Friday, September 28, 2012

INTERVIEW CHALLENGES AND HOW TO HANDLE IT:



Interview questions about Personal Relations.

1.     Your employee, who has problem with punctuality and two years of poor evaluations, has come up for promotion. There are more qualified candidates who have also come up for the same promotion, but you have been romantically involved with an employee. Do you promote your mate?

1. (Low) I will keep quiet.
3. (Average) I will politely talk to her and request will bring the request next year and advise her to improve and improve on her performance
5. (High) since her performance was not good for the past 2 years I will not       entertain such situation no matter I was in love with her. I will promote the other employees and give her warning to improve her behavior.

2.     How would you react to a situation in which a fellow employee confided in you that he was stealing from the company?

1. (Low) appreciate him for honest behavior
3. (Average) request him to return what he has stolen so far
5. (High) taking a disciplinary Action of warning,

3.     What do you do when you know that you are right and others don’t agree with you?

1. (Low) use the available rules to force them to agree with me 
3. (Average) keep quiet and continue with what I am doing
5. (High) Discuss with them about my stand by showing them valid data to convince them to agree with me.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

THE ROLE OF SUPERVISORS IN OFFICE SPICE MOVIE (1999) DIRECTED BY MIKE JUDGE VS Mosley’s and Mintzberg’s theories.:


                                           EMMANUEL ALOIS TURUKA
                    WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

Summary of the movie
Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) is a computer programmer working for Initech in Houston. Every day, he and his friends Samir (Ajay Naidu) and Michael Bolton, suffer endless indignities and humiliations in their soulless workspace from their soulless boss, Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole). For Peter,  every day is worse than the one before it -- so every day is the worst of his life. To cap it off, Initech has hired a pair of "efficiency experts" to downsize the company. One Friday night, Peter's soon to be ex-girlfriend Anne (Alexandra Wentworth) forces him to go to an occupational hypnotherapist to relieve work stress. While Peter is under hypnosis, the therapist keels over and dies. As he never snaps out of his hypnotic state, Peter has a new outlook on life. If something annoys him, he just ignores it or walks away from it. He is completely relaxed and enjoying life for the first time in a long time. On Monday, Peter skips work and sleeps in. He gets up for lunch and drives down to a restaurant next to his office and asks the waitress he's had a crush on, Joanna (Jennifer Aniston), on a date. When Peter stops into the office to pick up his organizer, he's called in to talk to the efficiency experts. Relaxed and friendly, Peter charms them as he describes everything wrong with the office, including his boss. Even as Peter now appears at work only as the mood strikes him, the experts decide he's management material and give him a promotion even as they lay off the hardworking Samir and Michael. Office Space originated from writer/director Mike Judge's.

