Organizational Retention
Work motivation theories can provide some insight into the issues at JC's Casino. One with explanatory power is Maslow's hierarchy (Huitt, 2007). This hierarchy explains human needs as beginning with the most basic ones, needed to sustain life, and moving up to higher order needs such as self-fulfillment and belonging. The issue with the dealers in particular can be understood here. The dealers are paid better at JCs, but are preferring to work for other casinos anyway. What this says is that wherever they work, they are making enough money to live. So better pay is at this point not equating to a more attractive work environment at JCs. What it says is that people are having other needs, such as esteem and belonging needs, met better by other employers, so much so that they are willing to sacrifice some money to meet those needs.
This of course relates to the pit boss, Joe. Joe is family, and probably feels very secure in his position. He was probably not qualified for this job in the first place, and clearly does not understand the value in having experienced, qualified dealers. Experienced dealers make fewer mistakes, which is worth money to the casino. If people are leaving consistently because of Joe, at this most important of jobs, then Joe must be removed from this position. There is little doubt that Joe lacks the qualifications and only holds this position because of his familial relationship with the owner. The owner, after all, wants to make sure the...
The dealers know that they can get a better work environment elsewhere, and because they have specialized skills, they do. The owner has to be made to know that it is not easy to replace good dealers, and that such dealers have value to the organization. At this point, there appears to be a disconnect at the ownership level with respect to the importance of dealers, and that is why nothing has been done to improve their working conditions. If hiring Joe is what needs to be done, then the case needs to be made to ownership.
But also at issue here is Tom Sneed, and his counterproductive behavior. It is his job as HR director to ensure that the right people are in the right positions. He might not have had any say in the hiring of Joe, but Sneed does have the power to write the job description and provide honest evaluations of the people filling the position. Sneed is senior management, and as such must be open and honest about the issues confronting the company. Also worth noting is that the operations manager will have a pretty good sense at this point what the inexperienced and unhappy dealers are costing the casino in terms of errors and lost revenue opportunities. The operations manager should clearly be working with Tom Sneed to ensure that the owner knows what a disaster…
