The case talks about the challenges of the new administrative assistant in the new organization. Though the assistant had been working for the past fifteen years, she was not able to perform to the expectations of the new organization. Her domestic issues coupled together with the higher expectations from the work place made the situations get worse.
The assistant could however not acknowledge the challenges she was facing this is clearly illustrated when after being assisted she would not admit that she still had any problems. This made the branch members get more frustrated to the point of sharing their views with the management. In fact the branch members are feeling that their energies are being wasted and their efforts are hampered by Sue.
There are four major issues that are brought out in this case. The first issue is having a hardworking employee who however cannot perform to the firm’s expectation. We are told that Sue at time works for more than eight hours a day but still can not beat the dead line in fact some employees would come to ‘bail’ her out at some point.
The second issues relates to having an employee that end up performing things in the unexpected way. It is said that Sue was not good on thinking through the requirements of new tasks and projects. For example she could arrange materials for workshop in the wrong way. She could also make wrong time arrangements that could cause one to arrive late for workshops.
The other issue is that despite the training that the employee received little improvement was seen. After the training she will still seek more help as if she had never been trained on the specific issue.
Finally there is a revelation that the employee could be experiencing domestic hardships. Her inability to perform well may then be related to the domestic challenges she is going through.
The elements for performance simply refers to the management approved ways that tell employees of their targets, requirements and also expectations from the management. In the case given several performance elements can be used though we will just concentrate on just a few that are outstanding.
There need to be early planning for work. It is important that all employees be part of the planning team. Through their participation in coming up with plan employees understand well the goals of the firm and work hard towards achieving them.
Another element is monitoring which in simple terms mean the effective way of organizing things and continuous checking on projects and assignments. Monitoring also involves measuring performance besides providing employees with continuous feedback on the progress they have made in their effort to achieving the goal of the firm.
The best approach that I would use to handle the crisis in the company would involve the following steps. First, I will have to talk to Sue, the administrative assistant to know the main issues that do contribute to her poor performance to see how to handle them. I would also encourage her to try not to mix her domestic issues with her work place duties for she would then be distracted.
I then will involve the whole employees members in laying down plan for the firm and also allow each of them express his or her views. At this juncture I will ensure Sue also participate more. I will also take the opportunity to ensure the employees understand very well the company’s goals and also objectives.
I would also clearly set out ways that shall be used for carrying out the monitoring process and also evaluation and make members know very well the consequences that would follow if one would not complete their assignments in time.
I also will encourage the employees to pursue the concept of synergy and show the employees why they need team work. I then will allow Sue to work in areas she can perform best. In areas where she still faces challenges I will allocate some competent person to work with her till she is good enough.
All these strategies are geared towards ensuring individual members feel important to the firm, that the group embraces the concept of team work and that the organization does not lose on its goals and objectives.