Addressing Issues At ‘No Name’ Aircraft Company For Increased Effectiveness

Issues Facing ‘No Name’ Aircraft Company

Discuss about the Case study: ‘No Name’ Aircraft.

‘No Name’ Aircraft has various issues that have caused the company profits to decline, and this has led to a high probability for a takeover of the firm. The company’s CEO, O’Meara is therefore aware that he needs to maximize the shareholders’ returns by increasing the company’s share price to reduce the company’s risk of a takeover. According to Ferrari (2014) and Whetten (2007), a company’s share price depicts the value of the company at any given time. The CEO thus needs to bring in real growth to the company for the share prices to increase. Real growth is shown by increased revenues and profits (Podsakoff & Dalton, 2007). For the company to grow, it is therefore paramount for the issues to be identified and addressed and the recommended changes implemented over specific timelines. Over time, the results need to be assessed to determine if the company is heading towards the achievement of its goals. If not, more changes need to be implemented until it is determined that the company is experiencing real and continual growth.

This study contains a description of all the issues facing the company, as well as measures that should be used to deal with these issues and improve the firm’s effectiveness. The main problem is poor communication among different employees which inhibits teamwork. The firm also lacks the necessary performance techniques necessary to achieve its set goals. Finally, the paper contains a plan that the firm should implement in a bid to increase its effectiveness and improve productivity.

The first issue identified in ‘No Name’ Aircraft is the lack of effective communication. According to Weinzimmer, Nystrom, & Freeman (2008), proper communication is necessary for every organization regardless of its size or shape. Anna (2014) states that communication may seem to be very simple, but people can misunderstand each other leading to frustration and conflicts in both professional and personal relationships. The teams at ‘No Name’ Aircraft are not working effectively or collaboratively, and the management is not properly communicating with them. For any organization to work effectively, it is vital for teams to properly perform their task work and teamwork (Akaso, 2011). Task work has been defined by Fleck (2009); Obure (2016) and Muogbo (2013) as the specific tasks that are allocated to individual team members. Conversely, teamwork focuses on the shared cognitions, attitudes, and behaviors that are critical for teams to complete their tasks (Sophia & Owuor, 2014); (Song & Chen, 2014). The lack of teamwork in the different teams means that the team members do not collaborate with each in getting work done. This had therefore led to low-quality products being made and the employees have even developed a mantra that ‘near enough is good enough.’

Lack of Effective Communication – Inhibits Teamwork

The teams are also not working together with other groups. ‘No Name’ Aircraft needs its different departments to work in coordination because the products from the various departments are then used together in the creation of the final products. To ensure proper coordination, the top management is needed to coordinate all the company operations. However, it is evident that even the administration is not being effective in its duties and this is one factor that has caused the company to fail. One employee, Ben Brown, states that the other teams are even trying to sabotage the operations of other groups which has led to the build-up of resentment across the different groups. The lateral and horizontal communications in the company have therefore been compromised which has brought massive inefficiencies in the firm.

The company employees also lack sufficient instructions on how to do their jobs. Employees are working individually even within their teams. Each employee is merely working in his or her area. The working relationships across and within the units are hence poor. According to Accion (2013), even though task work is crucial for the teams as they aim to achieve their goals, teamwork is what ensures that the employees perform their tasks effectively. This is crucial because, with cooperation, employees can trust each other, coordinate behaviors, and share knowledge with each other. According to ILO (2014), even the most qualified and well-skilled employees will still fail if they have poor teamwork. For teams to work effectively, they need to communicate effectively amongst themselves and with their superiors, yet at ‘No Name’ Aircraft, line managers in Australia are not performing their duties because the CEO continually receives emails from Vietnam, Singapore, and China seeking clarification on different areas. The line managers are hence not fulfilling their roles and responsibilities.

