Information Technology (IT) Leadership Managing Talent

It Leadership and Managing Talents

The level of interaction between employees and managers in any organization determines the extent of success expected. It is largely evident that breakdown of communication is a recipe of failure and all leaders must strive to alleviate this problem.

Any relationship existing between employees and managers determines the well-being of an organization. For an organization to bolster its profitability, a suitable manager-employee relationship is essential. However, this is not always the case. In some cases, a manager may face different problems during the management of employees. This study has emphasized on the importance of enhancing the relationship at the workplace for optimal success.

IT Leadership and Managing Talents

Summary of Facts

There is a poor employee-manager relationship at IVK. Such situations often arise when different interests exist between the manager and the employees. Besides, managers may fail to listen to employees' suggestions on how their workplace relationships can be enhanced. Employees may also decide to disregard company rules and do things their way. This often results in the failure of a business. Nevertheless, employees' level of job satisfaction is greatly influenced by the leadership style that various managers exercise at the workplace. A good leadership that considers employees' ideas and interests will increase the employees' level of job satisfaction. Similarly, the employee should also ensure that they adhere to the directives given by managers as leaders of a company. Misunderstandings are bound to occur between employees and the managers if this does not happen. This can be observed in the case of Barton the IT leader and Ivan Korsky the employee (Austin, Nolan, & O'Donnell, 2009).

In the case provided, it is evident that Ivan is one of the most talented members of staff in the company. He has an uncommon combination of skills that enabled him to deliver the best services in software development. This shows that he is a pertinent asset that the company might not wish to lose at all. However, developments from recent incidences show that the company is on the verge of losing Ivan. A poor and strenuous relationship between Barton and his employee is evident (Austin, Nolan, & O'Donnell 2009). In addition, Gordon as the senior manager has failed to see that Ivan has not been doing his project as expected. Instead, he has been doing his personal projects, which are against the interests of the company. The fact that the manager cannot handle the employee creates the distance leading to job dissatisfaction. Eventually, the employee will not be content with the job as is the case with Ivan.

Possible solutions

Barton and Gordon are managers who should always protect the interests and care about the well-being of their employees. This will foster their satisfaction whilst enhancing the morale at the workplace. The managers are dealing with a competitive industry: every competitor wants to have the best labor force. A competitor can easily tap Ivan's skills in order to prosper in the market in case he realizes that the current company is treating him unfairly. In this case, the two managers should give Ivan some privileges and listen to his ideas in order to make sure that he is satisfied with the job (Austin, Nolan, & O'Donnell 2009).

Besides, they should ensure that they promote personal talks more regularly with Ivan and listen to his sentiments about the job. This will enable them to set up programs ensuring that employees' interests (like Ivan's) are looked into and that no one would wish to go to another company. The managers should also evaluate their employees on a regular basis. Such a practice will ensure that their efforts recognized as required and compensation and bonuses increased for the extra effort they put into the company's future and success. This is done by classifying the employees in relation to their output. For instance, Ivan should be treated in a different way from other employees: he is one of the crucial employees and major assets of the company (Austin, Nolan, & O'Donnell 2009). The practice of using rewards and bonuses is the most effective mode of appreciating the efforts that employees put towards the realization of the company's goals; it motivates and encourages employees to apply their extra effort at all times.

IT managers must always measure the output of their employees. This can be done in various ways. One of the most effective ways is by considering the quality of services that the employee brings to the company. Another crucial way is by evaluating the number of hours that the employee spends on doing the company's productive activities. For instance, Ivan has skill, is talented, and a perfect software developer (Austin, Nolan, & O'Donnell 2009). As seen from the case, he designed software that brought a lot of income to the company showing that his output is high.

However, it is clear from the happenings in the recent past that he has not been doing company's project as expected; he concentrated on his personal projects. He feels that he is not exercising his full potential the way he wants. Measuring the output of an employee should be relative to the contract that IVK makes with the talented ones like Ivan. In this case, they should be given terms that are more favorable and additional privileges than the rest of the employees (Austin, Nolan, & O'Donnell 2009).

Various challenges characterize the growth and development of the IT industry; it is a competitive and a complicated industry. Challenges relate to the quality of services being offered, the acquisition, training and managing the IT talent. Another challenge relates to getting people who are talented and willing to do the IT jobs: there are few people who are talented as IT experts and software developers. As a result, there is a very high competition in the industry and companies with such the talented employees often flourish. This creates another challenge of maintaining the available employees. Competitors in the industry are many while the labor force is lean. The IT industry requires talent and a little learning: if there is no talent, a lot of learning will be required (Austin, Nolan, & O'Donnell 2009).