Business problem statement
Since the posting of mid-year financial results, a lot of pressure has been placed on the staff of Mostek Inc. to facilitate growth in business in the next half to compensate for the loss posted. This has been accompanied by strict rules on the staff to work extra hours sacrificially without compensation. In some offices like the sales and the finance, sections have been fitted with surveillance cameras to monitor workers’ activities remotely. Because of this several things have happened which if not handled fast may lead to worse results. People have refused to cooperate on many company matters, others are being avoided in discussions, feedback has been cut-off, teams have failed to cohere while the entire environment is filled with the blame game and unwarranted criticism (Ober 36). The overall effect is low morale and complaints from workers which directly mean the company is actually losing business.
Because of this, the alarm is with the management as they are constantly seeking to reestablish vibrance in the entire business life of the company. With communication failure, the chances of getting to the root of the problem have become hard because any attempt is treated with suspicion including shop stewards. This, therefore, calls for comprehensive uncovering of the problem through communication with the hope that the people will freely open up without fear of victimization from the management.
Mitigation process
Because of the exact depth and root cause of the problem that led to the first poor financial performance it may not be easy to give correction measures unless the problem is taken back to the people. Because of the severity of the problem, there is a need for neutral people to conduct the investigation. The survey will be carried out in places that will not put the respondents at risk of job loss.
Target groups
The questionnaire to be used in the survey will be customized to accommodate the various groups within the company including the senior management, the supervisory team, and the subordinate staff. However because the severity is in the subordinate category, it will be emphasized during the survey.
Requested information
Because of the managerial purpose of the information, the data needs to cover issues touching company rules, the regulations and policies of the company, the norms and culture of the people in the workforce, the working environment (effect of technology, communication, supervision, etc) and the goodwill of the company in response to their commitment.
Survey rationale
From the current situation the company is facing financial, people operational, and market risks simply because communication is cut off (Olson and Wu 18). It is not easy to deal with one risk while the others are ignored which is the reason that this survey seeks to cover matters that will highlight the risk level of each factor. However, because the main concern was to ensure recovery of the financial performance of the company we consider the importance of financial risk the company is facing because of the situation. We expect that once the human resource is handled then operational and market risks will automatically be handled. However financial risks may persist unless extra effort is given. There will be a need to improve financial efficiency, a faster decision-making process, optimization of production and marketing, and improved management of the Company’s profit and loss account. The company, therefore, stands a chance of financial recovery if the stakeholders are put within a communicating position where feedback is flowing with respect.
Questionnaire
Check the appropriate box against each question
Part 1: Communication.
In your opinion which of the above areas need urgent attention which if improved can have a longer lasting effect on the company? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part 2: Employee satisfaction.
In your opinion, if these points are to be improved by the company which one deserves priority for the longest time to create most effect to the company?
Part 3: The Company.
Which of the areas mentioned above if improvements were to be made requires urgent input over a long time to ensure positive improvement of the company? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part 4: Company appraisal and recognition.
Which of the mentioned issues above if improvements were to be urgently handled over a long time to ensure sustainable improvement of the company? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Covering letter
The Managing Director,
Mostek Inc.,
Company Survey on Poor Financial Performance
This survey to be conducted within the company premises is aimed at establishing the reason for reduced employee performance resulting in poor company performance. The survey gives a chance to highlight the exact motivational level among the employees with regard to company policies and rules which may have resulted in the change in attitude causing low morale and inconsistency in the company’s overall employment relationship.
The survey shall be conducted within the convenience of the company at such times that will not interfere with normal operations of the company such as during breaks or during off duty time. In the effort to collect the most relevant information possible from the people, the survey team has developed a set of questionnaire questions which shall be administered to the randomly selected respondents. The support team will administer the questionnaire in a probing manner to help the respondent give the most relevant information. The survey is expected to take approximately one week (6 working days) within which all departments in the company will have been covered. To ensure this the independent team will dispatch interviewers randomly to the departments and work as independently as possible from the management of the department so as to ensure that the workers responding to the questions do not treat them with contempt. This shall form the data collection phase of the program.
Although the survey has a wide coverage on general matters on the employment relationship and employee attitude, it shall be limited in scope especially where the matters raised are injurious to the policies of the company. We expect to mainly cover the issues that have paused financial, people, and operational risks to the company as covered within the questionnaire.
As part of the recommendations to the company, the survey requires confidentiality so as to extract the most genuine information from the respondents. Therefore an assurance is required to ensure that no respondent will be victimized for the information furnished to the survey team. In this respect, we request that the team be allowed to work in absolute independence from the sectional management in order to ensure its credibility to handle the confidential information obtained. In order to ensure the solidarity of the company, the results will be released in a joint meeting of the main company stakeholders which can form an action team to implement the recommendation of the survey.
After data collection, the final draft of the findings will be available to the management and stakeholders within a month of data analysis which will be both qualitative and quantitative in nature. From the results, the company management will be able to review the company policies to align with company objectives and the objectives of the workers with an aim of synchronizing the employment relationship of the company. The results will further enhance the working environment by restoring openness in communication and feedback. This will finally help in overcoming the possible risks resulting from the attitude.
Works cited
Ober, Scot. Business Communication. 7th Ed. Cengage Learning. 2010.
Olson, David Louis and Desheng Dash Wu. Enterprise risk management. Vol.1. Singapore: World Scientific. 2008.