Questionnaire Analysis
Introduction
The object of Chapter Five is to present the findings from both the informal and formal interviews. These findings will be presented in line with the methodological descriptions detailed in Chapter Four. This chapter will firstly present the findings from the informal interviews conducted in August 2007 (Phase 1 of the data collecting process). It must be emphasised that the findings generated are as a result of the researcher’s note taking during the informal interviews and that the informal interviews were not based on the premise of numerical discovery, that is, ascertaining the number of employees views on a particular issue. The aim of the researcher was to find out how employees thought and how they reacted to particular issues within the organisation (Kotler and Armstrong, 2010). ). It is for this reason that the findings are presented as a summary of general responses to workplace processes and practices raised by employees within the SATC.
The key premise for undertaking the informal interviews was that knowing employee understandings and taking appropriate action in relation to work processes and practices would both satisfy employees and help to ensure the organisation creates a work environment that optimises the contribution of the workforce to its strategic objectives.
The findings from the formal interview process (Phase 2 of the data collecting process) are then presented. Here, the discussions, in greater detail, revolve around the informants, the emergence of themes and vignettes of stories of employees’ understanding of change and change management.
5.2 Findings from the Informal Interviews
The findings from the informal interviews conducted with employees are presented below followed by a summary of the key points of discussion. In total, employees’ viewpoints on the different work processes and practices within the SATC were noted by the researcher and are presented below. A summary of employees’ viewpoints on the different areas of workplace process or practice is presented below.
5.2.1 Communication effectiveness
To communicate with everyone in the organisation the goals and objectives for their particular area of responsibility requires that information is presented in a consistent manner and in a variety of ways that are positive, informative, candid, supportive and timely. It also requires managers at every level to be available to their staff, and ensure that no information is missed or misunderstandings occur.
With regard to the issue of communication effectiveness within the SATC, employees echoed the following views:
Management made themselves available to communicate with their employees whenever required.
Objectives were clearly communicated in an open and candid way.
General communication within the organisation was viewed as being helpful.
Communication within the SATC was effective in that it provided adequate information and permitted satisfactory discussion on most occasions.
Some employees felt less positive about how well their manager was keeping them informed about organisational matters, about meetings being productive, the organisation being able to adequately cater for the needs of its customers, and about customers being satisfied with the quality and availability of the services and/or products.
5.2.2 Company image
Company image is a significant factor in building a loyal customer base, community approval of the organisation, and being recognized as an ‘employer of first choice’ by both existing employees and potential recruits. Employees in the organisation can have a significant impact on how the organisation is perceived and can help build and maintain the organisation’s image.
‘Company image’ was seen in a positive light by employees. The following responses indicate that employees were generally satisfied that the SATC was seen this way by both employees, the public and associated agencies. Common viewpoints expressed include:
They were happy to recommend this organisation to others as a good place to work.
They believed that the organisation was well known for its product and service quality.
They were confident that the company was being recommended favourably to others.
They were of the opinion that the company was seen to compare well with its competitors, with employees confident that the company performed at least equal to or better than others in the industry.
They felt that the organisation was seen to be contributing to the community in a worthwhile manner.
Some employees felt that people who earned respect outside the organisation progressed professionally in the organisation, and that working conditions at this organisation were improving all the time.
5.2.3 Conflict management
Conflict in an organisation can be a major source of creativity and initiative, or a destructive force preventing people from realising their full potential.
Whilst there were differing viewpoints on the issue of conflict management within the SATC, in general terms, employees expressed the view that:
There were levels of unproductive conflict between groups in the organisation.
Conflict Management, did on occasions, cause dissatisfaction and frustration more often than was desirable, leading to inadequate overall performance on various occasions.
Problems between groups were not as openly faced as required.
There were no real attempts by management to resolve conflicts between groups.
5.2.4 Human resource effectiveness
The policies and processes which determine how people in an organisation are led, managed and developed will either contribute to or detract from their willingness and capacity to make commitments and significant contributions.
