Management Practices For Consistent Treatment: Discussion And Analysis

Effectiveness of the Workplace Practices Introduced by the New Yard Manager

Discuss about the Management Practices for Consistent Treatment.

An organized style of management will always ensure the unquestionable loyalty of the employees towards the organization, and consequent organizational success of the company. In case the employees are able to receive fair, consistent treatment from the employers, and find the organization working actively for ensuring their well-being, the employees will not only consider working in the company for a prolonged period of time, but their utmost dedication and zealous effort to work harder will ensure higher profit margin for the company. In the given case study, it has been observed that the change of the yard manager in Top Trucking Company brought in an incredible change at workplace, making the employees work more energetically, ensuring larger number of contracts for the company (Beske et al., 2014). Accordingly, it is important to critically evaluate the workplace policies of the company, as introduced by the new manager, as well as the potential challenges that the company might encounter in future.

The recent theories of employee relations claim that it is futile to expect that the employees would work with great zeal, simply because they are being paid a fair sum of money. The recent studies have stated that improving employee relations play an important role, as a fair, positive workplace will always help the employees keep motivated. The new yard manager introduced a variety of workplace policies that are complementing each other.

Unlike the former yard manager, the new manager believes in Participative o Democratic style of leadership, unlike the autocratic style. Consequently, he is able to have proper control and authority over the employees, and he is able to render a sense of democratic dimension in the management scenario. Unlike the former times, the truck drivers do not feel de-motivated, exploited and deprived, as every course of action is being communicated, prior to its implementation. This new style of leadership has allowed him to create an intimate rapport with the staffs, who would otherwise have resisted the management decisions, forming alliance with the union, and this gave him minimize the scope of unnecessary union intervention in managerial decisions. Research suggests that the union intervention can be easily ruled out in case the managerial staffs exhibit compassion towards the well-being of the staffs (Ogbonnaya & Nielsen, 2016).

An integral feature of Participative Leadership style is that it enables the leader resolve workplace conflict by communicating with the staffs at regular intervals. Considering the fact that the yard manager is not using an autocratic style of leadership, dictating the employees every now and then, a proper control over their actions, can be established by periodical communication (Deegan & Islam, 2014). Hence, the new manager also communicates with the staffs at periodical intervals, so that he can keep himself updated about the performance of the employees, and offer them any advice, if necessary.

New Leadership Style

In order to ensure workplace stability and a positive workplace, good relation with the union leaders is a must. The new manager was well-aware that even after creating an intimate body with the employees, the union leader can resist George can exhibit resistance and opposition towards the management decisions. Hence, in order to ensure a smooth functioning at workplace, the manager regularly keeps in touch with the Union representatives, so that the demands and the needs of the Union leaders do not get unnoticed. Reports suggest that if the union groups are not being regularly communicated with, they can protest against trivial things, leading to workplace strikes that ultimately affect workplace productivity (Billett & Choy, 2013).

A motivated workforce is always productive, and enthusiastic about taking up any challenge. In order to help his staffs deliver work with greater efficiency, the new manager realized it was important to listen to their needs. Hence, he has brought new trucks for them that enable them to complete tasks with greater convenience, and even gave each one of them a uniform, that provided them with a sense of belonging (L?z?roiu, 2015).  Since he has mandated the use of uniforms, the employees started feeling more obliged to perform their duties, being now an integral part of the Top Trucking Company.

There are potential challenges that the stable, positive workplace can encounter if George or even the new yard manager moves on, leaving the company behind. First of all or any organization to operate effectively, an effective relation between the management and the union is required (Henderson et al., 2013). Here, the new yard manager with his Participative style of leadership has been able to create a balanced relation with the Union leader. In case any of them leaves, the stability of the workplace can be instantly threatened. In case a new union representative comes up, he may not be able to adjust with the management style of the manager, and may encounter many conflicts, before getting to know each other fully. Again, similarly, if the yard manager leaves the organization, a new manager with his new management style or communication style may find it hard to adjust with the employees (Dobre, 2013). Usually, employees are resistant to change, and especially a change occurs in the managerial position itself, the employees tend to feel de-motivated and become less productive, and start apprehending the problems that may occur at workplace (Tedeschi, 2013).

