Effective management approaches have a special way of impacting outcomes within an organization. The organizational design as well as the established style of leadership offers the necessary guidelines which ensure the smooth flow of activities within a work place (Bray and Waring, 2009). A good management approach does not only enhance the organizational performance but also plays a crucial in creating an appropriate work environment in which the employees are motivated to engage more in team activities. This therefore implies that when the human resource fraternity is carefully handled and their needs met, their output and usefulness to the organization is equally enhanced (Campbell, 2002). Certain management approaches require the leaders to make drastic steps which may involve changes and transitions all aimed at face-lifting the quality of performance and delivery. While some of these changes are easily accepted and incorporated into the organized, some meet resistance due to the gravity of their introduction (Collings and Wood, 2009). However, as long as the change made within the leadership enhances organizational performance in one way or the other, their implementation is always a welcome idea. In this report, we highlight Wollongong, one of the yards of a top trucking company in the country. The report analyses some of the new management approaches introduced at the yard which went a long way in enhancing performance. Additionally, the report highlights some of the risks that would be associated with a change in the current effective leadership.
According to Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory which is also known as the two factors or dual factor theory, there are those factors within a work place which lead to job satisfaction. At the same time there are specific elements which when incorporated within a work place environment lead to job dissatisfaction (Dabsheck, 2000). It is therefore a crucial requirement for managers to put in place the right strategies which would go a long way in enhancing an appropriate work environment. In addition, the job characteristics model stipulates that the nature of a job and the environment in which it is executed has as special way of influencing outcomes within the organization (Daft and Armstrong, 2009). As a result, in addition to describing the job requirements, the managers need to present the responsibilities as easily achievable objectives hence giving the employees the confidence and self-belief.
Based on the case study, the immediate strategy installed by George and the new manager involved scraping out the otherwise stale culture which had been created by the former manager. The steps therefore involved drastic changes and transitions within the human resource department in addition to availing the required work resources. While the former manager was autocratic and relatively arrogant towards the work force, the new management team keenly observed the place of human resource on organizational performance. One of the new strategies introduced by the new team was a clear and effective communication strategy. The new manager believed in consultation as opposed to authoritative position of facts on the workers. The workers were adequately involved in crucial processes where their opinions were obtained and incorporated when decisions about key company police were made. The changes made at the yard therefore played a crucial role in improving communication which involved both horizontal and vertical strategies.
The theory of organizational behavior highlights the aspect that when the right attitude is developed among the workers within an organization, their reception towards new strategies is likely to be enhanced (Dattilio and Freeman, 2007). From the case study, we can deduce that the new manager was keen enough to have prior discussions with the truck drivers before introducing some of the new rules and policies. While the initial stages of the transition involved challenges and a bit of resistance from the workers, the new strategies soon took root within the yard as the workers eventually recognized their benefits and hence embracing them. In order to enhance the workers reception to the new changes, the trucks were repaired and better conditions restored for work. In addition, the drivers were given new work uniforms. Each of these changes proved crucial in changing the drivers’ attitudes towards their responsibilities. For instance, the case study reveals that the changes caused the drivers to feel more importance and accepted as they no longer felt treated like children.
Furthermore, the new manager introduced new measure within the work place which greatly improved the occupational health and safety of the workers. The drivers were also subjected to further training and exposure in order to sharpen their skills in line with the work responsibilities. According to the motivation theory, the level of output and engagement by an employee is largely dependent on the level to which this individual is motivated (Glisson, 2008). The changes made by the new management team were crucial in uplifting the motivational levels among the workers. The fact that they felt more involved in the organization’s operations was an indication of improvement in motivation. The changes adequately complemented each other by enhancing the achievement of the collective objective. In the initial moments, the management strategies paid the least attention to the welfare of the workers. The trucks were in poor conditions while the employees operated under no recognizable reward scheme. The changes involved overhauling the current fleet. This did not only improve the condition of the work place environment but also improve the quality of the service delivery. This therefore indicates that the changes were not targeted at achieving a stable human resource fraternity but a holistic organization competent in each phase of service delivery. In addition to enhancing motivation among the workers, the changes greatly improved performance within the organization (Hinings, 2013). This could be explained by the number of individuals and teams that visited the company for consultation and benchmarking. The drastic changes in performance also attracted the attention of the head office and the other yards which also sought to learn more about the operations at Wollongong. The positive impacts of the new management approaches implemented by the company’s leadership indicate that when the changes are constructive, they are always accompanied by benefits. It is therefore important to analyze the effectiveness of the leadership strategies before introducing them within an organization (Trevisani, 2016). This step ensures a smooth transition especially when the workers get to easily embrace the associated transformations.
The risks involved with transition within an organization maybe be numerous but these could be adequately contained if the right foundations are laid (Lewin, 2006). The most basic approach ought to involve establishing a stable organizational culture and structure. Through this strategy, any new member coming into the human resource fraternity gets easily initiated into the company’s policies. This would be possible if the company’s rules, regulations, work ethics, objectives, mission as well as the vision of organization are clearly stated and availed to each of the organizational members.
