New Supervisory Skills

New Supervisory Skills

Employees play a significant role in the performance of an organization. Unfortunately, some organizations do not apply appropriate techniques to keep employees satisfied and committed to their work. The current issues that Fleet Shoes Manufacturing is experiencing are due to poor employee management. One of the issues I have identified from the case is a lack of motivation. It is evident that employees in the company are not motivated to complete their assigned tasks, which is why absenteeism is high and failure to meet quotas. Therefore, it is essential to set targets for the employees and reward those who meet these targets.

Monetary Rewards

I would recommend monetary rewards to improve employee morale and reduce problematic employee behaviour, such as calling in sick without a reasonable explanation. According to Lovina (2020), monetary rewards effectively improve productivity in manufacturing companies by promoting employee commitment to their work so that they can meet specific manufacturing targets. Employees may even be willing to work overtime as long as they are assured that they will get a monetary reward. Therefore, introducing monetary rewards will help meet Fast Fleet Shoes Manufacturing quotas.

Adapting Stricter Rules to Stop Absenteeism

I also noticed that the company has lax regulations on employee absenteeism, which explains why there is a high absenteeism rate. While some employees are always late, others call in sick frequently hence reducing the workforce availability required to complete the tasks in the organization. Therefore, the rules on employee absenteeism should be adjusted to make them stricter. For instance, employees who show up late for work should be given a warning and suspended if they continue showing up late after receiving three warnings. I would also recommend salary cuts for employees who always show up late with no reasonable explanation and those who call in sick without proof of sickness. The company also needs to set the maximum sick leaves for which an employee is eligible so that employees do not frequently ask for sick leaves. The company should also use daily targets that every employee should meet. According to De Castro (2020), daily targets reduce employee absenteeism because employees know that absenteeism increases their workload. Therefore, employees will always show up to work on time to complete their assigned tasks for the day and only miss work when there is a serious issue. The company may also introduce an electronic check-in system to record when an employee comes to work and when they leave.

Creating a Flexible Environment

Fast Fleet Shoes Manufacturing should also consider creating a flexible work environment. For instance, employees assigned tasks that can be completed when working from home should be allowed to work from home for some days. The company may let the employees work from home two days a week and work from the office for the remaining days. Irawan & Sari (2021) argue that flexible work schedules improve employee morale because they feel that the organization minds their welfare. Allowing employees to work from home will also increase employee retention. For instance, the single mother requesting the company to allow her to work from home so that she can take care of her child will be more committed to the organization if she is allowed to work from home because she already has the intention to progress upward in the company and loves working at the company. Alternatively, the company may offer childcare services within the work environment. For instance, it may create a play area for children and employ someone to look after employees’ children during working hours to avoid absenteeism. Accordingly, the parents may contribute to meeting the cost of childcare within the work environment. McDowall (2011) argues that modern-day organizations categorize childcare within the workplace as an employee benefit and deduct part of the employee’s salary to meet its costs. However, the organization needs to talk to all affected parents to ensure that they are comfortable with the arrangement to offer childcare within the workplace.

Implementing Proper Performance Management Techniques

Fast Fleet Shoes Manufacturing also lacks a proper performance management technique, which is why one of the employees who has worked for the company for 14 years feels entitled to get a promotion because he has worked for the company longer than other employees. A performance management technique will help the company monitor the performance of employees and promote them based on their performance. Employees would also understand why their colleagues were promoted when there is a clear depiction of every employee’s performance. According to Barnes & Radnor (2008), a performance management technique should be aligned with a performance appraisal strategy. DeNisi (2013) argues that performance appraisal is the regular review of an employee’s contribution to the company and performance. The main factors that Fast Fleet Shoes Manufacturing should consider when designing the performance management technique are what should be measured, the organization’s competencies, and the expected outcome of the performance measurement. In the manufacturing sector, performance may be measured based on the units manufactured by an employee within a specific timeline. The main factors that should be considered in performance appraisal are the quality of work, accountability, punctuality, quantity of work, and reliability. Besides promotion, the company may also reward good performance using benefits and incentives.

