Reference no: EM133616704
PAMELA JONES
Pamela Jones enjoyed banking. She had taken a battery of personal aptitude and interest tests that suggested she might like and do well in either banking or librarianship. She applied for employment with a large chartered bank, the Bank of Winnipeg, and was quickly accepted.
Her early experiences in banking were almost always challenging and rewarding. She was enrolled in the bank's management development program because of her education (a B.A. in languages and some postgraduate training in business administration), her previous job experience, and her obvious intelligence and drive.
During her first year in the training program, Pamela attended classes on banking procedures and policies and worked her way through a series of low-level positions in her branch. She was repeatedly told by her manager that her work was above average. Similarly, the training officer who worked out of the main office and coordinated the development of junior officers in the program frequently told Pamela that she was "among the best three" of her cohort of 20 trainees. She was proud to be a banker and proud to be a member of the Bank of Winnipeg.
After one year in the management development program, however, Pamela found she was not learning anything new about banking or the bank itself. She was shuffled from one job to another at her own branch, cycling back over many positions several times to help meet temporary problems caused by absences, overloads, and turnover. Turnover-a rampant problem in banking-amazed Pamela. She could not understand for many months why so many people started careers "in the service" of banking, only to leave after one or two years.
After her first year, the repeated promises of moving her into her own position at another branch started to ring hollow. The training officer claimed that there were no openings at other branches suitable for her. On two occasions when openings did occur, the manager of each of the branches Ill question rejected Pamela, sight unseen, presumably because she had not been in banking long enough.
Pamela was not the only unhappy person at her branch. Ier immediate supersisor. George Burns. complained that kecause of the bank's ecomomy drive, vacated customer service positions were left unfilled. As branch accountant, Burns was responsible for day-to-day customer service. Eventually, George Burns leti the bank to work for a trust company, earning $200 i month more for work similar to that he had len perfonning at the Bank of Winnipeg. This left Pamcla in the position of having to supervise the same tellers who had trained her only a few months earlier. Panela was amazed at all the mistakes the tellers made, but lound it difficult to do much to correct their poor work habits. All disciplinary procedures had to be administered with the approval of head office.
After sevcral calls to her training ofücer, Pamela was finally transtered to her first "real" position in her own branch. Still keen and dedicated, Pamela was soon to lose her enthusiasm.
At her new branch, Pamela was made assistant accountant. Her duties included the supervision of the seven tellers, some customer service, and a greal deal of paperwork. The same coonomy drive that she had witnessed at her training branch resulted in the fuilure to replace customer service personnel. Pamela was expected to "pick up the slack" al the front desk, neglecting her own work.
Her tellers scldom balanced their own cash. so Pamela stayed late almost every night to find their entors, To save on overtime, the manager sent the tellers home while Pamcla stayed late, first to correct the tellers' imbalances, and then to finish her own paperwork. He told Parcla that as an officer of the bank. she was expected to stay until the work of her subordinates, and her own work, was satisfactorily completed. Pamela redlizel that most of her counterparts in other hranches were willing to give this sort of dedication; therefore, so should she. This situation lasted six munths. with little sign of change in sight.
One day, Pamela leamed from a phone conversation with a friend at another branch that she would he transfered to Hope, British Columbia, lo fill an opening that had arisen. Pamcla's husband was a professional, employed by a large corporation headquarlened in Vancouver. His company did not have an office in Ilope: moreover, his training was very spectalized so that he could probably find employment only in large cities anyway.
Accepting translers was expected of junior officers who wanted to get ahead in the bank. Pancia inquired at head office and learned that the rumour was true. Her training officer told her, however, that she could decline the transfer if she wished, but he could not say how soon her next promotion opportunity would come ahout.
Dipressed, annoyed, disappointed, and frustrated. Pamela quit the bank.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: BELOW IS AN EXTRACT THAT CAN GUIDE YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF PAMELA'S CASE ABOVE
Pay and Organizational Strategy
In the past, internal equity has been the major concern of organizations. Because of increased competitiveness, nationally and intermationally, the focus is shifting now to maintaining a competitive advantage. The prerequisite for developing a strategic pay plan is a clear corporate strategic agenda.
Only then is it possible to identify the hehaviours and skills needed for the organization to be successful.
Lawler suggests a concentration on seven areas that affect pay systems:
- Motivating Performance. Money is still a strong motivator. Studies show that effective incentive systems can improve the motivation of individuals to perform by as much as 40 percent." A key determinant of the effectiveness of a pay system is the way performance is measured.
Top management has to be able to define the organizational behaviour it wants in accordance with its strategic plan.
- Identifying Valued Rewards. As mentioned, pay is an important motivator, partially because it leads to other rewards, such as status and prestige. Because pay means different things to different pcople, management has to understand how and why it is important to individuals. Only then is it possible to develop an effective reward system for all employces in the organization.
- Relating Rewards to Performance. It is essential for employees to perceive a connection between their pay and their performance.* This relationship is the more effective the closer the tie is between the reward and the performance. The common year-end bonus does little to make individuals aware of any performance reward connection.
- Setting Performance Goals. Reward systems often fail because the goals are simply set too high. Effective goals have to be acceptable and attainable. Employee participation in setting goals tends to increase goal acceptance and in many cases leads to increased productivity.
- Motivation and Punishment. An individual's motivation to perform is strongly influenced by the consequences of missing set objectives. If the consequences are particularly negative, an individual may not even attempt to succeed. This point is especially relevant in organizations that encourage risk taking in managerial decision making.* Organizations have to make sure that their reward system allows for occasional failures. A good example is the 3M Company, which has a reward system that encourages its managers to take risks. They are rewarded on the basis of their long-term track record rather than the immediate success or failure of a venture.
- Motivating Skill and Knowledge Development. A crucial issue for an organization is to develop the right mix of skills for its business objectives. A company in a knowledge work field needs different skills than a company in a service business.
The pay system chosen has to
reinforce the development of the skills needed, and it has to work for all levels of the organization. The appropriate kinds of skills are determined to a large degree by the management style used in the organization as well as the type of business it is in. An organization managed in a participative way needs very different skills than one managed in a top-down, autocratic way.
7. Fostering Attraction and Retention. The pay and reward system of an organization has a major impact on the attraction of individuals to work for it and on the retention of those individuals.
Please answers to the 5 questions below.
answe the following questions
QUESTIONS:
- Did management make right the hiring decision?
- How did management fare with respect to providing a motivating work environment?
- To what degree did management fulfill the expectations of Pamela?
- Was the performance-reward connection clear to her?
- What should management have done to create a truly motivating work environment?