Solving Business Problems At Thrive Consultancy: Insights And Analysis

Introduction to Thrive Consultancy and Business Problems

This report will look at some of the business problems that Thrive consultancy experiences. Thrive consultancy has been in operation for about a decade and a half now offering three main services; Human resource consulting, Advertising/marketing consulting and strategic planning. Business problems do occur in various business organizations. Despite it being a common thing among business organizations, it is always the way that an organization handles its business problems that will determine its future (Adomian, 2013 p.90).

Based on the nature of this organization, certain aspects about the operation and some internal affairs have been changed and this has been noted to have a great influence on the way things have been running lately .Working hours have been changed and this has greatly affected the flexibility of work. Moreover, coffee machines have been removed and this is a concern for some employees. Discussion will be presented to address problems.

Scholars and great academicians have proven time and time again that the growth and survival of a business greatly depends on both internal and external factors (Bakker & Demerouti,2014 p.45).Many times, however, people tend to put so much emphasis on external factors and forget about some internal affairs that can bring a business to the ground. These internal affairs range from a number of things such as management problems, relationship status between the various staff in an organization, some crucial policies that govern and oversee the day to day activities in an organization among others.

Statistics have shown that about 60% of the companies and organizations that have recorded a great deal of failure have been due to a change in some of their important policies that govern the day to day activities of the organization. When some important and crucial policies are changed within an organization, then people are affected since they are not used to the new policies which could be even much strict than the ones they are used to (Boxall & Macky,2014 p.67).  

A study conducted on some businesses and organization that have failed has revealed that there is a common similarity among all these firms. Some of the most common share characteristics by these failed firms are that they are all related to decision-based characteristics of the managers and some owners of this organization, among these decision based-characteristics are inflexibility, lack of a visionary nature, lack of fundamental management skills among others. (Zikmund,Babin,Carr, Griffin, 2013 p.210). 

Despite all these threats that these various business problems bring with them, there is a way to solve and deal with such problems in case they arise. Quite a number of means have been proposed, models and theories have been developed to deal with these various problems. First and foremost, the most fundamental rule that should be applied in business problem solving is that the process of problem solving should be proactive rather than reactive (Braine & Roodt, 2011 p.65).The process should not cause further rifts among the various individuals in an organization; rather it should in line with its ultimate goal of ensuring a mutually respectful relationship among the parties involved.  

Job Demands-Resource Theory: A Solution for Business Problems

The narrowing process for instance is among one of the possible ways of resolving problems in an organization. The diagram below shows a pictorial representation used for problem solving in organizations and other forms of business entities.

Fig1.Narrowing technique (Demerouti & Bakker, 2011 p.87).

1. i) Concepts and elements of the theory

The theory that would be applied to investigate these business problems that are greatly affecting Thrive Consultancy Company is the Job Demands-Resource theory: Taking stock and looking back. The job demands-resource (JD-R) model was introduced about a decade and a half ago and it has not only been used and applied into business issues of management but has also acted as a source of inspiration to so many business organizations well-being (Demerouti & Cropanzano,2010 p.67).

Fig 2. Job demands-resource model (Demerouti & Cropanzano,2010 p.167).

Studies conducted by various scholars all over globe have shown circumstantial evidence on how this method can be used to solve various business problems. The studies have proven to be some kind of relationship in three most important elements of this model, these elements are; job demand, resources and well-being of not only employees but also all staff and overall stakeholders in an organization (Evans & Lindner,2012 p.78).

 This model has also proven beyond reasonable doubt that personal initiative has an effect of positively influencing employees work engagement. Personal initiatives play very big role in promoting employees well-being and maximum use of organizations’ resources as depicted by this model.

Furthermore, job crafting and gain spiral is one of the most useful components/elements of this model. Originally JD-R model was specifically involved in a top-down preservative of job designs in an organization. It was at this very level where the human resource department and management in collaboration were actively involved in employee’s performance and welfare issues.

Looking at various aspects regarding business problems discussed above, there are some key component managerial statements that can be made (Guest,Isaksson,De,2010 p.56).The research objectives as depicted therein were to find out the key business problems affecting Thrive Consultancy Company. The objectives were met by carrying out interviews on five participants; the interview was successful since all five participants boldly raised the concerns they had.

