supplied one of the jobs in this effort. Juanita Perez was hired in this context to work as a Special Checks clerk. She was scheduled to begin working in June after graduating from the local vocational high school, where she maintained a C average. This was her first full-time job. When Juanita reported to the bank for a brief induction program, she was scared. It was not only her first day on the job, but the first time she had ever been in the bank. Nevertheless, she kept up her courage and reported to the Human Resources Department as planned. After waiting in the lobby for a while, she was taken to a small meeting room where she and two other new hires were shown how to fill out and sign various forms and documents. Next, an administrative assistant read to the new hires a series of personnel policies about work schedules, breaks, overtime, pay secrecy, attendance, and benefits. She signed more forms, wondering what all this meant. As the meeting drew to a close, Sammy Benson arrived after receiving a call from Human Resources. He and Juanita were introduced for the first time. Sammy escorted Juanita back to the Human Resources Department, showing her the bank's various offices and other departments. He gave her a quick tour of his area, introducing her to the other clerks as he went. Sammy was careful not to interrupt their work, however, nor did he explain to Juanita what they were doing. It was obvious by the expressions on their faces that the employees were surprised to see her. After a quick tour and passing introductions, Sammy gave Juanita some basic instructions in her job. He gave Juanita the job of processing foreign checks. He felt this task was the easiest job to learn and do correctly. During her first day on the job, Sammy spent about 15 minutes showing her the procedure: inspect, record, enter, adjust, file. Since he had to prepare for a meeting later that day, that was all the time he could spend with her. By the end of the first week, Juanita seemed to be getting the hang of things: She came to work on time, stayed busy, and was fairly pleasant and easy to get along with. Sammy intended to spend as much time as possible with her during this period; however, because she seemed to catch on quickly and he was very busy, he saw her only occasionally over the next few weeks. Then, after about a month, Juanita called in sick one day. A replacement was brought in, and as she looked through Juanita's desk for a notepad, she found what appeared to be a large pile of unfiled checks. When Sammy looked through the pile, he found that there were, in fact, quite a few unprocessed checks, some of which dated from Juanita's first day on the job. As they were the more unusual kinds of checks the department handled, Sammy assumed that she apparently had not known how to process them. Unfortunately, the combined value of these checks totaled around $65,000. The bank had lost the "float" value on them, and Sammy knew that customer complaints would be coming in soon. Sammy expected Juanita to come back to work the following day, and he wondered if he should write up a warning notice for her immediately. (Source: Alan Clardy, Ph.D., Advantage Human Resources, HRD Press, 1994) Based on the case study, answer the following questions. 1 Why do you think the problem occurs? What probably cause the problem of Juanita's poor performance? Explain.

2 Sammy is considering issuing a formal written warning notice to Juanita upon her return.

a) Do you think this is an appropriate action to take? Why is it and why is it not? Discuss.

] b) How can Sammy be sure he is making the right decision either to issue or not issuing the warning notice? Propose two (2) possible ways that can guide Sammy in making effective decisions.

3 What could be done by Sammy to manage Juanita's poor performance problem? Suggest four (4) methods of how Sammy can provide Juanita with skills and knowledge to improve her performance. Provide suitable example to support your answer.

4 Managers have the most significant impact on employee performance. Based on this statement, how would Sammy align the performance of his staff with the organizational goals? Propose four (4) work practices that Sammy can apply which lead to both high individual and high organizational performance. Provide suitable example to support your answer.

Answer 1

ANS 1. THE PROBLEM OCCURRED BECAUSE SHE WAS NOT PROPERLY TOLD ABOUT THE WORK NEITHER SHE WAS TRAINED. ALSO, SAMMY WAS NOT ABLE TO GIVE TIME TO HER TO LOOK AFTER HER WORK AND TO PROVIDE SUGGESTIONS FROM TIME TO TIME.