The new management spearheaded by George and the new manager at the yard brought about tremendous improvements in a number of aspects within the yard. With a motivated team of workers and better work conditions, the performance within the organization greatly improved. However, there is an eminent problem that would definitely arise if at all the two top leaders were removed from the yard. The new manager came with new approaches to leadership. This involved a careful way of communicating ideas and objectives not only the other leaders but to the workers as well. This style of leadership could basically be associated with the new manager’s personality.
According to the big five personality traits model, the output of an individual at a work place largely depends on their personalities (Lingham and Rezania, 2006). The new manager together with George exhibited a lot of agreeableness in addition to openness to experience, innovation, creativity and new ideas. In addition, the leaders’ personal desire for excellence could be considered as the perfect drive which caused the establishment of all recorded changes. With regards to this stipulation, removing the new manager and George at the helm of the leadership structure could be met with a slump in the organizational performance and motivational levels at the yard. This may be made worse if the new team of leaders possess poor work personalities and lack the personal drive exhibited by the former leaders. Consequently, sustaining these changes would be quite a challenge for the yard especially if the transition in leadership occurs without a stable organizational structure already in place. Sustaining the changes may also be costly and time consumption in case no appropriate strategies are installed by the new leaders. It would therefore be appropriate to stay flexible with the leadership approaches (Ostroff, 2009). For instance, the new leaders may choose to improve on the changes instead of struggling to sustain them. This is because personalities vary from one individual to another hence people have varied ways of achieving objectives. In order to keep the focus on the yard’s goals, the management styles ought to be varied as long as they don’t conflict the organizational desire of good performance.
As noted by Peetz (2006), one of the major functions of the blue collar transport unions or any other worker union is to ensure that the rights of the employees are always preserved and handled accordingly. In addition to an appropriate work environment, the employees equally ought to be subjected to acceptable salary packages. These strategies do not only enhance worker participation but also improve the level of motivation within an organization.
With reference to the case study, the changes instituted at the yard were not only targeted at enhancing the working environment for the drivers but also having a direct impact on their lives. For instance the observation of the health and safety standards was an approach which was meant to solely impact the workers. The outcome of these ideas became evident when the yard began to experience an upward trend in performance and nationwide reception. Consequently, we could deduce that the work place changes were effective and adequately took care of the workers’ personal needs. Going by the effectiveness of changes, the tough blue collar transport unions are likely to embrace such changes in their strategies (Posey, 2012). The transport unions are always keen to ensure that the drivers’ safety is always upheld. In comparison, the changes introduced by the new manager largely addressed the workers’ health and safety needs. As a result, the blue collar transport unions are likely to embrace such work place changes. In order to know the effectiveness of such approaches, the workers’ feedbacks can be derived and analyzed through specific data collection procedures. A positive review implies an effective strategy while an otherwise review indicates a bad strategy which may need appropriate adjustments.
Conclusion
Effective human resource management calls for the establishment of specific strategies. An organization’s leadership is therefore tasked with the mandate to enhance an effective work environment. In order to achieve this, it is important to note the areas that hinder effective organizational performance and hence effect the necessary changes. The case study offers a perfect picture of the influence of work place transformation on the performance of an organization. Such strategies involve creating a healthy and safe work environment and making sure that the resources available for use are always in perfect condition. Additionally, the approaches ought to enhance worker engagement through motivation which can be achieved through training, good salary packages as well as the use of stable reward schemes.
References
Bray, M. and Waring, P. (2009) Employment Relations: Theory and Practise. Sydney: McGraw Hill
Campbell, J. (2002) ‘Personnel training and development’. Annual Review of Psychology, 22(1), pp. 565–602.
Collings, D. and Wood, G. (2009) Human resource management. London: Routledge.
Dabsheck, B. (2000) ‘The Australian Waterfront Dispute and theories of the state’.Journal of Industrial Relations, 42(1), pp. 497-516.
Daft, R. and Armstrong, G. (2009) Organization Theory and Design. Toronto: Nelson.
Dattilio, F. and Freeman, A. (2007) Cognitive-Behavioral Strategies in Crisis Intervention. New York: The Guilford Press Glisson, M. (2008) ‘Productivity and Efficiency in Human Service Organizations as related to Structure, size and Age’. The Academy of Management Journal, 23(1), pp. 21–37.
Hinings, C. (2013) ‘Returning to the Frontier of Contingency Theory of Organizational and Institutional Designs’. The Academy of Management Annals, 7(1), pp. 393–440.
Lewin, M. (2006) ‘Determining Organizational Effectiveness – another look, and an agenda for research’. Management Science, 32 (5), pp. 514 –538.
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Ostroff, S. (2009) ‘Configurations of Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency’. The Academy of Management Journal, 36(6), pp. 1345—1361.
Peetz, D. (2006). Brave New Workplace: How Individual Contracts are changing our Jobs. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Posey, R. (2012) ‘Modern Organization Theory’. Administrative Science Quarterly. 5 (4), pp. 609–611.
Trevisani, D. (2016) ‘Communication for Leadership: Coaching Leadership Skills’. Medialab Research, 34(1), pp. 23-34.
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