MOVIE DISCUSSION
Office Space movie postulates the general life of people who are working in the office and how they satisfied their needs  according Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs.  According to  (Mosley 2005)  people try to satisfy different needs through work, and have basic needs to be fulfilled. As a result of these needs people direct their energy towards satisfying them. If a lower level is satisfied the drive is to achieve that need is reduced and or eliminated and is replaced by a drive off to achieve the higher one, the only place to satisfy all these is through working.
The movie shows that human life’s is a life of interaction and interdependency at work place. The movie shows that one element of good performance is a clear mind which will help employees to take up responsibility very well. It should bear in our mind that the organizations in which people work affect their thoughts, feelings and actions within the organization and outside the organization.
Office Space movie is a classic movie,  which shows how working environment and weak leadership  can cause failures in making decisions.
The the lesson from Peter’s decision to change lane due to slow moving traffic   is summarized by Mosley (2005) argued that Poor planning results in disorganized and uncoordinated activities, thus wasting time. General Mosley (2005) analysis is that, planning involves an advance vision of possible problem(s) or change(s) that might arise and we need to set aside solutions available to deal with them smoothly when they do arise.
The main actor Peter is computer programmer at Initech Company. He was given a work about preparing the  T.P.S cover sheets, Peter failed to accomplish this responsibility on time as the result he was harassed by numerous bosses.
Mosley (2005) defines management as the process of working with and through people to achieve objectives by means of effective decision making and coordination of available resources. We have seen Mr. William Lumpergh as a supervisor failed to coordinate effectively the role individuals in Initech. Peter has eighty different bosses who correspond direct to him this of course will bring confusion and inefficiency in the organization and, when an employee fails to take up his/her role effectively it is difficult to put in task an employee, Mosley (2005) insists that the organization must have what is called the span of management which is the number of immediate employees a manager/supervisor can supervise effectively. In showing the importance of this Mosley (2005) advise supervisors to use the unity of command states that everyone in the organization should report to and be accountable to only one boss for the performance of a given activity. This supervisor should be responsible for evaluating performance, passing down orders and information and developing employees to become better employees in the organization, why because:
q  It prevents duplication and conflicts when orders and instructions are passed down.
q  It decreases confusion and “passing the buck” because everyone including managers is accountable to only one person for a given assignment
q  It provides a basis whereby a supervisor and his or her employees can develop knowledge of each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
q  It provides an opportunity for a supervisor and employees to develop supportive relationships and to realize their individual and group potential in achieving organizational objectives.
q  It promotes higher morale than is generally found in organizations that do not follow the unity of command.
But if the supervisor has failed to accomplish this command; Weiss (2004) argued that the supervisor who is cold, unfriendly and demanding often creates fear or resentment in people. Nobody works willingly for someone he fears. When subordinates respect their supervisors, they plan and discuss problems with them. Ramsey R.D (2002) also argued that it is hard to believe, but there are still supervisors who think they can get more out of employees through bullying, threats and scare tactics. And obsolete supervisors who insist on browbeating their workers and attempting to force performance to run the risk of becoming ineffective, or worse, irrelevant. When we examine the role played by supervisor Mintzberg in this situation highlight that supervisor in this particular situation must function in all three major roles that is interpersonal Roles, Informational role and the decision making role And the issue was not solved, and sets up a climate of bad supervisors, who failed to use theories of delegation, motivation and how to manage a team.   
Ramsey D.R  (2005) concluded by arguing that the best leaders strive to create a culture that empowers individual self-actualization and promotes optimum, creative collaboration at the same time. If you build that kind of workplace, they (workers) will come. They will stay. They will produce. And you will have made your workplace better. That’s what supervisors do. You don’t want to do any less. Mintzberg in such kind of situation advises supervisor to Disturbance handler who can be responding to crises/ problems that arise.   
The organization is organized in order to accomplish the set up the objective. An employee must respect the order and if he or she fails to accomplish there must be a reason, which is acceptable according to the rules Mosley (2005) in such kind of situation supervisor’s job is much like that of a coach.
As Mosley (2005) an important fact to remember is that accountability cannot be delegated. Accountability is essential to maintain effective control over the results. Therefore a person who delegates an assignment should not be able to escape accountability for poor results. In order an organization to be accountable what is required to work as a collective team for more success as Weiss W.H (2004) argued that to be an effective leader you must know how to foster trust with your subordinates. An excellent way to establish a trusting relationship is through intelligent, consistent, delegation. When you delegate effectively, your subordinates will gain experience and confidence in their abilities. Both of these qualities will enable them to be more productive and advance in the company
As Mosley (2005) emphasized that we should avoid a crisis decision, with careful and adequate planning. Peter and his friend if they could think very carefully, in avoiding long term crisis in their mind they could not involve themselves in such kind of plot. It is unnecessary and wastage of time. They could as well asked themselves the following question as Mosley (2005) puts it; Is this legal? Will I be violating either civil law or company policy? How will it make me feel about myself? Would I feel good if my decision were published in the newspaper? Would I feel good if my family knew about my decision?  As Stanley T.L (2002) argued that the gratifying mode is driven by an overwhelming quest to feel good about the decision. Operating in this mode, within reason, should lower individual stress levels. Peter is restless because of the decision he has decided to do if he could follow what Stanley has outlined above he could as well lowered the stress which he face now.        
The set up of fire is the result of anger of one employee who felt that he was discriminated. Anger is a personality, which drives individual to self-defeating, self-destructive, and it does not solve problems, it only creates them or makes them worse and has no redeeming values. As Ramsey R.D. (2004) explains that anger is a dictator that can control lives and drive behavior. It blots out reason and blurs good judgment. Worst of all, it can lead to dangerous outbursts of violence or other destructive behaviors. Obviously, anger has no legitimate place in any business, office, shop, or factory. When it occurs, someone has to see that it does not take root or take over the workplace. Good supervisors know how to diffuse employee anger.

