Group ostracism of Ralph Turner at Thomas Motor Company

¶ … Management and Organizational Behaviour

Why is Turner being ostracized by the group? Use Concepts derived from your study of group Behaviour to Support your answer. Explain Ralph Turner was the most recent employee of the Thomas Motor Company, initiated by John Thomas and inherited by his son Martin Thomas. Basically Thomas Senior had been working for his father in a truck workshop. However, consistent losses made the senior turner hand over his company in a deal with the Thomas Motor Company who then became under contract to service and use the Turner Trucks in their business.

After the handover, Ralph Turner was left unemployed and starter looking for a job as a mechanic in several companies. He approached the Thomas Motor Company and since Thomas and Robbins, chief advisor and manager of all mechanical staff, were in need of a good mechanic, they decided to hire Turner. Some of the main issues that Turner had to face as an employee and the reasons behind the ostracism he faced from the colleagues are explained below.

One of the very first obstacles that Turner had to face as the latest employee in the Thomas Motor Company was to make his place in a very close-knit group of employees who had long and established personal relationships. The employees, namely Steve Robbins, Bob Johnson, Dick Kelly, Jim Richards and Dave Hines were all experienced and permanent employees of the Thomas Motor Company and used their personal knowledge about each other and the relationship that they shared with each other as a source to do their work efficiently and on time.

Furthermore, the pace at which these employees interacted, worked and were able to maintain at all times was really fast and Turner was finding it very hard to get himself working at that pace and/or be able to be maintain it over a significant amount of time if he actually made it. This of course led to him missing the unofficial coffee breaks that were given to the employees at 10 a.m. And which served as a social experience for the employees to get to know each other. Turner was only able to attend only one of these coffee breaks in three weeks because the rules stated that the unofficial coffee break was only for those who were able to finish their very first task of the day. Turner, even though was great at what he did as a mechanic, he was not able to maintain a certain level of high speed pace that would allow him to complete his first task before 10 a.m.

Another self-created hurdle was that Turner, in an attempt to increase his pace and attend more unofficial coffee breaks, decrease his overall attention to detail and efficiency which was the reason behind two of the break-downs or failures of trucks that Turner worked on. This led to serious doubts in Thomas' mind on the status of Turner's job because both the trucks that broke down were from the same account who had given the ultimatum of another breakdown resulting in their ending their account with Thomas Motor Company. Hence, John and Martin Thomas met with Robbins to seriously estimate the pros and cons of keeping Turner as an employee because Turner Trucks had a huge account with the company as well.

Another issue with Turner was his temperament which was heightened by his frustration on not being able to get his work done. Also, having very little positive and close interaction with the other employees was also leading to him being a constant loner in the company. The overall impression of Turner amongst the employees was that he was the slowest link in the chain and even though he was a good mechanic, he had a high potential of losing focus and making the company suffer. Plus, his overall attitude and approach to his work accompanied with his temperamental breakdowns was getting to many employees which was making them ignore or avoid Turner. This accompanied with his desire and demand to be the only one handling the prior Turner Workshop trucks was not at all well-received by his colleagues. Facing all of the hurdles mentioned above was the cause behind Turner having to deal with constant ostracism from his colleagues.

Question 2: Use Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" and "Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory" to explain Turner's Behaviour.

Abraham Maslow is the founder of the "hierarchy of needs" theory which he first published in 1943 in the article titled "A Theory of Human Motivation." The hierarchy of needs theory is one of the most important theories in psychology for analyzing and understanding human behavior. The additional edition of this article was focused on the inquisitive levels of humans that they were born with and were able to develop over a span of time (Maslow, 1973).

In his article, Maslow focused on the abilities and limitations of who he considered were commendable and intelligent people in their generation. His sample included big names like Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Frederick Douglas and Jane Adams. This was the first time that a researcher had analyzed mentally excelled subjects instead of mentally deficient subjects to analyze the human needs. He explained that if he took mentally deficient subjects then his overall philosophy and psychology would be deficient in the real and practical world as well for everyone who wasn't mentally deficient. Also, he felt that he needed a new approach to understanding human behavior in order to get a full circle understanding of the human psyche (Maslow, 1973).

Maslow followed this article with another similar book titled "The Farther Reaches of Human Nature" where he concentrated on the gifted college students, taking in a total of 1% of the total college student body. He explained that his observations and conclusion of course needed to be thoroughly tested under the normal research standards so that sound judgments and concrete conclusions could be made and human behavior could be better understood (Maslow, 1973).

