One of the companies in Hong Kong

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Literature Review
Data and Sources
The Case
Recommendations
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

Management is an essential function in organisations. Depending on how it is carried out, it has the power to transform organisations into success or failure cases. It therefore requires proper training of individuals who also need to be dedicated to the organisation by having its interests at heart. Several theories of management exist to define the working examples and types of managers that organisations can have.

In this case study, focus is made on some of the things that may go wrong in organisations because of poor and inefficient management based on personal experiences in one of the companies. Working as a human resource manager in one of the companies in Hong Kong, some administrative and managerial problems were evident during the short experience.

One of the problems was in the recruitment of employees for the company, which was not professionally done. It resulted in poorly experienced employees in the company. The other problem in the organisation was the poor communication culture that existed within the management between the employees themselves and employees and management.

The employees were not motivated at the work place. They would end up taking unnecessary leaves or even provide false excuses to skip the working environment. Some of them were found out and sacked. The turnover rate of staff was as high as 25% for a single year. The benefits provided to the staff were also not attractive thus contributing to the low motivation and high turnover rate.

In addition, the organisation did not have an elaborate training scheme or an opportunity for the career development of employees. New employees were also not oriented on the functioning of the organisation, and what they could expect from it or what was expected of them. Decision-making in the organisation was also slow with management having little if any innovation.

The organisation’s recruitment strategy was mainly for other citizens as a way of ensuring cheap labour. It also had little impact on the society in which it was located. These problems were considered because they represent a typical example of poor management and failure in the management strategies.

The organisation that is discussed is a leading Japanese company involved in tunnel work with the MTR in Hong Kong. The organisation is medium sized with around 300 members of staff involved in the project. The culture is mainly made up of a number of ethnic groups from all over the world.

The organisational culture is therefore diverse from the different employees. The culture in the organisation is more of means-oriented, which is a departure from the more efficient goal-oriented culture (Drucker, & Maciariello, 2008, p. 19).

This case study reviews literature that is appropriate to the organisation under study. Besides, it attempts to explain the shortfalls evident the organisation in an attempt to formulate appropriate conclusions with recommendations being made towards the case.

Literature Review

Several theoretical explanations can be given to the problems experienced in the organisation that is under study. For a long period, human resource has been considered as one of the most salient factors of production in organisations and in business at large (Drucker, & Maciariello, 2008, p. 15).

Drucker and Maciariello establish that the treatment of human resource can determine the success of a business (2008, p. 19). According to them, motivation has a prominent role to play in the performance of employees, and that communication is a crucial factor in motivation (Drucker, & Maciariello, 2008, p. 13).

Managers are reported to spend most of their jobs having one or two forms of communication with their employees and subordinates, as well as those above them in rank. Harris and Nelson state that communication promotes teamwork and collaboration in an organisation with this (collaboration) being a critical factor in the production process (2008, p. 66).

According to Chester Barnard (1938, p. 23), “communication forms the sheer “heart” of the management process.” His work was indispensable in forming a relationship between communication and the management process (1938, p.20).

Some of the issues being championed by the human relationship movement of the year 1940s included the two-way communication in organisations (Barnard, 1938, p. 23). This finding is rather unfortunate that an organisation would display a communication breakdown in the present century as demonstrated by the organisation under study.

Harris and Nelson stated, “In modern days, we understand ‘communication’ as one of the most dominant and important activities in organisations (2008, p. 64). They continue to state that communication is essential in the daily activities in an organisation (2008, p. 28).

Their findings complemented those of Jones et al., who observed, “Communication helps individuals and groups to coordinate activities to achieve goals, and it is vital in socialisation, decision-making, problem-solving, and change-management processes” (2004, p. 38).

Motivation is another function of management. It has a role to play in the productivity of employees. As Whiteley states, “Motivating is the work, which managers perform to inspire, encourage, and impel people to take action” (2002, p.21).

For motivation to take place, there has to be adequate communication within the administrative framework of the organisation, as employees must be reached first to ensure they are understood (Whiteley, 2002, p. 23).

Whiteley continues in his discussion of the role of motivation in the performance of an organisation by stating, “motivation can best be accomplished when workers are able to merge their personal ambitions with those of the organisation, and hence the need for communication” (1986, p.28).

Several motivational methods have been suggested in the past. Examples of relevant theories include theory X that depicts the traditional management methods and theory Y, which states, “a person’s commitment to an objective is a function of the rewards for its achievement” (McGregor, 1960, p. 91).