Human resource effectiveness was viewed in a negative light by the majority (65 per cent) of employees. Some were of the opinion that whilst the SATC was concerned with improving
the work conditions of employees, the following issues needed to be addressed:
Staff turnover was perceived to be a problem in the organisation and that a review of retention strategies and related polices was warranted.
The staff performance appraisal system was in need of improvement and that there was a need to seek out where the current system was not meeting employee expectations/requirements and action be taken to alter or replace the current system to incorporate those requirements.
The effectiveness of the performance appraisal system was in doubt in terms of improving the performance of employees.
A review of the performance appraisal system was expected to be of benefit ensuring that revisions included the follow-up training/development for employees as appropriate. More often than not, follow-ups were not adhered to.
The system of staff appointments and/or promotions did not generally appear to be well-understood by employees in the organisation.
More clearly defined recruitment and selection procedures needed to be adopted and current policies and procedures should be communicated more effectively to employees.
The Human Resource Department was meeting the needs and requirements of both the organisation and the individual less often than was desirable. It was imperative for management to rectify this problem.
5.2.5 Managerial effectiveness
Managers need well thought-out and documented plans, budgets, control systems and reports, which focus on areas like variance (gap) analysis, performance appraisals, and clear measurable objectives, so they can put their time and effort into determining trends and concentrating on activities that yield maximum benefit for the organisation.
With regard to the issue of managerial effectiveness within the SATC, viewpoints differed among the employees interviewed. While some employees expressed the view that there were genuine attempts on the part of management to set clear and more measurable objectives for groups or units within the organisation others were of the opinion that plans of action relating
to managerial effectiveness were not always seen to be based on departmental objectives. Some employees stated that managerial effectiveness was adequate some of the time but was unlikely to be consistent or sustained over the longer term. Those endorsing this view suggested that:
Proper strategies should be implemented to ensure developmental objectives were considered and included when devising action plans.
The organisation needed to take full advantage of strengths or successes that occurred when work objectives were met or exceeded.
A review of the key elements of successful activities was needed to help capitalise on the strengths of workplace processes and practices.
Leadership staff should devote more time and energy in assisting other staff with their development. This was not always seen to be the primary concern of leadership staff in the SATC.
5.3.6 Mentoring and coaching
Organisations that provide a formal system of mentoring and coaching ensure that their people have the best opportunity to perform, grow and develop. Managers and executives can be provided with the necessary training and tools to undertake this role.
This workplace process or practice was received unfavourably by almost all employees. Common viewpoints expressed included:
Mentoring/coaching was not a strong feature of this organisation.
Mentoring/coaching was marginal in the organisation.
Employees did not receive the mentoring/coaching with the level of quality that they needed.
The organisation should more formally support mentoring/coaching of staff in their work.
5.2.7 Organisation structure
There is no one best way of structuring an organisation, but how well it is done will have an important impact on effectiveness and efficiency. Some of the significant issues are
coordination and integration of effort, fostering localised (geographic or departmental) decision making, having the correct number of management layers and encouraging mutual cooperation between functions or departments.
In general terms, employees interviewed stated that:
The organisation structure did not positively permit necessary decisions to be made close to the point of action.
The organisation structure allowed for some coordination, or integrated effort, but limited management action in various ways and reduced the overall organisation effectiveness and efficiency.
5.2.8 Participation and teamwork
Organisations that foster a spirit of participation and teamwork create an environment in which diverse views and opinions can be accommodated and blended to engender a sense of unity. In other words, none of us is as smart as all of us.
The issue of participation and teamwork was also perceived in a poor light by employees. There was common consensus that:
There was a need for more co-operation between the various units/groups within the organisation. Only a small percentage of employees engaged in this practice.
There was a greater need for better integration and working across groups/units, and a greater sense of common purpose and teamwork in the organisation.
