Managing Employee Turnover And Leadership Issues At Lemon Highlanders

Problem Statement

The start performer of Leman highlanders, Vijay, has been performing consistently with a high pace; however he has not been proved to be a successful leader as his subordinates have made multiple accusations against him; however confronting with these issues has been a serious problem for Stefan as the higher management of the organization does not want Vijay to leave, but turnover of employees is increasing rapidly. Therefore, how can Stefan address this problem keeping Vijay in the organization, yet addressing the issue of employee turnover?

Lemon Highlanders is a consultancy firm with their headquarters at New York. The Mumbai branch of the organization has been set up few years back. The head of South Asia and Middle East business operations of the organization, Stefan Konrad could sense that there is something wrong with the employees even if they were performing well. However the managing partner of the India branch Vijay Kumar and his second in command Archana Nayak have always ensured the management of the organization that things are going to a right direction in the office. Stefan visited Mumbai for a meeting with a client; however he had planned to have a discussion session with the teams to see whether things are alright there.

When Stefan visited the India branch this time, he had expected Vijay to be there, but he was busy with a major deal with the team. Even if he was disappointed, he thought of interacting with the employees, however Vijay did not seem to be very happy with conducting this meeting in his absence, but Stefan carried on anyway. He even had a little chat with Archana, but she seemed to play diplomatically and said things are fine in the office. Some employees may complain with the rising pressure on th em but they have to continue with that as the numbers are rising at the same time. However, she set up the meeting with the employees; some of them are the best performers in the organization, some new employees and some employees who have been in the organization for quite some time. While Stefan started the discussion session with the employees, they all seem to be very diplomatic and praising the company and the leaders. However soon they expressed their concern with the working environment of the organization. They claimed that even if they are performing their best, they cannot have a perfect balanced work and personal life. All the employees were disappointed with the working culture. It seemed to them that their leader is not happy with anything. Even if they performed well, they did not get any appreciation. Even some employees complained that they cannot leave while he is in the office even if they are one with their work. If they do, they will receive more work the next day so that they cannot go home early. Employees agree to it that they are learning a lot from him, rather they consider him as the best developer of a consulting business in India, but they are worried that if they continue working with the company, they will lose more. They do not get to see their family members; they have to work even after office hours and they cannot get even a day off for themselves. This makes their work dull and less interesting. The management has faced a huge turnover due to this reason consistently.

Data Analysis

Another issue came in the discussion session with the employees that they do not feel that they are performing well, when Vijay is there. Some of the over-achievers of the organization feel underestimated in front him as he has proved to be the best one over and over. When they are in a project with Vijay, they are always confused with their job responsibilities. They cannot make any decision; rather they are the ones who are to follow. Vijay makes all the decisions himself. The project is successful anyway, but the employees seem that they have not performed in the project at all.

With the rising complaints of the employees, it was quite clear that they have issues with the leadership styles of Vijay. This issue is a major one for the management of the company as previously they had bad experience with Vijay when they had confronted him with his flaws. Two years back while he was asked about two of the senior employees quitting suddenly claiming that Vijay made the work situation more difficult, he had reacted in a random way. He immediately resigned from the organization and the higher authority later had to talk him down and get him back. Therefore while Stefan came back to the Mumbai brunch, he had clear instructions that Vijay cannot be questioned any way and he has to keep Vijay in the office as there will be no India branch without Vijay. The man is the most responsible one and acts the brightest in the entire region. He made the numbers rising and kept the revenues higher in a consistent pace. Even the human resource department had issues with him, all the higher management wanted was more revenues and they were getting it continuously; therefore it is a little difficult to deal with the situation for Stefan himself as he does not really have more authority that Vijay. Another senior employee Arpana opined that Vijay does his best to make the company grow further, but he is tough along with being the most brilliant performer.

