Miller’s problem

The case study focuses on the change dynamics and the resistance to the introduced change within the organization. It also highlights the issue of lack of motivation among the employees that may potentially lead to work absenteeism or resignations.

Individual level: the couple in this case study lacked intrinsic motivation to continue working and this went further down with the introduction of the changes by the consultant. Miller has worked in the organization for 27 years and there has been no vertical mobility and the pay has not significantly increased either, leading to a demoralized employee. The employee felt that his work was just fine as it was and there was no need for any changes to be made.

Departmental/Supervisor level: the department where Miller worked had the shortcoming of not bothering to know what exactly Miller was good in so as to post him to work at the appropriate place in the new restructuring. Instead, he was randomly picked and instructed on his new placement without due considerations. The department was also poor in communicating with the employees on the impending changes hence there could have been a misunderstanding by Miller that he will be doing three jobs at the same time.

Organizational level: the organization lacks a comprehensive process of involving the employees in decision making and change dynamics within the company. Miller and the wife were confronted by changes that were suggested by an external consultant without their consent. This resulted in a demoralized work force.

Recommendations

From the departmental perspective, there was need for Miller to be involved in the progressive discussions about his work changes and the benefits that would come from these changes needed to be made clear to him. At the organizational level also there was need to have a proper change implementation process and procedure that would see the organization meet minimum revolt through implementation of an engaging process. The department also needed to ensure that with the changes and an increase in workload, there would be a commensurate remuneration to act as an extrinsic motivation... Though in the technical aspects Joe outperformed everyone, he still finds it hard to manage his colleagues.
At the individual level, Joe has serious problems with his interpersonal communication skills since he gives no attention to the opinions of other team members, not even his manager, instead he is preoccupied with the technical aspects. Joe also has challenges in balancing his work responsibilities between the human aspect and the technical side, with him concentrating on the technical aspect at the expense of the human side.

There was also a weakness at the departmental level where the promotion was given to Joe, on consideration of his technical ability and the level of education only. This was not enough to have a person that would be having other employees work under his directives hence the failure by Joe.

At the organizational level, there was a weakness in the selection process of heads of teams or departments and this excluded the suggestions of the employees. This resulted in overlooking the lack of leadership trait of being a team player which could have been detected had the other employees been involved in the entire process of head of team selection.

Recommendation

There is need to understand employee personality and behavior in order to know the different parts that can be played by the various employees. The process of promotion needs to take into consideration several aspects and not only the technical performance of an individual. As the team head, Joe also needs to develop a listening ear and interactive personality that accommodates views of different people he handles on a daily basis.

The Judy Smith case study

This case study primarily talks about a supervisor who causes discontent among employee to the extent that it compromises their work. Despite having no prior experience, Judy starts off well, posting good results at…