Reading: Lesson 1 - The Staffing and Leading Functions

3.1.A - The Staffing and Leading Functions

1. THE CHALLENGE OF STAFFING AND LEADING

1. The staffing and leading functions of management involve carrying out the organization’s plans by bringing together the right people to do the tasks and guiding and supporting them so they can work effectively. The controlling function involves evaluating results to determine if the company’s objectives have been accomplished as planned. The majority of managers, especially supervisors and middle-level managers, spend a great deal of their time on staffing, leading, and controlling activities.
   
2. Staffing focuses on finding the right individuals who can perform the work. It involves hiring employees, finding talent within the company, and possibly bringing in outside temporary workers to support a project. Staffing can also involve assembling a team of employees who will work together for the long term or a team who will work on a defined work project for only a short period of time.
   
3. Leading involves developing a plan that guides employees and ensuring they are motivated and have the resources needed to help achieve the company’s goals. For example, a manager may communicate important goals to an employee team, provide leadership to help the team determine how to complete the necessary work, and ensure that rewards and recognition are provided to everyone involved when the goals are achieved.
   
4. In the scenario at the beginning of the chapter, Jasmine had many activities for which she was responsible in the new department. She was spending a great deal of time staffing her team and leading that team to support the company’s plans. Jasmine discovered what many experienced managers have learned. Plans are not effective unless they are implemented well. Changing conditions in a business create problems in the way work is accomplished. Jasmine learned that the staffing and leading functions play an important role in helping her solve the problems she faces as a manager.
   
5. At the beginning, Jasmine was able to staff her team by hiring new employees. She had a generous training budget and three months to prepare employees for their new work. The team seemed to enjoy using the new computer equipment and making calls to customers. The preparation time and training made them comfortable with their new work. The careful planning to personally deliver the brochures to customers and make follow-up calls resulted in immediate orders. Employees were pleased with their initial success. Customers liked the rapid delivery guarantee and the service-oriented approach of the local business. But as Jasmine looked back, that was where the problems started.
   
6. The first problem occurred when Jasmine established sales quotas for each employee. With sales growing rapidly, she didn’t think it would be difficult for most employees to make their quotas. Jasmine believed the quotas would motivate everyone to sell, rather than just wait for customers to call in orders. However, some people easily exceeded their sales quotas while others seldom reached theirs. Several employees complained that the quotas put too much emphasis on selling and didn’t allow them adequate time to answer customers’ questions and solve their problems.
   
7. The department began to experience some computer difficulties. When a high volume of calls came in, the computers would slow down. Employees would have to wait to get information on their screens, and occasionally all of the information entered would be lost before the order could be processed. Also, Jasmine learned that when sales volume was high, the company was not always able to meet its goal of overnight delivery. The higher sales volume was difficult for the delivery department to handle because it was still operating with the same number of employees as when the new wholesale business started. As a result, the telemarketing employees were starting to receive customer complaints that they were not prepared to handle.
   
8. While Jasmine was struggling with the computer problems and the sales quota issue, she was also facing the growing employee turnover problem. Even though she was hiring and training new employees, it seemed there were never enough employees to replace those who left and to handle the growing amount of business. To get new employees on the job faster, training time was reduced. That seemed to result in more errors in the orders processed. Veteran employees were being asked to work overtime to meet the demand and to help inexperienced telemarketers. That created even more employee dissatisfaction. Jasmine couldn’t believe that a plan that seemed so good and had initially been successful could result in so many problems.
   
9. Managers often have to identify solutions to complex problems. Jasmine’s original team was hired for sales talent and customer support. Some of these employees likely were motivated by success in selling, and others by supporting customers. Technical and delivery problems, lack of support, and unhappy customers could make it more difficult for the sales team to reach quotas. Jasmine faced a series of problems.
   

2. STAFFING ACTIVITIES

1. In the opening chapter scenario, Jasmine staffed her team by retraining current employees and hiring new team members to work in telephone sales. Jasmine needed to find the right individuals to do the work. Seldom do employees work alone. Managers must be able to staff to reach goals by creating work teams.
   
