My research on utilization of organizational behavior techniques

For this assignment I was tasked with interviewing two managers from different levels of management in order to determine how each manager utilizes organizational behavior techniques in their organization. To find the managers to interview I decided to use a business that was in my local area and one larger known business that I am very familiar with. After sorting my options I decided to go with Trey Macdonald, an (entry level) assistant customer service manager that works at a Publix supermarket in Smyrna along with Valerie Wright a (top level) store manager at a very small local gallery business in my area to interview. I chose to interview these two people because I know them both rather well and believe that they run successful companies and do a pretty good job with their customers and employees. Through these two interviews I learned many tips and strategies for owning and running a business. Both interviews were conducted in person and onsite at the property of the business.

Valerie Wright owns a small shop located in a rural part of Georgia named Valerie’s Gallery. At the shop she sell crafting items and accessories, does sowing and even do special request for clients, etc. The company is fairly small, has about thirty employees and more than a hundred regular clients. The company is still pretty new given that it has only been around for about three years. Valerie, who is the owner and store manager of the business, was more than happy to participate in the interview. I too was personally excited granite that I like her store and have purchased many items from it.

When asked about behavioral issues in the workplace Wright informed me that sometimes motivation is hard to keep up around here. “ This job is dependent upon creativity and bright, original ideas and sometimes you don’t have them. Also there are times when you can create something and make it all wrong or something doesn’t work out and you have to start all over again. That can be very frustrating and requires a lot of patience” Wright stated. Wright told me how a client can say they want one thing but actually mean another and expect you to change it to their liking not matter how hard you worked on it previously. People want things done by a specific deadline which is understandable it’s just that Wright has many clients but few employees. Gender diversity has also been a problem, some people have complained of Wright not having any males in the store, certain clients stated that they felt unsure about having a female make a gift for a male insinuating that the gift may come out girly looking. Personalities have also posed a problem given that certain crafters are Type A when it comes to making items and others aren’t. When they have to collaborate on big projects together nine times out of ten these employees are bound to get into some sort of a major augment regarding how the project is done.

I next asked Wright how she implement Organizational Behavior strategies in her organization. She told me for that for motivation she has special client appreciation days when the shop just close down and she takes her employees out to eat, give them gifts and they get the rest of the day off. Employees are rewarded for all new ideas and those who have to work twice as hard on a project for a client receives a monetary bonus. She has also made a rest area inside the shop so that when one of her employee are feeling just worn out and tired or out of ideas the can rest up a little and think a bit about what to do next. When it comes to collaboration she now sets people up by skills and personality types to cause less personality clashes. Wright has also started hiring males, which has turned out to be good for the company since they now have an increase of males that come and shop and feel comfortable and welcome in the store. Wright keeps an open door policy and always let her employees know that she is there to talk and help, but she also tells her employees to be understanding of each other and try to help each other out as much as possible and listen to one another because sometimes people just need to talk.

The organizational problem: Samantha feels that she has to do everything at the gallery. In one day she had to sew three blankets, make a journal, create a few colorful bows and work on a special project for a customer. But Samantha isn’t alone Jonathan along with a few other people at the gallery feel like they are doing little bits of everything and it’s starting to get confusing and overwhelming for them. Wright was interested in me informing her on what she can do to eliminate both the confusion and the complaints

Analysis of dynamics of the problem: It seems that none of Ms. Valerie employees have a clear, specific job description.

Support and defense of intervention strategy: I think that Valerie needs to give each employee a specific skill and task to focus on. Each person will stick to certain and specific skills. For example Samantha will handle creating journals, scrapbooks and photo albums. Miriam will handle all sowing and Darryl will handle fixing and cleaning all crafting equipment. The employee job description should also be given to them in writing. I think this is a good solution because the workers can know exactly what they are required to do around the job and be able to show it to their coworkers if one of them try to tell them to do otherwise than what their job is.

Approach strategy: Ms. Wright should inform the employees of what she will do regarding the job description plan.

Implementation plan: Ms. Wright should list the type of skills need at the company and ask each employee to choose a specific skill that they are good at and can stay committed to. They can choose from one to three skills and after they have done so Ms. Wright will write out their job description(s) and title(s).

Evaluation plan: After two weeks of implementation I will return back to Ms. Wright and see how the employees are doing and if the new strategy is working.

Trey MacDonald is an assistant customer service manager at the Highland Station Publix which is the second best Publix in Georgia and one of the busiest stores to work at. He has been working at the company for about five years but has only attained this position within the last six months. He truly enjoys working at Publix and is working toward becoming a store manager one day.

