Problems facing the maxis bank

We come into contact with organization from the cradle to the grave. Indeed, organization regulate and dictate so many aspect of people lives, giving many of people somewhere to work, entertaining them, when people are leisure and developing new product and services for their enjoyment. Basically, it is not the same case for Maxi Bank, which got 30 branches and was established for over forty years. Their new Administration and Project Manager John who actually replaced their current project manager, who has resigned, highlighted some serious organization problem such as communication problem among the staffs, because of the high turnover since last eight months. The worst and difficult issue that John discovered is the lack of motivation and the job dissatisfaction. Employers can be made aware of concerns in the workplace that would normally go unspoken. Many serious issues in the workplace do not get discussed because they may be uncomfortable or difficult. By increasing the communication channels among staffs for instance participation in the group meeting, avoid isolation, motivation and the job satisfaction concept within a company, John can more efficiently resolves concerns, lower the staffs’ turnover, increase employee satisfaction, find a way to solve Annie’s problem and more accurately assess issues and so on.

Problems

John the new Administration Department has noticed some of problems that Maxis Bank have, since he engaged in this company. Starting, with, the poor supervision in Maxis Bank. Supervision is an extremely vital part of a workplace that intends to maximize its success potential.  It naturally follows, then, that poor supervision in a workplace is among the primary obstacles to achieving potential successes by a business. Louis V. Imundo 1993, p 55. For Maxi Bank, a quality supervisory team should be employed and trained to ensure the very finest results from their individual employee groups. These supervisors should have their own support system, and their importance should be made very clear, to ensure the highest degree of productivity. Or,” if the supervisor is not present enough, or is too overbearing, then the reaction from employees will only be fear, resentment, and displeasure in their work” Dick Grote 2006 p. 45. The productivity will not be as good, and the employee turnover will increase.

Often having few staffs in an organization, that came from different department such as the case study lead to poor communications among them and . As in any relationship, communication is the key to a strong business relationship. This can be the relationship between business and customer, or, equally as important, the internal relationships among different employees within the company. Communication can be improved in virtually every workplace, no matter the industry or size.  After all, it is the only way for information to effectively spread throughout the business so that everybody can be informed to the degree that they required to properly achieve their goals. Luthans1998 p.145

 Another problem occurred in Maxis is there poor employee morale in the workplace. By facing this kind of problem, there is a high risk of employee burnout and overall dissatisfaction. The cause of the poor employee moral can be structured as first a negative event within the workplace, such as a firing, downsizing, or other dramatic and unwanted change , or arguments or other forms of tension among staff members or between staff and management. Overwork, or a consistently heavy workload. The feeling of unappreciated or underappreciated for the work done, the conditions of the workplace. The rigid supervision involved in the work being done, and unsupportive or weak supervision that does not offer enough input or guidance Bennett. R, 1997: p.119

This is an extremely expensive way to do business because it leads to poor productivity, isolation and increased absences from work. The high absenteeism in Maxis Bank led to the non submission of their tasks on time. Moreover, staffs in Maxis felt to be underworked, because according to Annie, she complained that her job is monotonous and repetitive.”The staffs feel to be underworked for doing uncreative, and repetitive work, which always to high absenteeism and turnover as well” Giddens.A, 1971 p.23. .

And lastly, the absence of leadership in the Maxis Bank created an issue within the staffs. People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. This type of person leads by positive example and endeavors to foster a team environment in which all team members can reach their highest potential, both as team members and as people. They encourage the team to reach team goals as effectively as possible, while also working tirelessly to strengthen the bonds among the various members. Kouzes, Posner, Barry Z. (1987).

Good leaders are made not born. If people have the desire and willpower, they can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience Burns, 2010, p. 43. Basically, John should hire a good, effective and trust leader who can lead the staffs in a good way for the benefit of the Maxis Bank

Reason why problems occur?

For most part of the twentieth century, managers realized that if their employees were satisfied with their jobs, then that satisfaction would translate to working hard. Therefore, happy workers are productive workers. It is true that in the case of Maxis, Annie was not productive, since “she claimed that she attended few interviews with other bank”. Organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be more effective than organizations with fewer satisfied employees.