Modern organisations therefore need to adopt theories like theory Y that would produce long-lasting effects on the organisation. A different definition of motivation is by Campbell and Pritchard (1976, p. 34).

They define motivation as “a set of independent and dependent relationships that explain the direction, amplitude, and persistence of an individual’s behaviour holding constant the effects of aptitude, skills, understanding of a task, and the constraints operating in the work environment” (Campbell & Pritchard, 1976, p. 34).

Some of the important factors in the motivation of employees include remuneration, which should have been of focus in the organisation under study. Communication should not only be from the management to the employees. The two-way approach needs to be adopted.

There has to be downward and upward communication to ensure that the management is able to motivate employees while at the same time obtaining feedback on the success of their attempts (Torrington & Hall 1991).

Another problem encountered at the organisation is the high turnover rate of employees. Although the problem may be because of poor management, studies have shown, “Voluntary turnover is a serious problem for companies in many Asian countries such as Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan” (Barnett, 1995, p. 33).

Barnard and Rodgers supported this observation when they carried out a study on the resignation rates in the region in the year 1995 (the last year for which comparative data were available) (1998, p. 6). From their results, the average monthly resignation rates were 3.4%, 2.9%, and 2.7% in Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, respectively (1998, p.17).

Some of the researchers including human resource professional bodies suggested that the problem of job-hopping was a rampant one in the region. It was almost a culture with China experiencing the problem too (Machachlan, 1996).

Most of the managers that were involved in the studies cited the problem as being on the side of the employees and not their own making (Machachlan, 1996, p. 15). Most reported, “most of the employee turnover in their companies is attributable to two external factors: labour shortage and incompetent employee attitudes” (Machachlan, 1996, p. 16).

Some of the causes of job-hopping and high turnover in organisations include job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and organisational justice (Whiteley, 2002, p. 23). Job satisfaction is the most discussed cause of high employee turnover in most of the literature that was reviewed.

Most of the studies reported a consistent and negative relationship between job satisfaction (satisfaction with pay, satisfaction with nature of work, and satisfaction with supervision) and turnover (e.g. Cotton & Tuttle, 1986).

Employees who are dissatisfied with the working conditions or any aspect of their current organisation were found to have a higher propensity to leave the organisation in relation to those who were more satisfied (Cotton & Tuttle, 1986). Some of the issues that determine the overall satisfaction of employees include pay, nature of the work being undertaken, and supervision by the authorities (Whiteley, 2002, p. 23).

In one of the researches conducted, the researchers set out to determine the relationship between job satisfaction and the turnover rate in the Asian region (Koh, & Goh, 1995, p. 11). Koh and Goh’s study was based on the observation that previous studies discussed the effect of job satisfaction in general thus having the likelihood of being misleading to the audience (1995, p. 3).

They therefore subdivided job satisfaction into categories, which enabled a broader look at the causes of job-hopping (Koh, & Goh’s, 1995, p. 6).These were “Supervision, company identity, kind of work, amount of work, physical working conditions, co-workers, financial rewards, and career future” (Koh, & Goh’s, 1995, p. 7).

Their study had limitations on the sampling of employees to be carried out. They took only the staff member who was not involved in management in the organisations in which they carried out the study.

They never considered the managerial staff. Their study was useful since it managed to quantify the causes of high turnover in organisations. The literature reviewed indicates some of the causes of the problems in the management of organisations, which were reflected in the organisation under study.

Data and Sources

In a case study, there are set requirements in the collection and analysis of data. The strength of the methods used determines the quality of the research. In the above case study, several methods were used in the collection of information and in the analysis of the data obtained.

The study was inspired by personal experience at the work place. Secondary sources of information were used to create the case study. The information was gathered from a number of researches that have been done on the effects of poor communication at the workplace and the causes of high employee turnover rate in Hong Kong.

According to Drucker and Maciariello, secondary sources provide the researcher with a picture of the problem with a possible explanation (2008, p. 19). Research materials were obtained from an online database with the key words for the search being management theories, turnover, communication, job satisfaction, and organisational culture.

The findings were then scrutinised to obtain the materials that were relevant to the case study. The inclusion criteria were that the articles had to be written in English and were peer reviewed. Books and other academic journals were also included. The main exclusion criterion was that those materials that were written in other languages were not considered for review.

The results were then analysed. Content analysis was the main method used to analyse the information gotten from the literature review. Relevant findings were included for the case study. The strengths of the information gathered included the specificity to the problems encountered in the job environment. The researches were also mainly done in the Asian region, which was the main location of the business under study.

