Discuss about the Investigating Intercultural Communication Capstone.
The behavior and the work process of the employees in an organization help the company to perform well in the external market (Shields et al. 2015). The employees should be happy and contend while working in the organization. The junior employees and the senior employees should work together so that no problem crops up and act as a barrier in the smooth functioning of the business. Any issue within the workplace should be resolved at the earliest so that it does not pose further threat to the company (O’Rourke 2016). Not only the junior employees but also the senior employees should keep a check on the issues so that the issues do not create bigger problem that will; not only harms the business but might also tarnish the reputation of the company. Issues can crop from various fronts like employee engagement, communication among the employees, recruitment process or leadership styles.
One Stop is a retail chain that is operating in the market of Australia. It is a mid-level of organization with around 200 staffs working for the company. Recently, some issues related to the management of the employees have cropped up in One Stop. The report will look into vacuous issues that One Stop is facing currently. The report will then discuss the theories that could be applied in such situation to tackle the issues in the organization. Even though the theoeis may not be applied in the practical environment, yet it will provide a base for the solution in the organization. Based on the theories, certain strategies will be made in the organization. Finally, the strategies that could be implemented in the organization tackle the issues will be discussed. It is expected that the strategies will help One Stop to perform in a better manner by resolving the issues.
Different issues that have been identified in the One Stop are regarding the human resource management. In some instances, the employees are not happy with the organization and in some instances, the senior managers are at fault.
The first issue that has been found out in the marketing department. The marketing department is the face of the organization (Nahavandi 2016). They represent the organizations as well as bring business for the organizations (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee 2013). As a result, the senior manager of that department should be able to handle the employees so that they are able to perform their business well (Fairhurst and Connaughton 2014). However, the manager of the marketing department does not perform, as he should do in the company. The main problem of the manager was that the individual held the junior employees responsible for any issue in the department. At times, the new recruits were held responsible for doing any mistake. It might happen that the senior manager is not meeting the clients. It is the job of the junior employees to meet the clients and carry out the promotional activities (Tourish 2014). If the junior employees were not performing well, it would have been the job of the senior manger to look after their work (Renz 2016). If the senior manager holds the junior employees responsible for not doing the job without giving him any training, then it would not only result in under development of the employees but also the business of the organization will also reduce (Chemers 2014).
Carrying out non-verbal communication in the organization is not into practice in the departmental level of One Stop. When the CEO of the company or the directors has to communicate, they use mails to talk about the problem or give information. The senior managers of every department get to know about the information or problems with the help of mails. Later, there are meetings that help the senior managers to communicate with the senior managers. However, the senior managers communicate with the junior employees verbally. Moreover, the junior employees also communicate verbally among themselves. There is no use of mail or texts among the senior employees and the junior employees. Even if the junior employee is communicating with the senor employees, they tell the problems verbally. They neither give any information non-verbally nor get any information. As a result, confusion has started occurring in the department. There is no record of any official information that has been transacted among the employees. Due to the absence of any records, they are facing issues as none of the employees have remembered the context that they have talked about (Bonaccio et al. 2016). When in need of any record, there is nothing in hand that will show that the topic has been discussed among the employees. They could not find any official mail and hence, the issues started getting more complicated rather than being solved.
The best part of the company is that they keep the employees motivated by giving them proper monetary support. They were given benefits in a timely manner and the employees were happy they are paid for the extra job that they do for the organization. The organization mainly stressed on monetary motivation. The employees were being paid for every extra job they did for the company. If they used to work extra either than normal working hours, they used to get paid extra.
However, the problem started with the management of the employees, as they became over-dependent on money, which is not normal. The employee eventually were not ready to do anything extra for the organization during the time of emergency, they expected that they would be paid for the work they are doing for the organization. Whenever they came to know that, they are not being paid for the work they did not get interested for that job. They felt that for every single work they do, the management will pay them. Hence, it could be seen that the only engagement that the employee had with the company is through money they do not have any emotional connection with the company nor they think about the well-being of the company and the only the only connection that had is the money that they are getting from the company.
