Question

Chapter 10

You are a supervisor in Macklin Corporation, a manufacturer of carpentry tools that is located in Los Angeles. During a recent staff meeting, employee motivation was a major topic of discussion. A number of the supervisors indicated that their subordinates don’t seem to be as highly motivated as they were a few years ago. As a result, work is not produced as quickly or with as much quality as was the case earlier. Some at the meeting indicated that this is a sign of the times-that is not the fault of Macklin. Others indicated that they believed the problem stemmed from the fact that salary increases have been lower the last several years than ever before, primary because the company is not as profitable as it was earlier. Others said that they believe the problem of employee motivation can be attributed to a lack of fringe benefits in Macklin, especially since an increasing number of companies in the Los Angeles area are being more generous with the benefits they offer. To correct the problem, several supervisors recommended that a consultant be brought in. Another recommendation was to have the personnel department do an in-house study to determine the source of the problem. A questionnaire could be developed that would respond to anonymously. While no decision were made at the meeting, the executive vice president for the input of each person who attended he wants input regarding your ideas about (1) the reasons why the employees are not as highly motivated as they were in the past and (2) whether the study should be conducted by a consultant or by the human resources department.

Do you believe that a consultant should be hired or do you believe the human resources department should conduct the study? Why

Eighth Edition

Administrative office Management

An introduction

Zane k. Quible

Answer 1

Any organization at the time when they faces challenges in managing their employees or find that their employees are getting hard time working and adjusting with the organization, organization start focusing on employees performance than causes of the result, If the results are bad they try motivational activities like team building activities and training and development programmes.

In this case the study or research according to me should be conducted by the human resource department because of the following reasons –

1. Study being conducted by the Human Resource team will save a huge amount of cost, any consultant that would be hired in order to conduct a research would definitely charge the organization in monetary terms, thus not outsourcing the study rather than giving the responsibility to Human Resource team will save resources of the organization.
2. Since the Human Resource is one of the important part of the organization and knows the working culture and the employees of their organization very well, it gives a first-hand to them in order to understand the motive and mission behind the research.
3. The human resource department will take care of the budget and will work with tightening their financial belts.
4. Any decision which require the attention of top level management will not be delayed as they give their first preference to HR department.
5. They will discuss the outcomes of any action plan with the organization as it will affect them also.
6. They believe in organizational vision and mission and works together to accomplish it.
7. They will not only highlight the problems but will give solutions to it.