References

Barnes, D., & Radnor, Z. (2008). Performance measurement and performance management: The operations management perspective. Performance Management, 89-106. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230288942_7

De Castro, C. A. (2020). Managing Short-Term Absenteeism within the Workplace. ResearchGate.

DeNisi, A. S. (2013). Performance appraisal. Management. https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0002

Irawan, D. A., & Sari, P. (2021). Employee productivity: The effect of flexible work arrangements, indoor air quality, location, and amenities at one of the multinational logistics providers in Indonesia. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 729(1), 012126. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/729/1/012126

Lovina, N. A. (2020). Monetary Incentives And Employee Performance Of Manufacturing Firms In Anambra State. International Journal of Innovative Finance and Economics Research, 8(1), 10-22.

McDowall, A. (2011). Workplace solutions for childcare. Community, Work & Family, 15(2), 252-253. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2011.609662

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Research Paper: New Supervisory Skills

Your research paper is based on the following scenario:

You have just taken over as a Shift Supervisor at Fast Fleet Shoes Manufacturing and have a team of 30 under you. Your educational and training level is exactly what you have today.

New Supervisory Skills

Your teams rotate shifts every 3 weeks and there are two shifts, morning, 0700-3:30 PM and evening, 3PM to 11:30PM. You have the flexibility to move people around shifts, and you stay on the same shift, with overlap (i.e. your hours are 9-6). Two co-leads take over when you are not there and stay on shifts with their workers.

The previous supervisor was let go for cause, failure to meet quotas and leadership inability. The department’s morale is very low and there is a great deal of pressure for your shift to perform.

On top of this, there is a problem with some of your employees, one is always late and the other calls in sick frequently (you can decide what factors lead to their absenteeism). The previous supervisor never did anything about this and everyone knew it was an issue. One of your co-leads has brought it to your attention and wants to know when you are going to fix it.

You also have an employee that has been there for 14 years and has never been promoted to co-lead or supervisor. He came to you and wants to know why? He is an older worker and knows what he is doing, however, one of your co-leads told you that some of the younger workers grumble that he is too slow and can’t learn new technology. He also stated that unless he gets the opportunity to move up, he’ll quit and make sure that management knows you never gave him a chance.

Finally, there is a brand new worker, a single mother, who is super sharp and a very hard worker. She told you on your first day there how much she loves working at the company and wants to progress upward. However, childcare is an issue and sometimes she needs to leave early. Currently no one does any work from home (your organization has not embraced it as a culture), however, in her position (she is inventory control) she feels she can perform this just as effectively from home several days a week and ask you if this is possible? What is your response?

You are to develop a solution to present to each of your co-leads on how to start fixing some of these issues. Make the paper informative, with some of the techniques and terms that we have addressed thus far in the course that deal with new supervisors. This about the terms leaders vs. managers, counseling, feedback, types of leaders, SMART objectives, SWOT, generational differences, Theory X and Y, MBWA, and favoritism. These terms are not all-inclusive and you are welcome to add others to support your solutions.

This can be a narrative paper, informative paper, a letter (albeit a long one) or a talking paper. You can use the first person to discuss what you think needs to be done. You can also assign tasks or take tasks away from co-leaders.

Your supervisor, co-leads, and workers can have fictional names, you can add in additional issues or factors and most of all, have fun and be creative in developing this workplace. Your co-leads can be good or bad at their job, you can decide how little or much you want to delegate to them as well as how much reporting back to you is needed.

Think about these challenges you will face as a new supervisor. You may want to break this into fixing immediate problems, a six-month goal, and one-year goal.

You should use proper APA 7th edition formatting.

You should have a title page, 3-5 pages of body content, and the last page of references. Please make sure that your paper has references even if you write it in a letter format.

Use at least 3 references for your paper. They should be articles that support your paper or lessons we have covered. Do not use Wikipedia!

The paper should contain no more than 20% direct citations or quotations. That means 80% should be your own analysis, thoughts, and ideas.