Reference no: EM132128278

In 100 words state if you agree or disagree with the summary below and why? PLEASE reframe from using Overuse of ambiguous terms such as it, this, and they should not be used.

In last week's discussion, I identified four types of problem employees:

1. Offenders who make serious mistakes and are usually terminated as a result of their errors.

2. Habitual offenders of company policies or those employees who consistently fail to meet productivity standards.

3. Employees who do their best to "game the system" and get away with as much as possible in the context of following company policy or meeting productivity standards.

4. Employees that intentionally or unintentionally frustrate the manager by causing friction with the manager or the team.

Strategies:

For the first type of problem employee I identified, I think the primary strategy is prevention through thorough training programs or policy adjustments. Identifying the failures or gaps in current training or policies after an employee has committed a serious error and been terminated could be an effective way for organizational leaders and managers to understand what training or policy has failed, if any. By implementing more thorough training programs, or perhaps re-training at more appropriate intervals, an organization can attempt to head off future terminable offenses. Of course, this strategy will not be effective for all of these problem employees -- some employees just make bad mistakes regardless of training, or make mistakes where training would probably be ineffective. The most effective strategy for managing the second type of problem employee would probably be implementing or enhancing performance management systems at the organization. In that context, organizational leaders can also examine manager training to see whether (additional) performance management training could also be effective -- perhaps the managers are not appropriately managing the performance of the problem employees in this second category. However, focusing on performance management strategies could be less effective at addressing an employee's deeper motivational problems.

A strategy to deal with the third type of problem employee is probably also performance management related, similar to category two, but on a long-term basis. Since this type of problem employee is typically skirting the lines of what is acceptable in terms of behavior or productivity, longer-term internal assessment methods such as annual or semi-annual reviews or mentoring programs could be effective in curbing this type of employee's problem behavior. This strategy would potentially allow the manager to provide regular feedback to the employee and provide them with incentives such as pay raises related to performance or encouragement through mentoring. The fourth type of employee is probably best dealt with from a strategic level within an organization by promoting an organizational culture of honesty and open communication.

By promoting an organizational culture of honesty and open communication, managers and employees could feel more comfortable in employing such tactics as one-on-one meetings to address smaller problem issues that are causing friction with a manager or team, such as unprofessionalism or "setting off pet peeves." This strategy would also potentially have other tangential benefits in other areas, such as an organization's customer service. I think that with all of these strategies, an overarching strategy for managers should be to find out what motivates their employees. Individual employees are motivated by a diverse range of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, which a manager can use to the competitive advantage of the organization. Often, these motivational factors will also clue the manager in to how to address any problem behavior exhibited by the employee.