Organizations that promote healthy work environments completely
understand that it benefits their organization as well as their employees and
customers. Healthy work environments
promote positivity within the organization that will result in an increase in
productivity. Problems are inevitable
within any organization as misunderstanding occur, personality conflicts and
misconduct, however it is the manner in which the problems are handled that has
a direct influence on an employee’s perception of the organization. I have been hired as independent consultant
for JC’s Casino to help improve retention issues concerning the dealers and
housekeepers. As an independent
consultant I have to identify each issue and make recommendations to the
president of the casino on how to improve overall retention.
One of the first things I examined was the dealers pay rate in
comparison to other casinos in the area and I found out that JC’s casino pays
their dealers more than their local competition; however most of the dealers
have left to work for other casino’s for less money. Dealers are required to have a state gaming
license and work on the gaming floor in the casino dealing cards, shuffle decks
of cards, exchange chips for cash and payout winnings. The owner’s son Joe is the floor manager,
also known as the pit boss and he oversees the dealers and tables supervising
large transactions and payouts. The
turnover rate for dealers at JC’s casino is very high and the pay rate is very
competitive so it was obvious that the dealers were not leaving because they
were unhappy with their salaries.
JC’s casino like many organizations performs exit interviews with
employees when the employee decides to terminate their employment. An exit interview is “a discussion between a
departing employee and a representative of the organization that occurs in the
last days of an employee’s tenure” (Holtom, 2006). Tom
Sneed is the human resource director and conducts exit interviews at JC’s
casino. Exit interviews serve many
purposes, for one it give the organization the opportunity to get information
about what areas the organization is doing well in and what areas needs
improvement. Employees provide information as to why they are leaving during
the exit interview, which could give the organization an opportunity to
persuade them to stay depending upon what their grievances are. Exit interviews can also be used “as a public
relations exercise to ensure that the parting employees leaves the company on a
positive note” (Holtom, 2006). Many of
the dealers alluded to their pit boss Joe as being “toxic, overbearing, evil,
and incompetent”, however the human resource director is afraid to confront the
owner about the accusations bought against his son.
The information gathered from the exit interviews of the dealers
has allowed me to identify one of the problems that JC’s casino has with
employee retention, which is a toxic manager.
The human resource director is well aware of this problem but is afraid
to confront the owner about his son and the way he is treating employees
because he is in fear of losing his position at the organization. The Sunday Times published an article on toxic
bosses and defined them as “managers who really make life hell for staff”
(Wheldon, 2007). Joe is the owner’s son
so confronting him presents a conflict of interest for the human resource
director, however the owner of JC casino needs to be made aware of the way his
son is treating employees because his behavior is affecting the morale and
productivity of the organization forcing dealers to leave and go work at other
casinos for less money but better treatment.
The housekeeping department is another area that is having
difficulty retaining employees.
Housekeeping is a physically demanding position where individuals are
responsible for the maintenance and cleanliness of JC’s casino. Individuals in this position are required to
be in good health because the functions of the job are mostly physical, such as
standing, walking, lifting and bending.
Andrew Keehn is the director of housekeeping and has been trying to get
more staff but he believes that “good help is hard to find”, so he puts more
responsibilities on the staff he currently has without any additional
compensation. The pay rate for a
housekeeper at JC’s casino is equivalent to other casinos; however the workload
is more which is good enough reason for employees to seek positions at other
casinos. The director of housekeeping
perception is that of an individual with low morale, therefore he is more
likely to have issues with recruitment because he already believes that it is
impossible to find individuals that will possess the knowledge and skills to
perform the functions of the job.
As an independent consultant for JC’s casino my goal is to help
this organization develop a solution to the problem they are having with
recruiting and retaining employees before these problems escalate affecting the
organizations revenue. The first step is
to work on building a foundation for success by implementing mandatory training
for all management personnel responsible for overseeing other employees. Training of managers will increase job satisfaction
and have an influence on employee retention.
The training should focus on how to treat employees with respect and
increase productivity. Managers must
learn how to keep the morale high in the organization as it will motivate the
employees by promoting a positive work environment. An addendum should be added to the employee
handbook that ensures employees that JC’s casino is committed to providing all
employees with a safe and secure working environment and that if someone feels
that are being unfairly treated it should be reported immediately to the human
resource director so that the issue can be resolved immediately. If his son continues to treat employees bad,
he should be terminated as that may reduce the turnover rate for the
dealers.
