Solving an Organizational Problem Recently, While Working

Solving an Organizational Problem Recently, while working as a customer service representative for the local telephone company, I became aware of an organizational problem that seriously affected the productivity of the organization. Employees in five of the six departments of the company were habitually late for work each morning, causing dissatisfied customers and possible loss of business. This presented a serious problem to the company. The main issue at hand is that many of the chronically late employees were good, hardworking people.

Therefore, their managers did not want to fire them or even punish them. However, an employee who is always late has demoralizing effect on other employees who arrive for work on time. In this light, habitual lateness is an infectious disease. Because so many employees got away with being late every day, soon many more participated in tardy behavior. Most of the employees were of lower middle-class economic status and often displayed behavior that promoted a "do less for more" work ethic in the company.

For this reason, tardiness at the telephone company was a major organizational problem that affected the company's productivity. There are many solutions to this problem. For example, creatively thinking, an examination of organizational factors and systems at the telephone company that are more conducive to organizational commitment and employee satisfaction could lead to development of more effective organizational structures, systems and mechanisms that enable employees to become committed to the company, thus eliminating their tardy behavior.

The concept of commitment could reveal patterns that may assist managers in raising the level of employee productivity through identification with and close involvement with the organization. Managers should use logical thinking to address this problem, as well. Unless being on time is very important, they should not bring up the tardiness issue with an employee who is only occasionally late. Such employees will appreciate the manager's unspoken understanding and will take it as a sign of trust, which will likely increase their commitment to the company.

In an ideal setting, tardiness problems should disappear after a gentle talk. However, managers often encounter workers who feel they should not have to work on a schedule. One employee at the phone company felt "professionals" should be able to come and go within the workplace whenever they pleased. He saw nothing wrong with arriving two hours late as long as he got his work done.

While this attitude may work at other places, the telephone company depends on its employees to work as a team, so this person did not fit into the company. In order to effectively solve the lateness problem at the telephone.