Form the look at all these issues, it is a managerial call to ensure that he/she engages employees in all issues that affects them. Various policies are made and implemented in the course of running an organization but they should not be made without involving the persons that are directly or even indirectly affected by these policies.

Information and Insights Obtained from Qualitative Analysis

Most importantly, the JD-R model clearly depicts that employee well-being is very crucial and it should be given the highest priority (Hakanen & Roodt, 2010 p.71).The model mentions some of the important aspects that facilitate the solving of business problems and possible ensuring employee well-being and welfare.

Qualitative analysis is a special and unique kind of securities analysis that is often concerned and makes use of unquantifiable information to predict certain happenings and also provide solutions to them (Hofmann & Klinkenberg,2013 p.67).This unquantifiable information may comprise of management expertise, employees issues and complains, strengths and development of previous researches among others.

The information herein was obtained by conducting an in-depth analysis on various employees regarding to some key factors affecting them. Certain questions were asked in regard to the information that was targeted to be obtained from these employees.

Based on the three questions asked to the five employees regarding to issues affecting them, the following is a summary on how each of them responded.

1. How happy are you in your job

Each of the employee said were happy with their job further went ahead into giving an extra compliment, the first participant for instance said that the supervisor is nice but she doesn’t do her job really well, she delays in responding to very important emails and also too busy to even guide and oversee what they are doing at work (Klir, 2013 p.43).

1. How have the changes at work affected you and/or the office in general

Participants complained about the issue of flexibility, they could no longer work from home and this was really affecting them. Working hours were also not convenient to the employees.

Funds have also been cut; the common office kitchen had no free coffee, regular biscuits and milk (Lencioni, 2010 p.109).This issue has really frustrated employees, their self-esteem and level of motivation is low because of this issue.

1. Is there anything you would ask us to know

Employees are really frustrated and are so worried if the company even cares about them anymore. The issue of taking away the coffee machine sunk so deep into the employees and some were even wondering what would be next after the coffee machine, maybe the printer or they would even start charging for parking. These were very emotional feelings from among the employees.

The table below shows the various changes and ratings that were generated from the employees comments obtained from the interviews conducted (Liebowitz, 2013 p.40).

Change conducted	Comments provided by employees	Motivation reduction rating Out of 10
Changes in working hours	-Employees were complaining regarding the flexibility of working hours -Employees were paying extra costs to have their kids at child care	7/10
Removal of the coffee machine	-Employees brought their own coffee machines -Employees thought that they were not being cared for -Employees thought that extra changes would be introduced such as parking charges	9/10

Based on ratings derived from various comments by the participants in the course of the interviews, a graph can be developed to show the relationship between the variables involved therein.

Recommendations for Thrive Consultancy

Fig 3.Graph on relationship between the variables involved (Ragsdale, 2014 p.87).

The above diagram is a line graph developed from the ratings derived from the comments made by each and every participant in the interview. There are three aspects that are rated and these are changes in working hours, removal of the coffee machine and the general confidence of the employees on the system.

Conclusions

Looking at the complaints raised in the in-depth interview with the five participants then it is clear that they feel they are not being well taken care of (Schaufeli & Taris,2014 p.128).Certain changes were made by the management that were totally unfavorable to the employees and their general wellbeing. Working hours were increased, this greatly affected the flexibility of work since people could no longer work from home, removal of a coffee maker from the kitchen was another change that was not positively taken.

From these issues raised, there are a number of recommendations that can be made to the CEO so as to avoid future cases of such issues ever happening again;

First and foremost, it should be noted that human resource are among one of the important part of any organization. They are responsible for carrying out the day to day activities of an organization and should therefore be treated with respect. The CEO of Thrive consultancy needs to know that forgetting the human aspect of human resource is among one of the reasons for poor performance in many organization. He/she should therefore treat employees with the respect and dignity they deserve (Sekaran & Bougie, 2016 p.84)

Secondly, it is a wise step to include employees in all matters that affect them. They should always be consulted in the case where certain policies that affect them need to be change. This does not imply that they have some control over what the company decides, but rather it sends a sign of commitment and willingness to take care of their employee’s welfare. Employee motivation is very critical, motivation is usually triggered by a number of factors this being one of them. The CEO of Thrive consultancy should therefore make an effort of trying to involve their employees in matters that directly affect them (Sharma, Mithas, Kankanhalli, 2014 p.240).