This case meant that the data obtained in the research was relevant to the discussion and that it would lead to the making of an appropriate conclusion. On the other hand, some of the weaknesses of the research analysed were not current. The data obtained was therefore of little use in the formulation of the research.

There were few studies done on the topics that the case study sought to relate. The analysis therefore utilised the relatively old sources. There were few problems experienced in accessing data and information for the case study. Some of the problems were technical with a few logistical troubles along the way.

The research required a long period to collect the data and analyse it, and hence challenging. The amount of information obtained from the search carried out was large. Large volumes of researches had to be analysed. There were also financial challenges in the carrying out of the study especially in visits to the workplace for data collection.

The Case

The organisation discussed above is a medium sized employing around 300 people in and around Hong Kong. One of the problems was in the recruitment of employees for the company. The recruitment was not procedurally done with new employees not being adequately oriented to their workplace.

According to Whiteley, the manner of recruitment of employees has an overall effect on their motivation, and that they need to be adequately prepared for the new jobs (2002, p. 23).

A good management system should be set in place to ensure employees are adequately oriented. Barnard (1938, p. 23) found that, although there was training and orientation for new employees working in Hong Kong, there was still a significant proportion of companies that carried out no orientations.

The employees were also not retained in the organisation for long. The company reported high employee turnover rates. This finding compares with many companies in the region according to the studies done and reviewed. Since the recruitment was not adequately done, the management was forced to get new employees who were not fit for the job.

They would then be fired because of their inefficiency and inexperience. Job experience is said to be one of the factors that have led to sacking of employees in the past (Drucker, & Maciariello, 2008, p. 19). However, some of the employees in this company would give up the job, as they were not informed at recruitment on the actual working conditions.

A study revealed that most of the workers who applied for employment in Hong Kong were not even aware of the working conditions (Barnard, 1938, p. 23). The work-related pressure would therefore make them give up the job since it would be more than they expected.

Poor communication was also an evident culture in the management between the workers themselves and between the workers and the administration as discussed above. As the literature suggests, communication is a crucial function of management, and that managers should facilitate it at various levels (Barnett, 1995, p. 27).

The employees in the organisation were also not motivated at the work place. Consequently, most of them found it uncomfortable at the work place. They would end up taking redundant leaves besides providing false nuisance to skip work. This case was another challenge that the management faced, and one that it did not address appropriately.

As stated above, Whiteley (2002, p. 34) found the motivation to be a substantial contributor to the performance of employees at the workplace. The managers should have set out a plan on how to motivate the employees thereby avoiding and correcting the poor attitude.

The staff benefits provided in the organisation were also not attractive. This challenge contributed to high turnover rate and the low motivation observed. Whiteley states that one of the important factors in the motivation of employees is remuneration, and the delicate balance between the satisfaction of the employees and the salary has to be maintained (2002, p. 35).

Most of the other companies in the country that experienced the same problem of motivation were mainly related to remuneration (Whiteley, 2002, p. 35). Employees consider the pay and other benefits to be the most influential factor determining their output and stay in a company (Whiteley, 2002, p. 35). Managers should strive to ensure that they are always satisfied where possible.

The organisation considered in the case study did not have an elaborate training scheme or an opportunity for career development of employees. This gap was evident and common among the other companies surveyed and discussed in the literature review especially those that reported poor performance and high employee turnover (Cotton, & Tuttle, 1986, p. 67).

Since most employees have to be trained on the working conditions and the jobs they carry out, most companies have training programs in place within the organisation. This strategy is reported to improve employee output (Whiteley, 2002, p. 39). Training of new and current employees is therefore a decisive factor in the success of businesses.

The process of decision-making in the organisation that was chosen for the case study was slow with the management having little innovation, which depicts the incompetence of the management team. Although the organisation was based in Hong Kong, multiple nationalities had been recruited among them being British, Nepalese, Turks, Filipinos, and Indian workers.

The explanation for this kind of recruitment was to ensure cheap labour. As Drucker and Maciariello claim, the constitution of the workforce with workers from multiple backgrounds creates a diverse organisational culture, which may create a managerial problem (2008, p. 19). Different countries and citizens have varied organisational culture.

There is a need for a structured management strategy to ensure the most out of this organisational culture (Drucker, & Maciariello, 2008, p. 19). There should have been attempts to align the organisational culture into a goal-oriented one where the employees work towards the attainment of the set organisational goals (Drucker, & Maciariello, 2008, p. 16).