When asked about behavioral issues in the workplace Macdonald explained to me that there is a lot of stress when it comes to working at a supermarket especially a busy one. Macdonald happens to work at the second busiest Publix in Georgia so he knows all about being fast pace. “ We get a lot of picky customers in the store due to the area being upper middle class. Our policy is that we keep our customers happy at all cost. This can prove to be hard to do at times for our customer service team who have to be nice to customers regardless of how nasty and rude the customer may be in return. I have seen cashiers come in crying and or leave crying. This job is highly stressful and as I have been told and have experienced myself can be overwhelming especially with the mass of people that we get everyday no matter the hour.” Macdonald further explained how stressed out employees only lead to more stressful conditions. At times employees can take out their frustration on the customer which will aggravate the customer leading to a stressful situation. “ This store stay busy which means our baggers, cashiers and front service clerks have to work not only quickly but also efficiently and cheerfully.” This may seem easy but is not always the case when there are about ten people in your line with cart full of groceries and a customer with fifty to a hundred coupons. Many employees get stressed out, burned out, lose their cool, get overwhelmed and just don’t want to come to work, Macdonald told me. There are also management issues. “ I have been in countless amounts of stores where the employees can’t seem to get along with one or more of the managers. Since management fluctuate constantly at Publix you’ll always get that one manager (or higher up employee) that everyone hates.” Macdonald informed me that this Publix received racial gender and age diversity complaints as well as HR complaints about the harsh treatments of managers to employees and employees complaining of not receiving a pay raises and not feeling appreciated by the management.

I then asked McDonald how he implement organizational behavior strategies at his company. He told me that regarding the appreciation he ensures there is a customer appreciation cookout every six months at his Publix. He encourages cashiers to take off when they really feel out of it and don’t what to come to work. He feels it spares him, the cashier and the customer in return. Macdonald advises his employees to get a manager as soon as they feel overwhelmed or the customer began to get an attitude, “ never handle the situation on your own management is here to help this is what we get paid for. “ “ I was brought to this store due to the many complaints that this store received regarding their old management. As far as management goes I always tell my employees that if you dislike your manager and you confront them and if they don’t want to listen to you or don’t change speak to the managers above them until you reach the store manager and if things still don’t change call HR.” At that’s store Macdonald along with the management team implemented health programs to encourage employees to get or stay healthy and fit. “ I always try to schedule my employees appropriately not giving to many or too little hours. We’ve so far employed a lot of new people varying in race, gender and age. We have even raised our starting pay and increased all pay raises. We give employees quarterly bonuses and try to give them pay raise every evaluation period. We inform employees that as long as they are giving exceptional work they will receive periodic raises.”

The organizational problem: More than one of the employees at the Smyrna Publix has complained about the Customer service manager Tana Rodriguez. They have talked about her nasty and disrespectful attitude towards all the employees especially the elderly. She used to be nice but quickly changed She has spoken to them in unseemly fashion and fired a couple for no serious or problematic reasons. She is moody, irritable and absolutely no one seem to like her, even customers are complaining and workers, good workers at that, are beginning to leave.

Analysis of dynamics of the problem: The cause of the problem is clearly Tana Rodriguez. She looks down on and disrespects her employees.

Support and defense of intervention strategy: I would tell my client that he should transfer Tana to a store that isn’t as busy, in fact they need to transfer her to a smaller store and withhold her from receiving any promotion as long as she continue to behave this way. I feel that this is a good plan because we aren’t making her angry by firing or demoting her but we are teaching her a lesson by moving her to a smaller store, that isn’t doing as well compared to the store she is currently at, where she will have time to get her attitude together and prove herself to the Publix company. A bad store only make the managers look bad. Tana is all about wanting to build herself up and make herself look good because she wants to become store an assistant store manager so she is going to have to change so she don’t get fired.

Approach strategy: The client should inform the store manager of what I’ve told him to do and get HR to back him up and agree with him and look into transferring Tana as soon as possible and hiring someone from a smaller store to replace Tana.

Implementation plan: I will tell him to such go straight to speak to the store managers and talk to HR. After the transfer is complete inform Tana one week before she is supposed to leave about what is happening and why. The sooner she leaves the better so everything should happen as soon as possible.

Evaluation plan: Three months after having Tania replace and removed from the store I will have the assistance customer service manager speak to each employee about the new customer service manager to see if the employees like him/her and if conditions have improved for the employees.