Impact Of Job Demands And Resources On Employee Efficiency

Key Indicators of Employee Efficiency

Thrive consultancy is a consultancy company which offers services in three main areas namely; Human Resource consulting, Strategic planning, and Advertising/Marketing consulting. The company has been in operation for the last fifteen years and employs about 50 staff. The company advises other companies on human resource consulting practices like HR solutions, policy renewal and development, KPI development, training, career and leadership development, employee relations and communications. They also offer strategic planning workshops to help companies adapt to changes in globalisation, technology, and markets. Lastly, they offer advertising/marketing consultancy regarding how a company is perceived by clients, branding, marketing, advertising, and social media presence.  

The company is however undergoing a turbulent period due to workers morale and performance being very low. This results in a lot of staff absences. It was suspected that this is due to the policy change and funding cuts in the company. This research was conducted to establish whether this is indeed the case. This report therefore sets out to outline the finding s of the research.

Job demand-resources model is an occupational stress model which tries to establish the impact of the work requirement in relation to the available resources on employee efficiency (Huang, Wang, & You, 2016) (Bakker & Arnold, 2016). The model establishes several key indicators of employee efficiency in relation to the conditions at work. Some of them are as discussed below.

Availability of adequate job resources greatly impacts employee motivation in situations of high job demands. This is because people are often motivated to acquire, keep and take care of their resources whenever they have them ( Schaufeli, Bakker, & Van Rhenen, 2009). In addition, adequate and efficient resources ensure that tasks can be easily performed to near perfection even in high pressure situations. This will have an effect of compelling the employees to deliver no matter how arduous the task is as all the conditions are right (Bakker, Van Veldhoven, & Xanthopoulou, 2010). Therefore, for an organization to get the best out of their employees in all situations whatsoever, it is of importance to ensure that all the necessary resources are availed.

It is important to conduct wide employee consultation in tandem with communication of impending policy changes within the organization before implementing them as this greatly influences the motivation of employees as well as how they respond to the said changes. Consultation gives employees the chance to participate in the decision process by actually helping to come up with the best mode of operation for the company which suits all the employees in place (Easton, Heidewald, Morrone, Neher, & Steiner-Williams). This ensures all the employees pull together in the realization of the company’s goals once the decision is made which greatly aides the company’s efficiency as well as growth. On the other hand, top down communication will make some employees feel unwanted by the company as some of the decisions made might interfere with some aspects of their personal life as well as their well being within the company. This will in turn lead to demotivation which directly results in drop in performance ( Newman & Scott , 2013). Some may as well fail to seek audience whenever they have issues they want addressed by the management or suggestions on how to best improve the company as they may feel whatever they have will never be implemented or taken into consideration.

Importance of Employee Consultation and Communication

When employees are forced to make do with certain office arrangements that they are not necessarily comfortable with, they are likely to be demotivated and this can lead to  drop in performance. Employees have their preferences about how they want to handle their offices with minimal interference from the management or from anybody within the organization for that matter. As a result, forcing employees to adopt a particular arrangement can upset their morale and lead to under-performance. In particular adopting an open office arrangement for the company while there is an option of portioning may upset employees who prefer privacy in handling their tasks. The frequent disruptions that come with such open office layout can also demoralize employees who find it difficult to concentrate under such circumstances (Davis, Leach, & Clegg, 2011). Such occurrences may take toll on the employees’ health conditions as it leads them strain in order to deliver (Vinesh, 2009). Such employees are likely to spend a lot of time on sick leaves thus affecting the efficiency of the company in terms of performing its tasks as required without loading it onto other equally stressed and held up employees. Some may even consider quitting the company in the long or short run. It is therefore of importance consider the employees preferences when adopting an office layout.

Demanding employees to strictly adhere to a set of laid down procedures even if they do not like them and have aired their grievances on the same issue can affect the morale of the workers and subsequently their performance will go down. Employees like to be given a flexible work environment in which they can deliver their duties while still feeling an air of freedom (Gordon & Hartman, 2009). When they are forced to adhere to strict laid down rules like strictly no communication during working hours, it may come out to them as though they are being bullied by the company management and may decide to deliberately underperform as a way of punishing their bosses or passing a message of defiance to them. Some of them may want out of the company thus putting the skilled labor of the company in jeopardy. When the employees quit the organization, the company is likely to incur a lot of costs in recruitment and training of the next batch of employees who are likely to be disgruntled again thus making a vicious cycle of exodus from and trekking into the company.

Office Arrangements and Employee Morale

Qualitative analysis is exploratory analysis conducted with a view to understanding the underlying reasons for the occurrence or existence of a particular phenomenon by an expert. It gives an insight into the problem at hand and helps create ideas about how the problem can be best tackled ( Savin-Baden & Major, 2013).

The data for this research was collected through semi structured interview method. This is an interview method in which the research questions are asked in a manner which encourages the interviewee to speak on and thus reveal their real opinions about the topic of research. In addition, additional information can also be obtained through asking of extra support questions. The interview was conducted within the premises of the company in a quiet meeting room. The interview was in-depth and was conducted with five members of the company. Each interview session lasted approximately twenty minutes from which the data was noted down and analyzed for recurrent themes among the interviewees.

