The case study talks about a lady who has been appointed as the Sales manager in the credit department. The Bank, a local bank, is struggling to keep its doors open due to the low deposits it has from its customers. The bank has struggled to increase its demand deposits over a period, but there has been no substantial increase. The bank is located in a state full of Hispanics. The banks employees 70% are Hispanics and the rest being blacks and whites. The lady employed is a white lady and resides in another state that the large population is the whites. This means that the lady employed does not know how to interact well and freely with Hispanics. She is expected to co-ordinated with the junior and senior employees in order to help the bank overcome the financial difficulty.
The bank is a local bank with a ‘huge’ vision and mission. The bank plans to be a state bank in the next 5 years increasing its operations in every corner of the state. The organization culture is maintained that all the employees should freely relate with one another in English only and not Hispanic. The senior employees are respected by the junior because of their experience in the sector hence a division does exist between the older and younger employees.
The bank is structured in a way that the managing director is the head of the bank. He or she is assisted by the general managers of the specific departments in the organization. Managers are appointed to head specific sections of the departments hence report to the general managers. Each manager is allocated junior employees who assist in getting the tasks done. The managing director reports to the board of governors of the institution who are appointed by the shareholders.
Information flow in the organization is mainly through the email system as an organization is fully embraced technology. Use of memos on notice boards is also observed to ensure that communication in an organization is as clear as possible. English is the only language allowed inside the banking hall considering most of the employees are Hispanics.
Classical management approach is an approach used by managers in managing their organizations. In this approach, two important ideas are considered, and they are the division of labor and hierarchy (O'Hair et al, 2012). It believes that organizations should be structured in a way in that; individuals and departments do carry out a specific task in the organization. Also, the employees should respect the lines of power that exist in the organization. With these in mind, it can be seen that the organization uses this approach. The bank has structured itself in that it has layers of power as discussed above with all the employees reporting to the general manager. Each department carries out its own work and is responsible for its own tasks.
There are different approaches of how to approach conflict; these include collaboration, compromise, competition, accommodation and avoidance (O'Hair et al, 2012). The organization encourages its employees to use all this methods when it comes to dealing with conflict. In order to ensure that there is proper communication flow in the organization, conflict must be at the minimal at all times. The company tries to ensure that, at all times, it uses the integrating bargaining method to resolve conflict. This method involves the win-win situation in which all the parties end up gaining. The organization tries to ensure that conflict within employees is minimized so as to ensure the performance of the business is always at its best. But, it is not in all situations that this approach applies. The distributive bargain is also used at times as an approach of last resort. In this approach, only one party tends to benefit from the agreement, hence its name zero-sum approach.
The management follows the Dewey process when it comes to problem solving in case of a conflict (O'Hair et al, 2012). The management follows the six steps step by step to ensure that the conflict is resolved in the best way possible. The first step involves identifying the problem. In this stage, the management conducts an investigation in order to determine the because of the conflict. This involves the interrogation of both of the parties so as to come up with the main problem and the source of the conflict. After this, the management analysis the problem and understands it fully. In this way, the management is in a position to determine the best way forward.
The next step would be generating solutions to the problem. The leadership takes into consideration the two methods of conflict resolution, learning on how to use the integrating bargaining approach. This approach is the approach that is preferred by the company as compared to the zero-sum approach. Once the best solution and strategy is arrived at, it is implemented. In this way, the company is in a position to resolve conflicts in the best way possible and also in silence. The leadership of the bank has been applying this process since its incorporation and has yield great results.
The new manager appointed has been noted to have a problem relating to the fellow employees and her junior staff. This is because she is from a different cultural background creating problems with intercultural communication (O'Hair et al, 2012). Another problem she is facing is the fact that she is female; this creates a gender issue as she is in a position to command the male employees under her. With this into consideration, it is up to her to decide how to approach this best. It is advisable to try to find ways to understand the culture of the Hispanics so as to understand them better. In this way, she can up with ways to best associate and communicate with her fellow employees’ best. In her position, she has to have a good rapport with her employees in order to achieve results as expected. Her leadership qualities should be participative in order to ensure that she has a good relationship with her employees. Learning the culture of the organization would suite her best. This will help her understand how things are conducted in the organization hence avoiding any conflict with anyone. She should also consider practicing supportive leadership. This will make her work easier as the employees will have a strong respect towards her as she is not far from them. The employees should also be made aware of the changes they are to make so as to give the new manager an easy time. The management should place measures to ensure that their attitude towards the incoming manager is conducive.
As mentioned earlier, the leadership has been using the classical management approach over the past few years. This approach has been in practice, in the world since organizations were formed hence not suitable in the modern days. Times have changed, and introduction of technology has created better ways on how to deal with management styles. The dictatorship rule in organizations is not the best way to go for the organizations. The best approach for the organization to implement is the systematic approach which views each employee and department as an important aspect to the profitability of the organization. Classical management approach views employees in the company as machines rather than people.
The organizations failure can be blamed on the structure it uses to organize its management. This means that change in the organization perspective and structure could yield good results in the company. Use of systematic approach can ensure that this change is implemented. The Systemic approach appreciates each person’s work and each department’s contribution is recognized (O'Hair et al, 2012). With this approach, work is not enforced on employees but is sub-divided equally to all the employees in the organization. The organization culture also needs to be changed to allow easy blending to new employees. The culture of the organization can be seen to be very specific making people who are not of the Hispanic community making it hard to cope.
In conclusion, communication in an organization is of utmost importance to make sure that efficiency and effectiveness are ensured. Communication between employees, both junior and senior should be made easy and effective. The management should come up with best strategies to solve disputes among the employees internally and externally. Organizational communication should always be considered when coming up with an organization. Communication in an organization is the background to ensure that the company’s profitability is maximized.
References
O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M. O., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J. J. (2012). Real communication: An introduction (2nd ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
