Dr. Curtis Todd Essays Examples

Management Issue at My Job

MANAGEMENT ISSUES AT MY JOB
One of the current issues in the workplace is women’s rights. The history of issues management can be traced back during the 1970s when General Electric responded to the demand for women's rights in the workplace (Wartick & Rude, 1986). In the case of G.E., it created company policies which recognized the rights of women in the work place. In the case of S. C. Johnson, it had to face some environmental issues regarding its products. In order to properly address the issues, the company removed chloroflourocarbon propellants from its aerospray products to be able to comply with environmental laws during the 1980s. By recognizing that the demands of new special interest groups and new government regulations meant that business was operating under a different business environment.
Hence, companies like GE and Johnson have decided to act on the issues and not just by identifying the changes that have to be done. Enhancing corporate performance can be done by improving public policy involvement, corporate social responsibility, and strategic management as part of the essential corporate tasks (Wartick & Rude, 1986).
In the case of Apple, Inc., it was confronted with security issues regarding its products such as the antenna of Apple’s iPhone or the battery of the Ipod Nano which had received a lot of attention about four years ago. To be able to address the concern on what might have been a fatal design flaw and series of quality issues, after receiving reports of first-generation Pod Nano MP3 players overheating, Apple’s Japan unit offered to replace the batteries of models sold between September 2005 and December 2006 to resolve the quality issues (Krzykowski, 2010).
Another issue that haunted Apple Inc.’s CEO, Mr. Tim Cook is when one of the company’s suppliers’ workers threatened to commit suicide after complaining their alleged inhumane working conditions. It was reported that Foxconn, which is one of Apple’s suppliers is also one of the biggest global electronics manufacturers that operates in Taiwan. Foxconn employed at least 150 Chinese workers, who threatened to jump off from the factory roof located in its plant in China, as they protested the company’s hazardous working conditions. It is a known fact that Apple gadgets have been popular to consumers all over the world. To address the issue, Apple stated that it shall abide to its corporate social responsibility when it decided to become a member of the Fair Labor Association. The association seeks to recognize the corporate social responsibility of member companies and to promote its advocacy.
On the part of Apple, it conducted a dialogue with Chinese labor rights activists and environmental groups to allow them to monitor the working environment of their supplier’s factories. Apple Inc. endeavoured to prevent the environmental and labor issue decided to give permission to the concerned labor groups to see to it that no harm is inflicted to the workers. Such action promoted the values of equality and fairness by giving the employees what is due to them. Mr Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple had to take action by making sure that no harm was inflicted to Foxconn’s workers and such decision is for the benefit of the majority. It can be considered as an ethical decision because avoiding harm or injury to others clearly promotes the welfare of the workers. Thus, by making the workplace of the employees safe and secured is a manifestation that Apple Inc promotes the rights of the workers. Its founder Steve Jobs is known for developing innovative products by choosing the right people for the job and promoting the culture of hard work and creativity within the work place (Bauer & Erdogan, 2009).
It was best for Apple to terminate its contract with Foxconn if it continued to expose its workers to a hazardous working environment. The ethical decision that must be done by Apple is to ban the products manufactured by Foxconn if it ceases to provide the workers with a hazard-free working environment. The move of Apple promotes corporate social responsibility when it joined the fair labor association by providing the Foxconn workers with just salary and humane working environment. The decision of Apple Inc. is transcends management issues and shows the values and integrity of the company by recognizing the rights of the workers.
According to Bauer & Erdogan (2009), organizational behavior refers to the systematic study and application of knowledge on how persons and groups work and act within the company or business where they work. In order for some of the best companies in the world have considered the fact that it is the employees are of significant importance since they are the ones who make the place. Thus, it is expected for organizations to give value to their employees to make them more profitable. Bauer & Erdogan (2009) explained that the most successful organizations maintain their booming business by giving employment security, engage in elective hiring, investing in self-managed teams, paying their employees well, and by giving them proper trainings and seminars.
Studies revealed that organizations that are effective possess strong organizational behaviour qualities such as role clarity, information sharing, and performance feedback (Bauer & Erdogan, 2009). Experts explained that that most organizations which turned out to be unhealthy failed to engage in effective organizational behaviour. This can be further illustrated in the case of Whole Foods, wherein each of its stores practice the open compensation policy, where the salaries and bonuses are listed for all employees (Bauer & Erdogan, 2009). The company placed a salary cap which places a limitation on the maximum cash compensation given to each employee, including the CEO. This practice of transparency shows that the salary of the highest paid executive is about 19 times the companywide annual average salary for one full-time employee (Bauer & Erdogan, 2009). Thus, when an average employee earns about $30,000 in one year, the highest potential pay for the CEO should only be $570,000. This practice of Whole Foods is incomparable to the salaries of other CEO’s in other companies such as Steve Jobs who worked for Apple and received $14.6 million, which made him the highest paid CEO in 2007 (Bauer & Erdogan, 2009). Such practice of Whole Foods only shows that they pay their employees well and that they earn what they are supposed to receive.