ANS 2. NO, IT IS NOT THE RIGHT DECISION TO ISSUE A NOTICE BECAUSE SHE WAS NEITHER PROPERLY TRAINED NOR TOLD ABOUT THE WORK. AS IT WAS SAMMY'S RESPONSIBILITY ALSO TO KEEP AN EYE ON HER WORK BUT HE FAILED TO DO SO. SO, SHE IS NOT THE ONLY GUILTY ONE.

SAMMY CAN MAKE RIGHT DECISION BY ANALYSING HIMSELF THE WHOLE SITUATION FROM BEGINNING. ANOTHER THING HE CAN DO IS TALK TO JUANITA ABOUT THE ISSUE TO KNOW HER PROBLEMS SHE IS FACING AT WORK AND WEAKNESSES THAT LED TO THE PILEUP OF THE WORK. AFTER THIS SAMMY CAN TAKE CORRECT DECISION.

ANS 3. SAMMY CAN DO THE FOLLOWING TO IMPROVE HER SKILLS AND PERFORMANCE:

1. KNOW THE PROBLEMS: FIRST THING HE CAN DO IS TO KNOW THE EXACT REASONS FOR THE DEVIATIONS IN THE PERFORMANCE OF JUANITA. WHETHER THE PROBLEM IS PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL SO THAT HE CAN TAKE APPROPRIATE STEPS TO IMPROVE IT.
2. ANALYSING THE PROBLEM AND PROVIDE SOLUTIONS. FOR EXAMPLE: IF THE PROBLEM IS PERSONAL THEN PROVIDE HER OPTIONS TO WORK FROM HOME AND REDUCE HER STRESS AND BURDEN.
3. PROVIDE TRAINING: HE CAN TRAIN HER AGAIN ABOUT WORK SO THAT SHE IS NOT BURDENED WITH WORK AND CAN MANAGE HER WORK HERSELF. THE TRAINING CAN BE ON THE JOB BY HELPING HER WITH WORK OR OFF THE JOB THROUGH THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE.
4. BRAINSTORMING ACTIVITIES: SOME ACTIVITIES LIKE PROVIDING HER CASE STUDIES TO SOLVE CAN BE PROVIDED TO HER SO THAT SHE CAN APPLY THE KNOWLEDGE THAT SHE HAD LEARNT IN COLLEGE IN REAL SITUATIONS.

ANS 4. SAMMY CAN ALIGN BOTH ORGANISATIONAL GOALS AND THE PERFORMANCE OF STAFF BY THE FOLLOWING METHODS:

1. TEAM SPIRIT: KEEP THE SPIRIT OF THE TEAM UP BY ASSISTING THEM FROM TIME TO TIME AND MAKING THEM REALISE THAT THEY ARE A TEAM. REPLACE THE WORD 'I' WITH 'WE'.
2. MOTIVATION: THE MEMBERS OF THE COMPANY CAN BE MOTIVATED TOWARDS THEIR WORK. THE MOTIVATION CAN BE BOTH NEGATIVE BY PUNISHMENTS OR POSITIVE BY APPRECIATING THEIR PERFORMANCE EITHER BY INCREASING THEIR SALARIES OR PROVIDING THEM WITH OTHER BENEFITS.
3. TRAINING: EMPLOYEES SHOULD BE TRAINED FROM TIME TO TIME REGARDING THE UPDATION OF THE TECHNIQUES, METHODS AND THE TECHNOLOGY TO BE ADOPTED. THIS WILL HELP IN THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF BOTH INDIVIDUAL AS WELL AS ORGANISATION.
4. MONITORING RESULTS: RESULTS SHOULD BE MONITORED BY THE SENIORS FROM TIME TO TIME. INTERIM CHECKS SHOULD BE THERE SO THAT IF THERE IS ANY DEVIATIONS THAT CAN BE CORRECTED ON TIME SO THAT IT DO NOT AFFECT THE WHOLE PERFORMANCE.