Introduction
It is the normal human nature to do what one likes to do unless they are persuaded to perform some tasks that they dislike. There may be various reasons as to why employees in an organization need to be motivated. Whether it is to exceed the expectations that they have been given in their daily jobs, some employees tend to feel that they need to be persuaded or inspired to head towards those goals. Some employees, however, do not need motivation albeit due to their inner self-drive to achieve something on a personal level or on a career level. This form of motivation is normally termed as intrinsic motivation. This means that they have some inner self-drive to accomplish something. This, however, has to be learned at one point in time. This is because motivation serves as a fundamental aspect of the business that allows the organization to be successful and survive.
In any organization, employee motivation is one of the major fundamental responsibilities that they have. This ensures that the manager in the organization is in a position that they can get things done at the workplace. This, however, has to be considered as being easier than done. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the manager to ensure that the correct factor that causes dissatisfaction in employees is identified (Slocum and Hellriegel, 2007).
In Wheeler’s case study, there are various factors that led to employee dissatisfaction. However, it was the responsibility of the management to ensure that the circumstances that they faced were bound to happen due to change. Change in an organization is inevitable due to several factors. Some of these factors may include the constant change in technology, demographic changes, political pressures and social pressures. These factors normally lead to employee dissatisfaction thereby bringing some resistance to change.
Motivational gaps
Some of the motivational gaps that existed in the Wheeler’s case study include fear of failure. Due to the changes in the management team, some of the employees doubted their capabilities. Employees could just choose to resist such changes by becoming demotivated as a result of low self-confidence. The other motivational gap is the loss of status. Some older employees in the organization became demotivated and had low employee morale since they were not sure about their status in the organization. Some of them even believed that the younger staff members would take their jobs away from them as some of them may be more technologically savvy(Slocum and Hellriegel, 2007). The cultural and structural changes that were made by the new advisers threatened to alter the positions that some of the older members of the organization had.
The other motivation gap that existed in Wheeler’s case study is that there was a sudden development of incongruent group dynamics. Normally in an organization, it is the group dynamics that tend to develop and enforce the conformity of the staff members in the organization. The group norms that could be altered when the organization wanted to expand its business to other areas caused the employees to be demotivated. Finally, I believe that the other motivational gap that existed in the organization was breaking the routines. Human beings are well known to be creatures that follow certain habits. The possible alteration of their methods could have easily demotivated them
The occurrence of some instances of demotivation at Wheeler’s case study could be solved through different strategies. Motivation is the best strategy that the managers could have implemented. The theories of motivation that could have been implemented. However, the best motivation theory that could be used was Maslow’s Theory of needs. In this theory, there are different levels of need that have to be satisfied so that employees could function effectively. The human needs have to be described based on a hierarchy of needs. Some individuals just like some form of psychological needs while others require security or safety. It is evident from the case study that the employees had psychological needs. However, there was a lot of safety needs. Safety needs have to be considered regarding the freedom of fear, danger or any threat. Some of the older employees felt threatened since they did not have their once assured job security. It is the job of the leader to ensure that all the employees in the organization feel safe at their job places (Slocum and Hellriegel, 2007).
The manager also has to cater to the social needs of the employees. There was a gap that was formed in the organization that seemed to oppose each other, the older employees and the younger employees. The manager should ensure that there is an organization culture that is created in the organization that caters for love friendship and affection amongst all employees in the organization. The lack of some of the social needs of any instance in the organization builds low self-confidence and mistrust between the employees. The manager could work in improving the self-esteem of some of the employees, and this could lead to self-respect, recognition, and respect for all members of the organization.