Conclusion
My general analysis of this movie vs  Mosley textbook it is a funny because all tips on being a good supervisor have been very well highlighted and emphasized. In short. Successful leaders have a broad knowledge of good management ideas and when they develop successful relationships with employees, amazing things can happen, remind us of the IBM case study.
We have learned also that synergistic approach is very important this can be through Management by Objective this emphasizes the importance of a supervisor and employees working together in order to achieve organizational goals. The advantage of this the employee feels being part and parcel of the organization and will respond more favorably to change and loyalty to the supervisor and the organization profit or service will increase. The role of the supervisor is to bring people together given that organization is a social setting by;
q  The supervisor must identify goals that measure organizational performance
q  The supervisor must be precise in linking individual goals and standards performance
q  The supervisor must monitor employee progress toward agreed upon goals
q  The supervisor and employee must meet on a regular basis to evaluate measurable performance. If needed corrections are made to bring about employee improvements toward individual goals. Or changes are made that are more workable. (The Case of Mike Odom)
q  Delegation is very important because the logic suggests that when more than one supervisor conveys the same trivial information, their job overlaps, and brings confusion to the employee.
q  The supervisor must know how to diffuse employee anger, to avoid destructive behavior and stress to employees.
q  The supervisor must know how to create the condition that provides employees with a heightened sense of self-esteem.
q  The supervisor must know the culture of working place, which is the personality of the organization
As we have seen in the case of Peter the essence of the problem is lack of delegation and lack of
A positive attitude  from leaders. A supervisor must lead by showing examples. Through a
Good communication which includes careful listening, and understanding what is meant for others (seven habits) is very important; It is the role of the supervisor to take responsibility to carry out a popular action that can hurt the morale of other employees, supervisors must take time to explain the reason why the organization is doing so. It's believed that supervisor’s explanation could take away the bad concept in one’s mind, and get him to move without resistance.  Employees have a strong need to know what is going on and they can handle bad news more positive. One can refer the issue of downsizing (layoff) in Initech how it is handled, is more negatively
A good supervisor is consistent in demonstrating a good standard of work for employee by rewarding a good performance and correct poor performance quickly. When you are so close to employee it is easy to realize and implement this, Mr. Lumperghl failed because he was not close to employees.
Team building is very important in a supervisory role because working together toward a common goal can accomplish much more than any individual employee can do on his/her own. (Synergy). The most powerful words to say to an employee who has done well is ‘Thank You’ but when you use these words timely and genuine touch one service and he/ she appreciated for recognition
Reference:

Mosley,D.C., Megginson,L.C., Pietri, P.H. (2005). Supervisory management: The art of empowering and developing people (6th ed.). Cincinnati: South Western.

Dmytrenko, A.L. (1998). The seven habits of highly effective people. Records Management Quarterly, 32, 85 –86.

Ramsey, R.D. (2004). Understanding the culture of your workplace. Supervision. 65 (8), 3-5.

Weiss, W.H. (2003). Leadership. Supervision, 64 (11), 17-20.

Ramsey, R.D. (2004). Managing workplace anger: Your employees’, your customers’ and your own, Supervision, 65 (2), 8-10.