Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A
OF
N ANALYSIS
PREPARED
Faculty Business Communication School of Business North South University
FOR
PREPARED
BY
Ms. Samina M. Saifuddin Faculty Member Business Communication School of Business North South University
Dear Madam:
Here is the report on the observational study of employees of a fashion magazine (i.e. Mirror) you asked us to conduct on July 20, 2008.
As you will see, our observation pointed to some analysis on the employees of the above mentioned company based on a survey result, done by questionnaires provided by you. Following the procedures, we prepared an analysis report on the employee attitude towards the top management. We hope that our analysis and recommendation will help take steps in order to improve employee attitude. We appreciate being assigned to this project. If you need any assistance interpreting this report, please contact us. Sincerely yours,
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive summary ..vii
1. Introduction .1-2
1.1. Origin ..1 1.2. Objective ...1 1.3. Scope ..1 1.4. Methodology....1 1.5. Limitations ..2
4.2. Relationship .15 4.2.1. Work and Safety Conditions .17 4.2.2. Supervisory effectiveness ..18 4.2.3. Pay and Employee Benefits ..19 4.2.4. Communication and Recognition .20 4.2.5. Job Security and Promotion 21 4.2.6. Attitude towards Fellow Workers 22
Executive Summary
The recommendations that result from this study are to bring about the following changes: Increase Supervisory effectiveness Improved top-down communication and upbeat recognition Stable and secured job and persistent promotion Introducing staff induction course Management/supervisory training. as well as
Supporting these recommendations are the following findings and conclusions drawn from the questionnaire survey on job satisfaction that we carried out. The data showed that supervisory effectiveness, top-down
communication and job security is directly related to employee attitude towards top management for organization such as Mirrors. Our findings shows that better supervisory effectiveness, improving top-down communication, job security and persistent promotion and recognition will have better attitude of employee towards top management resulting in both organizational success and growth. Since this data was taken from in a small fashion magazine. So the analysis is only valid for such companies. Though it might be true for other organizations but we have no valid proof of such in our analysis.
1. Introduction
1.1. Origin
The report is prepared on the basis of the instructions given by Ms. Samina M. Saifuddin, instructor of the course Business Communication. The report is prepared on the topic Employee attitude towards top management by a group of four students of Business Communication course.
1.2. Objective
The objective of this report is to gain an idea about employee attitude towards top management in perspective of Bangladesh. The project is done in the context of statistical calculations. The questionnaire provided was prepared with a view to determine the state of employee attitude that can be founded in the small organizations. Assistance was available from the course instructor Ms. Samina M. Saifuddin.
1.3. Scope
Questionnaire survey was done on a company named Mirror. The survey was done at the Dhanmondi branch of the company. Most of the employees who filled up the questionnaires were middle level employees whereas few others were from entry and operational level.
1.4. Methodology
Both Primary data and Secondary data were collected for this report. Primary data was collected by means of a Questionnaire survey which was done on a random sampling basis to collect necessary information about Employee attitude towards Top Management in a small organization in Bangladesh. For Secondary data collection Internet and relevant books on this topic were used to gather information, details of which can be found on the bibliography section.
1.5. Limitations
While filling out the questionnaire there were some limitations Lack of cooperation while filling the questionnaire due to companys restriction.
The numbers of questionnaires used were inadequate to make good decision. The answers of the employees were hugely based on the mood of the employees.
2. Organizational Overview
The Mirror Media & Productions Ltd specializes in various sectors which includes: Event Management Documentary Visual Production Advertising Printing and Publishing
Mirror Media & Productions Ltd is a joint venture company. It started out its in 2003 a financial news paper company. After having success in newspaper the company expanded its business to several sister concerns of which The Mirror Beauty & Lifestyle magazine is really a famous one. It also provides exhibitions, fairs, conferences and requires world class exhibitors. Its total employee is around 250 but for the Beauty and Lifestyle magazine it has 60 employees.
