Introduction
The success of companies lies in their ability to train and develop their human resources. In order to do so a system of rules and regulations as well as clear definitions of job descriptions and responsibilities are prerequisites. On top of all such requirements it is critical that the working environment of the company is attractive to human resources.
The quality of people and their work depends on the working conditions companies provide. This paper aims to present an analysis of the change story of Yellow Auto Company using the framework of sociological aspects.
The evaluation of the said case would be based on the concerned parties’ decisions and how they concluded such. The analysis will identify decisions made in the case, provide explanations using the given framework and relating such decisions to different theories of decision making.
Minor and major issues of the case will also be identified and will be analyzed accordingly. Using the sociological framework coupled by theories and models, this paper will present a concrete analysis on how such change developed the company to be one of the major car dealers of Turkey to date. This paper will focus more on how decisions were made and the process of making such.
Yellow Auto Company was established by two brothers in 1989. It distributes automobiles in Turkey. In its early beginnings the company suffered from management problems which decreased its employees’ satisfaction and commitment to the company.
This issue affected the sales of the company. The company hired a group of academicians to facilitate the change process and improve the company’s system. After two years the company was able to increase sales and even captured 54% market share because of the improvements which started in the human resource department.
Analysis
Most often decision making is required when problems occur. Decisions are made to resolve problems. In the given case about Yellow Auto Company, the problem was the company was suffering from lack of sales. The cause of such was the company had management problems.
The employees were not happy with how the management worked. There were no clear job definitions and responsibilities given to them thus decisions must be made in order to resolve the problems encountered by the company. The bottom line was the company wanted to make more profit and in order to do so actions must be taken to improve the management system.
The major issue of the company was it wished to attain 50% market share in the automobile industry in its area. Such objective can be analyzed through the rational model where decision makers have only one objective. In this case that one objective is to increase sales.
From the given model, decision makers are seen to have objectives that align with those of the organization. Indeed the objective of increasing sales is the same as the purpose of the company’s existence which is to make profit. There are many factors why the company was having difficulties attaining its target.
These obstacles are ineffective management style, no clear job definition and responsibilities given to employees, poor employee satisfaction and commitment. In order to attain its goal the company must first solve problems contributing to the loss of sales, which is the inefficient system of management thus the hiring of academicians as consultants to facilitate change in Yellow Auto Company.
According to the rational model point of view the decision maker, Yellow Auto Company, must have a clear, well ordered and stable set of preferences of alternatives from which the decision maker can choose from. The top management of the company made a rational decision in hiring consultants to facilitate the changes in their company.
They were aware that as human beings they are limited to the theory of bounded rational model where they would tend to be blindsided by their own opinions and could not think out of the box (McKee, 2010). They assumed that all information was available in making such decision.
In the bounded rationality model, the top management understood that they would come a time that they would only be human to commit errors in the said change thus they considered the scenario of bounded rationality where humans factor problems one by one and deal with them separately and individually (Robbins and Judge, 2011).
In the process they will be lost and may tend to stray away from their main objective. Another problem they anticipated was they may give in to what is “good enough” rather than maximizing their utility. Let us put into consideration that the individuals concerned to facilitate change are employees of Yellow Auto Company and aside from facilitating change they have daily responsibilities to the company also thus their focus will be split.
The first step of the academicians in facilitating change was the physical conditions of the working environment. An architect was hired to design and layout the office spaces and sitting arrangement. Sociologically the impact of human thinking and their decision making skills can be seen in the environment they are exposed to. A controlled environment was made to make the employees feel the change.
The human mind accepts the ongoing change when they feel it. The renewal of seat assignments made the employees aware of their places and positions in the company. Sociologically this decision in terms of changing the physical conditions of the working environment served as an initial strategy to the changes that will be implemented by the consultants.
After which, employees were individually interviewed to clarify their job descriptions and responsibilities as well as their positions in the company. Making the employees aware of their roles in the company set a direction and focus on everyone’s goals. It had been cleared out with employees to which extent their decision making powers will be (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg and Coulter, 2012).
For example rank and file staffs are now aware that they are only limited to making decisions for themselves and that if they want to be involved with the whole team’s goals they should first consult with their respective managers. Lastly, the consultants believed that trainings should be conducted in order to improve the quality of employees. Employees of good quality are assets of the company.
In order for the company to reach its target sales and market share it must first have an effective management system and efficient employees who run the company. Problems may occur from time to time but with well trained, committed and satisfied employees, champion decision makers will arise to provide solutions to problems encountered by the company (Tolbert and Hall, 2008).
Recommendation
Reviewing the given case of Yellow Auto in terms of the top managers’ decisions in implementing change through hiring academicians as the company’s consultant was a wise move but they should have included the middle and line managers in their decision making process.
Though it is understandable that the main problem of the company in the past was their employees did not have decision making powers before changes were made, still the owners could have considered their opinions. The works and strategies of the consultants were very theoretical where they considered doing surveys in analyzing facts about the company and creating solutions and recommendations for the management to follow.
The strategies were effective but it took time and patience for Yellow Auto to witness the dramatic changes of such. I highly recommend that in adopting changes for improvements, the company must primarily consider the opinions of the leaders. Different decisions help diversify the final decision, making the company unbiased (Teale, Dispenza, Flynn and Currie, 2003).
If the group of decision makers has decided on something they must first inform the employees because they are also involved in the final decision made. Before approaching third party organizations or groups it is essential that everyone involved in the internal operations of the company are considered.
The activities done by the academicians were impressive and they indeed delivered results that made the company reach their goal. Through observation, I have noticed that they have considered the opinions of everyone in the Yellow Auto organization. All the solutions they have created were based on the problems the employees complained about.
It is a matter of communication within the Yellow Auto organization which was the main problem of the company. There was a lack of employee satisfaction because employees were not heard. They did not have a voice. This was evident in the decision making power (or lack of) team leaders.
Reference List
McKee, A 2010. The Human Side of Planning: Decision Making and Critical Thinking. Pearson Education, Sydney Australia.
Robbins, S, Begman, R, Staff, I and Coulter, I 2012. Decision Making: The Essence of a Manager’s Job. Pearson Education, Sydney Australia.
Robbins, S and Judge T 2011. Organizational Behavior. Pearson Education Inc. Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
Teale, M, Dispenza, V, Flynn, J and Currie, D 2003. Management decision-making: towards an Integrative Approach, Pearson Education, United Kingdom.
Tolbert, P and Hall, R 2008. Organizations: Structures, Processes and Outcomes, Pearson Education, Prentice Hall.