Motivation, stress, and communication in organizational management

Stress, Communication, And Motivation

Stress, Communication and Motivation

Job Description- Unilever

Research and Development Executive

Reports to: Research and Development Department Head

Based at: Unilever, Canada

Job Purpose: To carry out the research and developments of the latest innovations in the field of marketing and production as well as ways in which to produce new and customer friendly products.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

The maintenance of a separate record and data base for the various business clients and their respective products,

Carry out research into the latest technologies and innovations around the globe and how those can be applied to the products of the firm,

Devise strategies and evaluate the scientific aspects of the new ideas and implementations,

Co-ordinate with the other departments in the company as well as the client heads to gather more ideas and what other ways there are to improve on the products,

Carrying out market surveys and gathering information about the new things in the market and what kind of consumer market they need to be gathering,

Be careful to keep a track on the developments in the market with the competitors and keep up with the others around.

Importance of Goal Setting

Goal setting is one of the most essential steps towards getting a job done effectively and in order. It helps the individual know exactly what needs to be done and how it is supposed to be done. It also enables the employees to check whether everything has been done according to how it was planned out or if anything has been missed out (Maxwell, 2005).

Considering a large multinational like Unilever, this particular step I believe is extremely important since the company needs to maintain its standards and relations with its customers and to do that they need to be extremely prompt and innovative with their ideas. A job like that of research and development is a crucial one because that is where the ideas are generated from which are further polished up by discussion and evaluation. The most essential part of research and development is the fact that the executives need to keep an extra eye out for the latest developments in the market and the inventions that would prove to be cost effective and consumer friendly. They need to have a good communication system with the rest of the departments so that they know exactly what kind of a market they have captured and how to cater to them.

Once they have established these integral facts and information, they will be able to put out their goals and what they wish to achieve which will enable them to set their tracks straight and go according to the company's plans. It would prove to be a guideline that would keep them on the right track and would discourage them to diversify or drift away from their goals. The process of goal setting also proves to be a motivational factor for the employee because in this way, he/she has something to work towards and achieve which makes their work more focused and efficient.

Problem Solving

It is understood that in every firm and organization, there will arise problems and issues that need to be faced and tackled strategically. In a company like Unilever, there can be many such issues arising where the employees and especially this job needs to devise plans and strategies to make their ways forward and face up to them (Schuler, 2004).

Some problems that may arise here are that of errors in the system for instance which might prove to be a serious hindrance for the people working for the research and development department since all their work is dependent on such computerized and organized systems. The employee needs to be calm and open minded about such problems because panic attacks will just create further problems and it would not help solve problems. There needs to be a back up of files and crisis plans that can immediately deal with such happenings. It is also important that the executive knows beforehand as to what to do and how to resolve problems as they might create further and more complicated issues.

Sometimes there may be conflicts regarding the way things are done because not everyone would agree on the same things. The feasibility plans may not seem suitable to every department because all the sections of the company have varying goals in mind which leads them to ignoring other crucial factors. For example, the research and development teams mainly focus on the development, innovation and the generation of ideas and in the process they might forgo the importance of keeping a control on the budget and being careful about spending too many finances which will be the first priority for the financial and accountancy department. Hence, in these situations, everyone needs to stay very level headed and calm in order to reach a joint negotiation and change things around a bit.

Sometimes the customers become a huge hassle and fail to co-operate with the company and comply with their decisions and rules. It is a duty on the employee's part to treat the customer with respect and deal with them professionally in order to get the point across. In certain cases, the employees may not have any other choice and the situation can get quite difficult but maintaining the professional attitude and keeping the ethical issues and factors in mind will definitely give the employees an upper hand and will add to their experiences.

The above outlined cases are just a few examples and in reality, the problems exceed the petty issues but they still need to be resolved and it is part of the entire learning experience to deal with the hurdles and the problems that one encounters at work and that proves just how capable the employee really is.

Barriers to communication

Often we come across the term cultural barrier. This is one that every firm considers when its products go global or when they have relations with customers other than in their own country. Cultural barriers need to tend to or else they can create quite a problem in ethical terms as well as social and cultural terms.

The employees as well as the upper hierarchies of the organization need to pay attention to these factors as they can heavily influence the relations that the company has with its customers, its competitors as well as the other stake holders involved. When devising the strategies for new products as well as how they are going to be produced, there are some essential factors to keep in mind such as the cultural implications that a country might face if some form of ingredients are included for instance (Knippen, 1999).