Changes are being brought suddenly in the organization without notifying the employees properly. The organization implemented change whenever they saw a problem. When there is any change needed to be implemented in the organization, the employees do have any idea about the reason behind the change and the way it has been implemented by the organization made things worse. They came to know about the change only when the change has been implemented in the organization. As a result, they became resistant to changes and did not accept any kind of decision that has been implemented by the company.
The marketing department has faced issues regarding the senior manager of the department. The senior manager held the junior employees accountable for any kind of issue in the department. Hence, there is huge need of training for the manager. The transformational leadership theory could be applied in this situation. The manager should be trained about transformational leadership and they it will help in the development of the organization. A transformational leader thinks about the development of the employees and guides them if they do any kind of mistake while doing their work (Nahavandi 2016). The transformational leader also helps in the growth of the organization by proper management of the employees (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee 2013). Thus, the senior manager of the marketing department should understand the importance of transformational leadership and implement them so that it not only helps in the development of self and the employees, but the contribution of the transformational leader will be remembered by the organization.
The communication accommodation theory will be helpful for to make the employees understand the importance of non-verbal communication (Quintanilla and Wahl 2015). There is absence of non-verbal communication among the employees who are at the junior level. They depend on face-to-face communication among themselves. The communication accommodation theory suggests that the people who are communicating with each other should adjust the mode of communication among themselves (Perrin 2015). The senior employees are the ones who can train the employees at the junior level about the importance of non-verbal communication (Keyton et al. 2013). Even if they are communication face-to-face, if there is a need to communicate official information, it should be done over the mail (Jenifer and Raman 2015). Keeping a record of the verbal communication in a non-verbal way is always helpful for proper functioning in the organization (Skovholt, Grønning and Kankaanranta 2014).
Two types of motivation could be used in an organization (Deci and Ryan 2014).
Extrinsic motivation is based on materialistic things that the employees are getting from the organization (Chen et al. 2013). If they do something good, they receive something like money or some other things from the company. When on one hand, the employees perform well for the materialistic gains, on the other hand, the only relationship that the employees will have with the organization is based on money (Mustapha 2014). If there is any emergency, the employees might not be ready to help the company as they would not receive anything intern of their service (Vanthournout et al. 2014). Hence, there is a need of intrinsic motivation that should be embedded among the employees. Intrinsic motivation will help in developing a connection between the employee and the organization.
The intrinsic motivation can be explained from Herzberg’s theory of motivation (Guillén, Ferrero and Hoffman 2015). According to the theory, there are two types of motivational factors (Bernadette van Rijn, Yang and Sanders 2013).
The employees at One Stop enjoy ample of hygiene factors like benefits, incentives and timely salary. Hence, they should know how to connect to the organization. With the help of hygiene factors, the intrinsic motivation could be enhanced like giving the employees recognition other than just giving them money. It will help the organization to increase the intrinsic motivation and eventually, it will result in decrease in dependency in money. In addition to this, looking after the health and well-being of the employees will also make them feel that the company is thinking about them and eventually they will start thinking about the betterment of the company (Deci and Ryan 2014).
To solve the issues that the organization is facing regarding change management, One Stop can make us of the Kotter’s Eight Steps of Change model.
As the name suggest, the model consists of eight steps:
The main idea is in the initial step that could be suggested to the employer of the organization as far as the situation in One Stop is concerned. The main aim of any change should be the realization (Frankland et al. 2013). The employees should realize the need to change (Mitchell 2013). Urgency should be created among the employees (Lewis, Passmore and Cantore 2016). They should feel that the change would be for the enhancement of business, which will help in the development of the business. Once they understand the reason for the change, they will comply with the organization and will embrace the changes (Pugh 2016). In addition to this, the model suggests that the change should be systematic rather than sudden. The systematic process will help in making the employees believe that the change is happening for their betterment (Hornstein 2015). They will get accustomed to the change gradually and it will be easier for the organization to work in a smoother manner.
