Introduction
Motivation in the workplace is a big impediment to achieving maximum productivity from workers. At the onset of any worker’s career, the motivation to prove oneself can contribute to their performance. However, a new employee faces several hurdles when trying to settle in a new environment regardless of whether they are already highly experienced in the profession not. For the manager, this factor presents a challenge in helping them transition into their desired level of productivity.
Scope of the Problem
Stella had been habitually skipping workdays with the excuse that she was sick. Her claims of sickness later turned out to be false. Jim’s used a universal approach instead of a focused one in tackling the crisis (James, 2008, p.25). He called her for an informal talk and advised Stella to use the company’s counseling services. Unfortunately, this did not work and hence worsened the problem since she continued her absence from work. Additionally, she had begun misusing company resources by using too much time on her office phone; the time she could have spent handling her assigned duties. Consequently, she failed to complete her books for the previous month’s accounts and this meant that Jim’s reputation was going to be in trouble.
Major Issues
Some major issues about Stella’s character come up. In the face of personal predicaments, she can clearly be said to be unstable. She lacked several values including trustworthiness, accountability, responsibility, and resilience. Given that Stella’s behavior was directly affecting the performance of Jim’s department, he would have to also explain why he had not checked up on the progress of the monthly books given the prevailing circumstances with his subordinate. The other issue that would arise is the fact that Jim had not consulted with his superiors or other managers upon realizing that the situation was not improving. This would imply that he had the means to avoid the current situation but opted not to use them.
Alternatives
Jim would need to choose as to how to deal with Stella. Given her poor performance, it would be easy to draw the line and dismiss her from her role. Unfortunately, it would be a cost to the company to fire her, and, given her short period of service, hiring her would account for a loss to the firm. Again, by firing her, the firm’s ethics will come into question because her problems did not come as a result of her own mistakes.
To avoid such a future turnout of similar events, Jim could choose to intervene by directly monitoring her progress with her counselor and making sure that she is at per with her therapy program. Ultimately, when Stella does recover from her breakdown she may owe it to the company and thus become more loyal and dedicated to it. She will also have learned how to deal with such personal challenges and to build on her character by exercising resilience. This will improve the quality of employees in the company.
Measuring success/failure
Stella’s improvements can be measured by the time she takes to complete her work and her ability to report to the office consistently. It would also be reassuring if she could voluntarily keep Jim updated on the progress in her personal life. This would show that she is devoted to maintaining progress.
Conclusion
In general, we can see that there is a need to maintain constant channels of communication with employees when trying to keep them motivated. Each day, new challenges may present themselves and they might not necessarily emerge from the office environment. Failing to do this can bring about repercussions that stretch into the business’s core operations. There is hence a need to keep in touch with the employee’s backgrounds while assisting them to build on personal values.
Reference
James, R.K. (2008). Crisis intervention strategies. California, USA: Thomson Learning.