Moreover, the CEO of Thrive consultancy should develop a team that specializes in identifying the business problems such as the ones identified above. Usually the key to solving a business problem is identifying the root cause of the problem .There is a technique that is well known for the determination of the root cause of a problem, this technique is called Root cause analysis. It has been known and used for quite some time now.

Various relevant methods have been developed to understand the real cause of business problems. Some of the commonly used methods comprises of; brainstorming, mind mapping, fish bone diagram among others (Tims & Bakker, 2010 p.80).

With the application of this root cause analysis technique then CEO of Thrive consultancy will be in a position to identify the root causes of some common business problems therefore being in a position to act accordingly in the right time so as to avoid future problems and incurring even extra costs. By strictly following the above recommendation, then Thrive Consultancy Company will thrive.

In conclusion, it can be concluded that business problems are normal in all sorts’ of businesses and they should be taken into consideration and put in mind so as to help build the business (Van & Berends, 2018 p.81).They should not be regarded as failures; rather they should be taken as learning opportunities so to improve the general operations of the company.

The entire conversation brought about the issue of dissatisfaction in the company. All participants each gave different theme. These themes have been coded as shown below. Each table codes the specific question with response from the participants.

(a).Themes on whether participants are happy in their jobs.

Common theme	Participant	Comment
Supervisors fails to guide workers when in workplace	P1	“I’m not too sure what I should be doing and feel like a bit more guidance might help” The supervisor is irresponsible and that’s why the participants is complaining for the lack of guidance (Ajagbe,Sholanke, Isiavwem,Oke,2015 p.90).Due to this the participant is not producing what the company is expecting from him/her.
Satisfaction in the company	P2	From what the participants argued it clear that there is theme of satisfaction. The worker loves what he/she does when in the company. “I love my job. “This is enough evident that he issue of employee satisfaction is seen in the company. There is better payment and the worker is enjoying the better life.
Ignoring views and suggestions from the workers.	P3	Although the participants is happy work, but to some extend supervisor is ignoring to what he/she is saying about the new change (Braun, Clarke, Terry, 2014 p.54). “I tried to talk with the supervisor but he didn’t want to listen,” Ignoring suggestion from subordinates reduces the morale of employees. Workers will not be able to perform well if authorities don’t create a room for communication. The new change would function if workers accept but not allowing those in power to initiates changes that won’t fit the workers in the company.
Indiscipline in an organization.	P3	The theme revolves around the internal environment within the company. This emphasize the issue of indiscipline whereby the co-workers are not behaving like intellectual. Making noise when working is aspect of indiscipline. When worker is trying to concentrate then it seems the noise from the co-workers will lead to distraction which intern lead to decrease in production. Therefore as a matter of fact then the CEO has to ensure all subordinates maintains apt measures needed when one is in the office (Edwards  Mercer,2013 p.51).
Departments being responsible.	P3	Organization achieves goals and objectives depending on how different departments cooperate with the subordinates. The advertising/market department is responsible for its duties .This is to say that through the issue of responsibility then the company will achieve goals. There will be increased production level in the company and thus enabling the company to enjoy the economies of sale. The other departments in the company which fails to be responsible in their duties need check on this strategy employed by marketing department.