2. Managers may have direct hiring authority, or they may need to work through a company’s human resources department during the hiring process. This typically begins by defining the job requirements and the type of person who could be successful in that position. For Jasmine, her sales team members need to enjoy selling and be outgoing, personable, patient, and problem solvers.
   
3. While many people may have those personal characteristics, they still may not be a good fit for a sales job. Companies spend a great deal of effort to identify a strong fit before they hire. For example, a college student applied for a sales position with a firm. The interviewing process included testing, listening and responding to real-world scenarios, and interviews with several people. After six meetings, the job candidate was asked to attend one last interview, where she was told she didn’t get the job. She expressed her belief that the business had made a mistake, because she was the best candidate. She thanked the interviewers for their time and said she would be happy to come to work for them if they changed their minds. They then responded, “When can you start?” The business was testing her capabilities as a salesperson, a position in which she would be visiting potential customers multiple times while trying to close a sale, but often hearing “no.” The business wanted to be sure that she could take rejections without spoiling future relationships.
   
4. Seldom do people complete all of their work alone. Most people are part of a work group and rely on cooperation from others to reach goals. Well-organized groups can accomplish more than the same number of people working independently. Managers need to be able to staff effective work teams. A work team is a group of individuals who cooperate to achieve a common goal.
   
5. Effective work teams have several characteristics. First, the members of the group understand and support its purpose. They clearly understand the activities to be completed, know which activities they must perform, and have the knowledge and skills necessary to complete them. Group members are committed to meeting the expectations of others in the group and helping the group succeed. Finally, group members communicate well with each other and work to resolve problems within the group.
   
6. Just because several people work together, however, does not guarantee that they will be an effective work team. In fact, there are many reasons why they may not be an effective team. They may not know each other well or trust each other. They may have biases or stereotypes about other group members. They may not be prepared to cooperate in completing a task or know how to make effective team decisions. Managers can play an important role in developing team effectiveness. To develop effective teams, they must understand the characteristics that make groups effective, help to organize the team and develop needed team skills, create a work environment that supports teamwork, and help the group resolve problems when they occur.
   

3. LEADING ACTIVITIES

1. To lead successfully, managers must master a number of activities designed to channel employee efforts in the right direction to achieve goals. These activities include problem solving, consensus building, financial analysis, effective communications, employee motivation, and operations management.
   
2. In the opening scenario, Jasmine was facing a complex problem. Some of the issues were under her control, such as hiring and training. But other issues, such as technology problems, could not be solved solely by Jasmine. Managers need to use critical-thinking skills for complex problems. This requires determining the cause of problems, identifying and evaluating alternative solutions, and then devising a plan to solve the problems.
   
3. Many of the causes of problems are outside of a manager’s control. These could be internal issues within the company, such as the technical and delivery problems in the opening scenario, or they could be driven by factors external to the company, such as competition, the economy, changing regulations, and many other factors known and unknown to managers. Managers need to be both creative and resourceful to solve these problems.
   
4. Even if a manager has identified a plan, he or she will still need support to move that plan forward. In Jasmine’s case, she will need to collaborate with four major groups. She will need to work with the technology group to make it clear how the technical problems are impacting her team and the company’s sales. She will also need to work with the order fulfillment department to help ensure customers aren’t given delivery times that cannot be met. Jasmine will also need to negotiate with her experienced sales team members to help ensure that they don’t leave and will continue to support the new workers. Finally, she will need to work with new employees to be sure they are trained and ready to do the job.
   
5. Businesses need to ensure that they are using resources wisely, and managers must understand the financial impact of decisions. For example, the technology department may tell Jasmine it needs $100,000 to update the computer systems to fix the problem. Jasmine will need to be able to justify this expense through an analysis showing a reduction in lost sales and the potential increase in new sales as a result of the new computer system. Jasmine will also need to develop sales forecasts and a budget for her operation. She must allocate her expenses over the year to ensure that she can maintain current business operations and support any new strategies she wants to put in place.
   