Mirror has a fair number of sister concerns The Financial Mirror newspaper Mirror Telecom magazine Mirror Beauty & Lifestyle magazine Mirror Aviation magazine Mirror Health magazine Mirror Wedding Planners Mirror Beauty & Lifestyle Institute Mirror Aviation Academy Mirror Modeling Institute
Company Profile
Company name Product/Services Company Address Employees Total Company Website Year of Establishing Mirror Media & Production Ltd Provides: Exhibitions Require: Exhibitors , Fairs , Conferences
Flat 3-A, House 79, Road 12/A, Dhanmondi 250, Mirror Beauty & Lifestyle magazine (60 employees) http://www.mirrormediabd.com Jan 1, 2003
Time to Join Busy TradeMay 21, 2008 Capital Assets Annual Revenue USD 7M - 10M Below US$ 1 M
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3. Theoretical Perspective
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A good supervisor does not always fire employees for their mistakes or whenever problem arises. Firing an employee risks litigation and other expenses and brings unpleasantness for all involved. But even though you may want to avoid swinging the axe, it does not mean you should allow problems to fester and drag down morale and productivity. An effective supervisor deals with problems as soon as
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they arise and take disciplinary actions to correct them. Problem employees can be rehabilitated if: 1. Expectations are clear from the start. 2. Communication is strong. 3. Discipline is taken when required
To avoid problems and conflicts it is necessary to build a strong network among the workforce. Team-building exercises, loved by managers, are often looked upon by employees as time-wasters. But beyond the touchy-feely stuff is what managers know well: Information gets trapped when people don't have communication skills, or when they think communication in the workplace is happening but simply isnt. Building a strong communication is thus an important job for the supervisors. Freeing up the flow is a matter of building trust, but it's also hard behaviors that often have to be learned through practice. People talk a lot, but communication in the workplace, getting through -- and listening well is necessary business communication skills. A supervisor can thus guide employees by1. Improving their Communication skills as a learned skill 2. Giving training for effective business communication 3. Setting electronic means of workplace communication and employee communication. 4. Showing the importance of consistent employee communication. By building up strong bond among the workforce can improve the work condition.
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Employee advantages Peace of mind leading to better productivity as employees are assured of provision for themselves and families in any mishap. Employees with personal life insurance enjoy additional protection Confidence in company's EB schemes boost staff morale and pride in company
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3.5.2. Recognition
Retaining talent is one key to growing a successful business. To do so, you need to reward them for great performance. By giving your employees special rewards, you can: 1. Foster a positive, productive workplace. 2. Encourage loyalty and a sense of ownership in your business
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3. Surprise employees without creating a feeling of entitlement. 4. Keep your customers happy because happier employees do better work.
Employee recognition awards are powerful motivators in the workplace both for those who receive these employee awards, and for other employees, who see the concrete proof that hard work does truly pay off, but also promote employee loyalty, and professional and personal satisfaction levels. The top three things to know about employee recognition awards: 1. Corporate recognition awards inspire all of your employees (not only the gift recipients). 2. Employee gifts promote employee loyalty. 3. Employee awards increase workers professional and personal satisfaction and fulfillment
Promotional plaques and other awards in the workplace can tell employees their work is noticed and valued. More than just a pat on the back or money that's quickly spent a seemingly simple piece of engraved wood or gift certificate can provide a visual reminder to the recipient and those around them that you're paying attention. Plaques, trophies, certificates and having your work praised in a mass email are all effective. Non-cash gifts with a personal touch can make a more profound, long-lasting and less expensive impact. Here are three reasons to use awards to increase motivation for excellence and build a team: 1. Rewarding employees inspires strong performance and competitiveness in battling absenteeism and workplace accidents. It also can promote customer service and sales growth. 2. Providing incentives for setting and reaching goals keeps everyone focused on the bottom line and builds your business. 3. Expensive turnover is reduced by recognizing employees as individuals and teams. It is important to give incentive to the workers for their better performance and effort. Numerous studies have shown that money alone won't fully motivate employees. Sure, money is important, but employees respond to recognition and other non-
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cash perks as well. An occasional pat on the back for a job well done goes a long way. Rewarding your employees helps you: 1. Retain the best employees 2. Reduce recruiting, hiring and training expenses 3. Foster a positive environment 4. Motivate your employees to give their all at work 5. Keep your customers happy; after all, happy employees equal happy customers.
