Assignment:
Please make comparison of the case scenarios illustrated below related to motivation, structure and communication, which are:
I. Jane in the Communications Taskforce (Case 1)
II. Samantha in The Human Resource Strategies Branch (Case 2)
Both Jane in the Communications Taskforce (Case 1) and Samantha in The Human Resource Strategies Branch (Case 2) were being denied accommodations in organizational practices that could become very de-motivating for them. Answer both of the following questions regarding these two situations.
1) Compare and contrast the de-motivation that they would experience if they both did not receive the accommodations they were seeking.
2) How did the structure and communication policies of each organization contribute to the problems Jane and Samantha were facing?
(Questions/Answers are based with theses topics in mind, Cases are below)
Organizational Structure:
• The Purpose and Determinants Of Structure
• Mechanistic Versus Organic Structure
Communication;
• Importance of Communications in Organizations
• Communications Within the Organizational Hierarchy
Personality and Learning and Organizational Behaviour:
• Personality/ Personality Dimensions / Learning / Social Learning Theory
• Organizational Learning Practices
Theories of Work Motivation:
• Work Motivation / Need Theories / Expectancy Theory / Equity Theory and Goal Setting Theory
Motivation at Work
• Money as a Motivator for Individuals and Groups
• Management by Objectives
• Alternative Working Schedules
Case 1: The Communication Taskforce
WestCoast Capital is a large corporation that provides full service investment advice to its clients. It is a subsidiary of the Bank of The Pacific. In recent years, the chartered banks in Canada have been allowed to offer many of the same financial services as provided by such other financial institutions as trust companies' and brokerages. Prior to that change in the banking act, the banks were limited to the provision of traditional banking services such as loans and accounts. After some intense lobbying, the Bank Act was changed to permit the banks to provide a wider range of financial services. Most banks did this by buying out or merging with existing financial institutions. The Bank of The Pacific bought out WestCoast Capital, and made it a subsidiary of the bank.
The Bank of The Pacific is a large organization with many levels of management, and operates with a high degree of formality. WestCoast Capital is not as large as the bank, nor is it quite as rigid in its structure and policies. However, it is still a financial institution that is quite conservative in its orientation. WestCoast Capital is now integrated into The Bank of The Pacific, and WestCoast Capital employees can be found in most bank branches. Essentially, they sell WestCoast Capital financial products to the Bank's customers.
One branch of WestCoast Capital is unique. It is called the Personal Investment Manager Group. There is only one such office in the company located in Richmond, B.C. It is the only branch that hires Portfolio Managers to manage people's money. The branch provides a discretionary portfolio management service where contact with the client is not necessary to facilitate each trade in their account. Most of the Portfolio Managers are new employees to WestCoast and the Bank.
In a recent survey the employees rated the working conditions for this branch of WestCoast Capital as exceptional. The office is on the second floor of an impressive office building in Richmond, B.c. with easy access to public transportation. It is comfortable and the office furnishings are of high quality- almost luxurious. There are kitchen facilities provided, although there is no specific lunchroom.
Boardrooms can be used by staff for meetings with clients and each other. The pleasant and prestigious working conditions of that branch are in some ways complemented by the human resource policies of The Bank of The Pacific, which are designed to encourage employee loyalty. There have never been any, layoffs in this branch.
The branch itself has a formal structure, but one that seems to allow flexibility. There are two Branch Managers, eleven Portfolio Managers, a Branch Administrator and eight support staff. The two Branch Managers (who also work as Portfolio Managers) divide their responsibility geographically, with one looking after British Columbia and the other the rest of the country. The 11 Portfolio Managers are assigned to one or the other area Branch Manager. This geographical division is "soft", as clients will not change Portfolio Managers if they move across Canada. The Branch Administrator is responsible for the support staff, but only to the extent of a formal reporting relationship and with respect to administrative policies. The support staff report to the Portfolio Managers on a day-to-day basis. People in the branch generally have good relationships with co-workers, in part a benefit of being a rather small unit. People are friendly, share the occasional evening out and arrange seasonal parties, to which employees bring their spouses or partners.
