Assignment 5: Impact Identification

Running head: IDENTIFY 1

IDENTIFY 5

Identify the Problem

Mark S. Lasky

Professor Willie Davis

American Public University

MGMT 495

March 5, 2019

The Problem, Management of the Problem and Possible Solutions Comment by WillieTDavis: Center and no underline

The business is mostly centered on the production, marketing and sale of cutlery. The production team was comprised of artisans who crafted various quality cutlery with the aid of the machinery present in the industrial sector of the business which was located in different premises from where the offices that dealt with distribution were founded. This (the distribution offices) was where I was stationed at the time of my internship. The distribution offices were burdened with the marketing, sales and financial duties of the company. Their goals were to find suitable buyers for either wholesale or even retail distribution advertise the product to the market, handle the transactions of the sale that included sending, receiving orders, and transportation of goods in question. The finance department dealt with the overall accounting of business affairs. Comment by WillieTDavis: Do not use “I” or personal pronouns in professional documents

At the stages of production, there is not much I could document as I was not present at the site, however, shipment came in regularly, as was evident by the roster and the entries were consistent. At the offices handling distribution, however, there was a notable disconnect amongst the various departments – to be precise between the Marketing department and the Sales department. The two departments were merged 3 years prior to my arrival to form a Sales and marketing work group as is the common-place in most enterprises. This merger was effected to boost the efficiency of the two departments. It has instead bred more conflict amongst the members of the work group.

The parties involved in the underlying conflict present in the workplace are the manager and the employees who form part of Sales and the Management work group. The problems identified in this case were communication problems, interpersonal conflicts and performance issues (Austin, 2019).

For the issue with communication problems, the vertical communication chain from manager to the employees of the departments is a common mode of communication in workplaces (Austin, 2019). The application of the same mode of communication at departmental levels as between the departmental heads and the employees were however, not a welcome idea. The issue was that communication could only be passed from the top down with little to no communication taking the alternate route (from the bottom to the top) thus the employees felt as though their needs went excommunicated.

Interpersonal and performance issues were observed in the business following the merger of departments into a singular work group owing to their previous competitive mechanism (Austin, 2019). This was mostly imposed by the managerial offices that openly praised the performing departments which often led to a competition amongst the departments and hardly appreciated any synergy between the two.

For the issues stated above the following solutions are suggested: Comment by WillieTDavis: Save the solutions for week 3…it’s important to achieve buy-in to problems before trying to fix.

· A biweekly (every other forth night) the meeting is suggested to commence as soon as is possible. This meeting is to serve the purpose of bettering communication in the workplace. These meetings will provide for the application of both vertical and horizontal communication modules, allowing every employee to be able to air their thoughts with regards to business and workplace affairs.

· Setting up training programs for employees to be aware of ways to identify, to address and solve business environment issues. This exercise can be done through seminars, on-site training and via training, resources, and software such as DVDs (Guide, 2017). To quell unproductive competition in the newly formed work group (sales and marketing), collaboration amongst the departmental heads and other employees is to be encouraged. This is to play a part in also solving interpersonal qualms amongst the employees where they would find new respect and admiration for one another by having to collaborate with each other. Comment by WillieTDavis: Conclusion?

References

Austin, T. U. (2019). Problem Solving Information and Tips: Principles for Addressing Workplace Conflict. Retrieved from The University of Texas at Austin: Human Resources: https://hr.utexas.edu/current/services/problem-solving Cullars, S. (2017, February 22). Guide to Environmental Issues in the Workplace. Retrieved from Business.com: https://www.business.com/guide-to-environmental-issues-in-the-workplace