3.6.2. Promotion
A promotion is the advancement of rank or position in an organizational hierarchy system. The opposite is a demotion. Promotion may be an employee's reward for good performance i.e. positive appraisal. Before a company promotes an employee to a particular position it
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ensures that the person is trained to handle the added responsibilities. This is marked by job enrichment and various training activities. A promotion can involve advancement in terms of designation, salary and emoluments nature of job or what the job can be described as.
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Employee Attitude towards Top Management No 1 Statement/Comment I always feel free to speak to anyone in top management. Our top management tries to make this Company a good place to work. Many times, top management tries to speak to anyone in top management here do not have my interest in mind. Top management here is not friendly toward the employees. Strongly Somewhat No Somewhat Strongly Agree Agree Opinion Disagree Disagree 9 6 0 5 0
11
17
31
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Employee Attitude towards Top Management No 32 Statement/Comment In my opinion, top management here could operate the company more efficiently. Top management here does not supply me with the necessary equipment to do a good job. Strongly Somewhat No Somewhat Strongly Agree Agree Opinion Disagree Disagree 7 4 5 4 0
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From the chart we can see that number of people who responded to the question is on the X axis and question no. is on the Y axis. We can observe that it is the graphical representation of the data table above. It shows the number of employees in each criteria from strongly agree to strongly disagree based on each question respectively according to the table.
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4.2. Relationship
For showing the relationship between the employee attitudes towards the top management and the following as mentioned above we have marked the answers on the basis of a scale from (-2 to +2) to denote from strongly agree to strongly disagree respectively for the positive questions. The following are the denominators of our analysis -2= Strongly Disagree -1= Somewhat Disagree 0= No Opinion +1= Somewhat Agree +2= Strongly Agree For the questions that shows the negative attitude we have scaled them vice versa that is +2= Strongly Disagree += Somewhat Disagree 0= No Opinion -1= Somewhat Agree -2= Strongly Agree
For example
No Statement/Comment Strongly Agree Somewhat No Opinion Somewhat Strongly Agree Disagree Disagree 1 0 -1 -2
Our top management tries to make 2 this Company a good place to work.
This is a positive question that is strongly agreeing to this question shows positive attitude towards the top management.
No
Statement/Comment
Strongly Agree
31
On the other hand this is negative question that is strongly agreeing to this question shows negative attitude towards top management
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Using the Following Scale we calculated the mean for each category such as Work and Safety Conditions and others as mentioned above for each individual and represented the data in a comparable graph to show relation between Employee Attitude towards Top Management and the following categories
Work and Safety Condition Supervisory Effectiveness Pay and Employee benefits Communication and Recognition Job Security and Promotion Attitude towards Fellow Members
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Relation beetween 'Attitude Towards Top Managem ent' & 'W ork And Safety Condition'
2 1.5
Attitude Towards Top Management
1 0.5 0 -0.5 -1
W ork And Safety Conditions Poly. (W ork And Safety Conditions)
Figure 2
From the graph above we can see that Work and Safety Conditions (represented by the black line) and Attitude towards top management (represented by pink line) showing the overall responses of all the employees in the organization regarding the two factors. In the graph it shows there is no relationship between Work and Safety Conditions and Attitude towards Top Management as shown by the graph. The attitude towards top management can be good irrespective of the work and safety conditions provided that it is above the satisfactory level. That is after we have reached the satisfactory level for the working conditions attitude towards top depends on itself and may be on other factors. Example Good working condition but bosses and top management can be rude.