The Portfolio Managers all have their own clients. The independence that this might provide is somewhat moderated, however, by the fact that they work for a corporation with policies and procedures to be followed. These, in turn, are largely influenced by the regulations of an Investment Retailers Association, a self-governing body designed to maintain high levels of integrity in the investment business. Within these boundaries, the Portfolio Managers can provide services to benefit their clients according to their own discretion.
The branch has developed a pattern of forming work teams. One such group consists of Portfolio Managers Bob and Brad along with two support staff members: Jane, who is designated an Investment Specialist, and Mary, who is an Administrative Assistant. Bob and Brad attempt to give everyone in the team a voice. Meetings are held every four days, and everyone's opinion matters. Changes are discussed and decisions are made at these meetings. Although the business they do is the responsibility of the Portfolio Managers, the ideas and knowledge of the Support Staff are considered valuable. These meetings are where various job tasks are assigned to an individual, or where discussions occur about things that are not working within the team.
Although each team member has specific duties to perform on a daily basis, there is also an overlap of duties. Bob and Brad are interchangeable in their service capabilities, and Jane can cover for the managers and the Administrative Assistant. Working together, they are able to provide seamless client service.
These practices make it seem that the branch is decentralized, but there are influences from the larger corporation. For example, incentive pay for the Support Staff is determined by their Portfolio Managers based on their net commissions. However, head office has recently determined that these incentive figures must also be signed off by the Branch Manager and by the Regional Manager. While these higher level managers have never exercised their authority to deny such payments to Support Staff, it does add an element of rigidity to the process.
Because the WestCoast business is fairly new to the Bank, there seems to be latitude for change and innovation. For instance, the group of Bob, Brad, Jane and Mary decided to add to their investment business by selling insurance and providing general financial planning. To this end, Jane completed a financial planning course and acquired her First Level Insurance Licence. Bob and Brad strongly supported these efforts by Jane to acquire the extra qualifications, as that allowed the group to expand its business. Jane took responsibility for designing, preparing and presenting financial planning summaries for the clients. In return, they added to Jane's authority by allowing her to take full responsibility for some clients' needs. In effect, she became the portfolio manager for some of the smaller clients. The portfolio managers also increased her incentive pay share.
The Branch Managers and the Portfolio Managers meet every morning to discuss, among other things, investment strategies, as well as tips and feelings about the stock market. This is also when they share important information about specific stocks that need attention. Jane has asked to attend these meetings. Her position was that since her current work as an Investment Associate included managing the portfolios of smaller clients, she needed access to the information that is shared at these morning meetings. Peter, her Branch Manager, denied her request on the grounds that if he let her into the meeting, then he would have to let all of the support staff in as well, and most of them would have little interest in the discussions that take place. Jane countered that she was different from other support workers in that she was an Investment Associate, the only one who managed portfolios, the only one with training in financial planning, and the only employee in the office with an insurance licence. She felt she held a unique position.
Peter decided that since Jane wanted the information from the morning meetings, this was a communication issue. His solution was to create a Communication Task Force to form an analysis and recommend a solution to the problem. He assigned Jane to the Task Force along with Brad, a Portfolio Manager from her group, and Sally, the Branch Administrator. He also asked Fred, the other Branch Manager, to round out the Task Force membership. He felt that Fred could be more impartial since he, Peter, had already taken a position on the matter. Peter was relatively new to WestCoast Capital, having been hired by the Bank from a previous position at a large, competitive financial institution. Fred was an experienced employee who had been with WestCoast since before the takeover by the Bank. He had served for many years as a financial advisor, but had never been promoted to management due to mediocre interpersonal skills. He had usually preferred to work alone. When the Bank took over WestCoast, all advisors were interviewed, and he was the surprising choice for a Branch Manager Position.
At the first meeting of the Task Force, Fred began by describing the structure of the branch, paying special attention to the important role of the Portfolio Managers. He said that the whole operation hinged on the skill and knowledge of these people. He then discussed the role of the support staff, giving special emphasis to the meaning of the word "support". Fred stated that he agreed with Peter's conclusion that this was only a communication problem and that, in his view, the solution would be found by effectively passing on information as to the decisions made at the managers' morning meetings.
