Management Case Study free essay sample

The case study below takes place at the Sir Charles Wilberforce Hospital’s cafeteria, which is experiencing problems with the change management. Due to the new management undertaken by Keith Davis, there was a major issue of inadequate communication channels, as Keith told his employees what to do rather than consult them, especially with the decision-making. The best alternative to rectify this problem is for Keith to adapt to a consultative management style, in order for employees to take ownership in their workplace through expressing their opinions and feel more valued, however still allowing Keith to still make the final decision. Another major issue addressed in the Cafeteria was the amount of unmotivated staff. As employees feel unsatisfied with their work, the best solution to this issue is Goal Setting. Through employees setting strategic goals they will increase their motivation through achievement of these goals which will lead them to set more challenging ones. We will write a custom essay sample on Management Case Study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Lastly, the third major issue recognised was Keith’s poor leadership skills which made it difficult for employees to fulfil expectations and find enjoyment in the workplace. The best alternative solution for this problem is to retrain Keith’s leadership abilities so he is able to adopt all the qualities needed to become a better leader in his managing role. Although this may be an expensive method, the new leadership qualities Keith will learn will make a happier work environment for his employees and build a better employer/employee relationship. 3. Problem identification Poor communication channels Keith focuses on top down communication channels, providing a one way communication which is from him to his employees, rather than two-way which provides his employees to communicate ideas with him. This negatively impacts the hospital as the Keith is unable to discuss problems or ask questions amongst employees to see if there are any problems going on amongst the workers and therefore leading to job dissatisfaction employees. Although Keith tried to soothe Julia when the issue between her and Madison was brought to his attention, he did not follow it up or treat it as an importance. Lack of staff motivation Prior to Keith’s managing, Anne’s original foundations of self-satisfaction and close family ties seemed to motivate the employees at Sir Charles Wilberforce hospital. Keith’s changes were made to become more efficient, employees were left struggling to gain satisfaction and motivation in order for themselves to achieve their hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1954). In this hierarchy of needs Maslow developed, employees have five needs, physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualisation, once they fulfil one of their needs they can graduate to the next one to fulfil it and so on. Without fulfilling the social needs of forming social ties or self-actualisation of gaining enough experience within the kitchen to become a supervisor, it became unknown to the employees of what they are capable of and decreased their enticements to complete tasks and feel satisfied. Insufficient leadership abilities Keith lacks major leadership qualities, as the organisational layout he uses is to tell employees what to do, depriving them of guidance and support. The Hersey Situations leadership model suggests that leadership focuses on follower’s readiness (Hersey, Blanchard Johnson, 2001). This theory suggests that at Sir Charles Wilberforce, if the employees feel they are unable to complete a task Keith should give those clear and specific instructions. If they are willing and confident Keith needs to provide them display high task orientation, and if employees feel able but are unwilling Keith would need to use a supportive approach. Lack of teamwork The teamwork environment of delegating tasks amongst of employees was not addressed by Keith. He believed that employees needed to finish work on time, plan menus monthly and take on cleaning responsibilities, whereas, the use of team work would have provided a better suited time managed system. Through having each employee assist with cleaning duties, planning menus, helping out another if time was short as well as assisting each other to get all food out and made the kitchen would be less chaotic. This would have assisted with issues if someone was ill, allowing more than one person to prepare greater portions of meals. 4. Statement of Major Problems The three major problems that are brought to the attention at Sir Charles Wilberforce Hospital are: Inadequate communication channels Unmotivated staff Insufficient leadership abilities The poor communication channel Keith utilises is top-down communication from Keith to his employees. As this is a workplace that depends on seeking ideas from others and support from each other, two way communications between Keith and his employees is necessary. This will allow employees to feel part of the decision making and feel they can share their ideas to improve the workplace. Following this Keith must then improve his leadership skills, putting his employees first and assisting them with any help and support they need in order to achieve a positive workplace. This may involve Keith revising the organisation’s culture, or distinguishing the strength and weakness of each employee so he knows how to assist each of them. Once Keith’s leadership abilities are improved, staff motivation must be identified and given, in order for employees to become productive within the kitchen and gain job satisfaction, increasing their abilities and allowing them to feel the want to work. 5. Generation and Evaluation of Alternative Solutions Inadequate communication channels Regular work meetings Set regular meetings within the kitchen, in order to concerns amongst employees to be discussed as we as evaluation on how the business is going and openly discuss ways to improve or maintain it. Advantages Allows for feedback Employees can listen to each person’s idea and encourages discussion openly Evaluate the earnings to the previous week and that time the previous year, allowing each person to suggest ways to improve or maintain their profit margins. Disadvantages Some employees may not attend May be time consuming to discuss all ideas Consultative management style Implement a Consultative management style in order to increase two-way and open communication between Keith and the employees. Advantages Allows employees to feel ownership in decision making Allows employees to share their ideas and opinions Gives confidence to employees Disadvantages Employees may feel held back to express their opinions because they do not feel comfortable Employees may feel offended if their ideas are not taken into consideration Time consuming Unmotivated staff Goal setting Implement setting goals, which involve employees setting goals that motivate them to improve their capabilities. Advantages Gives self-satisfaction Increases productivity and performance levels