Assignment: Outline & Investigation Report
1. To determine the causes of the problems faced by Roanoke branch, impact of the problems on the business and employee morale, and recommendations to resolve the problems. Problem faced are:
• Lack of effective communication
• Inadequate compensation
• No incentive for overtime.
• Accepting wrong projects
2. General approach to investigating the causes:
I. Interview of employees
• Four of the ten employees from the Graphics and Design Department interviewed between June 1st to June 10th.
• Head of the graphics department interviewed on June 10th.
II. Analysis of payroll data conducted between June 10th to June 15th.
III. Analysis of policies related to compensation and overtime conducted between June 10th to June 15th.
IV. Project analysis conducted between June 10th to June 15th.
3. Overall findings about the underlying issues
I. Lack of effective communication
• No laid down policy on communication. Prohibits lower level employees to communicate their concerns to higher management. Higher management unaware of happening at ground level. Opinion are rejected by management without consultation. This is affecting employee morale and productivity.
• Employees lack effective communication skills. Employees are unable to communicate clearly. Causing confusion and dissatisfaction.
• Management not concerned about effective communication. Causing despair among employees.
II. Inadequate compensation
No extra compensation for working for long hours and working on weekends. No incentives for working for extra hours - negative impact on morale and productivity.
III. No incentive for overtime
Roanoke branch policies do not allow payment for overtime, but, Phoenix Advertising agency policy does. Discrimination causing dissatisfaction among employees.
IV. Accepting wrong projects
• No clear cut guideline on acceptance of new projects. New projects increasing workload - affecting health and family life of employees.
• Many projects not creating significant economic value. Per employee profit going down. May affect bonus payment.
4. Recommendations
I. Improve effectiveness of communication
• Develop policy for communication: Employees should know whom to communicate, which communication channel to use, where to escalate. Management should what to communicate and what to kept confidential.
• Training employees - acquire effective communication skills.
• Create aware of the importance of effective communication. Involve top management including CEO.
II. Increase total compensation
III. Reward for high performance. Redesign total compensation plan. Family friendly benefits. Link a part of compensation with performance.
IV. Implement agency policies at branch level
V. All branches should follows same compensation policies. Uniformity of policies improves employees morale and productivity.
VI. Guidelines for selection of projects
Develop guidelines for selection of projects. Consider financial and non-financial factors.
Format your assignment according to the give formatting requirements:
• The answer must be using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, and typed, with one-inch margins on all sides.
• The response also includes a cover page containing the student's name, the title of the assignment, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
• Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.