Motivation is defined as “an internal state that induces a person
to engage in particular behaviors. From
one perspective, it has to do with the direction, intensity, and persistence of
behavior over time. From another
perspective, motivation is concerned with the desire to acquire or achieve some
goal” (Spector, 2012 p. 194). Work
motivation theories “are most typically concerned with the reason, other than
ability that some people perform their jobs better than others. Depending on
the situation, these theories can predict people’s choice of task behavior,
their effort, or their persistence” (Spector, 2012 p. 194).
B.F. Skinner and his colleagues developed the reinforcement theory
which “describes how rewards or reinforcements can affect behavior” (Spector,
2012). Reinforcement theory is a
non-motivational theory because Skinner believed that an individual’s behavior
was merely the result of consequences.
If an individual received positive reinforcements they are more likely
to repeat certain behaviors and if they receive negative reinforcements then
they are more than likely not to repeat that behavior. Organizations most promote a healthy positive
work environment in order for the reinforcement theory to be effective. Positive and negative reinforcement is a very
strong tool that can be used to control individual’s behavior, however without
analyzing that behavior further it may never be known what contributed to the
individual acting a certain way.
The owner of JC’s casino can apply the reinforcement theory with
the managers, particularly his son by reprimanding him for treating the
employees badly. If the managers see
that this type of behavior will not be tolerated then they will be reluctant to
mistreat the employees. I also believe that
if the owner shows care and concern for the treatment of his employees it will
make them reconsider leaving the organization to go work for the competition. The only disadvantage I see to this is that
it may stop his son from mistreating employees; however it will not uncover the
reason as to why he was mistreating the employees in the first place. As for the housekeepers, the reinforcement
theory can be applied by implementing positive reinforcements to current
employees for their efforts, especially since they are short staffed and many
employees are doing more than their share of the work. Verbal praises and acknowledgements would
show employees that management is paying attention to their efforts, as well as
rewards such as gift cards and thank you notes.
Justice theories “are concerned with people’s values rather than
needs, beliefs, or reinforcements. These
theories presume that people universally value fairness in their social
relations at work” (Spector, 2012 p.195).
Fairness in the workplace is based on outcomes, which is “rewards or
everything of personal value that an employee gets from working for an
organization” in relation to employee inputs, which “are the contributions made
by the employee to the organization” (Spector, 2012 p.204). Ensuring equal and fair treatment is what
motivates many individuals at the workplace.
If employees feel that they are not receiving equal and fair treatment
in comparison to others it can cause them to be very unhappy with their job and
not feel motivated to stay at that organization.
The housekeepers at JC’s casino are expected to work harder and do
more than someone else in their same position and receive the same pay and
their efforts went unrecognized and because of this they became frustrated and angry
which eventually led to them leaving.
The director of housekeeping needs to apply more of an effort in
recruiting staff for the housekeeping department to balance the workload for
the current employees. The dealers work
environment is hostile because their pit boss is “toxic, overbearing, evil, and
incompetent”. The human resource
director must confront the owner about the way his son is treating the dealers
so that this issue can be addressed because if he allows this to continue
without saying something JC’s casino will not be able to retain dealers and the
revenue will be directly affected.
Occupational stressor also known as “a job stressor is a condition
or situation at work that requires and adaptive response on the part of the
employee” (Spector, 2012 p. 283). Staff
shortage is an occupational stressor for the housekeepers because they are
required to clean more room than normal.
Shortage of staff can also put stress on employees in other departments
because they may be called in to help out when it is very busy to perform job
functions outside of what they were hired for.
To minimize job stressor in housekeeping, human resources should take
over the recruitment and hiring process and it should be done right away
because hiring additional staff will alleviate the problems that are associated
with being short staffed.
In conclusion, Organizations must fully understand the importance
of creating a healthy work environment for their employees as it not only
benefits the employees but the organization as well because a positive work
environment ensures high morale and increase in employee productivity. Motivational theories help organizations
implement policies and procedures that focus on employee retention. The reduction of counterproductive behavior
is beneficial to the organization because it will eliminate the negative
perception employees develop from being exposed to individuals performing
negative behavior that goes against the beliefs of the organization.
References
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