With regard to decision making, decisions were not generally made in the organisation with sufficient consideration of the views of all relevant parties. For this reason, employees advocated that a more collaborative approach to decision making would enhance employee commitment and ‘buy in’ on decisions.
Participation/teamwork was of a poor standard, with minimal involvement of people/departments who could contribute to an overall, better quality result. Thus, there was room for improvement in the area of participation and teamwork.
5.2.9 Role clarity
Role clarity requires knowing who does what (solo or shared), where and when, how much and how often. Roles need to be clearly defined, and people need to have the appropriate responsibility and authority to make decisions, solve problems and take action.
With regard to the explicit explanation of their roles within the organisation, employees expressed the following viewpoints:
Role clarity was of an adequate standard, with most employees having a reasonable grasp of what was expected of them, and where their role fitted in the organisation and that employees were generally aware of the inter-relationship between their own job and the jobs of others to support effective teamwork.
Not all employees in all areas of the organisation were accepting their responsibility for outcomes.
There should be a greater focus on how well employees were co-operating across groups and units in the organisation.
Employees did not have the scope to act independently or interdependently as needed in the organisation.
5.2.10 Confidence in management
People want to work for an organisation where executives and managers are actively involved in leading and directing the organisation thoughtfully through strategies and plans. They want managers that are aware of organisation issues at all levels, and are operating to an appropriate business model.
Most employees indicated that they had confidence in management. The following viewpoints were stated:
Managers were respected as leaders.
Management was setting realistic work objectives.
The value of performance appraisal was recognised and was helping employees with their performance.
Management decisions were based upon sound business logic.
Managers were setting a good example.
Some senior management staff were not seen to be aware of problems that existed in the lower levels of the organisation.
Employees were in favour of improvements regarding communication channels throughout the organisation by increasing team and departmental meetings and ensuring that the information was filtered up to, and acted upon by senior management as appropriate.
5.2.11 Innovation
Innovation can take place in products, systems or processes, and entails regular generation of new ideas and concepts by all areas of the organisation. Whether these ideas come from within the organisation or some external source is of less importance than how they are encouraged, tested, evaluated or adopted. Creativity is encouraged so that people feel free to submit suggestions for change or improvement.
Innovation within the SATC was deemed necessary for the survival of the SATC. As stated in the literature review, the SATC faced fierce competition from interstate competitors. It is for this reason that the adoption of new innovative policies, processes and practices were imperative. In general terms, employees stated that:
They were satisfied with the processes in place that supported some degree of innovation, but they felt that their work environment did not encourage them to take calculated risks, to be innovative and to think creatively.
Innovation was apparent occasionally, but was unlikely to be a strong feature within the organisation.
5.2.12 Employees’ needs satisfaction
People go where they are wanted and stay where they are appreciated and their needs are met. Meeting those needs includes providing satisfying work, making available opportunities for personal growth and development, giving positive feedback and providing a safe, secure work environment.
In general terms, employees stated that:
They felt that their managers were confident in their ability to perform their role functions within the SATC.
They felt that their work was being used in an effective manner to contribute to the success of the organisation.
They derived a great deal of personal satisfaction out of performing their jobs competently
Discussion of Findings: Informal Interviews
The modern public sector organisation incorporates a range of complex issues and continuous change for employees. This discussion focusses on the changing nature of work processes and practices and the impacts of these changes upon public sector employees. These include the manner in which society, the environment—economic and political—and technology have influenced change, the way employees undertake their role functions and how this has impacted and brought about a difference in working styles and preferences among employees. Hence, the discussions that follow cover the key areas surrounding the ‘changing work environment’ of the public sector employee in the context of the findings stemming from the informal interviews.