Disadvantages Time consuming to distinguish appropriate and achievable goals Goals ay appear as unattainable and lead to employees to give up Job design Mr Dev can alter the job design to assist in identifying and correcting any deficiencies that affect performance and motivation. Advantages Job enlargement, can be used to increase motivation by giving employees more and varied tasks so the employee is motivation to try new tasks Job rotation allows an employee to work in different departments or jobs in an organization to gain better insight into operations motivating the employee to increase his/her skills and knowledge about other jobs. Disadvantages Job enrichment may lead the employee transferred too much responsibility in the kitchen and independence in the planning and control aspects of the job which may suppress motivation levels Reward and Recognition Evaluating each employee to identify which people are performing to their maximum, and rewarding them financially or non-financially for their hard work, therefore motivating other employees to improve their work standards. Advantages Employees will increase performance to obtain more rewards Will produce higher standards amongst the employees Self- enrichment Disadvantages Expensive to keep purchasing rewards and reassess each employee to recognise After a while employees may feel that rewards may not motivate them anymore Keith may not want to undertake the idea of rewarding and recognising employees Insufficient leadership abilities Retrain Keith Retraining programs for Keith within the company or externally will allow Keith to develop better leadership qualities and create a happier workplace. Advantages Positively effects employees to feel trust and support from Keith Keith can evaluate themselves as to what skills are expected to lead the employees Disadvantages May take a while for Keith to learn and adapt to these skills May be expensive Dismiss Keith Dismissing Keith will demolish the issue of poor leadership abilities and will allow the business to replace him with a more experienced manager. Advantages Re-appoint a new manager who possess all correct leadership skills Employees are in a happier environment where they can get the support they need More time appropriate and efficient than retraining Disadvantages May be hard to find a replacement Employees may find it hard to adapt to a new manager and may be resistant to give them a chance due to their bad experience with Keith 6. Recommendation Consultative management style A Consultative management style is the recommended alternative for Keith to address to his employees. The type of management style used by Keith at this point is autocratic, which involves him making decisions for the hospital kitchen unilaterally. Although regular meetings are a good alternative by providing mediation and assistant towards employees, the consultative management style involves a permanent change to the organisation. The consultative style would involve Keith discussing ideas of possible changes to be made within the kitchen, as well as employees being able to give their opinions and ideas. By implementing a consultative management style, employees at the cafeteria will be able to perform to their optimum level, concentrating on increasing common sense approach for Keith to meet the needs and wants of the employees, as well as making employees realise their own abilities and capabilities in performing tasks, (McClelland, 1987). Similarly to regular meetings, the consultative approach gives open communication, however unlike meetings the consultative approach is more permanent in the workplace and is used daily, for example in decision making, gaining assistance with a task or getting support with a concern. This will benefit the kitchen, as the employees will respond more positively to any changes to feel more a part of the workplace and a sense of belonging. Keith will benefit from this style, as he will be given a broader range of ideas as well as maintain his authority to make the final decision. Goal Setting Setting goals is the preferred alternative for Keith to use within the kitchen. Despite the fact being rewarded motivates someone to maintain if not improve performance to be rewarded again, goal setting gives motivation. Goal setting enables employees to measure their processes and work performance. This enables employees to gain feedback on their results, unlike rewards and recognition which just motivates employees to try harder to gain another reward rather than possessing the want to gain the self-satisfaction that they have improved. Edward Locke’s theory of goal setting outlines that in setting specific and challenging goals it enables process and outcome improvement (Locke Latham, 1990). Similarly, job design suggests a different form of motivating to increase their skills of different tasks, however it also does hold the ability to measure the improvement that setting goals do. If goal setting is adapted by Keith, his employees would be able to achieve towards a higher performance, as well as motivating them to set higher goals with increasingly difficult tasks, once they have been achieved. Through Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, this can assist in setting goals with Locke and Latham’s theory. Maslow theory suggests that ‘although no need is every fully satisfied, a substantially satisfied need no longer motivates an individual to satisfy that need’ (Robbins, Bergmann, Stagg and Coulter, 2012, p559). This suggests that in identifying each need, physiological safety social esteem and self-actualisation, employees at sir Charles Wilberforce can pinpoint what tasks they need to complete in order to graduate to the next level. For example one of the employees may find that they feel they don’t belong, in order to achieve this level they can set a goal to form relations with other employees on a professional basis. Once this goal is achieved they can move on to develop their esteem needs. Retraining Keith Although, retraining Keith may be considered a time consuming process, compared to the alternative of dismissing Keith, it appears to be a more logical approach. Through retraining, Keith is able to gain leadership skills that he may not be aware are essential skills he needs in order to be a manager. This will transform him from telling his employees what to do, to instead assisting and guiding them through changes. Despite the expenses of this method, it may also be difficult for Keith to cooperate as well as understand the concept of these skills however unlike dismissing, he will be able to improve and allow for a happier work. The trait theory suggests that it is impossible to identify and isolate characteristics from leaders from non-leaders. However there are seven traits associated with leadership, these being ‘drive, the desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, intelligence, job-relevant knowledge and extraversion’, (Robbins, 2012, p605). Eventually with the retraining, Keith may possess these seven leadership abilities to involve his employees in decision making process and form a trust bond.

