Case study: H&H Financial

Case study: H&H Financial

1. Critically evaluate the organization’s strategy and structure (complexity, formalization, and centralization) in your answer. How does this structure seem to affect Ms. Matthews’s behavior?

Organizational strategy is a crucial aspect of performance enhancement in an organization. Organizational complexity defines different organizational entities differ while an organizational structure is a reflection of the mechanism of how different organizational goals can be achieved (through departments that serve varied purposes). Formalization, on the other hand, describes the organizational approach to the assigning of duties, responsibilities, roles, and procedures to different employees. Formalization includes the transfer of responsibilities from the top leadership to employees’ employees at different hierarchical levels. Finally, centralization describes the degree at which decisions are made at the higher organizational units.

In the case of H& H, the organizational strategy is derived from the vision created by Mr. Blake during the startup. He aimed at creating a consulting company that majored in customer service as the primary strategy for success. By doing so, he would not only provide optimal services but also make his customer`s satisfied. To achieve this, however, Mr. Blake attempted to expand the organizational complexity by creating specific entities that would improve the firm`s functionality. Such entities included the administrative unit that would help him with the administrative duties as well as the claims sections that would give him more options in meeting customer`s needs. As the firm evolved, however, Mr. Blake had to improve the firm`s scope of service by introducing other units such as phone calls handling, processes, and policies, which further increased its complexity.

The evolving and expansion of H& H financial was characterized by the adoption of the formalization model. When hiring the employees to help with managerial roles, Mr. Blake initially maintained an informal relationship with the employees but later came up with a formalization approach to define each employee`s scope of operation. Mr. Sutton, for example, was given the office manager role; Hayes was made in charge of new employees while Jen was made in charge of the supplier relations. H & H financials was also characterized by a centralization of power. Mr. Blake, for example, was the chief decision-maker in matters relaters to clients, new products, and location of services. Ms. Sutton also expressed centralization through her control in which she tried to maintain an expert image by reducing informal office activities such as excessive charter.

Although the formalization and centralization approach adopted by the company works well in defining employees’ roles and maintaining departmentalization, it does not auger well with the employees. Ms. Sutton`s powers adopted from the centralization approach makes the employees feel uncomfortable and denied the opportunity to grow. One such employee is Ms. Mathews, who feels that she has only been turned into a robot by doing the same thing over again and never got a chance to expand her scope of knowledge as she isn`t allowed to know what happens in other departments. For this reason, she has developed mixed feelings about the company and has even considered leaving as an option.

2. There are four primary approaches to job design: mechanistic, biological, perceptual, and motivational. How might each approach be employed to better fit Ms. Matthews with her job?

If Ms. Sutton changed her approach from an authoritative one to a motivational one, Ms. Mathews would be able to envision a future with the company. She would not only feel appreciated in the company but will still envision her dream of becoming the next assistant manager as a reality. If a mechanist approach is to be adopted, Ms. Mathew’s satisfaction in the line of work would be attained by removing the main barrier to satisfaction (Ms. Sutton). This can be achieved by either allowing her to report directly to Mr. Blake or reducing Ms. Sutton`s powers. A biological approach, on the other hand, reduces stress factors in a work environment. In Ms. Mathew`s case, this can be achieved by reducing the case of rude replies exhibited by Ms. Sutton. Finally, a perceptual approach leads to an increase in employee flexibility, productivity, and efficiency. Ms. Mathews can have such a change by being allowed a broader flexibility in gaining knowledge and working with the other departments.

3. using the Job Characteristics Model, describe the impact Ms. Matthews’s job design is having on her work motivation.

As evident from the case, Ms. Mathews is undertaking an MBA with the aim of becoming an assistant manager once she graduates. In this regards, she sees the company as an excellent opportunity to propel her career to higher height owing to the belief that she will “grow as the firm grows.” Unfortunately, however, the nature of her job denies her the opportunity to both explore her career and grow. The high compartmentalization in the company implies that she can only be in one place at a time while her leader (Ms. Sutton) denies her the opportunity to explore what is happening in other departments. Besides, Ms. Sutton is also rude to her, making her feel that she is a junior and has to act like one (which is contrary to her expectations of growing with the company).

4. Suggest how the firm could redesign Ms. Matthews’s job so it would increase her work motivation. Ms. Matthews may decide to stay at H&H if a more flexible work environment is created for her. Describe some alternative ways her job could be redesigned for greater flexibility.

Considering the current state of H&H financials, employee flexibility can be attained by first reducing the autocratic power exercised by Ms. Sutton to junior employees. By doing so, employees will feel confident about going beyond their duties and taking an active role or coordinating with employees from other departments. This will not only give Ms. Mathew a feeling of growth but will also make her comfortable with her duties. In addition, the firm should also encourage more open meetings as a way of enhancing employee interactions. The use of breaks during working hours could also come in handy. Finally, the hierarchical barrier needs to be broken by adopting a series of meetings where the employees interact with Mr. Blake at a personal level.

5. Describe how formalized training and/or employee development might help Ms. Matthews better fit her job at H&H.

Considering that Mathews is currently doing her MBA, formalized training would help her to have a better understanding of her current role as well as managerial roles. She will expand her knowledge scope on how to keep different departments running at the same time and hence will be better prepared for the task. Besides, such training will give her a good understanding of how to structure a corporate culture around an organizational structure. Finally, employee development will provide her with a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment, which will, in turn, make her feel productive in her current position.

6. How you would you assess Jane Sutton’s need for training and development? What training methods you would recommend given her actions in this case?

Ms. Sutton enjoys an authoritative way of leadership and only wants people to finish work from their designated work areas. She believes that the compartmentalization approach adopted in the company should be strictly followed to ensure that roles do not overlap. In this regard, the best approach to training and development would be learning from other experts. By working directly with Mr. Blake, for example, she will understand that she still needs the employees in the lower ranks. A formal type of training would also work for her, although this will need to be in cooperated with a practical approach that will help her understand that performance is not created from task completion only.

7. If Mr. Blake hired you as a consultant, summarize your recommendations based on the above six questions for which you found answers.

As a consultant, I would recommend that Mr. Blake needs to work on the H&H organizational culture. He can do this by creating a work environment where employees are continuously motivated and given growth opportunities. This can be achieved by structuring the management to favor employee engagement as opposed to a top-down instruction approach that only considers task completion. He needs to train Ms. Sutton on employee motivation or instead replace her with another manager who considers the employee`s needs. Mr. Blake also needs to organize continuous employee training as a way of boosting employee development.