Vijay has always followed the autocratic leadership style where he is the sole authority. This leadership style is mostly characterized by a sole control over the decisions taken by the organization and very little input from the other group members. A similar style has been followed by Vijay here. He has kept on making decisions on his own on the basis of his own judgments and ideas. He rarely accepted others’ ideas; rather sometimes he never even bothered to take advice from other members of the group. It seems that he likes to have an authoritarian and absolute control over the branch office. His leadership style has been useful to develop the company in a completely new region, yet it affected the existing employees in an adverse way. The company has relied on Vijay for every difficult situation and he has successfully taken care of those, but he has ended up being a bossy dictatorial and controlling one. Therefore these traits have resulted in resentments amongst the employees. It can also be seen from the case study, that the leader mostly overlooks the expertise and knowledge that the other employees could bring in the organization. He mostly takes all the decisions without even consulting them; therefore it tends to hurt the allover success of the members. It should also be noted that the team members feel happy and they can perform better while they are in a comfortable atmosphere, however here the atmosphere is strict and employees are feeling stifled and dissatisfied.

Key Decision Area

Stefan is going to meet Vijay at the dinner, however he cannot decide whether he is going to talk to him regarding this issue or not. However the company has a lucrative deal to come up on the next day, which creates dilemma for Stefan as Vijay could react in a bad way hearing all these complaints and he may get furious and leave the office. This can affect the good will of the company. However, at the same time, Stefan can also try to use the dinner as a way of hearing what Vijay wants from the company and how he wants to go further with the company and his individual career. This will help Vijay to realize that the company cares about him and his dreams. He may also realize that the other managing partners are considerate towards his dreams. In that Stefan can propose to change the ambience of the organization and how the organization could be benefitted from the satisfied employees. Other than this, Stefan can also avoid discussing this matter with him and directly contact the higher management who can come to a decision. If the senior partners talk to him, he may not be that much furious and he will consider their decision more than other partners’.

The key decision areas of this situation are:

The India branch of Leman highlanders has been blooming since the last few years. Therefore while making the decision to the addressed issue the management will ensure that the existing profitability is maintained and it is improved further.

No decision will be taken that can increase the risk of decreasing sales and market share of the company. The profitability of the company will be ultimate goal.

Every company has certain corporate strategies. The core values of the company are aligned with the corporate strategies; therefore under any circumstances the management should take decisions which will be consistent with the core values and the corporate strategies of the organization.

The corporate image of the organization has to be maintained. While taking the decisions, the authority of the organization should make sure that there will be no diversification from the corporate strategy or mission.

While taking any decision, the management should consider the existing capabilities or resources of the company. Any outcome of the decision should not be burden to the company. Therefore actions should be taken within the present resources.

There may be some risk parameters, such as employee turnover, which should be considered while taking the decisions.

The possible actions taken should be implemented within the organization in an easy manner. Therefore while taking the decision; the management should consider the implementation plan as well.

An organization is nothing without its employees. If the organization has no man power, it would lose its value within days. Therefore, any decision should be taken considering that the employee morale should be kept. If there is high employee turnover, the decisions should be taken in favor of decreasing such turnover.

The healthy and content employees tend to perform better; therefore the organization should ensure that the working environment is adequately flexible and considerate towards the employees and their problems.

Table 1: Alternative Analysis

Source: Created by author

The case study highlights the extensive knowledge and potentiality of Vijay to run a business successfully. The efficient knowledge about the suitable functionalities has led him to develop a successful venture that earns quite a profitable amount. However, the major obstacle was found in his autocratic leadership style that caused the high level of the employee turnover rate. The high efficiency level of the work performance is sometimes not enough to develop a coordinated and cohesive working environment if the employees are not satisfied with their job. On the other hand, it is also mentioned that the technicalities maintained by Vijay is quite unique and innovative that can lead towards a profitable scenario in this competitive business world.  The scenario highlights that Stephan requires convincing Vijay to stay with the company since his extensive business knowledge and ideas is essential for establishing long-term goals. On the other hand, Vijay’s autocratic leadership treatment is not acceptable for the employees since they are not being able to maintain the flexibility or work life balance. However, it is necessary to use the right approach; otherwise it may lead to the negative consequences. The following recommendations would thus be somewhat preferable to resolve such issues with the employee turnover and create cohesiveness among the workforce to increase the performance parameter.