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Figure 3
From the following graph we can see that Supervisory Effectiveness (represented by the black line) is below Attitude towards top management (represented by pink line) showing the overall responses of all the employees in the organization regarding the two factors. There it shows there is close relationship between supervisory effectiveness and attitude towards top management. That is supervisor will be effective if the attitude towards top management is positive. If the employees have negative attitude towards top management then there is a likely chance that they will not follow their supervisors properly. On the other hand if there is ineffectiveness in supervisory activities than the employees is likely to have negative attitude towards employees. Example
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Top management always takes the employees point of view into consideration, employees likely to follow their supervisors better. Supervisors are not up to the mark then employees have negative attitude towards top management.
1 .5
0 .5
0 .5
-0 .5
-0 .5
-1
-1
Figure 4
From the following graph we can see that Pay and Employee Benefit (represented by the black line) is below Attitude towards Top management (represented by pink line) showing the overall responses of all the employees in the organization regarding the two factors.
Pay and Employee and Attitude towards Top Management have close relationship up to a certain point after which they tends to have no relationship between them. That is if all necessities are fulfilled within the pay and benefit scale then pay scales dont matter any more. When the employees are under-paid then they would have negative attitude but it is not necessary that they would have a positive attitude even if they are well paid.
Example
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Your boss or top management is a fraud and a cheat and you are none, even if they pay you double of what you should get we will have a negative attitude towards them.
R elationship between A ttitude towards top m anagem ent & Com unication & recognization m
Attitude towards top management
2 2
1.5
1.5
0.5
0.5
-0.5
-0.5
-1 C m om unication & recognization Poly. (Attiude tow ards top anagem ent) Attiude tow ards top anagem ent Poly. (C m om unication & recognization)
-1
Figure 5
From the following graph we can see that Communication and Recognition (represented by the black line) is below Attitude towards Top management (represented by pink line) showing the overall responses of all the employees in the organization regarding the two factors.
Communication and recognition and Attitude towards Top Management have close relationship between them because they tend to move together. If the communication between the top management and the employees is good then it can be denoted that the employee will have positive attitude towards top management. And for recognition if the top management is recognizing the employees talent and is working accordingly then the employee tends to have positive attitude towards top management
Example
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Top management asks your opinion on each matter then you tend to feel you are part of the organization and have positive attitude towards top management.
Relationship between Attitude towards Top Management & Job Security and Promotion
Job Security And promotion 2 Attitude towards top 1.5 management 1 0.5 0 -0.5 -1 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 -0.5 -1
Figure 6
From the following graph we can see that Job Security and Promotion (represented by the black line) is below Attitude towards Top management (represented by pink line) showing the overall responses of all the employees in the organization regarding the two factors. Job Security and Attitude towards Top Management keeping aside some exceptions has close relationship with each other. If the job security of an efficient employee is high than he/she is suppose to have positive attitude towards Top Management and vice versa. Promotion is more or less similar to recognition, if the employee is a valid candidate for promotion and is not promoted then he/she is suppose to have negative relationship with Top Management and vice versa. The exception is that if the employee is a part time worker then he/she have high probability of having a low job security but the employee might not have negative attitude towards Top Management Example
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If you work hard for your organization but in return you have a high chance of getting sacked that is low job security, you are likely to a negative relationship with the Top Management. If you get your deserving promotions then you are likely to have positive attitude towards Top Management.
1 0.5 0 -0.5 -1
Attitude Towards Fellow Workers Poly. ('Attitude Towards Top Management) 'Attitude Towards Top Management
0.5 0
-0.5 -1
Figure 7
From the following graph we can see that Attitude towards Fellow Workers (represented by the black line) is below Attitude towards Top management (represented by pink line) showing the overall responses of all the employees in the organization regarding the two factors. Employee attitude towards fellow workers have no relationship with the attitude towards Top Management. Employee attitude towards the fellow workers might not be good whereas on the other hand employee attitude towards Top Management might either be positive or negative depending on itself.