Theme	Participant	Comment
Flexibility.	P1	Right issue of flexibility does not have much effect to the company. This is to suggest that when a new change is initiated in the business to some extend it can affect workers either negative or positive. In real sense not all workers in the organization will adjust up with the new change. Some will try to give new strategies and suggestion about the change. The point of concern is that in the company whenever a change is initiated then it’s the mandate of authorities to ensure the change is accepted by all stakeholders within the workplace (Hall, Ashworth, Devine-Wright, 2013 p.43).
Policy change in workplace.	P2	Policy change mean that an increase in change between the existing strategy and the newly identified innovative policies in the business. Workers will work appropriately if the policy change initiated in the organization favours them. It is difficult to change policies because the institutions are strict or there is aspect of suboptimal. This in real sense if done by management without consulting the workers in the company there will be chaos at the end.
Adding extra cost to the workers.	P3	Well when a business is initiating a change the management will think that all people will be affected equally. Coming up with new strategies and policies will result to either dissatisfaction in sense that workers will not be able to adjust to new measures. Changes in company have to be done keenly. This is to say that management not to wake up and then impose new change without evaluating the results brought about by the change .Adding extra expense to workers contributes to low production in the company. For instance removing the coffee means workers will look for alternatives. These alternatives demand then to use their pockets and thus resulting to extra expense (Hartman & Conklin, 2012 p.41).
Time factor	P4 & P5	Changing time in workplace is something crucial. Changing the schedules in workplace will affect the morale of the workers. When a change targets to transform the time then workers are either affected positively or negatively. Workers will feel it being difficult to conform to new schedules an issue which will propagate reduced production level. Therefore the management part in the company has to ensure time is changed appropriately but not changing it to exploit workers. The issue of overworking also need to be checked .Workers need to work for a particular time but when one is overworking then the morale in work reduces thus reduced production within the company.

Theme	Participant	Comments
Training subordinates	P1	Training employees means increased production. This is to say that training targets on imparting new skills to the workers in a company. For instance when a new member joins an organization the first step is to train him/her. This helps in imparting new techniques to the employee and therefore leading to increased production (Houghton, Casey, Shaw, Murphy, 2013 p.80).Training is important in the company. It helps in different ways such as; · It increases morale and satisfaction to workers. · Reduces the employee turnover in company. · Helps in increasing new innovations and strategies in workplace. · Increases employee motivation a key factor that focuses to increase production. · Helps the workers in an organization to cope with the new technologies .This results to creativity and innovation in the organization. · Training increase efficiency in workplace thus leading to financial gain.
Caring workers	P3	Caring for workers means doing what is necessary to subordinates. Leaders fail to care for their workers thus leading to decreased production. Those workers who feel much cared and valued by their leaders they work hard and most of the time they hold themselves as being accountable for the entire company. In our case the issue of removing the coffee shows that leaders in this company are not caring at all. It does not make sense removing the basic need for workers and then leaving starving (Padgett, 2016 p.60). Therefore ,the CEO in the company can demonstrate the issue of caring workers through; · Relating to workers and not behaving as if above them. It’s good to make ground equal to everyone in the company. · Showing interest on the complaints from the workers. When the workers raised the issue we noticed that some of the authorities were turning deaf hears. This is uncaring and that’s why many workers were baffled from what happened by changing the time without consultation. · Leader ought to be real and transparent to the workers. This suggests that whenever a new change is embraced then all workers need to be communicated then serious discussion ought to be done. · Making time for the workers. Workers will feel appreciated especially when leaders are responding to their chats, their emails also visiting them in their respective departments. Creating time to meet workers is a sign of respect .This encourages workers and they feel as part of the company thus increasing the production level.
Use of signs and labels  to communicate in workplace	P4	It’s good for the organization to ensure that there are new signs and labels which conveys a certain information. Signs such notes written “KINDLY BE SILENCE “helps workers to remember that silence is necessary when one is working. Employing discipline measures when in office will help workers to perform well and thus leading to increased financial gain in the company. Discipline means doing what is apt and required by a certain organization .So when a worker disturbs others either making noise then concentration withdraws and thus reduced production in the company.
Efficiency in workplace	P5	Efficiency describes how work is done successfully. This is to say that for the company to secure profits then aspect of business efficiency need to be on workers fingertips. When one delays in giving the feedback in the company then it means certain process in company will fail (Thornton & Byrd, 2013 p.73). Departments should learn how to provide feedback as quick as possible in case of any issue arising in work place.Effeciency can be achieved through; Limiting interruptions in workplace.Inturruption differ in working environment .Therefore what stakeholders need to do is to ensure no interruption when carrying out duties. Discouraging going to unscheduled meetings. Unplanned meetings consumes a lot of time meaning that production is affected negatively. Leaders should try to their best to ensure meetings are arranged for a purpose. Sticking to the running projects. Efficiency only achieved when workers stick to their duties. If one tries to use short corners in process then it means later something will be missed and huge cost incurred to correct.