The organisation had little impact on the society in which it was located with most of the residents reporting a negative opinion on the company and its functions. The organisation also lacked an appropriate method of reaching out and giving out to the society it was located.

This case was also evidenced in the way the recruitment of the employees was done. In major organisations, there is a requirement that a certain proportion of employees are derived from the society in which the organisation is located (Drucker, & Maciariello, 2008, p. 17).

Some of the other projects that the organisation should have undertaken include the management of environmental resources and ensuring that the environment that it works in was not destroyed.

As discussed above, the case is of relevance to the knowledge gathered from the class work so far. It represents the main problems that are experienced at the workplace. The manager is the individual responsible for the leadership of the business to profitability.

They should address most of the failures observed in the business. In the communication problem outlined, the management team should have developed an appropriate method of getting feedback from the employees and listening to their grievances. In most of the companies and organisations of similar size in a related field that were used for comparison, the same results were obtained as those for the organisation in question.

Most of the organisations faced a challenge in communication across all levels of employment including the management. The levels of the problem were different varying with the organisation that was sampled. This case demonstrates that adequate training for the management teams on communication is still necessary.

Recommendations

From the case study, a number of recommendations are possible to improve the performance of the organisation, prevent the recurrence of the problems, and ensure productivity. In the communication problem highlighted in the organisation, the management can address it by putting adequate structures to facilitate this gap in the organisation.

The organisation should have a policy of openness and transparency in its operation. It can guarantee this provision by publishing the results of its transactions to the employees, organising conferences and open days, as well as carrying out teambuilding activities within the labour force. The managers should also be free to communicate with the subordinates with regular meetings to be attended by everyone.

The organisation can use several ways to mitigate the high employee turnover that is currently being experienced. Since one of the reasons for the turnover that were explored in the case study is low employee motivation, the organisation may motivate the employees by introducing attractive pays and providing training opportunities for them (Drucker, & Maciariello, 2008, p. 19).

The company also needs to change management to a more informed one and one that is swift in decision-making.

The organisation also needs to have an elaborate formula of giving back to the community in which it is located by providing basic services such as health and education to the society (Drucker, & Maciariello, 2008, p. 19). Environmental conservation is also necessary for the organisation. The aim should be to restore the original vegetation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the case study features an organisation that has difficulties in management ranging from poor communication to high employee turnover rates. The organisation was established to have problems that were rampant in the Asian region as highlighted in the case studies.

The employees were also not retained in the organisation for long. Therefore, the company had a high turnover rate of employees. Since the recruitment was not adequately done, the management would end up with new employees who were not well suited for the job.

Consequently, they would then be sacked. Some would also resign since they were not informed at recruitment on the actual working conditions. The work-related pressure would therefore make them quit the job after some time.

The case was also considered in full with recommendations being made towards solving the problem. Some of the recommendations made include the change of management and the improvement of job satisfaction for the employees.

Reference List

Barnard, I. (1938). The functions of the executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Barnard, E., & Rodgers, A. (1998). What’s in the package? Policies for the internal cultivation of human resources and for high performance operations. Asia Academy of Management (Hong Kong), 1(1), 6.

Barnett, R. (1995). Flexible benefits: Communication is the key. Benefits and Compensation International, 24(6), 25-28.

Campbell, J., & Pritchard, R. (1976). Motivation theory in industrial and organisational psychology. Chicago: Rand McNally.

Cotton, L., & Tuttle, F. (1986). Employee turnover: A meta-analysis andreview with implications for research. Academy of Management Review, 11(1), 55-70.

Drucker, F., & Maciariello, A. (2008). Management. New York, NY: Collins.

Harris, E., & Nelson, D. (2008). Applied organisational communication: Theory and practice in a global environment. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Jones, E., Watson, B., Gardner, J., & Gallois, C. (2004). Organisational Communication: Challenges for the new century. Journal of Communication, 54(4), 722-750.

Koh, C., & Goh, T. (1995). An analysis of the factors affecting the turnover intention of non-managerial clerical staff: A Singapore study. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 6(1), 6-11.

Machachlan, R. (1996). Job-Hopping or ‘industrial espionage. Personnel Management, 2(14), 15-16.

McGregor, D. (1960). The human side of enterprise. Boston: McGraw Hill.

Torrington, D., & Hall, L. (1991). Personnel Management. Oxford. Oxford University Press.

Whiteley, P. (2002). Motivation. Oxford, U.K.: Capstone Pub..

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