Human resources issues in organizational management

¶ … supervisor of a group of employees whose task it is to assemble disk drives that go into computers. You find that quality is not what it should be and that many of your group's devices have to be brought back and reworked; your boss says that "You'd better start doing a better job of training your workers."

What are some of the "staffing" factors that could be contributing to this problem?

Poor training is likely to be at the heart of the problem. The fact that many of the devices need to be reworked suggests that employees are assembling the devices inaccurately, or haphazardly, and there are poor quality control procedures to detect, monitor, and eliminate defects.

A b.

After discussing the factors that may be contributing to the problem, present some solutions to overcome the problems.

Two solutions are possible, and could be implemented conjointly. First, the staff can be retrained in the correct methods of assembly. Second, a system of checks should be instated to validate the quality of the drives, before they are sent to the next department. Thirdly, the group must have clear quality benchmarks, and set a goal to eliminate a certain number of defects as a team.

Suppose you are a human resource professional helping to improve the performance management system of a company that sells and services office equipment. The company operates a call center that takes calls from customers who are having problems with their equipment. Call center employees are supposed to verify the problem is not one the customer can easily handle (for example, equipment that will not operate because it has come unplugged). Then, if the problem is not resolved over the phone, the employees arrange for service technicians to visit the customer. The company can charge the customer only if a service technician visits, so performance management of the call center employees focuses on productivity; how quickly they can complete a call and move on to the next caller. To measure this performance efficiently and accurately, the company uses electronic monitoring.

A a.

How would you expect the employees to react to the electronic monitoring? How might the organization address the employees' concerns?

Employees will likely see electronic monitoring as intrusive, and unfair, possibly as a violation of their privacy. Employees should know that, in the face of a customer complaint, having a record could actually be helpful, to defend them against an unfair charge, and also can be used as teaching devices to deal with difficult calls. They must know that the monitoring will not be used as a punitive measure, or during performance reviews.

A b.

Besides productivity in terms of number of calls, what other performance measures should the performance management system include?

Customer satisfaction with the thoroughness and accuracy of information received is the ultimate test of quality performance.

How should the organization gather information about the other performance measures?

Sending follow-up surveys, through the phone, email, or letter to customers that used the service, to see if all procedures were followed, if the steps the employee was required to take the customers through were helpful, and it the customers have any comments or suggestions would be ideal.

Suppose you are an HR professional who convinced your company's management to conduct a survey of employee satisfaction. Your budget was limited and you could not afford a test that went into great detail. Rather, you investigated overall job satisfaction and learned that it is low, especially among employees in three departments. You know that management is concerned about spending a lot for HR programs because sales are in a slump, but you want to address the issue of low job satisfaction. Suggest some ways you might begin to make a difference, even with a small budget. How will you convince management to try your ideas?

Some solutions might cost no money at all -- for example, reorganizing more effective work teams to create a better sense of corporate unity can increase job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is not necessarily directly linked to pay, but often to a better work environment and a greater sense of control and ability to provide creative input into the business' standard operating procedures and future activities.

4. Imagine that you manage human resources for a small business. You have recently prepared a report on the market rate of pay for salespeople and the company's owner says the market rate is too high. The company cannot afford this level of pay and furthermore, paying that much would cause salespeople to earn more than most of the company's managers. Suggest three possible measures the company might take to help resolve this conflict.