The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie Essay

The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie Essay The Aspect of Suspense Introduction In this thesis, I will discuss the significance of using suspense in mystery writing with regard to Christies play The Mousetrap where she uses suspense in the events of the play to make the fascinating. The paper will explain the effect of using these techniques of suspense in mystery writing. Suspense is when an individual experiences gratifying expectation and excitement regarding the outcome of a story. This is a state of becoming in doubt or uncertain with reference to a situation, which, can also appear to be mysterious. Suspense is necessary in writing mystery plays because it captures the audience’s interest and imagination. Discussion In literature suspense, the state where the reader or viewer having the details of the script they cannot exactly explain what will occur in the last part, but the story gives clues that something pleasant or terrible is going to happen. This is a literature style where the author wants the audience to predict what will occur in the context with the story. In the mousetrap, the setting is at an inn in the English countryside called Monkswell Manor, which recently opened by a hopeful couple Giles and Mollie Ralston. The author describes it as a cozy setting in the suburbs of London. The plot events of the play build suspense when there is an announcement of death of a woman called Mrs. Maureen Lyon on radio this makes the audience suspicious about who the murderers identity. Secondly, the situation where most of the guests of the inn including Giles the owner were wearing the same outfit described to be the murderers outfit, which brought suspense concerning the identity of the murderer amongst the guests. Suspense also concerns the disappearance of the two siblings abused by Mrs.Stanning. In addition, suspense created when one of the owners of the inn is wearing the same attire like the murderer hence a suspect, will they exchange anniversary presents or break up. The plays plot is full of suspense, most or the characters have what i can call masked they have different names, this gives the audience suspense in linking the past names of the characters and the new names they reveal as the interrogation continues. False information creates suspense because it gives details that need investigation, during investigation there is a creation of suspense the audience is wondering about the results of the investigation and wondering who could be the murderer amongst them. Information that is not true tend to create anxiety and imaginary clues about what will happen hence create suspense. False names, locations, and confessions, make the audience want to find the truth. False information creates turmoil, anger, and betrayal, crimes against characters and resentment that will create a basis for suspense. The audience will be alert, anxious, worried and guessing about what will occur the last part the play. Conclusion The above discussion clearly shows that the author utilized the aspect of suspense in different elements of literature. The main styles of suspense in the Mousetrap play include; romance, humorous and horrific which are extremely essential to bring out traits of a mystery play. Evidently, horrific suspense created when there is a murder in the beginning of the play and romance suspense, created when the owners of the inn and the residents of the English countryside suspect each other about the murder. Buy a custom essay on The Mousetrap online, at CustomWritings.com. Your essay will be written by professional academic writers.

Liberal Democracy Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Liberal Democracy - Coursework Example Statutory laws and controlled institutions are relied upon to guarantee the liberal and constitutional rights of the citizens (Kukathas 2004, p. 45). According to Held (2006, p.73), liberal democracy is well supported by the political theory of pluralism, which allows individuals and groups reach for their interests in the political process, hence, decisions are arrived at through compromise to accommodate the interests of all stakeholders and interest groups. One of the main elements of a liberal democracy is the constitution. The constitution in liberal democracies starts with the assumption of sovereignty, vesting the ultimate power in the people. The democracy presupposes that people can control their destiny and that they make moral judgments and practical decisions in their daily lives (Wallace 2007 pg. 7). It requires a decision-making system based on majority rule, with the protection of minority rights; seeks to protect in  judgments while controlling the majority (majoritarianism) by trying to face out the practice of majority rule (Dunn 1994, pg 11). The constitutions of liberal democracies mostly uphold the four main concepts of democratic creed namely: individualism, liberty, equality and fraternity. Individualism states that the prime objective of democratic government is to protect citizens so that each individual in the state can achieve the highest level of personal development (Marlman 2009, pg13). Liberty is in essence allowing individuals the highest degree of freedom that is consistent with order and natural justice. Equality states and maintains that all people are equal in creation have equal opportunities and rights (Mueller 2007, p.41).