As one stop has already faced issues with one manager, chances are high that they might face similar issues with other managers as well. However, once a new manager will be appointed from outside or somebody will be promoted to the senior position, the individual will be given training on the way they are expected to handle the employees. They will be under supervision for one mo nth and if they are unable to show the traits of a transformational leader, then they will be given training. They will be trained about the methods of transformational leadership. In addition to this, the person will be taught the positive side of transformational leadership. Once they will understand that training the employees and not by putting the blame will help them rise, they will eventually follow that path.
The organization will make rule where every decision that are taken in the organization should be communicated with the help of mail or written materials. Any decision that will be taken in the higher department will be communicated to the junior most employee with the help of mail. Eventually, the junior employees will develop the habit of keeping a record of the decisions that have been taken in the organization with the help of mail. There will be lesser confusions in the organization as the information has been communicated among the employees verbally has been transacted non-verbally as well.
One Stop will start giving recognition to the employees rather than giving money for every extra job they have done. The organization will start giving titles like ‘employee of the month’ or ‘employee of the week’, and then the employee will get motivated for the title. They will work hard not only for money but for the recognition that they are getting from the company. In addition to this, they can enhance teamwork by giving tile like best ‘team of the month’. The employees will understand the value of teamwork and they will think beyond money. On the other hand, the company could implement schemes like employee heath benefits. Working extra will help them get a free appointments at a doctor. The employees will get the feeling that rather than taking just money, the appointment at the doctor will help them stay fit. In addition to this, they will make arrangements for regular checkups of the employees and a gym where they can work out after work. Many employees cannot keep a check on their health due to the pressure of private sector jobs. Keeping a gym will help them to keep a check on their heath. As it has been said, the hygiene factors will make the employees feel connected with the organization. The employees will help the company at the time of emergency.
The changes were being introduced randomly and suddenly and that made the employees repel from the change. One Stop will tell about the change at least six months before the change will be implemented. The employees should be given a detailed plan about the change. They should be given a clear idea about the things that they will gain from the change. In addition to this, they should be explained the reason behind the change. Short-term wins will help the employees understand that the change is helping them. They will also understand there is some positive outcome coming from the change. Even after implementation of the change, there should be constant follow with the employees if they are able to perform in the changes environment. It will give an idea that the change is implemented for the good and the business will be enhanced after the change.
Conclusion
One Stop is mainly into retailing business and after going through the operations of the One Stop, it has been found that the company is suffering from four major management issues. Firstly, the manager of the marketing department is not able to manage the employees properly and blames the junior employees whenever there is an issue. Secondly, there is lack of non-verbal communication. They talk face-to-face but there are no transactions of mails. Thirdly, there is overflow of extrinsic motivation whereas intrinsic motivation is zero. The employees work for the company mainly because they are being paid they do not feel for the company. Finally, change is made randomly in the organization. The employees are not told about any changes and suddenly the change is implemented in the organization. Thus, the employees became repellant to the change. It has been concluded that transformational leadership style should be adhered by the senior manager of the marketing department. One Stop should use communication accommodation theory so that the employees could adjust themselves to the types of communication as per need. They should follow Herzberg’s theory of motivation and stress on hygienic factors that will make the employees feel connected with the company. They should Kotter’s change manage model to implement the change in the organization. The strategy that the organization could apply is to the managers is training about the transformational leadership style. The organization will make a rule that every decision should be communicated non-verbally that is with the help of mail among the employees along with telling them verbally. In this way, there will be important records about the decision and information. The company can give awards like ‘employee of the month’ or ‘employee of the week’ and loom after their health by giving health benefit schemes and setting up gym in office. Changes should be communicated to the employees six months before and implement gradually in the organization. In this way, they will get accustomed to the change and will embrace the change.
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