The research established several key concerns among the employees which resulted in the poor performance and low morale that is being witnessed in the company. One of the most recurrent concerns was the funding cuts resulting in coffee, tea biscuits and milk no longer being provided by the company. The lack of coffee in particular was a major cause of concerns as sizeable number of the employees were so used to it that they find it difficult to operate without the coffee. The issue got a mention from everyone interviewed. Even those who do not take coffee mentioned it. This is critical in explaining the low morale among the employees as it is clear that they are not happy of having to make do without the coffee. Some have even gone to the extent of buying coffee machines and using them in their offices. This underlines the importance of coffee in the day to day activity of the employees and why removing it has such far reaching effects.

The change in working hours is also another source of discontentment among the employees. They feel that no one cares about their personal life or the flexibility that they would have loved to have when it comes to work. Some of them have parental duties and feel like they could do with a bit more flexibility as regards working hours so that they can take care of their families.

Some employees also feel like they need more help from their supervisors and the HRs. Some say their supervisors are not helping them as much as they should while the human resource department takes too long to reply to emails.

Strict Adherence to Laid down Procedures

The office layout also comes out as issue in employee morale. Although only one employee from the so called “chickencoop” was interviewed and highlighted his frustrations, several others mentioned something about which implies a good chunk of the population working in the chickencoop is not happy.

Recurrent themes	Employees interviewed who spoke about the issue	Employees interviewed who are concerned	Employees interviewed who are indifferent	Employees interviewed who are concerned about fellow employees	Percentage of employees showing a form of concern
The funding cuts resulting in removal of coffee	All five	Three out of five	Two out of five	None	60%
Change in working hours	All five	Three out of five	One out of five	One out of five	80%
Competency of the Human resource department	Two out of five	Two out of five	Not applicable	Not applicable	40%
Partitioning of the chicken coop	Two out of five	One out of five	Not applicable	One out of five	40%

Conclusions

From the research data collected, it is evident that the struggle of the company is down to the changes that have been affected by the company that did not augur well with the majority of the employees. The following raft of recommendations may be considered in order to resolve the underlying issues and get the company up and running again.

You may consider allocating funds to cater for the resources availed to the employees to ensure they remain motivated. In particular, the research clearly reveals that the employees relied heavily on the office coffee and they have not taken its absence lightly. Therefore, the only way to address the situation is consult the employees and find a middle ground concerning the matter. As pointed out in the literature review, research work done elsewhere any slight interference with the resources available to employees will result in significant decline in output and might even take a toll on the health of the employees or affect their relationships with their families. It is therefore of importance to ensure that such eventualities are avoided at all costs because without such measures, the company will no longer be able to afford to keep unhealthy non- performing employees. The company will thereafter incur costs in retrenchment and hiring of new employees.

Concerning the change in working hours, you may consider holding a series of consultative meetings with the employees aimed at coming up with a most suitable policy for all the employees as it is clear that the previous policy did not augur well with the majority of them. Top-down communication like the previous policy change, even if very well intended, always tends to evoke a negative reaction from employees as they always feel left out in the decision process and that no one really cares.  It is therefore of great importance that you strive to involve as many of them as possible in the decision-making process. This will ensure that whenever a decision is taken, no one feels aggrieved even if they are not happy with the decision as it will represent the decision of the majority of them. This will ensure that the performance of the employees is not affected. Moreover, the employees will feel proud of being associated with the company which will further boost their morale thus ensuring that they always deliver.

You may also consider some remedies for those working in the chicken coop such as noise cancelling headphones to ensure that they do not get distracted from their jobs. The human resource department should also be encouraged to be swift in their duties by responding as and when they are needed.

With these recommendations implemented I am confident that the company will overcome its tough phase and have a group of motivated employees who are fired up to deliver in their line of duty.

References

Newman, A., & Scott , O. (2013). Business Communication: In Person, In Print, Online, 8e. 8th ed. 

Savin-Baden, M., & Major, C. (2013). Qualitative Research: The Essential Guide to Theory and Practice. 

Schaufeli, W. B., Bakker, A. B., & Van Rhenen, W. (2009). How changes in job demands and resources predict burnout, work engagement, and sickness absenteeism. Journal of Organizational Behavior.

Bakker, & Arnold. (2016). Job Demands–Resources Theory: Taking Stock and Looking Forward. Journal of occupational health psychology.

Bakker, A. B., Van Veldhoven, M., & Xanthopoulou, D. (2010). Beyond the Demand-Control model: Thriving on high job demands and resources. Journal of Personnel Psychology.

Davis, M. C., Leach, D. J., & Clegg, C. W. (2011). The Physical Environment of the Office: Contemporary and Emerging Issues. International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Easton, A., Heidewald, J., Morrone, M., Neher, D., & Steiner-Williams, J. (n.d.). Strategic Business Writing .

Gordon, J., & Hartman, R. L. (2009). Affinity-Seeking Strategies and Open Communication in Peer Workplace Relationships. Atlantic Journal of Communication.

Huang, J., Wang, Y., & You, X. (2016). The Job Demands-Resources Model and Job Burnout: The Mediating Role of Personal Resources. Current Psychology

Vinesh, O. (2009). Why your office could be making you sick. Asia-Pacific Journal of Health Management.