The situation reflects the mental dilemma of Stephan to talk to Vijay over the dinner regarding the considerable challenges faced due to hi autocratic leadership style. It is important to convey the message of the high employee turnover rate due to his authoritarian leadership style. After gathering the responses or advices from the experts, it can be recommended to Stephan that he can present the ability of the skilled workforce. It is needless to mention that Vijay has the commendable skills of handling the complex situations and leading the organization towards the right direction. Stephan can present the approach of recruiting the most efficient employees who will be able to develop the innovative ideas to perform the organizational functionalities. Vijay can take up this idea as an opportunity for the future betterment. Accordingly, Stephan can change the leadership style from autocratic to the transformational leadership method. In this leadership style, the efficiency level of the employees will be involved and accordingly, the functionalities would be performed to achieve both the short term and long term purposes. The high efficiency level of the work performance is sometimes not enough to develop a coordinated and cohesive working environment if the employees are not satisfied with their job. The employee turnover rate can create the significant challenges for the company. The lower performance parameter can lead towards the negative consequences as well. On the other hand, it is also mentioned that the technicalities maintained by Vijay is quite unique and innovative that can lead towards a profitable scenario in this competitive business world. Vijay can easily guide the workforce to develop an innovative scenario for acquiring the long term success. The employees would be benefitted by developing their personal and professional skills by working a highly skilled professional figure like Vijay. However, it is essential to develop a proper coordination, which is possible through the discussion session. The frequent communication with the all level of workers would thus be preferable to create such scenario. Stephan needs to convey such proposal for resolving the current issues.

Another most helpful suggestion that Stephan could utilize is the approaches of transparent communication. If Vijay is convinced to communicate more effectively with the associated workforce, it would be better for him to convey his vision towards accomplishing the organizational objectives. Moreover, during such communicational session, the employees will be able to present their concern regarding their flexibility or the work-life balance process. This approach is quite beneficial in improving the performance parameter as well. The monitoring process would be done through the internal survey assessment programs that would be attended by the associated workforce. The continuous monitoring and reviewing process would clarify the goals and key actions to Vijay for accomplishing his long term vision. However, Stephan requires making the proposals to Vijay in order to present the severity of the situation. It would be beneficial in understanding the objectives and the future goals of Vijay over the dinner.  The clarification of the goals and strategies to achieve these goals would be more helpful for Stephan to convey the essentiality of involving employee strength. Once Vijay could derive the ideas about the significance of employee engagement, it would be more helpful to bring changes to the leadership style and develop more effective transformational process for the future betterment.

 Table 2: Action Plan

(Source: Created by the Author)

The above specifications highlighted that it is important to present a frequent discussion process in which the innovative ideas, vision, and objectives of the organization would be discussed frequently. The clarification of the vision and values would help n structuring the functionalities in a sequential way. However, managing the appropriate time frame would be necessary in order to develop a cohesive environment. The development of the transformational leadership style would require a clear thought process through which the perceptions of the employees would be conveyed to Vijay. However, it is still can be assumed that if the efficient workforce can deliver the innovative ideas to the upper management, Vijay may find the easier way to accomplish the long term objectives. The major obstacle was found in his autocratic leadership style that caused the high level of the employee turnover rate. The high efficiency level of the work performance is sometimes not enough to develop a coordinated and cohesive working environment if the employees are not satisfied with their job. It is necessary to propose the right method if the changes are determined to brought for decreasing the turnover rate.

From the above discussion, it can be understood that there are different kinds of solutions to the issue. However, similar situations have happened in different organizations. Another organization had faced such a situation. The autocratic leader made everyone work according to his own will. The turnover rate went high and the management was quite worried about that. After several warnings, when he did not change his leadership style, the management had taken a firm decision of keeping him out of the company. Soon after the manager was out of the company, the employees were happy and the production rate was high as well.

Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:

Turnitin Report

Formatting

Title Page

Citation

Outline

Place an Order