I/O psychology is a branch of psychology that focuses on “the
scientific study of the human side of organizations” (Spector, 2012 p.4). In an effort to gain more understanding of the
role of an I/O psychologist for this assignment I conducted a thirty minute
interview with the general manager at a local yard that provides transportation
for school aged children. The purpose of this interview was to gain experience
outside of the classroom by interacting with someone outside of the classroom
and providing me the opportunity to develop skills, synthesize knowledge, and
integrate learning in a real world setting.
The general manager is mainly responsible for “the overall results
of a business unit” (Thain, 1978).
Organizations that provide transportation for school-aged children
sometimes have more than one location throughout the city to make the access
convenient and that is why a general manager is needed. The general manager in this case is
responsible for overseeing all the functions in the organization such as human
resources, accounting and the drivers which is the most important function of
the business. As a general manager,
Karen is also responsible for the hiring and firing of employees, enforcing
company policies, assigning work, authorizing time-off and handling concerns
and issues that arise. Karen has only
been at this location for a couple of years because it is relatively a new
location to the company but has been in existence for well over 20 year;
however she has worked for the company for well over fifteen years. She has encountered many problems since the
merger and is considering an early retirement because the position is becoming
overwhelming.
Karen states that she has experienced many problems with the
employees at this yard, such as recruitment because the location is not
accessible to public transportation, which makes it difficult for many
individuals seeking employment that do not have access to a car. The employees have a low morale because they
feel that the company does not value their employees. The low morale contributes to the lack of
respect that drivers have for her as the general manager, she is constantly
being disrespected, yelled at and called names. Retaining employees and
absenteeism is her biggest concern amongst all the issues at this
location.
According to Karen one of the biggest problems that this yard has
is retaining drivers. The company offers
training and certification for individuals seeking to obtain their commercial
driving license at no cost to the individual and the only requirement is to
stay employed with the company for ninety days after obtaining
certification. The pay is relatively
fair but the benefit packages offered are not. Individuals have the potential to make money,
however due to the contract designated by the union, work is supposed to be assigned
based on seniority and individuals that have not been there long often do not
get much work. Many individuals have
left once there ninety-days were up and went to work for competitors that offer
better benefit packages and more opportunities to work additional hours. In an effort to appease the drivers, Karen
assigns extra work as it comes in to those drivers who have communicated to her
that they are available to work additional hours, however many other drivers
have a problem with whom she assigns the work to because of the union contract
work is to be awarded based on seniority and is supposed to be posted up for
all drivers to have the opportunity to place a bid for the assignment. In the past the senior drivers get the award
and the balance of work was not even amongst the drivers, so she had a clause
added that gave her the right to evenly distribute the work among the
drivers. This has created a lot of
tension and confrontation among the drivers.
There is always a shortage
of staff which prompts her to enlist office personnel to cover runs as well as
herself at times due to a high level of drivers constantly calling out. This
location has a total of eight standby drivers, which are drivers that are paid
to fill in when needed. The amount of
daily callouts exceeds the amount of standby drivers and that is why she has to
pull from other resources. There is a
four hour break for drivers every day and they are encouraged to handle their
appointments and personal affairs during that time to alleviate calling out,
however many of the drivers are older and often require medical attention that
prompts them to call out regularly. Karen believes that the only solution to
this problem is to recruit more drivers, however many individuals that seek
employment there have to go through the training and certification process
which could take up to six months to prepare them to get on the road.
The interview with Karen has given me a better outlook on the
difference between management and effective leadership in relation to the
workplace. According to the Network
Journal, “Managers are task oriented.
They supervise and direct workflow for maximum efficiency, therefore
they tend to be more concerned about the process and the results, rather than
about the employees and their individual needs.
Leaders, on the other hand, are concerned not only about the goals, but
also about the people who are involved in the process” (Walker, 2009). As the general manager Karen does not possess
the characteristics of an effective leader, which is a major contributing
factor to the low morale at this location.
Karen has a difficult time effectively communicating with the drivers
because of passiveness and her efforts to avoid disagreements that often turn
into arguments. The goal of the company
is to safely transport school-aged children to and from school every day in a
timely fashion, however many drivers are not completely committed to ensuring
that the goal is achieved and Karen does not address individual drivers but may
make an announcement reiterating the goals.
The drivers are separated into “cliques” and are often working against
each other instead of as a team.
After carefully examining the information collected I believe that
one of the first steps in retaining employees is to remove the ninety day
rule. As a condition of employment,
individuals should be required to work the entire school year after receiving
their certifications that was no cost to them.
Prior to the end of the school year, driver should have to confirm if
they are returning the next school, which would give management the chance to
recruit more drivers. Because so many
drivers complain about the lack of work they receive there should be a monthly
sign-up sheet for drivers to put their name if they are interested in
additional work and work should be assigned in the order that they signed up
giving each person a chance. Once the
bottom of the list has been reached a new sign-up sheet should be put out to
give other drivers who probably didn’t sign-up before the chance to sign-up.
Real love in the workplace
states that “What all people need most is to feel loved” (Deprez-Sims &
Baer, 2008), and in relation to these employees they feel that their job is the
most important function of the company and all they want is to feel appreciated
and acknowledged for the efforts that are made to successfully perform the functions
of their job. Karen is not a toxic
manager, but her passive attitude may come off as someone who does not care
when indeed I believe she does care and that is why she has not taken actions
against employees who constantly call out from work. Drivers begin the school year with three sick
days and accumulate more time throughout the year if they do not use their
time. Many drivers have used time that
they have not even earned yet. Many of
the older drivers call out due to health reasons; however there are drivers
that call out because they are trying to seek employment elsewhere or just
because they don’t feel like coming to work.
I suggest that after employees have used all of their sick days if they
require additional days a doctor’s note should be required to return to work
and they should have to take part in a training class before returning to
regular duties. I also suggest regular monthly meetings to
address issues and concerns that the drivers may have, as well as publicly
acknowledging their dedication to successfully performing the function of their
job with brunch. Having an open-door
policy may also help the drivers feel comfortable with talking to Karen if they
are having an issue that they may not want to address in front of everyone.
Summary
Karen is the liaison between the employees and corporate
headquarters and she is responsible for making sure each location has adequate
staff and that each employee is performing the functions of their job
safely. Karen has so many factors to
consider in her position because corporate polices often conflict with the
drivers which have made the environment quite hostile. My final suggestion was
to have a survey developed for employees to complete, having the results
analyzed and then submitted to corporate so that some changes could be
developed to improve the environment and increase the employee morale.
1. What is your job title?
2. As the general manager what are your responsibilities?
3. What are some of the problems that arise for you as a general
manager?
4. How do you handle the issue with retaining drivers?
4.1.1.
Do you believe that your method
is working?
4.1.2.
Do you believe that there is
anything else you could do to make drivers want to stay?
5. How do you handle the issues with drivers constantly calling out?
5.1.1.
Have you ever attempted to
address the affect that calling out has on the company as well as other
employees with the drivers?
5.1.2.
Do you have a plan to eliminate
employees constantly calling out? Why
not?
5.1.3.
Do you require a doctor’s note
from employees who call out sick?
6. Of all the problems that you face as a general manager, which ones
concern you the most?
6.1. Have you reached out to corporate in an effort to resolve these
issues? Why not?
6.2. Do these problems contribute to your wanting to retire early?
7. If corporate supported your efforts to increase the morale at this
location, would you stay?
8. Do you value the opinions of the drivers?
Thain, D. H. (1978). The functions of
the general manager. Business Quarterly
(Pre-1986), 43(3), 53.
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