Dissatisfied employees are more likely to miss work. Although this is true, other factors also do play a role, for instance organizations that provide liberal sick leave benefits encourage all their employees to take “sick” days. Hence, satisfied employees have lower levels of turnover while dissatisfied employees have higher levels of turnover. Research also suggest that an important moderator of the satisfaction-turnover relationship is the employee`s level of performance. For better performing employees, the level of satisfaction is less important in predicting turnover. When employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, they`ll respond somehow. It is not easy to predict how exactly they`ll respond. One might quit, another might responds by doing personal work at the workplace, or may take leave and increase the absenteeism.

Workers in any organization need something to keep them working. Most times the salary of the employee is enough to keep him or her working for an organization. However, sometimes just working for salary is not enough for employees to stay at an organization. An employee must be motivated to work for a company or organization. If no motivation is present in an employee, then that employee’s quality of work or all work in general will deteriorate Herzberg, F., Mausner, B. & Snyderman, B.B. 1959, p. 341. Basically, staffs in Maxis Bank are unmotivated and dissatisfy that why critical issues in the Maxis arose.

Alienation is one of the factor of unhappiness and isolation that workers in hardly feel when theirs works are not a relevant or important part of the workers life’s, that they do not really belong to the work to the work community health” (Karl. M, 1971p.59).

It is associated with feelings of discontent, isolation and futility. Alienation workers perceive themselves or powerless and dominated. Work is seen as unrevealed to real life; it becomes simply a means to achieve materials ends. Alienation has been observed most often on automated assembly lines where work is extremely repetitive and personal relations with others workers are difficult to establish. Great unhappiness can result from alienation; indeed, it can adversely offer the worker’s mental or physical health. In the case of Maxis, John found that each staff is working in isolation and difficult to establish a relation either professional or friendship with others.

2-

Some theorists have defined and explained the concept of motivation as a process that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal. Many contemporary authors have also defined the concept of motivation. It has been defined as: the psychological process that gives behavior purpose and direction Kreitner. R, 1995 p. 44; a predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific, unmet needs Buford, Bedeian, & Lindner, 1995, p. 56; an internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need Higgins, 1994, p. 78; and the will to achieve Bedeian, 1993, p. 675. Basically motivation is operationally defined as the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals.

Why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival (Smith, 1994). Motivated employees are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces. Motivated employees help organizations survive. Motivated employees are more productive. To be effective, managers need to understand what motivates employees within the context of the roles they perform Kovach, 1987, p.65. Of all the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is arguably the most complex. This is due, in part, to the fact that what motivates employees changes constantly Bowen , Radhakrishna, 1991, p. 62. For example, research suggests that as employees’ income increases, money becomes less of a motivator Kovach, 1987, p. 72. Also, as employees get older, interesting work becomes more of a motivator.

Understanding what motivated employees and how they were motivated was the focus of many researchers following the publication of the Hawthorne Study results Terpstra, 1979,p. 98 The basis approaches that have led to our understanding of motivation are Maslow’s need-hierarchy theory, Vroom’s expectancy theory, and Adams’ equity theory.

According to Maslow, employees have five levels of needs (Maslow, 1943), physiological, safety, social, ego, and self- actualizing. Maslow argued that lower level needs had to be satisfied before the next higher level need would motivate employees. Herzberg’s work categorized motivation into two factors: motivators and hygienes (Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959, p. 125. Motivator or intrinsic factors, such as achievement and recognition, produce job satisfaction. Hygiene or extrinsic factors, such as pay and job security, produce job dissatisfaction.

Vroom’s theory is based on the belief that employee effort will lead to performance and performance will lead to rewards Vroom, 1964, p. 150. Rewards may be either positive or negative. The more positive the reward the more likely the employee will be highly motivated. Conversely, the more negative the reward the less likely the employee will be motivated.

Adams’ theory states that employees strive for equity between themselves and other workers. Equity is achieved when the ratio of employee outcomes over inputs is equal to other employee outcomes over inputs Adams, 1965. p. 134

Basically, the best motivational theory that suits the Maxis Bank’s case is the reinforcement theory. This theory can be traced to the work of the pioneering behaviorist B.F. Skinner. It is considered a motivation theory as well as a learning theory. Reinforcement theory posits that motivated behavior occurs as a result of reinforces, which outcomes are resulting from the behavior that makes it more likely the behavior will occur again. This theory suggests that it is not necessary to study needs or cognitive processes to understand motivation, but that it is only necessary to examine the consequences of behavior.  In reinforcement theory a combination of rewards and/or punishments is used to reinforce desired behavior or extinguish unwanted behavior. Behavior that is reinforced is likely to continue, but behavior that is not rewarded or behavior that is punished is not likely to be repeated. Skinner, B.F. Science and Human Behavior. 1953.