Effective and efficient management of the human resource is one of the critical factors that determine the success of any organization. Human resource is a vital asset that appears easy to manage but at times poses a serious challenge to human resource managers. The case of Wheeler Motor Services Ltd represents a case where human resource management has faced various challenges following a leadership transition. Richard Wheeler was the main leader of the company from the business inception in 1969 where he was managing around 12 employees up to 2015 when he decided to retire leaving an expanded organization comprising of approximately 97 employees and some branches. Upon retirement, Richard decided to hand over the company leadership to Peter Jones; the most experienced and senior member of the organization since it was established. Later, Richard appointed his son, Steve Wheeler as the executive director of the company and Peter Jones role was to act as a mentor guiding Steve Wheeler in the events of the company. Since Steve Wheeler was appointed as the executive director of the company, there have been numerous human resource management challenges which have even led to a split of employees into two informal groups of which some support the leadership of Peter Jones and the other supports the favors, Steve Wheeler. Before the transition, human resource management under Richard Wheeler was effective and efficient leading to the growth of the organization. However, the transition has left the organization in a huge human resource management challenges.
Firstly, there is no clear hierarchy that distinguishes the top leader of the company, both Peter Jones and Steve Wheeler act as parallel leaders which have left the employees split and confused. This has led to the split that has seen a team of employees prefers one leader over the other. When Richard was the leader of the organization, there was a clear hierarchy that was visible for every employee. Each employee knew the leader, and they had not alternative to follow or favor together than what the top leader set as the goal of the company. Change in leadership structure is one of the main factors that can make an easy thing such as management of human resource to become a huge challenge for an organization. When the transition process is not well defined, and the new leadership is not similar to the previous leadership, human resources management may pose a huge challenge for any organization as was the case of Wheeler Motor Services.
Another issue that poses a huge challenge in human resource management is when the two top leaders have different vision and a belief regarding what the company aims to achieve from the human resource department. Jones and Steve had different visions regarding human resource management. Steve Wheeler was for implementing a performance appraisal program, a reward program on the best talent of the company and finding a strategy that improves the motivation of employees. Peter Jones, however, was not in support of the strategy claiming that it will highly affect the morale of employees particularly the senior members who will feel threatened by the young and fresh employees. The de-motivation and the fear for their job security might ultimately force them to leave the company. The different vision often led to high disagreement in the top level management and ultimately had a negative impact on human resource management. One leader also was in the favor of consolidating the business, while the other leader was for expanding the business.
The disjoint and confusion in the top leadership of Jones and Steve has already started to have a negative impact on employees, and the company has already lost a few employees that were loyal. The employees have left in fear of their job security believing that the two top leaders did not have a co-ordination and understanding on the way to run the business. The disagreement has led to huge problems in the human resource department and the company to the extent that company lost some of the new employees due to lack of communication, the workers are not getting any support from the top leadership on how to improve their qualifications and knowledge; they are no records being kept regarding staff absence, and the company is being run by two bosses at the same time. Each of the two bosses can manage the human resource department and achieve considerable successful results. However, the disjoint, the disagreements and the different vision between the two bosses whose positions are not well defined has led to the total collapse of the human resource management. The lack of the human resource management has aggravated to the extent that Richard Wheeler has been made aware by a few colleagues and friends. Richards need to take urgent measure before the situations deteriorate further and lead to the collapse of the company.
Conclusion
There may be various reasons as to why employees in an organization need to be motivated. Some employees, however, do not need motivation albeit due to their inner self-drive to achieve something on a personal level or on a career level. Some of the motivational gaps that existed in the Wheeler’s case study include fear of failure. Due to the changes in the management team, some of the employees doubted their capabilities. Employees could just choose to resist such changes by becoming demotivated as a result of low self-confidence. The best motivation theory that could be used was Maslow’s Theory of needs. In this theory, there are different levels of need that have to be satisfied so that employees could function effectively. To save of Wheeler Motor Services Ltd and reinforce the human resource department, Richards needs to establish a clear hierarchy with one boss as the head of the company or disintegrate the business into two and assign the two bosses each a different department to be in charge. This will make the company become cohesive again with one goal and one vision. The two leaders will be highly effective when placed in the different positions that do not conflict each other in their human resource management strategies. Each leader should be appointed as the leader in the department that suits his experience and qualification.
References
Slocum J.W and Hellriegel D (2007). Fundamentals of organizational behavior; Thomson south Western publishers; Printed in China