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5. Recommendation
For a long time organizations didnt take account the importance of employee attitude in the company. But in the last 10-15 years the organizations have found the importance of this subject. During our survey we have found that employee attitude towards top management has direct relation with the growth and success of the organization. From the analysis and findings we have come with the following observations for this organizations1. Work and Safety Condition: Has no direct relation with attitude towards top management. So changing the work and safety condition of Mirror will not probably change the attitude towards top management. 2. Supervisory Effectiveness: Has close relationship with attitude towards top management. So any improvement in the supervisory level is like to have an effect on the attitude towards the top management. 3. Pay and Employee benefits: Has close relationship with attitude towards Top Management up to a certain point, that is up to the level it fulfills all the necessities. So it is suggested that for better attitude towards Top Management that employees are paid based on a pay scale that takes above point into considerations. 4. Communication and Recognition: Has close relationship with attitude towards Top Management. Effective communication and upbeat recognition can be useful to improve employee attitude. 5. Job Security and Promotion: Job security and promotion is probably the most vital aspect for the dedication of the employees. More secured jobs and persistent promotion would lead to better attitude towards the top management. Our analysis supports the above judgment. 6. Attitude towards Fellow Members: The analysis shows no relation between employees towards bosses and fellow members. So we would like to suggest training for the organization.
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Management/supervisory training: Staff who manages others are provided with training in the skills necessary to give effect to the University's policies (e.g. communicating and consulting).
Since this data was taken from in a small fashion magazine. So the analysis is only valid for such companies. Though it might be true for other organizations but we have no valid proof of such in our analysis.
6. Appendix
6.1 Summarized Data Sheet
1 I always feel free to speak to anyone in top management. 2 Our top management tries to make this Company a good place to work. 17 17. Many times, top management tries to speak to anyone in top management here does not have my interest in mind. 31 Top management hare is not friendly toward the employees. 32 In my opinion, top management here could operate the company more efficiently. 35 Top management here does not supply me with the necessary equipment to do a good job.
1 7
5 4
5 5
3 4
6 0
3 Starting and quitting times are satisfactory. 4 Management tries to make this a safe place to work.
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20 I am never bored with my job. 21 Our washrooms are adequate and they are kept clean. 27 My work is pleasant I am not pushed for more than I can do. 32 In my opinion, top management here could operate the company more efficiently.
5 My Supervisor gives praise where praise is due. 14 Often, my supervisor doesnt keep promises. 16 I have been well-trained on all jobs to which I have been assigned.
7 Our insurance plan provides good coverage. 11 I believe the quality at this company is a better now than a year ago. 33 I understand the company insurance plan.
12
31
9 Our management keeps us informed about new plans and developments. 25 We are encouraged to make suggestions for improvements in our work. 28 We are never informed about changes, even those that affect us personally. 30 Consideration and attention are shown to me when I use good judgment and initiative. 36 feel my family receives worthwhile information about the company from the News Dispenser.
10
10
12 The Company is a good place to work. 13 Things at this company are better than they were a year ago. 18 My abilities and skills are used by this company.
6 Good cooperation exists between departments. 10 I would recommend employment at this company to my friends. 15 My co-workers are cooperative and work well together. 19 Frequently I am sorry that I work here. 26 I am pleased to tell others where I work.
5 3 4
10 3 9
2 0 3
1 12 3
2 2 1
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29 Some of my co-workers think they run the company. 34 Too many problems exist here between co-workers.
6.2. Calculations
For showing the relationship between the employee attitudes towards the top management and the following as mentioned above we have marked the answers on the basis of a scale from (-2 to +2) to denote from strongly agree to strongly disagree respectively for the positive questions. The following are the denominators of our analysis -2= Strongly Disagree -1= Somewhat Disagree 0= No Opinion +1= Somewhat Agree +2= Strongly Agree For the questions that shows the negative attitude we have scaled them vice versa that is +2= Strongly Disagree += Somewhat Disagree 0= No Opinion -1= Somewhat Agree -2= Strongly Agree
For example
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No
Statement/Comment
Strongly Agree
Our top management tries to make 2 this Company a good place to work.
This is a positive question that is strongly agreeing to this question shows positive attitude towards the top management.
No
Statement/Comment
Strongly Agree
31
On the other hand this is negative question that is strongly agreeing to this question shows negative attitude towards top management
34