Without doubt, the nature and pace of change has had numerous effects on the nature of public sector employees’ work and when and how they perform their role functions in the organisation. Impacts such as the pace of change, globalisation, technology and changing demographics shape the work environment (Galor and Moav, 2002). Lewis and Seltzer (1996, p. 43) stated that over the previous 20 years there had been a radical re-organisation of Australian business practices and the labour market and that the most significant causes of structural change are ‘technological change, microeconomic reform and internationalisation of product markets. As a result, these changes have influenced the demand for skills, changed the composition of employment and ‘increased the demands for a “flexible” labour force’. Tyson (1995) argued that the trends that have changed the nature of work in public sector organisations include average companies becoming smaller in size thus hiring fewer employees; the introduction of new organisational models of work that replaced traditional hierarchical organisational structures; the demise of the manufacturing worker; an increase in the number of technicians as the worker elite; a horizontal division of labour that replaced the traditional vertical division; business models focussed on services and away from manufacturing; and the redefinition of work with an emphasis on training and re-skilling. These trends have all impacted and shaped the current workplace in Australia. Thus, it is not surprising that terms like ‘self-organizing, self-managed, empowered, emergent, democratic, participative, people-centred, swarming, and peer-to-peer plus decentralization’ are often used in an organisation (Malone, 2004, p. 5). Whilst it is difficult to predict the future of change and change management in organisations, one thing remains certain: the increasing pace of change will continue to affect the workplace of the future.
It must be noted at this juncture that in the discussions pertaining to the above, the aim of the researcher was to give some order to the range of information provided by employees within the SATC in their responses to the informal questions. A difficulty experienced by the researcher was that without systematically measuring the effectiveness of the organisation, it was difficult to know where efforts for change improvements should be focussed. Also, without adopting a systematic approach, many organisations might be focussing attention on the wrong issues whilst being unaware of the gaps that could be addressed to achieve significant change improvements. These gaps can silently threaten the organisation’s change initiatives, if not its survival.
Thus, in the context of the primary research question, ‘How did employees within the SATC view processes and practices within the current work dynamics of their organisation?’, the following issues are discussed:
communication effectiveness
company image
conflict management
human resource effectiveness
managerial effectiveness
mentoring and coaching
participation and teamwork
role clarity
innovation
employee need satisfaction
performance standards.
6.3.1 Communication effectiveness
To communicate with everyone in the organisation, the goals and objectives for a particular area of responsibility requires that information is presented in a consistent manner and in a variety of ways that are positive, informative, candid, supportive and timely. In addition, it also requires managers at every level within the SATC to be available to their staff, and ensure that no information is missed or misunderstandings occur.
Whilst most employees within the SATC were of the view that communication effectiveness provided adequate information and permitted satisfactory discussion on most occasions, others stated that communication effectiveness was also at times ineffective because information was not always passed on to those people that required it. There was an opportunity to increase staff efficiency and productivity by improving communication channels throughout the organisation and ensuring that all relevant parties were informed of new information, changes and developments. Group e-mails, regular meetings, message boards and memo systems may be deemed to be appropriate for this purpose. However, managers needed to make themselves available to communicate with their employees whenever it was required.
With regard to new modes of communication within the SATC, employees were of the opinion that communication in the organisation had also changed due to the advent of new
technology. They concurred that they had multiple modes of communication tools at their disposable to achieve work related objectives warranted by the organisation. Employees cited the following modes of communication that were available to them:
mobile phones
Short Message Service (SMS)
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS)
facsimile
video conferencing
speakerphone
web camera
instant messaging (IM).
blog
Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
intranet
traditional mail
telephone
face-to-face communication.
However, whilst acknowledging these new modes of communication, employees stated that these could only be used effectively within the organisation if all employees received proper training on the use of the modes of communication. According to Peterson (2005, p. 146), if public sector employees are to capitalise on these new modes of communication, then there needs to be a ‘fundamental shift in mind-set’ among these employees which can only be achieved if employees are made aware of the need to ‘remain competitive in the “communications’’ revolution’. Also, these new communication mediums need to be designed to suit the change being implemented in the organisation and should be embedded into the change process from the start. This view was also echoed by employees who stated that these new modes of communication needed to converge across the whole of the organisation and should not be viewed as just voice and data, but as a communication tool built into the change process.
