The founder and president of the Kendall Toy company is experiencing obvious difficulties with increasing employees’ motivation and productivity in the work process. The growth in wages by 20% did not lead to the expected result and demonstrated clearly weak personnel management. In this paper, the main reasons for the failure of the company’s policy are studied, and some new ways of solving the presented problem are proposed.
In the above case, the fall in labor productivity is considered a consequence of employees’ fatigue from the repetitive and tedious work process. Dr. Helen Kendall, the company’s founder and president, has resorted to trying to solve the problem by raising labor costs. A decent reward system indeed increases the emotional state of staff and contributes to more efficient work performance (Asaari, Desa & Subramaniam, 2022). Nevertheless, in the case of the Kendall Toy, the method failed. This approach does not correlate with the primal cause of the decline in productivity and does not lead to the eradication of workers’ fatigue. Based on the actions of Dr. Helen Kendall, it can be concluded that the president failed to analyze the situation in the company properly and did not find effective solutions, which is why the wage increase did not improve labor productivity.
From all of the above, it follows that a regular change of activity can potentially help increase employees’ productivity. The installation of an assembly line and the fixation of workers in one place were effective only during the first ten years. Time has shown that the working staff has been unable to maintain the same efficiency level with a similar approach for a long time. The introduction of new experiences and constant changes in the workflow for employees will significantly contribute to improving their emotional state. As a result, employees will gain greater motivation to demonstrate results, reduce exhaustion, and improve the atmosphere within the company. Considering the inefficiency of increasing wages as a way to stabilize efficiency and the complaints received about monotonous work, it may be noted that the staff needs external stimulation.
One of the ways that I could recommend to the president to solve this problem is the rotation of jobs. This process is temporary and does not involve promotion, which helps to avoid the risks of falling productivity due to the inexperience of employees and their unpreparedness for a new job. Research shows that the rotation of workers reduces boredom and work stress, inspires and stimulate employee to contribute their ability and increases work enthusiasm (Ghaffari, Aghadavood, & Dalvi, 2021). Thus, the method solves the main task of improving productivity. Moreover, it ensures that employees will be given access to all verticals of the organization (Aldaihani, Almutairi, Alshammeri, et al., 2022), which will boost the internal atmosphere of the company after a protracted process of weakening communication between management and employees. In the context of a company where the voiced dissatisfaction of employees is mainly due to monotony and routine, the policy may be the key to solving the problem.
In addition to job rotation, I would advise the company’s president to encourage learning opportunities. The method not only enhances the personal skills of employees but also promotes concentration on tasks other than work. In this case, in order to avoid congestion and increase the level of fatigue among employees, it is necessary to revise the schedule. However, it should be borne in mind that the most remarkable effect of the recommendations presented can be achieved with their joint implementation. Therefore, focusing only on improving learning opportunities can temporarily solve the problem of poor productivity but not eradicate it.
For successful risk management, it is worth reviewing the strategic values of leadership and making communication with lower-level employees a priority. Based on the studied case, it can be seen that Kendall quickly responded to a decrease in productivity and took measures to resolve the issue. Moreover, these measures were chosen taking into account the social status of employees and potential financial risks for the company. However, poor communication and the president’s inability to listen to the voice of the working staff made these measures ineffective. By increasing the priority of communication in the risk management system, the president will be able to establish feedback and avoid losses in the future, considering risks from employees’ point of view as well.
References
Aldaihani, F. M. F., Almutairi, S. M., Alshammeri, J. G. A., AlKanderi, F. M., Almutarir, F. B., Aldaihani, A. M., & AlDurzi, S. A. (2022). Benefits and Implementation of Job Rotation: Recommendations for Kuwaiti Civil Service Commission. Journal of International Business and Management, 5(4), 1-07.
Asaari, M. H. A. H., Desa, N. M., & Subramaniam, L. (2019). Influence of salary, promotion, and recognition toward work motivation among government trade agency employees. International Journal of Business and Management, 14(4), 48-59.
Ghaffari, M., Aghadavood, S. R., & Dalvi, M. R. (2021). The impact study of the role of job rotation system effectiveness on work enthusiasm. Nexo Revista Científica, 34(02), 790-806.