Maslow designed a pyramid in order to break down the hierarchical structure of the needs of human beings which eventually affects their overall social behavior. These different layers of the pyramid are:

Deficiency needs

Physiological needs

Social needs

Esteem needs (Cwisfa, 2002; Maslow, 1973).

Deficiency needs

The very first need that Maslow highlights is the category of deficiency needs also known as D-needs. These needs are mainly mental demands and needs that don't necessarily register with the physically aspects of a human. This simply means that the deficiency needs don't affect the physical existence or attributes of an individual but affect him mentally and his mental input in the work. Even though the deficiency needs don't affect the human physically, they still result in the individual feeling frustrated, apprehensive, defensive and full of fret. One of the simplest examples of the deficiency need is the sense of belonging or inclusion that an individual feels in a group (Cwisfa, 2002).

Considering the above explanation, it is easy to understand that Turner was probably suffering from being given insufficient deficiency needs and felt like he wasn't being given enough respect, freedom and wasn't feeling welcomed. Hence, his overall attitude started reflecting a series of tantrums, apprehensions and unnecessary tensions.

Physiological needs

The psychological needs, according to Maslow are the basic necessities of the individual without which his physical or mental performance cannot be above par or balanced. The psychological needs include the provision of food, water, clothing, shelter, etc. Maslow explains that without the basic necessities of an individual being filled, the psychological needs of the individual won't be fulfilled which would negatively affect his behavior and overall application of abilities.

Maslow also added that if a company or management did not analyze the psychological needs of an individual and only analyzed their overall output, then that would not only be unfair to the individual but it would also remain a constant problem for the company because it would the incompetency of the company and not the individual that would be affecting the overall output of the company. This would be the case because it would be the company's inability to provide the employees with the basic necessities and hence resulting in the deficiency of psychological needs that would result in the employees acting out or behaving unprofessionally (Cwisfa, 2002).

Considering Turner's case, there seems to be no deficiency of basic necessities or the psychological needs which could have caused him to act the way that he did.

Esteem needs

Esteem, simply, suggests the give and take of respect in all human interactions. The fact of the matter is that all any human really has is his/her respect without which the individual's aims and goals can never be attained because as aforementioned all activities of an individual are group-based irrespective of whether the group is small or large. All goals and aims of the individual are based around making himself recognizable and stand out in the crowd while at the same time making sure that he still is able to maintain a sense of respect, network and belonging.

The self-esteem within the organization really matters for an efficient and above par performance from an individual. If an employee within an organization goes through a process without gaining any form of respect then such occasions can lead to having low-self-respect, inferiority complex and low-self-esteem. It is very important for an employee to feel like his work is being respected appreciated and he is being understood by not only manger but also his peers. Low self-esteem can result in making an individual throw tantrums, demand attention and get defensive for everything that he is responsible for (Wahba & Bridgewell, 1976).

In Turner's case, he was definitely feeling left out and did not feel like he was being appreciated and that could be one of the main reason behind him losing focus on what he was doing right and instead tried to increase his pace to get the approval, respect and appreciation of his peers as well as his clients. The downside with that decision was that it backfired on him and he ended losing even more respect and gained a higher level of isolation and disregard from his colleagues.

The Two Factor Theory was designed by Frederick Herzberg and it is more popularly called Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory. The main idea that Herzberg wanted to highlight in this theory was that the level of contentment or discontentment an employee felt is not dependent variables but is actually independent of each other in every way. He said that this particular proof could be found in the different elements and factors that led to the satisfaction of an employee and the different set of elements that led to the dissatisfaction of the employees (Herzberg, 1966).

The common denominator between Herzberg's theories and Maslow's theory was the theory of motivation. The main similarity is the overall impact that motivation has on the employee's interaction and opinion towards the manager or the administration of the company. Herzberg theorizes that if an individual can get more salary and can move up the ladder in an efficient form then he would choose that over being moderately paid and having a great working environment. This is because he will always have far more psychological, social and esteem satisfaction when he is making more money as opposed to when he is being paid far less and is working under the post of an assistant. This is pretty much the same theory that Maslow presents in his hierarchy of needs theory where he mentions that the satisfaction of an employee is influenced by many elements that are different from the elements that influence the dissatisfaction of an employee.

The addition that Herzberg made to the theory mentioned above was that he designed the two-factor prototype which highlighted in two different pathways the elements that influenced an employee to experience job satisfaction and the elements that influenced an employee to experience job dissatisfaction. He also agrees with Maslow's theory that both elements: job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are independent of each other and just because one is increasing does not mean that the other is simultaneously decreasing (Herzberg, 1966).