 

References.

Adomian, G., 2013. Solving frontier problems of physics: the decomposition method (Vol. 60). Springer Science & Business Media.

Ajagbe, A.M., Sholanke, A.B., Isiavwe, D.T. and Oke, A.O., 2015. Qualitative Inquiry for social sciences.

Bakker, A.B. and Demerouti, E., 2014. Job demands–resources theory. Wellbeing: A complete reference guide, pp.1-28.

Boxall, P. and Macky, K., 2014. High-involvement work processes, work intensification and employee well-being. Work, employment and society, 28(6), pp.963-984.

Braine, R.D. and Roodt, G., 2011. The Job Demands-Resources model as predictor of work identity and work engagement: A comparative analysis. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 37(2), pp.52-62.

Braun, V., Clarke, V. and Terry, G., 2014. Thematic analysis. Qual Res Clin Health Psychol, 24, pp.95-114.

Demerouti, E. and Bakker, A.B., 2011. The job demands-resources model: Challenges for future research. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 37(2), pp.01-09.

Demerouti, E. and Cropanzano, R., 2010. From thought to action: Employee work engagement and job performance. Work engagement: A handbook of essential theory and research, 65, pp.147-163.

Edwards, D. and Mercer, N., 2013. Common Knowledge (Routledge Revivals): The Development of Understanding in the Classroom. Routledge.

Evans, J.R. and Lindner, C.H., 2012. Business analytics: the next frontier for decision sciences. Decision Line, 43(2), pp.4-6.

Guest, D.E., Isaksson, K. and De Witte, H. eds., 2010. Employment contracts, psychological contracts, and employee well-being: an international study. Oxford University Press.

Hakanen, J.J. and Roodt, G., 2010. Using the job demands-resources model to predict engagement: Analysing a conceptual model. Work engagement: A handbook of essential theory and research, pp.85-101.

Hall, N., Ashworth, P. and Devine-Wright, P., 2013. Societal acceptance of wind farms: Analysis of four common themes across Australian case studies. Energy Policy, 58, pp.200-208.

Hartman, N.S. and Conklin, T., 2012. A thematic analysis of a leadership speaker series. Journal of Management Development, 31(8), pp.826-844.

Hofmann, M. and Klinkenberg, R. eds., 2013. RapidMiner: Data mining use cases and business analytics applications. CRC Press.

Houghton, C., Casey, D., Shaw, D. and Murphy, K., 2013. Rigour in qualitative case-study research. Nurse researcher, 20(4).

Klir, G.J., 2013. Architecture of systems problem solving. Springer Science & Business Media.

Lencioni, P.M., 2010. Death by meeting: A leadership fable… about solving the most painful problem in business (Vol. 15). John Wiley & Sons.

Liebowitz, J. ed., 2013. Big data and business analytics. CRC press.

Padgett, D.K., 2016. Qualitative methods in social work research (Vol. 36). Sage Publications.

Ragsdale, C., 2014. Spreadsheet modeling and decision analysis: A practical introduction to business analytics. Nelson Education.

Schaufeli, W.B. and Taris, T.W., 2014. A critical review of the Job Demands-Resources Model: Implications for improving work and health. In Bridging occupational, organizational and public health (pp. 43-68). Springer, Dordrecht.

Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Sharma, R., Mithas, S. and Kankanhalli, A., 2014. Transforming decision-making processes: a research agenda for understanding the impact of business analytics on organisations.

Thornton, J.C. and Byrd, J.T., 2013. Social responsibility and the small business. Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal, 19(1).

Tims, M. and Bakker, A.B., 2010. Job crafting: Towards a new model of individual job redesign. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 36(2), pp.1-9.

Van Aken, J.E. and Berends, H., 2018. Problem solving in organizations. Cambridge University Press.

Zikmund, W.G., Babin, B.J., Carr, J.C. and Griffin, M., 2013. Business research methods. Cengage Learning.