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BartLewisu1876753.docxJeans Organisation Behaviour
A company’s organisational structure and culture determines its performance. A company either improves in sales, profit or flop in the sales of its product therefore loses. It is all because of its type of management and leadership skills. A good leader creates a good work environment for the employees while motivating them to improve in their duties. Bart Lewis, the owner of Lewis Jeans, has not been practicing excellent management skills in his company resulting in the fall in sales and losses acquired over time. Lewis Jeans, a company which has been dominating jeans, wear production in Europe and around the world is failing. All this trouble in the company is because of poor management skills. Different organisational theories explain, lead to understanding, and solve organisational problems. The text will focus on these theories and how they will help improve the current situation with Bart Lewis.
An organisation structure is a system at which roles and responsibilities are distributed in the company. All organisations need this in order to ensure the company rules to its end goal; client and employee satisfaction. However, some companies adopt an organisational structure that leads to its failure. Lewis Jeans, a company, owned by Bart Lewis, has a structure that would quickly fail in the execution of roles and responsibilities. The company, Lewis Jeans, operates in Croydon, Leeds, and Glasgow. Out of these three, there is only a sales team at Croydon. Having a centralised sales and marketing team for the company leads to pressure for the employees to perform. Lewis Jeans sales and marketing team are too small to realise returns for the company.
Herzberg’s two-factor motivation theory indicates the needs and wants of employees to perform their best. Hygiene and motivation lead to job satisfaction. A good hygiene working condition ensures the employees are not overworked. Overworking employees eventually leads to low production in the company (Carson, 2018; Schultz, & Schultz, 2010). Lewis Jeans has been in operation for over ten years. It has been doing well over the years, but the sales have recently fallen by 20% and profits by 40%. The owner, Bart Lewis, has only maintained a small sales and marketing team at Croydon. Company expansion means an increase in work. The increase in the workload should result in the rise of employees deported to the different offices.
Although the production of Lewis Jeans happens in three major towns, we have the sales team only at Croydon, a mistake in the company structure. The team should be present in all the branches to facilitate the sales of the jeans to different outlets in the area. Expanding the sales and marketing team to these regions means increasing sales. The employees will find new customers and new fashion outlets interested in Lewis Jeans. A rise in sales equals an increase in profits for the company, which means stability and growth for Lewis.
The current organisation culture at Lewis Jeans is alarming. Bart Lewis is the overall boss, and all managers should report to him daily on the progress of the company. The managers are paid depending on the sales the company makes hence putting pressure on supervisors who in turn, stress employees in their work environment. A stressful work environment in any organisation leads to its fall. The fundamental law of Hygiene and Motivation from Herzberg’s theory is not met at Lewis Jeans. The employees are not given respect, being forced to produce, leading to even lower productions. The motivation in the company only comes after sales of the product, and it is only given to the managers in monetary terms. The company cannot succeed by only motivating the top management. Instead, it should drive all the employees from the bottom up for better production and sales of the product.
The company should use instead, employee Theory Y in the organisation, which has proven to work better for any company. Theory Y believes the employees to be self-driven and allow them to make their own decisions. The current situation at Lewis jeans does not encourage Theory Y. The employees do not perceive their jobs as relaxing. They are not allowed to employ their skills and knowledge, neither are they loyal to Lewis Jeans (Carson, 2018). All these because of constant threat and warnings management style from Bart Lewis. Theory Y satisfies the employee’s needs according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. If Lewis Jeans uses theory Y in the running of the company, then the sales and profits of the company will rise. If the theory is put in use, it means the employees will have all their basic needs; food, clothing, and shelter. They will have safety needs, where the work environment is not hostile and encourages innovation. They will feel loved and cared for leading in fulfilling their sociological needs (Abulof, 2017). It also improves their esteem needs by encouraging self-confidence and competence in their work. Challenging jobs of increasing production and sales of the jeans will give the employees a sense of self-actualisation.