Sally, the Branch Administrator, then stated her agreement with Fred's. Sally, like Fred, was a survivor of the takeover and who was then promoted by the Bank. She had no training or expertise in financial planning, and had recently come from a different branch of WestCoast. She offered her opinion that the solution would be to establish a clear channel of communication based on the authority and structure of the branch. Her view was that communication from management to the support staff should come through her office. In the course of her remarks she made it clear that she was not supportive of the idea of teams composed of Portfolio Managers and support staff working together. It seemed that she wanted more formality in the branch.
Jane was taken aback by these remarks but pressed ahead with her views anyway. She reiterated the position she originally took that she needed to attend the morning meeting to be informed about the stock market strategy being taken by the branch. She also expressed her view that management did not seem to realize the importance of the Investment Associates and, in particular, she did not feel they acknowledged the effort she had put into improving her qualifications. She revealed that she and one of her Portfolio Managers wanted to become Certified Financial Planners, and they planned to study together to prepare for the exam. She mentioned that she had previously applied to Peter for branch funding for this program, but was turned down even though the Bank approved of this form of certification. Peter had replied at the time that they didn't pay for these courses for other employees; he didn't want to set a precedent; the course wasn't applicable to her work; and they didn't have money in the budget. She now revealed that she had subsequently and inadvertently learned that the Portfolio Managers had been encouraged to take this program, and had been offered funding to cover their costs. Brad did not say a word at this first meeting of the Communication Task Force. He sincerely wished he wasn't there.
Case 2: The Human Resource Strategies Branch
The Human Resource Program:
The Human Resources Program is a division of the Federal Government. Its mission is to "provide support and advice to the federal employer in promoting the renewal and revitalization of the federal workforce to achieve the key outcome of dynamic and innovative people delivering quality public service." The Division supports ministries through policies and programs. It establishes a Human Resources (HR) policy framework and labour relations environment designed to promote organizational flexibility, which supports the business planning objectives of the federal public service. The Division is both a catalyst and a facilitator for change, improvement and learning. The Division attempts to foster positive working relations among employees, managers, bargaining agents and the employer, and is committed to promoting a healthy and safe working environment. However, it is not involved in processing any specific human resource issues. That is left to the individual ministry's HR departments to manage.
HR Strategies Branch:
The HR Strategies Branch is one of three branches housed in the HR Program. The Branch leads the development of the human resources policies to support the business objectives of the government. It develops policies and programs regarding planning, recruitment, learning and development, health and safety, and compensation issues for all non-bargaining employee groups, other than the senior management group, thus providing the strategic framework and tools to support business outcomes. The Branch also manages the federal Internship Program, which hires recent graduates into occupational areas where skill shortages are anticipated. It develops and implements the HR Plan for Managers, an ongoing project to address HR issues facing Management level employees.
Situation:
The whole Public Service was affected by political change and, over the last few years, there have been a number of restructuring and downsizing exercises. As a result, some government bodies have been either eliminated or amalgamated into remaining ministries or agencies to meet the political commitments. In addition to streamlining the organization, the present government mandated that each ministry must provide total quality service to its customers. Each ministry and program is expected to provide quality customer service with existing resources. The HR Strategies Branch has had a history of low morale and a high turnover rate in comparison to the rest of the Division. Over the last two years, the branch has been able to hire on additional staff. However, the heavy workload still required staff to work 12-15-hour days. Regardless of their position, staff generally felt overworked and underpaid. They also perceived a double standard within the branch. Although they were the ones who developed the HR policies, that did not necessarily mean they were able to follow them. Frequently, new projects with a high profile would suddenly arrive, and staff would be expected to work on them in addition to their normal workload, which was already very demanding. It seemed that the branch had to do any work that did not directly fit into the mandate of the client ministries or the other Branches.