The most important principle of reinforcement theory is, of course, reinforcement. Generally speaking, there are two types of reinforcement: positive and negative. Positive reinforcement results when the occurrence of a valued behavioral consequence has the effect of strengthening the probability of the behavior being repeated. The specific behavioral consequence is called a reinforcer Iwata, B. A. (1987, p. 67. An example of positive reinforcement might be a salesperson that applies extra effort to meet a sales quota (behavior) and is then rewarded with a bonus (positive reinforcer). The administration of the positive reinforcer should make it more likely that the salesperson will continue to exert the necessary effort in the future. In the case of Maxis Bank, according to Annie affirmation “she refused to handle extra job other than her current job scope”. If the positive reinforce come into it for instance rewarded her with a reward, she would not refused to handle extra job and the level of the motivation will rise automatically.

Rewards can therefore assume a number of different forms, though there are two main forms: extrinsic rewards, which take the form of cash payments and employment benefits, like staff discounts, occupational, pensions, health insurance, and company cars; and intrinsic rewards such as job satisfaction, recognition, personal development, and the social status which may be attached to particular job roles.

Negative reinforcement results when an undesirable behavioral consequence is withheld, with the effect of strengthening the probability of the behavior being repeated. Negative reinforcement is often confused with punishment, but they are not the same. Punishment attempts to decrease the probability of specific behaviors; negative reinforcement attempts to increase desired behavior. Thus, both positive and negative reinforcement have the effect of increasing the probability that a particular behavior will be learned and repeated Iwata, B. A. 1987, p. 68. An example of negative reinforcement might be a salesperson that exerts effort to increase sales in his or her sales territory (behavior), which is followed by a decision not to reassign the salesperson to an undesirable sales route (negative reinforcer). The administration of the negative reinforcer should make it more likely that the salesperson will continue to exert the necessary effort in the future.

Reinforcement theory suggests to managers that they can improve employees’ performance by a process of behavior modification in which they reinforce desired behaviors and punish undesired behavior .Moreover, for John case, reinforcement theory will be the best appropriate to motivate his 10 staffs, increase the desire behavior, or increase the probability of a behavior reoccurring. Consequently, both positive and negative reinforcement have the weight of increasing the probability that a particular behavior will be educated and repetitive. For instance, in Maxis Bank, both positive and negative reinforcement will have the effect of modified or punished the undesirables behavior of the staffs such as the absenteeism, the high turnover, the work isolation and increase the desirable behavior for instance handling extra job, attend all the interviews with the others banks, if bonus or rewards and maybe motivation words are applied.

3.

Group dynamics is the study of groups, and also a general term for group processes Ringer, T. M. 2002 p 172. Relevant to the fields of psychology, sociology, and communication studies, a group is two or more individuals who are connected to each other by social relationships. Because they interact and influence each other, groups develop a number of dynamic processes that separate them from a random collection of individuals. These processes include norms, roles, relations, development, need to belong, social influence, and effects on behavior. The field of group dynamics is primarily concerned with small group behavior. Bass, Bernard 1990, p. 31

A group comes together to focus on finding common solutions or building a final project to the organization. This can be very effective to the project or solution because individuals in different roles in the workplace, different backgrounds and different experiences have a variety of points of view that they are able to contribute (Dimock, H.G.1993). Working in groups is often more efficient and motivates group members to achieve more in a certain period of time as group members motivate others to do their best and people often feel the need to be competitive (CSU 2009). Bringing out the competitive nature in people focused toward a common goal can often be a very productive strategy.

In the Maxis case, the organization got employees came from different departments, different roles lead different experiences, but the thing is there is not group team in Maxis Bank. Each employees work in isolation. Some staffs in Maxis Bank are very independent and prefer to work alone rather than in groups. They feel that their best work comes from completing projects individually. (Burgess H. 2007).

Dealing effectively with groups of people is a skill that will serve us in all areas of our lives.  It can also be a challenge- because people as individuals tend to have their own ideas about how they relate to a group, and not all of these ideas work very well in practice.  There’s a profound difference between a set of individuals and a cohesive group, and we’ve all felt that difference- where a group is tightly related and conscious of itself, the group is vastly more capable than the sum of it’s parts.  Where individual members are unconscious to the needs of the group, often the group is weaker than the sum of the individual member’s capabilities.

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