Effective Communication System

As far as the blue collar unions are concerned, it is needless to state that they play an important role in a construction or a transport based organization, at least from the employees’ perspectives. However, studies suggest that the blue collar unions are usually more opposed towards the organizational changes brought within a company, and since the workers in these jobs usually engage in tough, hardy and manual jobs, the union leaders are often more concerned about getting their demands fulfilled, rather than developing an understanding of the current scenario (Form, 2015). In such a situation, it becomes obvious that as and when any workplace change is being introduced, the blue collar unions may resist the change, without seeking to understand why the change was imperative in the organization. Research reports suggest that communication will play an important role. Unless the employees along with the Blue Collar union leaders are being communicated regarding the impending change, expecting union participation would be meaningless (Alexander, 2013). 

Conclusion and Recommendation:

To conclude, it should be remembered that the Top Trucking Company has been able to achieve much success lately, given the impressive management style and leadership control of the new yard manager. While on the one hand, he has been able to build a close bond with the existent employees, he has also developed a good relation with the union leader as well. An effective leadership strategy has helped him create a positive workplace that keeps the employees motivated, increases the productivity of the employees and maximizes the organizational revenue as well. The Top Trucking Company under the leadership of a new leader explains how important a role does the management authority of an organization play in determining the future success and growth of a company. Employee motivation, employee well-being , leadership and organizational success are inter-related concepts, and the existence of the one helps in complementing the other.

Although the Top Trucking Company has been able to achieve the needed organizational growth, it is important to have a look at some of the strategies that can be recommended to help the company prosper in future. First of all, the management authority must ensure that the new manager regularly communicates with the union groups, or otherwise as mentioned, blue collar unions would end up in creating workplace conflicts. This would hamper the workplace productivity, and hence the management authority is being recommended to communicate any change through proper interactive sessions and meetings that will facilitate the explanation of the reason behind the change. Further, it is important to ensure that transparency exists between employees, union members and the employers. Hence, the management authority is also advised to host meetings with both the union leaders as well as the employees, once in every week to ensure mutual understanding among all the stakeholders. Besides, since the employee unions are mostly concerned about the employee welfare, an organization is less likely to suffer from management-union conflicts, if it seeks to invest in employee benefit programs. As far as the organization is concerned, it has started investing in career development opportunities of the workers, while also ensuring employee protection from the workplace hazards. It is recommended that the company also starts revising the wage scale of the workers, and offers compensatory leaves on need, and acknowledge the contribution of the workers through lucrative incentive schemes. Besides, the union members may often feel marginalized, and their importance lessened with the arrival of an efficient manager, and this may compel them to conspire against the management authority. Hence, it is also recommended that for the successful expansion and growth of the company, the organization ensures co-participation of the employers and employee unions in discussing issues affecting the business, the employers and the employees.

Reference List:

Beske, P., Land, A., & Seuring, S. (2014). Sustainable supply chain management practices and dynamic capabilities in the food industry: A critical analysis of the literature. International Journal of Production Economics, 152, 131-143.

Billett, S., & Choy, S. (2013). Learning through work: Emerging perspectives and new challenges. Journal of Workplace Learning, 25(4), 264-276.

Deegan, C., & Islam, M. A. (2014). An exploration of NGO and media efforts to influence workplace practices and associated accountability within global supply chains. The British Accounting Review, 46(4), 397-415.

Dobre, O. I. (2013). Employee motivation and organizational performance. Journal of Management and Socio-Economic, (1).

Form, W. H. (2015). Blue-collar stratification: Autoworkers in four countries. Princeton University Press.

L?z?roiu, G. (2015). Employee Motivation and Job Performance. Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations, (14), 97-102.

Ogbonnaya, C., & Nielsen, K. (2016). Transformational leadership, high performance work practices, and an effective organization.

Henderson, C., Williams, P., Little, K., & Thornicroft, G. (2013). Mental health problems in the workplace: changes in employers’ knowledge, attitudes and practices in England 2006-2010. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 202(s55), s70-s76.

Tedeschi, J. T. (Ed.). (2013). Impression management theory and social psychological research. Academic Press.

Alexander, K. (2013). Facilities management: theory and practice. Routledge.