The employees also have very poor perceptions of the company, and they do not have the will to better the quality of the products. They, therefore, produce products that are of such low quality that they require constant modifications after they have been sent to customers. The customers are consequently complaining about the lack of quality of the products. Once customers find that the products are of low quality, it is likely that they will switch to a different supplier and ‘No Name’ Aircraft will lose its customers. Additionally, the constant complaints from customers have damaged the company’s reputation, and it is very likely that other people will not want to purchase products from the company. The products that have been identified as having the lowest quality are from both China and Vietnam.

Poor Performance Techniques

Change is crucial for every company especially in this day and age of technology and information (Baker, 1999). The fact that employees are not willing to change is a significant cause of failure for the company because it has rendered it uncompetitive in the international and local markets.

Another major issue identified at ‘No Name’ Aircraft company is the lack of well-stated policies in regards to the expected code of conduct. The company just states that all employees should be respectful of the age, race, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities, religious beliefs, and other philosophies. The company, however, does not expound on how employees need to respect all these elements, and it also does not state the consequences for employees who do not abide by the company’s policies. The rules are hence ambiguous and are this has caused employees not to comply with them.

It is clear that the firm does not support diversity. This is depicted in that the senior employees in the firm do not want to work with apprentices and this has caused their relationships to become strained. Consequently, this has created a hostile work environment which has reduced productivity. Additionally, the China offices do not hire people with disabilities even when they are highly qualified than other people without disabilities. This shows that the company does not promote diversity which could lead to legal action being taken against the company by the rejected candidates both in the local and international markets. The company is hence not aware of the importance of diversity which is vital since it will give the company a competitive edge (Richmond, McCroskey, & McCroskey, 2005).

For employees to interact appropriately with each other, there is a need for a clear set of practices (Mcewan at al., 2017). However, ‘No Name’ Aircraft does not have a clear set of practices to ensure that the employees understand each other. This had caused conflicts among the employees which has adversely affected the company’s operations.

Performance appraisals are one of the main factors that enable a company to grow as its employees strive to achieve company goals by having targets that must be achieved within a given timeline (Tarricone & Luca, 2002). ‘No Name’ Aircraft does not perform performance appraisals for its expatriates and its subsidiaries. This means that the company does not track its employees’ performance to ensure that they achieve specific set targets. This has caused the employees to work without a sense of direction, and this has thus reduced their morale.

Lack of Coordination between the top management and employees

Moreover, the firm does not take the market and economic factors into consideration to find out how they will impact business operations. Market and economic factors are critical to business operations, and they must be considered to identify any trends and hence make the right decisions. The fact that the company does not recognize them means that it is operating blindly and this has affected its revenues adversely. Factors of demand and supply of money and goods must be used in the firm’s decisions. The use of these factors will help the firm plan its operations in all the countries and hence optimize production.

Finally, it is clear that ‘No Name’ Aircraft employs inferior training techniques for its employees. One employee, Alice Morgan stated that it took her a long time to adjust to her work environment after moving to Singapore due to a lack of induction training. Additionally, the firm lacks avenues through which employees can send feedback on their training. The company trains its employees by referring them to their online platforms to get information. This is not the right method of training especially in a company like this that requires integration between and among the teams. Once the employees have studied the information, they need to have avenues where they can ask follow-up questions on different issues. This lack of proper training has therefore caused the employees to be ineffective and produce low-quality products.

“No Name’ company needs to deal with its different issues in the most effective manner by taking into account the fact that the firm operates internationally. The company’s problems can be grouped into three main categories. These are socio-economic influences, institutional influences, and the normative (socio-cultural) influences.

‘No Name’ Aircraft does not take into consideration market and economic forces that affect the demand and supply of its products during its operations. To deal with this, the company should make use of big data to analyze the existing trends in the industry and the overall economy. By so doing, the company will determine the quantity of products that should be produced at any given time. By conducting data analysis, the firm will also become aware of the techniques that its competitors are using and how they have been able to increase their profits and their market share. Additionally, the company will identify the preferences of its potential customers and thus produce commodities that correspond with the market needs (Husain, 2013). By analyzing data from each country, the company will be able to maximize its revenue by increasing production in countries where demand is highest.  