Lewis Jeans provides its employees very low motivation for them to perform better at the company. The only people that receive high motivation are the department’s managers, and all this depends on the number of production and sales of the jeans. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs insists on staff motivation for a better output of the company (Deckers, 2018). For instance, the employees can be motivated if their safety, social, and esteem needs are put into consideration. The employees are expected to deliver fully in a work environment where they are not loved, accepted, or offered job security. The employees are always worried about losing their job if they do not meet the needs of Bart Lewis due to his autocratic style of managing. Maslow identifies this behaviour from managers kills the self-esteem of the employees leading to low production, low sales, and small profits.
Herzberg, in his two factors theory, supports Maslow’s claims in motivating the employees. The hygiene factors are compulsory factors that ensure the employees are satisfied while the motivational factors improve employees work output (Schultz, & Schultz, 2010). Lewis Jeans has been facing competition from other brands who are selling twice as much as they are in the country. The quality of Lewis Jeans has also gone down over the years. Providing employees with only basic needs and no motivation at all will reduce the quality of production. The employees do not care if they produce good or bad quality jeans because after all, they will be paid the minimum while their bosses, the managers, are the ones that will get a bonus if the sales rise. There can be no work output if the whole team of employees is not motivated to perform their best.
Bart Lewis, the CEO of Lewis Jeans, has a bad and inefficient leadership style. Lewis makes the final decisions about his company without consulting management team, he makes rules for the management team to follow which means every employee in the company (Schultz, & Schultz, 2010). He has also maintained only one sale and marketing office for his company. The results of his leadership is leading to the companies failure while better quality jeans are produced from other companies. Sales are down 20%, profits down 40%, and employees are leaving the company a few months after employment.
Kotter and Schlesinger have a six-step model of change that would effect change in a company. They include; education and communication, participation and involvement, facilitation and support, co-option and manipulation, negotiation and bargain, and explicit and implicit coercion (Kotter and Schlesinger, 2008). They taught education and communication as first step to accepting change. Lewis Jeans can only get back to being successful if the owner accepts change is needed to the company. I would show him the importance of change and working with the managers and the rest of the employees. I would bring everyone together to effect these changes through participation and involvement in decision making. Everyone would give their suggestions on how to improve Lewis Jeans. Most of these employees will welcome the needed change but Lewis will need more facilitation and support to accept that there is a problem in his running the company.
Co-option and manipulation stage of change will bring in the company's managers to work closely with the CEO to accept the changes (Kotter and Schlesinger, 2008). I would consider the necessary changes mainly involving all employees in decision making. Top management should eventually accept to give out roles and responsibilities to the staff members, with each one of them accountable for the results. Negotiation and bargaining are difficult steps as they lead to other staff members leaving. The top management that do not want to involve the rest of the employees in decision making should leave the company at this stage. Explicit and implicit coercion is the last resort when dealing with change in an organisation (Kotter and Schlesinger, 2008). Letting the employees know the consequences of resisting this change would encourage them to work together with top management and push beyond their limits and improve production and sales of Lewis Jeans. Bart Lewis and the top management flexibility in decision making will tremendously change the outcome of the company in gaining sales and profits again.
In conclusion, Lewis Jeans, a jeans producer in Europe and around the world, is failing because of the owner’s poor management skills. The employees are not motivated to work in the company as the owner, Bart Lewis, does not take their opinion on running of the business. An organisation’s success is based on how the management treats the employees. A company can only be successful if the employees are happy and satisfied with the work environment and the quality of work, they produce for the organisation.
References
Abulof, U. (2017). "Introduction: Why We Need Maslow in the Twenty-First Century". Society, 54 (6): 508–509.
Carson, C. (2018). "A historical view of Douglas McGregor's Theory Y". Journal of Management Decision, 43 (3): 450–460.
Class Notes
Deckers, L. (2018). Motivation: Biological, Psychological, and Environmental. United Kingdom: Routledge Press.
Hattangadi, V. (2015). "Theory X & Theory Y" (PDF). International Journal of Recent Research Aspects, 2: 20–21.
Kotter, P. J. and Schlesinger, A. L. (2008). Change Management: Choosing Strategies for Change. Harvard Business Review.
Schultz, D. P. & Schultz, S.E. (2010). Psychology and Work Today: An Introduction to Industrial and Organisational Psychology (10th ed.). New York City: Prentice Hall.
