CASE: INNOCENT

CASE: INNOCENT

 

Key Practices adopted in Innocent Company to manage people

The Innocent Company has utilized various strategies in organizing, rewarding, developing and motivating its employees. Initially, the company enhances innovation within its team by emphasizing simplicity in its objectives and conversation. Karen indicates that the company’s major operational strategy entails doing simple things better. Furthermore, she argues that people can hardly realize success if they lack knowledge of what it entails. Consequently, the company motivates its employees to work towards the realizing a common goal by utilizing strategies that ensures that each employee has knowledge of the company’s mission and objectives in order to embrace them accordingly. This has created a liberal environment where employees have freedom of executing their duties in their own styles.

 

Furthermore, the organization has emphasized informal strategies in managing its employees. The management is minimally concerned about its employees’ lifestyles especially the ones that relate to aspects such as the mode of dressing. For example, the case study highlights that employees have freedom of wearing T-shirts provided they handle their work appropriately. The system has ensured that its employees are highly independent providing them with an ideal environment within which they can explore their potential fully. Particularly, the company is operating under an employee-based strategy where team members have high authority and opportunity of influencing company’s activities. These strategies are informed by the classical management theory that advocates for the concept of the division of work (Johns, Robinson, & Weightman, 2005).

 

The company has also applied a strategy where the management’s prime role entails building the potential in workers and guiding them towards common objectives. For example, the company hires employees who they believe have potential of enriching its culture while strengthening its values. Interestingly, the management provides them with ultimate environment and empowerment that could make them exploit their potential. Furthermore, the management develops its employees by emphasizing company’s values. Particularly, the Innocent’s management style aligns with the concepts of Theory Y. This is because the company employees’ management practices highlight the participative strategy of management (Johns, Robinson & Weightman, 2005 p. 29). For example, there is delegation of duties that follows theory Y’s ideology that individuals tend to accept and seek responsibility. Furthermore, the management tends to embrace the perception that a typical person is likely to practice self-direction when committed to objectives. This case study also highlights that Karen emphasizes the idea of doing things in a natural or ordinary manner. Consequently, she uses physical and mental empowerment strategies in motivating her employees. This presents the theory Y’s trait that indicates that physical and mental effort when executing duties appear naturally (Hall, 2003 p. 26).

 

Roles of Karen and her key challenges

Being the people’s director at Innocent Company, Karen assumes various managerial roles. Initially, Karen has a prime role of developing, prioritizing and ensuring that her team has realized the company’s objectives (Ong, 2010). Karen must define objectives that need to be realized within a specified period. Besides, she has a vital role of communicating targets and results to her team to make them maintain focus. Karen must ensure that her team is highly informed and has knowledge of their performance at individual and company level. This enables individuals identify whether their performance matches the company’s expectations.

 

Furthermore, Karen has a role of developing frameworks for communications and design of work within her team. According to Armstrong (2008 p.75), communication is a vital element that defines the success of any team because it determines how individuals relate with others. Consequently, Karen must ensure that her team is utilizing communication procedures that are capable of fostering healthy inter-personal relations. Moreover, she must provide an effective plan that highlights the orientation that needs to be assumed by her team in order to realize the company’s objectives. Karen also has a responsibility of motivating her team to make it assume high commitment and effort towards realization of the company’s goals. This becomes essential because motivation offers a strategic mechanism of handling challenges that may face employees while executing their duties (Armstrong, M., & Baron, 2002 p. 30). Consequently, Karen must establish effective mechanisms for motivating her juniors.

 

Lastly, Karen has roles for formulating administrative procedures, monitoring and ensuring that budgets and schedules are attained. This means that Karen has a duty of setting operational and interaction regulations for controlling employees’ procedures. This entails setting boundaries in order to avoid conflicts (Hall, 2003 p. 26). Employees must understand the culture that they are supposed to follow while executing their duties. Karen assumes the responsibilities of planning and evaluating the performance of her team. This includes monitoring the performance of her team in relation to schedule and fiscal demands. She must establish whether the team is working within the specified dimensions.

 

Karen faces various challenges when managing her team. Initially, she is challenged by the problem of poor cooperation where some members of the team fail to embrace her ideologies. It is apparent that Karen may set guidelines and goals; however, there is no guarantee that each member of her team will present essential commitment to her plan. This challenges her activities considerably because some objectives are only realizable through communal effort (Baron& Armstrong, 2007 p.90). Furthermore, Karen faces a challenge of accommodating differences presented by her diverse team. People present varied beliefs, perceptions, intentions, concerns and weaknesses that may affect interpersonal relations. Karen must establish a strategy for responding to the attributes presented by each member of her team; however, this may be challenging. Karen faces difficulties in establishing a bridge between employee’s individual objectives and those of her company. Other challenges include shortages of resources including fiscal, material and personnel that are essential in implementing her strategies (Gallo, 2007).

 

Recommendations for improving people management in Innocent

Karen can assume various strategies to improve management of people within her team. Initially, she needs to establish an effective recruitment procedure that will enable her select the best candidates for executing various activities in her company. This is essential because establishment of an ideal team means reduced management challenges (Wellington, 2011 p. 34). Furthermore, she needs to promote open, flexible and fair workplace by encouraging and celebrating diversity. Karen should develop a culture that will ensure that his company benefits from diversity of its team, instead of suffering its consequences. Consequently, she should identify mechanisms for addressing diverse concerns and interests emanating from different individuals while handling weaknesses presented by each member and capitalizing on their strengths. Karen should also promote patent professional service values that prioritize organization’s interests. This would enable members in her team compromise their personal interest in favour of the company’s interests (Saari & Judge, 2004). Another effective strategy for improving people’s management within the company entails providing employees with frequent professional development training to improve their communication and interpersonal relations. These trainings should emphasize the significance of teamwork and the need of recognizing and accepting others (Richardson & Denton, 1996 p. 87). Lastly, Karen should establish flexible operational strategies and convince her organization on the need of investing in people management procedures. Effective utilization of these strategies will improve management of people in the Innocent Company considerably.

                     

Reference List

Armstrong, M. 2008. Strategic human resource management a guide to action. London, Kogan Page. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=28482.

 

Armstrong, M., & Baron, A. 2002. Strategic HRM: the key to improved business performance. London, Chartered Inst. of Personnel and Development.

 

Baron, A., & Armstrong, M. 2007. Human capital management achieving added value through people. London, Kogan Page Ltd. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=28483.

 

Gallo, E. 2007. How to Manage People Effectively. Gardners Books.

 

Hall, A. 2003. Managing people. Maidenhead, Open University Press. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=233951.

 

Johns, T., Robinson, I., & Weightman, J. 2005. Managing people. London, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

 

Ong, T. W. 2010. Results management: effective people management to achieve excellent results. Singapore, John Wiley & Sons (Asia).

 

Richardson, P, & Denton, D 1996, ‘Communicating Change’, Human Resource Management, 35, 2, pp. 203-216, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 January 2013.

 

Saari, L, & Judge, T 2004, ‘Employee attitudes and job satisfaction’, Human Resource Management, 43, 4, pp. 395-407, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 January 2013.

 

Wellington, P. 2011. Effective people management. London, Kogan Page.

Latest Assignments