6. Communication is an essential part of implementing work in a business. Managers must be able to communicate plans and directions, gather feedback from employees, and identify and resolve communication problems. Both personal and organizational communications are important. Because so many forms of communications media exist in organizations today, managing communications technology is an important responsibility. Communication is much more than telling employees what to do. In fact, if employees believe managers are being too directive, they will likely be dissatisfied and not work as hard or effectively as they could. An important communication skill for managers is to listen to employees and involve them in deciding how work should be done. A manager should use both formal and informal communications. Encouraging employees to contribute their ideas and involving them in deciding the best way to do the work will help gain their commitment to achieving the goals. This is a good way to build consensus.
   
7. Motivation is a set of factors that influences the actions taken by an individual to accomplish a goal. Employees may be motivated to achieve company goals, or they may be motivated to pursue other goals that do not benefit the company. Managers don’t actually “motivate” employees, but they can use rewards and punishments to encourage employees to motivate themselves toward pursuing company objectives. A key to motivation is to know what employees value and give them those things for achieving company goals. A reward is not motivating unless it is something the employee values. The reward does not always have to be monetary. People also value things such as praise, respect, an interesting job assignment, or extended breaks after hard work.
   
8. Motivation comes from influences both inside and outside the individual. Intrinsic motivation stems from a person’s beliefs, feelings, and attitudes that influence the person’s actions. For example, many workers are motivated to do a good job because they get a feeling of satisfaction from a job well done. Extrinsic motivation comes from rewards and punishments supplied by other people. For example, performing well on a difficult task may result in bonus pay, praise from the boss, or promotion to a team leadership position.
   
9. For many people, intrinsic factors have the most influence on behavior. If employees consider work boring, they will not be motivated to do a good job. In the opening scenario, the sales employees’ intrinsic motivation for success could be negatively affected by feelings of frustration due to technology problems. For others, extrinsic factors have the strongest influence on performance. An employee who values recognition will likely be motivated by the challenge of a competition to obtain the highest customer service rating. Keeping work areas clean, clutter free, and repaired can motivate employees who value a pleasant work environment.
   
10. All people have their own needs and, whenever possible, will choose to do things that satisfy their needs and avoid doing things that don’t. Managers can influence employee performance by understanding individual needs and providing rewards that satisfy those needs when employees accomplish work goals.
    
11. Operations are the major ongoing activities of a business. Operations management involves effectively directing the major activities of a business to achieve its goals. Several activities are part of operations management. Facilities, equipment, materials, and supplies must be available and in good operating condition so employees can perform their work. Employees must have the knowledge and skills to do their work. Managers must make sure that employees complete their tasks on schedule and work to resolve problems that could interfere with the successful completion of the job.
    
12. Effective planning and organizing are important parts of operations management. Planning helps employees know what to do. In the same way, well-organized work spaces and procedures for completing work tasks help operations run smoothly. If problems occur in the operations of a business, managers should examine the planning and organizing of the work.
    
13. Managers must be prepared to implement the activities assigned to their area of responsibility. Some activities are common to most management areas. For example, managers must hire new employees, monitor work schedules, and communicate policies and procedures. In addition, most departments are organized to perform specialized operations. The manager of the marketing department may be responsible for advertising and sales. The information systems manager must ensure that computer systems are operational, the company’s Internet sites are up to date, and software is problem-free. Managers need to understand the unique work of their departments in order to help employees complete that work. Jasmine will need to build consensus with the information systems managers in the technology department to ensure proper operations in her department.
    
14. In the past several years, organizations have paid a great deal of attention to improving the way work is done. Due to increasing competition, companies must operate efficiently to keep costs low so that they can compete successfully. Customers are demanding improved quality, so the company must produce products free of defects. The efforts to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of specific business operations are known as process improvement.