Introduction: Case Study
Organizational performance and the success of teams heavily depend on the principles of work and the connections between team members. Knowing that it is important to study organizational communication, the field of study that classifies management and communication principles and generalizes the information on their effectiveness.
The case of Hockaday demonstrates the use of the four principles of scientific management indicated in the book by Shockley-Zalabak (64). The first principle refers to the selection of employees, and it is clear from the case that the company’s management pays focused attention to personal qualities and the level of experience of job applicants.
They are especially important when it comes to the members of the client support team; all of them have been selected as they possess proper communication skills and are stress-resistant enough to make decisions in difficult cases. Another indicator of the principle of careful selection is the amount of time that key employees have been working at the company. Many of them (for instance, Miles and Freeman) have more than ten years of experience, and it means that the management has an eye for specialists who are ready for long-term cooperation.
The company’s management also uses a scientific approach to train employees and help them to develop new skills – for instance, an experiment is used to test the effectiveness of virtual networks. Understanding that biases can interfere with the company’s work, managers use more objective information such as client surveys to identify weak areas and train the support team. Based on the principles of scientific management, equal division of work helps to achieve outstanding results (Khorasani and Almasifard 135). Having implemented changes to the company’s structure, the management introduces new practices to strike a balance between leaders and employees such as scheduled meetings.
The fourth principle says that tasks should also be assigned using the scientific method. Using objective data such as system KPIs and client surveys, the management defines three main tasks to be fulfilled by a virtual team. The case and additional materials show that every decision should be made using the scientific method – in other words, reducing the impact of biases and providing evidence is crucial in management.
Human Behavior Assumptions Working at Hockaday
The results of work are contingent on the interactions of employees and their personal qualities. Knowing that specialists pay close attention to the role of human behavior in organizational communication. The case of Hockaday demonstrates the importance of these assumptions.
According to the principles of coordination, conflicts are not to be considered only as barriers to success, and the case of Hockaday partially supports this assumption. The decision to restructure a customer support team was met with various reactions. Unlike other employees, Martin and Francois were skeptical about the success of a new team because of rotating leadership and physical exhaustion. Nevertheless, the leaders managed to channel this energy towards a healthy working environment and consider critical feedback.
The Hawthorne effect can also be noticed in the case – the members of the new team were showing positive results despite new responsibilities, stress, and low levels of employee satisfaction. The division of authority (enabling Mary to lead the team and make decisions) also shows that the upper management of the company does not reject the principles of participative management. Importantly, the use of participative management is strongly connected with improved financial results of many companies in Asia (Kim et al. 1712). This practice helps to impact human behavior, making employees more organized and responsible.
To sum it up, the case sheds light on the creative power of work-related conflicts and the division of authority. The case under analysis demonstrates that, together with the hard-working nature of key employees, the use of these principles helps to take on the world.
Works Cited
Khorasani, Sasan Torabzadeh, and Maryam Almasifard. “Evolution of Management Theory Within 20 Century: A Systemic Overview of Paradigm Shifts in Management.” International Review of Management and Marketing, vol. 7, no. 3, 2017, pp. 134-137.
Kim, Andrea, et al. “The Relationships Among Participatory Management Practices for Improving Firm Profitability: Evidence from the South Korean Manufacturing Industry.” The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 28, no. 12, 2017, pp. 1712-1738.
Shockley-Zalabak, Pamela. Fundamentals of Organizational Communication. 9th ed., Pearson, 2012.