In Turner's case, his satisfaction level with his job was very low and his dissatisfaction level was very high but, as Herzberg and Maslow ascertain, none of the factors aforementioned have been responsible for his low satisfaction rate, however, all of them are directly linked to and influence his dissatisfaction with his work and the company.

Like Maslow's approach in determining and differentiating the elements between the satisfying and dissatisfying elements, Herzberg also separates the Two Factor Theory into the following determinants:

Firstly, the motivating elements which an include elements like a difficult or intricate assignment and its fulfillment, the appreciation of a job well done, giving delegating responsibilities, improving package, etc. all of these elements that are meant to be motivating elements are suppose to increase the overall job satisfaction of the employee and allow him to excel and make his mark in the management as well as the related industry. Any task that an employee does because he wants to do it and not because he has to is called a motivational task. Furthermore, any task which is carried out outside of the realm of the job description or project description is also referred to as a motivational task (Herzberg et al., 1959).

Secondly, the hygiene elements which include the factors like overall position in the management, payment, extra benefits and overall job guarantee factors which are independent factors that if absent can result in increased job dissatisfaction however their presence does not necessarily increase the level of job satisfaction that an employee feels when working in an organization.

So technically speaking the first element is mainly focused on making sure that employee does not feel discontent with his job but wants to work instead of needing to do it. The hygiene element also categorizes the type of work and its methodology and what methods and what elements increase the satisfaction of an employee while also motivate him to do better then what is required off him (Herzberg et al., 1959).

The only major difference between Maslow and Herzberg is the proof and backup support that Herzberg had put forward in his studies for all the theories and ideas that he put forth. He gave both theoretical proofs as well as practically applicable evidences to support his ideas and theories on both the motivational factors and the hygiene factors that are mentioned above. Despite the fact that his backup sounds logical and systematic, the overall methodology that he has used has been severely critiqued (Herzberg et al., 1959).

Question 3: Should Turner be fired? Explain Why?

Turner being fired from the Thomas Motor Company would make them loose a large account in the form of the contract that was made with the Turner Workshop and which gave them a large percentage of the trucks that they used for transport and delivery. Losing the Turner Account could leave the company with a deficit in the fulfillment of the demands made by other clients and hence could result in the Thomas Motor Company having to make up a lot of these demands by exhausting other existing resources beyond a certain limit.

However, if turner is fired, yes the Thomas Motor Company would loose a large account but would be able to retain their overall client base as it was before the hiring of Turner. The problem with the recent events was that there were major clients who were being constantly dissatisfied with the overall performance of the company and hence were given the Thomas Motor Company ultimatums. The Thomas Motor Company had not increased its clientele base since the hiring of Turner which is another factor that could work against Turner because all Turner would be taking with him would be the Turner account.

The reason that Turner should be or could be fired was the overall status and impression of the Thomas Motor Company amongst their peers, competitors, clients and the overall industry. The ultimatums and breakdowns are tarnishing the company's reputation and are posing hurdles for the administration in increasing their overall sales and clients as the dissatisfaction of the existing clients was not a hidden factor.

Hence, after considering the overall situation and the potential circumstances of both situations i.e. Of firing Turner and keeping Turner, it is probably more risky for the Thomas Motor Company to keep Turner as an employee. This is so because the continuance of his vocation does not guarantee that Turner's attitude and temperament is going to change or that his overall pace at dong his work was going to increase. However, firing him would ensure that the overall efficiency level of the company would remain stable and that the clients' satisfaction and demands could be actively attained. Considering the fact that the company's future reputation was on the line it is probably smarter to fire Turner because losing large account like the Turner account would only slow down the company but would not cripple them. However, decreasing clients could eventually lead to a close up of the company.

Question 4: If Turner is not fired, what should be done to rectify the situation? Explain.

If turner is not fired then the options that the company has are:

The company can analyze the hierarchy of needs for Turner and the Two-way factor and then make adjustments or customize their policies specifically for turner and then allow him time to adjust to the new recommendations.

The Thomas Motor Company can allow turner to oversee the work that is being done on the Turner Workshop trucks and give him an assistant to help him finish the work on time.

The Motor Company could increase the time of the unofficial coffee break and make it 11 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. To accommodate Turner in. this would allow Turner the opportunity he needs to socialize. This socialization could allow both Turner and other employees to understand the real deal with each other and hence improve their working conditions and interactions.

The Motor Company could take the load off of Turner's head by telling him that he needs to improve his attitude and if he can't then he would be given an ultimatum. This would make him understand the affect of his input on the overall performance level

Turner could be warned that another incident of a slack-off from would result in immediate replacement. This would jolt him back into an efficient and careful mode of vocation.