Another view to emanate was the need for professional personnel in Information Technology to conduct meaningful training and development workshops within all units in the organisation on a regular basis. Employees saw the need for this because of the numerous issues associated with the modes of electronic communication now available. For example, the use of emails within the organisation was deemed to be a popular means of communication. They conceded that a lack of writing skills could result in miscommunication within the organisation. To this end, Popcorn and Hanft (2001, p. 310) stated that:
... [organisations] are finding that employees who lack the proper writing skills are creating problems by sending harsh, insensitively worded email and instant messaging. Thus, [training and development] ... learn to communicate effectively given the compressed, immediate and risky nature of email.
However, it must be stressed that employees stated that the levels of communication across all parts of the organisation were satisfactory in nature, with most employees expressing the opinion that proper etiquette was adhered to during communication processes. Also, these newer modes of communication could be beneficial in fostering greater co-operation between the functional and operational areas within the organisation.
6.3.2 Company image
For employees, company image is a significant factor in building a loyal customer base, raising community approval of the organisation, and being recognised as an ‘employer of first choice’ by both existing employees and potential recruits. Employees in the organisation can have a significant impact on how the organisation is perceived and can help build and maintain the organisation’s image (Helm, Liehr-Gobbers and Storck, 2011).
Overall, employees stated that the SATC company image was unlikely to cause difficulties in dealings with customers, staff or the broader community. Employees were positive about the organisation having a reputation for highly professional management. Some stated that the SATC was making a worthwhile contribution to the community and employees indicated that other organisations saw the SATC as a good organisation to do business with.
Employees also mentioned that that globalization was having an effect on the manner in which the SATC was being perceived by both national and international tourism industries.
To explain, Slaughter and Swagel (2000, p. 175) stated that globalisation, from a business and economic perspective, is seen as ‘the international integration of goods, technology, labor, and capital’. This, in turn, impacted on public sector organisations like the SATC because ‘foreign trade and cross-border movement of technology, labor and capital have been massive and irresistible’ (Slaughter and Swagel, 2000, p. 175). What we currently have is the manner in which public sector employees now have to perform their roles in the organisation in order to foster the organisation’s image. It is not uncommon for organisations like the SATC to recruit more ‘independent specialists’ and to ‘turn to consultants and contractors who specialize more and more narrowly as markets globalize and technologies differentiate’ (Cetron and Davies, 2005a, p. 42). This in turn has a direct bearing on the manner in which the organisation is ‘perceived’ by the public.
6.3.3 Conflict management
In any organisation, conflict amongst employees occurs when two or more values, perspectives and/or opinions are contradictory in nature. This can occur when the employee is not performing his or her role function according to individual values, when individual values and perspectives are threatened, or the employee experiences discomfort from fear of the unknown or from a lack of job fulfilment. According to McNamara (2010, p. 1), conflict is inevitable in any organisation, and at times is good because employees go through a ‘form, storm, norm and perform’ period.
The positive and negative aspects of conflict are represented in Table 6.1. 194
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Positive and negative aspects of conflict Positive aspects of conflict |
Negative aspects of conflict |
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1. Conflict serves to help raise and address problems faced by employees. 2. Conflict focuses on the most appropriate issues warranting attention. 3. Conflict aids employees to ‘be real’, that is, it motivates employees to participate. 4. Conflict assists employees learn how to recognise and benefit from their differences. 5. Conflict in an organisation can be a major source of creativity and initiative.
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1. Conflict can become a problem when it hampers productivity, lowers employee morale, causes more and continued conflicts and inappropriate behaviours on the part of employees. 2. Conflict in an organisation can be a destructive force preventing people from realising their full potential.
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