The best way to promote positive organizational behavior among the employees is inspiring the employees to have a positive attitude about their jobs. By encouraging the employees to develop their skills will improve their personality, which is a big part of employee satisfaction and personal happiness (Bauer & Erdogan, 2009). To be able to resolve job dissatisfaction and employee turn-over, it is best the employee will find a good fit with the job and company. The employee must learn to think positive to cultivate job satisfaction and happiness in the work environment and to avoid looking for the negative side of things. Conducting workshops and trainings for employees’ self-improvement will give the employees the opportunity to develop their skills and to assess their capabilities. By giving the employee the chance to familiarize themselves with their jobs and the company’s objectives shall make them understand the company’s culture. The company should be able to develop good relationships at work by making friends and building relationships (Bauer & Erdogan, 2009). The company should also remember to pay their employees well. Salary is an important, but job characteristics are more essential to look for the right people and advance job satisfaction. By being proactive in managing organizational life and being able to cope up with the stress will advance positive results. Effective time management and having a good social network will promote productivity and remove the stress in the work place. When the company fails to make the employees happy over an extended period of time, there is a greater tendency that they will quit their jobs and the problems on employee turn-over will remain unresolved (Bauer & Erdogan, 2009).
According to Zehir, et al. (2014), leadership effectiveness is also a significant factor that can influence the performance of employees. Based on the situational leadership theory (SLT), the leaders are expected to focus on changing their type of leadership and on the capacity of employees to be able adapt to the external competitive environment (Zehir, et al., 2014, p. 1725).
Employees will also perform well if they possess the qualities that are needed by their job position. Job performance is determined by the general mental ability, or cognitive abilities of the employees (Bauer & Erdogan, 2009, p.85). The reasoning abilities, verbal and numerical skills, analytical skills, and overall intelligence level of the employees should match the job qualifications to be able to find the suitable employee for the job. The cognitive ability of the employee will assess the ability of the employees to perform their tasks and overall job performance. According to Bauer & Erdogan (2009, p.85), general mental ability is vital in the performance of job functions in various settings. Those jobs with high level of complexity will require higher general mental abilities since the tasks are more critical compared to the other jobs. For those employees working in sales, management, engineering, or other professional areas, general mental ability is more important, as opposed to other jobs that will only require manual labor and clerical work functions. It is also critical that management knows to treat their employees professionally to determine their level of performance.
Another management issue is promoting women’s rights inside the work place. McDonald (2012) stated that sexual harassment is a familiar issue in the work place since it can result to abusive behaviours to those who belong to upper management against co-workers who belong to the rank and file. The typical sexual harassment behaviours inside the work place include racial harassment, sexual harassment, bullying, verbal remarks, and gender-sensitive remarks (McDonald, 2012, p.5). Cases of sexual harassment should be reported to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Thus, every organization should implement anti-sexual harassment policies to deter any unwanted or unwelcome conduct in the work setting that shall cause hostile, intimidating, offensive, degrading, and humiliating effect against a person (McDonald, 2012, p.4).
In the event that the company will encounter sexual harassment cases inside the work place, management should be prepared in its anti-sexual harassment policies to prevent any hostile work environment that may cause a lasting impact especially on female employees, as the common targets. Management should not tolerate such kind of behaviour in the work place that can affect the professional growth of the victims since they are confronted with a discriminatory environment. It is also imperative to establish a complaint procedure that will give the names and phone numbers of contact people to whom workers can report misconduct. Management should also indicate the assigned person who will investigate and decide the complaint who will ensure the confidentiality of the victim and assailant. It is also mandatory for the employer to institute investigative procedures as promptly as possible. Management should be fair in its judgment and implementing the disciplinary action. The best way to capture the events is to make all the necessary documentation to support the disciplinary action that was taken. It is also important to keep all records to avoid any lawsuits to be filed by the assailant. Finally, conduct anti-harassment training among the employees will enable the management to its anti-sexual harassment policy and to educate the employees on how to respond and prevent sexual harassment.

References:

5 steps you must take to prevent and address sexual harassment. (2013). HR Specialist: Texas
Employment Law, 8(11), 4.
Bauer, T. & Erdogan, B. (2009). Organizational Behavior. Florida: Flat World Knowledge Inc.
Krzykowski, B. (2010). Apple's Recent Bruise:s Tech giant's quality issues mount in recent
months. Quality Progress, 43(9), 12.
McDonald, P. (2012). Workplace Sexual Harassment 30 Years on: A Review of the
Literature. International Journal of Management Reviews, 14(1), 1-17. 
Wartick, S. L., & Rude, R. E. (1986). Issues Management: Corporate Fad or Corporate
Function? California Management Review, 29(1), 124-140.
Zehir, C., Muceldili, B., Altindag, E., et al. (2014). Charismatic Leadership and Organizational
Citizenship Behavior: The Mediating Role of Ethical Climate. Social Behavior &
Personality: An International Journal, 42(8), 1365-1375.