Management
Management
Introduction
Management is a key function of an organization that should be approached carefully. The case study presents the prevailing conditions within a company known as AbeBooks. There has been high employee turnover within the marketing team. Essentially, increased employee turnover implies that that is a prevailing problem that needs to be addressed in order to avoid adverse effectives of this problem. A thorough review of the case and identification of the root causes of the problem is necessary to ensure that a resolution is achieved as promptly as possible . This report addresses the prevailing issues within the company in order to provide the management with a quality report that can help address the inherent problem based on the findings as they occur in this company. AbeBooks operates online and therefore, it plays a site for online marketplace for new, used, as well as rare and out-of-print books (BCIT, 2009). This report will address key aspects as prevailing within AbeBooks in order to establish a platform for the management to take necessary measures and implement the desirable adjustments. The specific areas to be addressed include values of the company, the level of motivation, teamwork, and creativity. These are the major areas of this report, which will be discussed independently to unravel what is taking place in the company and how improvements could be made by making relevant adjustments. The items will be discussed with consistency to the case for the company marketing team that poses marketing managerial challenges.
Values
- The most important values for AbeBooks include Cooperation, coordination, and creation of quality and innovation. Essentially, cooperation is a necessary value in this company in enhancing the level of interaction within the organization. There has been turnover in the marketing team, which is quite discouraging for the marketing department. This calls for cooperation with individuals within the company in order to ensure that there is a feeling of teamwork and offering of team support in execution of the routine activities. Cooperation seems to be lacking since Antonio, as the manager in the marketing team does not harmonize the relationship with the employees like Tim so that they can remain at work and avoid moving to other companies. Coordination is also an important value that seems quite necessary for the company (Vancouver Island University, 2014). Essentially, it is necessary to ensure effective networking in the company by ensuring that the departments can link and assist each other in carrying out their functions appropriately. This implies that it is necessary to link horizontally or vertically within the organization to enhance the level of operations in the company. Coordination in the plans and systems of the company seems unbecoming since employees do not find it worth to remain working for the company. Creation of quality and innovation in the company is necessary. Employees should be provided with a workplace environment that is highly conducive. Christine does not find her work satisfying and therefore desires to leave the company. This is attributable to the prevailing quality issues and levels of innovation that could otherwise help retain employees.
- Peter decides to leave his job so that he can move with his girlfriend to England since that is where she comes from. Despite his strong career attributes and competence at work, he is determined to leave the job to fulfill his desire. Peter probably belongs to generation Y that is associated with values such as self-gratification and laziness among others. Essentially, peter chooses to leave his job, which he should otherwise take care of, to move to a place where he is uncertain of the outcome (AbeBooks, 2014). This he does in order to achieve instant gratification that suits his personal interest and desires without necessarily minding his future. Despite the amount of persuasion he receives from Antonio, he eventually chooses to follow his heart. This shows some sort of laziness and conformity to values that do not promote human integrity in any way. It would be better to work in this company since there are prospects of growing and developing career wise rather than to follow someone to their country based on the relationship between them. The organization should develop a program for advising employees in different generational groups so that they can understand underlying consequences of certain critical undertakings in their life.
- ERG theory of motivation addresses three distinct aspects that Alderfer postulates, which he draws from the larger Maslow’s framework of his hierarchy of needs. This theory categorizes the former Maslow’s hierarchy of needs into certain needs including, existence, relatedness, and growth. Based on this, in Abe books, Antonio and Christine have certain motivations that drive the decisions that they make with regard to their career and position at work. Antonio is ambitious and determined to establish the marketing department by employing a team that will stay for longer and commit to execution of duties as appropriately as possible. This explains the reason as to why he attempts to convince Christine and the others who have left before to remain at work. Antonio prefers to be associated with high performers like Christine and this explains the bit of relatedness as a motivational factor in ERG theory (Vancouver Island University, 2014). Christine is also ambitious and has high-self esteem. She feels dissatisfied with the condition of work and her roles at work. She yearns to work in a more improved and highly satisfying workplace. She has a feeling of belonging to the particular career that she has always desired. She wants to grow in her career so that she attains competency in execution of her duties and do a job, which satisfies her appropriately. This explains the reason as to why she asks for fewer working days so that they are lessened to four days a week. She has her personal motivations, which keep pressurizing her to quit her current job and position so that she goes in search of another more satisfying job.
- It is necessary that Antonio redesign Christine’s job so that she can be satisfied in her position. For instance, it is necessary that he lessen the working days to the number that Christine has requested. Secondly, he should provide a considerably satisfying workload for Christine. Thirdly, he should ensure that there are assistants in Christine’s office who work with her. He should also consider increasing her pay to be commensurate with the position and the type of work that she is doing. This is important in ensuring that based on her needs and motivations; she can work effectively to achieve organizational and personal goals. Increasing efficiency of the systems and processes that they use at work would enhance the level of satisfaction in order to avoid feelings of dissatisfaction because of poor working instrument (AbeBooks, 2014). Antonio should therefore seek to find out the self-satisfying needs of Christine in as far as her job is concerned to ensure that he provides precisely what is essential. This will motivate Christine and possibly encourage her to stay in the company for longer.