Poor Perception of Company and Lack of Will to Better Products

Institutional influences also require being reviewed to address the company’s issues. The company needs to set rules and regulations that all employees are supposed to respect at all times in all its countries of operation. It should provide a code of conduct which all employees must strictly adhere to. The firm should also promote a culture of respect and tolerance. There should also be severe consequences faced by the employees who fail to comply with the company’s rules and regulations. The consequences that should be provided include suspension, demotion, transfer, reduced salaries, evaluation of adverse performance, and warnings which can either be written or verbal (Song & Chen, 2014). The firm also needs to accurately state its mission, vision, and, goals and ensure that its employees work according to them. The firm also needs to fire employees who do not work by its set rules and regulations and ensure that its leaders model the company’s values in all their activities.

‘No Name’ Aircraft also needs to follow different international labor laws such as the international labor organization standards which require firms to eliminate discrimination, allow collective bargaining of employees, abolish child labor, and eliminate forced labor (ILO, 2014). Therefore, the firm should respect its employees and their occupation and also communicate their rights with them to ensure that they do not feel threatened or unprotected. The firm also needs to abide by international laws that require them to promote organizational diversity. Therefore, they should provide equal opportunities for all its employees without discrimination.

The firm also needs to provide proper training to its employees to ensure that they can work in harmony with each other and perform their roles effectively. To ensure that employees work effectively, there should be performance appraisals carried out regularly. The firm needs to create key performance indicators (KPIs) that will be used to measure the effectiveness of its employees. To ensure that employees work hard to achieve the set targets, there should be rewards given to the best performing employees. The awards, either monetary or non-monetary, will motivate the employees and ensure that they are as effective as possible. On the other hand, those employees who do not add value to the company should be trained further, and if they still do not improve, they should be fired.

Finally, the company should consider socio-cultural influences. In this regard, the firm should first study the cultures of Australia, Vietnam, China, and Singapore. By adequately understanding these factors, it will then impact this knowledge on its employees to ensure that they do not act in breach of either the social or cultural practices in the country where they work. Proper communication of organizational and international policies will aid in improving employee morale, team building, as well as enhancing corporate diversity. International transfers will also become much more productive for the company since the employees will be able to adjust to new environments quickly. To ensure that the issues identified at ‘No Name’ Aircraft are not repeated, the company will need to enforce its sanctions in case employees fail to abide by the company policies. The use of rewards will also motivate employees to produce high-quality products and increase efficiency in their work.

Evidently, ‘No Name’ Aircraft’s major problem is the poor communication that occurs between the team members, across the various teams, and between the management and its employees. The other major issue is the lack of proper rules and regulations governing how each employee is supposed to behave. The lack of performance appraisals also adversely affects the firm and reduces the employees’ morale. Additionally, the company does not promote the culture of diversity, and this has created an environment of intolerance among employees.

The firm hence needs to deal with all these issues at the individual, group, and organizational levels. First, the firm should train all its employees on their duties and precisely state what their role is in the firm both in the headquarters and the subsidiaries. It should offer global leadership programs to its top employees to enable them to gain skills on how to become effective leaders in any part of the firm.

Second, the firm should create key performance indicators that will be used to determine the employees’ levels of effectiveness. The KPIs should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant to the firm, and time-bound. This will increase the employees’ accountability and ensure that they work to achieve the set targets. There should also be rewards for the employees if they attain specific objectives or go beyond them.

The firm also needs to create company policies to describe what is expected of the employees. The employee manual should include the expected code of conduct, the dress code, organizational diversity management, among others to ensure that employees accurately comprehend what the company expects of them and the sanctions brought about by non-compliance. The firm also needs to make use of data analytics in its decision making processes to identify trends and determine opportunities. To do so, it needs to purchase different data analytics devices and software. Finally, the company should promote a culture of efficiency, tolerance, teamwork, and open communication.

‘No Name’ Aircraft should implement the plan shown below.

Figure 1

By following this plan, the company will be able to start being effective and it will increase its revenue and overall profits over time.

References

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