Staff would be asked by the Director to take on special projects depending upon whether their knowledge, experience and position enabled them to handle the assignment. These assignments were usually high profile and often not part of the yearly operational plan. The Director used a type of matrix structure when pulling together a team to handle these high profile issues. This helped to streamline the work, but still kept the chain of command intact. Staff remained in their functional roles, reported to the Director (who would serve as the project manager) to work on special assignments, and reported to their Manager or Team Leader for their regular duties. This form of matrix led to confusion for the staff. It encouraged the staff to think that the organization is flatter and more organic than it really is. By working with the Director for the special projects, staff tended to have a false sense of direct access to the Director. Potentially, if staff members are not satisfied with a response by their manager, they may feel that they have the option to by-pass the manager and proceed to the Director for a definitive answer. This caused frustration for both the manager and the staff member. Some managers would deal very formally or defensively with a staff member who they felt might have the ear of the director. Staff also experienced frustration in their work of formulating HR policies and gaining acceptance for them among the client ministries. They would hold focus groups, and report their recommendations, sometimes all the way up to a Deputy Minister. Additional approval would be required if Cabinet was involved. The process could take months and sometimes years. On the other hand, political considerations would often create the "policy of the month" that would have to be formulated very quickly without due regard for potential problems. Many times, staff would be directed to discontinue a project that was no longer in favour, only to return to it years later with the same issues still not resolved. On other occasions, their carefully crafted policies would be changed without their input, and what was intended to move in one direction would veer off in a totally different direction that they had not intended or contemplated. Despite all these impediments, the Branch had an official commitment to Total Quality Management (TQM), as did the entire Human Resources Program.
Issue:
Samantha is a professional with university training in HRM, backed up by the attainment of national certification as a Human Resources Professional. Samantha reports to Jack, her Manager, in the Youth Initiative Unit. Since returning from maternity leave, she had requested many times to be placed on a condensed work week (CWW) schedule. This would reduce the number of her two-hour commutes to and from work each day, and give her a weekday to spend with her new baby. It would mean more work hours during the other work days, so that her total hours would not change. Before returning from leave, she had spoken to Jack over the phone about CWW. Jack refused her request because the Youth Initiative Program dealt with newly hired interns, who called into the program on a daily basis. Samantha would personally deal with Interns in several client ministries. He was concerned that if Samantha was not available to address clients in a timely manner, then the Unit would not be able to maintain the level of quality service the program has reached in the past, and this would compromise TQM. At every opportunity, Samantha spoke to Jack about CWW, and even provided him with options of others filling in to address his concerns. Jack continued to refuse her request, finally saying that CWW had not been officially adopted by the Branch (although the policy had been formulated by the Branch). She then went to the Director, who said she would look into it on her behalf. During one of the Director's weekly meetings with Jack, she asked about Samantha's request. Jack, annoyed with Samantha for going over his head, explained that given the TQM mandate, the request was impossible to accommodate. If she were not on the job five day~ each week, it could compromise the handling of the interns and the advising of the ministry managers who were hosting the interns during their rotation. Again, Samantha's request was deniedthis time, by the Director.
One day, as Samantha was taking a break for her daily cup of coffee, she met Amy. Amy reported to Rose in the Policy and Planning Unit. Amy was not a HR professional, but had advanced to Administrative Assistant from previous secretarial positions. Her current job had recently been converted from part-time to full-time. She provided administrative support to 11 policy advisors, and did not deal directly with any ministry clients. Samantha was curious about how Amy was handling the additional work hours.
Samantha: "So, how is it going being back full-time?"
Amy: "Oh! It's great! Rose has been really wonderful about it."
Samantha: "How so?"
Amy: "Well, I'm on CWW. So, I can still have a day off during the week."
Samantha: "But I thought the Branch didn't take part in the program."
Amy: "It doesn't. I'm on small 'cww', not capital 'CWW'."
Samantha: "What's the difference?"
Amy: "Well, I only report my condensed work week to Rose. Higher-ups and even the Personnel people don't know about it. That way there's no paper trail. All I have to do is keep a record of my time during the week. Whenever I have reached my 36 ¼ hours, I give Rose my time sheet and then take the next working day off. So far there have been no problems. I usually end up taking off Monday."
Samantha: "Yeah, but what about the others in your unit? Don't they need you around?"
Amy: "Why, so they can ask me to do their photocopying? No way! They type up their own stuff, and everything is emailed. The time the staff do need me is when there is mass work to be done, like mail-outs. I'm never involved on urgent stuff. Plus, they know I'm on 'cww'. So if there is anything they need, they know to get it to me as soon as they find out about it."
After this discussion with Amy, Samantha was upset. It seemed unfair that the higher-rated position she occupied had less perks! She knew that it was pointless to go back to Jack or the Director with the information. They still would not allow her CWW. Also, she did not want to get Amy into trouble or cause her to lose out on her current situation. She began to resent her situation even more and thought about applying for other positions.