Teamwork
- An effective team possesses distinct characteristics, which propel them to work effectively towards achievement of the set goals and objectives. There are distinct characteristics of an effective team that appear to prevail in AbeBooks. They include strong communication and collaboration, clear performance goals and meaningful common purpose. Strong communication and collaboration is depicted in the manner in which the employees of the organization communicate and present their feeling to the management. For instance, Tim and peter approach Antonio on their respective matters and Antonio responds appropriately in full integrity (AbeBooks, 2014). This shows that there is a considerable amount of collaboration among the members of the marketing team since they share ideas and opinions openly. Christine and Antonio also deliberate their case appropriately. The performance goals for the marketing team are clear as indicated in the motives that Antonio has concerning establishing lasting employees who can serve by employing critical and analytical skills. The team members have a common goal to work as per their abilities where necessary to ensure successful achievement of the common goals and objectives, which revolve around establishing a lasting, competent, and skillful marketing team. All the members of the team have a common purpose of collaborating and communicating to enhance effectiveness and efficiency in the organization (Vancouver Island University, 2014). An effective team will have a common purpose for achieving the stipulated goals and objectives by making effective contribution from each team member. This appears to be prevailing in Antonio’s team since they collaborate and deliberate on necessary matters regarding their work relationships and progress.
- Antonio needs to undertake key strategies to help make his direct reports into a cohesive team. Firstly, it is necessary to redesign the work duties and establish a more effective approach to work so that the employees in the team perform their duties competently and skillfully as desirable. Once he redesigns the job descriptions for each worker in the team, it will come out that most of the team members are satisfied with their jobs. This will ensure that he established a cohesive team where he can give tasks and assignment and brief them on any possible changes with ease (BCIT, 2009). He should also devise a communication approach that is highly appealing to his team so that they can be able to understand the depth of the messages and intentions that he communicates to them. this implies that he adopt the consultative approach to communication in which case he should allow for discussion on certain compelling matters with his staff. This will ensure that the team members work collaboratively to achieve the set goals. Therefore, to make his direct reports into a cohesive team, he should ensure that he adopts an appropriate communication model and scheme in addressing essential matters affecting the work and the team.
Creativity
- Antonio can be creative in his bid to fill the online marketer position. He would succeed in this by employing the three components of creativity namely expertise, creative thinking skills, and motivation. Antonio is well experienced since he has served in distinct positions in several companies. This implies that he has a high level of expertise that can assist him to be creative while seeking to fill the position of an online marketer. His experience in the skills and qualification needs for people who can work online can be used in selecting a suitable personality to fit in this position. His intellectual knowledge is adequate to enable him make appropriate judgment regarding who is suited to the position and who is not. As one with competent intellectual knowledge, Antonio can make a thorough assessment of the relationship between the requirements of the position and the ability of the selected individual to perform the job. He has high capacity for flexibility and imagination in approaching this problem (Vancouver Island University, 2014). As such, it is possible for Antonio to think creatively and determine the choice for the online marketer position based on the goals and objectives that he has as the manager of the department. Motivation is another component necessary in this regard. There are certain factors that motivate Antonio to work for achievement of the purpose of this department. In this regard, it is necessary to compare the motivations with the aspirations that he has so that he can act wisely in selecting the person to fill the position
- With regard to the six thinking hats, Antonio can overlook the minor departmental regulations and the departmental policies. These sources of information may place a barrier in working towards retaining Christine. However, based on the current situation, there is need to go beyond what it takes in order to solve the prevailing condition. The current rate of turnover has a certain managerial and operational implications. In this regard, Antonio can overlook certain departmental regulations and policies in order to ensure that Christine is retained since she is a pillar in this department and her experience and expertise at work is worthwhile (AbeBooks, 2014). He may also overlook the records regarding the performance of Christine at work over the recent past since this may not reflect what would be obtained if she worked in a conducive and satisfying context. As such, this would enable him to develop significant approaches and make necessary adjustments that would offer Christine maximum satisfaction at work since losing such a competent and experienced worker might have adverse implications for the company.
Conclusion
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References
AbeBooks. (2014). the Abe Books. Com. Passion for books. retrieved from, http://www.abebooks.com/. (Accessed March 6, 2014).
BCIC. (2014). Programs and initiatives. Retrieved from, http://www.bcic.ca/abe. (Accessed March 6, 2014).
BCIT. (2009). taking a page from AbeBooks: the evolution of a team. Retrieved from, http://www.bcic.ca/resources/bcic_csl_0021_abebooks.pdf. (Accessed March 6, 2014).
Vancouver Island University. (2014). Student Resources [BBA Learning Outcomes, Advisor, Chairs, Referencing, Directed Studies, Internships, BBA Learning Outcomes, BBA Enhancement Initiative]. Retrieved from, http://www.viu.ca/business/resources.asp. (Accessed March 6, 2014).
Larry, B. (2011). Study Finds Online Marketing Models Remain Neglected. American Banker, Vol. 176, No. 35 , pp 3-46.
