Hiring New Employees Is Generally

Hiring new employees is generally an exciting time for any company or manager. It gives a company a possibility for growth and expansion and it allows fresh energy to enter a firm -- something which can be inspiring and invigorating. It also opens the door to the possibility of the work being spread around; a fact which is truly something that can incite improved morale. If employees at a given company are feelings overworked, better delegating the work to new employees can help to alleviate this. This simple fact alone can make employees feel more like team members and help revive their enthusiasm for their jobs and lives, ultimately making them more productive.

However, new employees need to feel welcome and prepared. New employees need to feel like they been given adequate information about their upcoming position and have been given the chance to prepare accordingly. They also need to feel like their new workplace is prepared for their arrival and is organized. Such a fact should be obvious: no employee likes to feel like they're starting work in a disorganized chaotic environment. Such a dynamic causes the job to start off on the wrong foot, and gives new employees a bad first impression of their new workplace, causing negative expectations, something that employers should want to avoid at all costs. In the case of ABC Inc., the problems displayed in the case were caused by poor planning in connection with procrastination and little inter-office communication.

Background

According to the background of the case provided, it is not clear when exactly Carl hired these 15 new members of staff, but that they were hired some time before May 15. Carl's procrastination is visible in the details of the case, when Monica, the woman with whom all these employees would be working, checked in with Carl regarding the long list of necessary orientation activities he needed to be preparing for the incoming employees. Carl had not yet started on any of these tasks. This is already a clear sign of procrastination. The fact that the case details how Carl then waits essentially another two weeks until after Memorial Day to check on the materials and tasks necessary for the students is yet another lucid sign of procrastination. "Twenty percent of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators. For them procrastination is a lifestyle, albeit a maladaptive one. And it cuts across all domains of their life…It's not trivial, although as a culture we don't take it seriously as a problem. It represents a profound problem of self-regulation. And there may be more of it in the U.S. than in other countries because we are so nice; we don't call people on their excuses… even when we don't believe them" (Marano, 2003). The details of the case indicate that Carl may in fact be a chronic procrastinator which is a very poorly understood issue; some people think that procrastinators need better time management, when in reality they have a clear conception of the time needed to complete a task (Marano, 2003). In reality, procrastinators are the ones who place obstacles in their own path, preventing themselves from achievements.

Key Problems

It's likely that Carl has a very disorganized office where he has many distractions and it's difficult for him to find many things. It's common for chronic procrastinators to be very disorganized as they use it as an excuse. "Disorganization is probably the largest cause of procrastination, especially amongst students. While everybody learns their ABCs and trig equations, nobody is ever taught organizational skills in school. The largest disorganization issue is properly prioritizing tasks" (Grohol, 2005). One might also say that procrastination is founded in a lack of respect. The person like Carl doesn't have enough respect for himself or his job to complete tasks on time and it is something which grates on his success as person, and his ability to be productive. It's a common problem and luckily it is one which can be fixed if it's addressed properly.

Alternatives

One of the best solutions to procrastination and rampant disorganization is to get the person in question to admit that he has a problem and to get him to admit that he's preventing himself from functioning at his highest level of productivity and success.

Introducing general organizational skills to Carl could be a crucial factor in his success. Carl might never have received such basic training when he was developing. "Employees in the workplace must have general organizational skills, which allow them to determine the supplies they need, how to arrange their files and whom to contact for specific information. Managers who work with employees will often organize the work of employees to keep them busy, especially those that require a lot of direction, like file clerks or contract workers" (Suttle). In conjunction with that skill, Carl will need to learn basic planning skills and how to get projects completed within specific time periods, and how to plan accurately to bring tasks to fruition and to anticipate problems that could potentially delay the project (Suttle). Carl also needs to be taught skills that orbit around scheduling, resource allocation, and meeting deadlines and time management (Suttle).

Proposed Solution

The alternatives proposed above are all viable ways to correct the problem and are all skills that Carl needs to learn in order to do so. However, the most important solution that is liable to be the most effective is any one which is targeted for procrastinators. So the solution would have to start with asking Carl to do some soul-searching and come up with his fears or anxieties related to finishing tasks, or other issues which could be getting in the way. All organization techniques have to be paired with a tip or strategy that is targeted to procrastination.