1. Assignment: Introduction to management (IM)
Name: Ishmael Mosehle
Problem statement:
You are the owner of a hardware store. Over the years the business has grown and
more people have been appointed. Recently, you became aware that employees
are not performing according to expectations. It is obvious that something must
be wrong with the organization structure and that people are not motivated.
What aspects would investigate to identify the cause of the problems and what would
you do to motivate the staff?

2. Problem solving is a key skill and in business, problems are at the centre of what
people do every day. Regardless of the nature of the problems, a fundamental part
of every business owner’s role is finding ways to solve them. So, being a confident
problem solver is really important to a business success.
Much of that confidence comes from having a good process to use when
approaching a problem. With one you can solve the problem quick and effectively.
Without one, your solutions may be ineffective, or you will get stuck and do nothing,
with painful consequences.
“Problems are only opportunities in work clothes” Henry Kaiser- American
industrialist
The basic steps in problem solving:
Define the problem
Generate alternatives
Evaluating and selecting alternatives
Implementing solutions
A. Definethe problem.
At this stage, it’s important to ensure that you look at the problem from variety of
perspectives. If you commit too early, you can end up with problem statement that’s
really a solution instead. Example, “I have to find a way of disciplining people
who are not performing according to expectations”. This does not allow the
opportunity of discovering the real reason for underperformance.
Itwill also be necessary to follow the due diligent process. The process could be
employing the service of an expert like corporate coach, business consultants etc.
But if the business owner is skilled and confident to handle the situation, it will be an
opportunity to show casehis/her business acumen and deal with the problem and not
sweep it under the carpet or ignore the problem hoping that it will disappear.
In real life, it would be important to conduct one on one interview. Interviews must be
conducted in a prepared room free from disturbances. Interviewer must be objective,
be able to listen without interrupting and
1. Problem with organization structure
2. Employees not performing according to expectations
3. People are not motivated.

3. Problem with organization structure
Why should the business develop the structure? Answering this question is important
because structure means the framework around which the business is organized. It
is the operating manual that tells staff how the business is put together and how it
works. Structure describes how decisions are made.
Structure is developed early with the business, but also as business grows and
changes, so should the structure.
Regardless of what type of structure the business decides upon, three elements will
always be the very idea of business structure.
They are,
1. Some kind of governance
2. Rules by which business operates
3. A distribution of work
Governance
Some people have to make decisions by which the business operates. This is first
element of structure- governance.
Rules by which business operates
Many of the rules might be stated, while others might be unstated, they are all
powerful.
A distribution of work
Distribution of work can be formal or informal, but every business will have some
type of division of labour.
Business structure is something that is best decided upon internally, through a
process of critical thinking by the group.
General guidelines,
What is the common purpose? How broad is it?
Is your group service orientated? Service organization use top down
approach.
Is your organization more centralized?

4. How large is your business? A small business is relatively informal.
How large is the community in which you work?
How old is your business? How long do you envision it lasting?
How many is your staff members?
Structure must ensure that your business will function smoothly and as you intended.
You should then in the development of your business, be aware that the type that fits
best may change as your business grow.
B. Generate alternatives, evaluating and selecting alternative
What type of structure should you choose?.
The formality of business should determine the structure to have.
Conditions favouring more or less formality in business structure
condition A looser, less formal, A tighter, more formal,
less rule bound bound structure would
structure would be be favoured when…
favoured when…
State of organization The business is just The business is in late
development starting development
Prior relationship among Many such relationships Few such relationships are
members already exists existing
Prior members experience Many such experience has Few such experiences
in working together occurred have occurred
Members motivation to be Motivation is high Motivation is low
part of the business
Number of business task There is a single task or There are multiple tasks
or issues issue
Business size Business is small The business is grown
Business leadership The leadership is The leadership is
experienced inexperienced
Urgency for action There is no particular There is strong urgent
urgency to take action now need for action
C. Implementing solution
In designing the organization structure, the owner of business must ensure that
important functions like front sales are well arranged and led in a proper manner.

5. Other sales staff like electrical, plumbing, paint etc may be grouped under technical
specialization. Front sales together with telephone receptionist are the face of the
business and must possess good business etiquette. They must be able to direct
customers to the right department and return quickly to the front entrance. Regular
customers will have preference of walking alone and must be given the freedom to
ensure that they are not irritated. But they may also prefer to have a guide handling
purchases for them, so it becomes important to front sales team to recognize that
need.
Front sales team must be able to assist in the absence of backyard sales staff or any
other section staff (all-rounder).
HARDWARE STORE STRUCTURE
Business owner
accounting
officer
supervisor front supervisor yard supervisor supervisor
sales other sales casiers
sales
team leader teamleader team leader
staff staff staff staff electrical plumbing paint casier
delivery staff staff staff
driver

6. Employees not performing according to
expectations
Well-integrated, high-performing teams-those that click’-never lose sight of their
goals are largely self-sustaining. In fact, they seem to take on a life of their own. And
it’s all down to leadership. Teams that click always have a leader who creates the
environment and establishes the operating principles and values that are conducive
to high performance.
The reason for employees not performing according to standard may also be that
employees do not understand what the business owner want to be done, the
standard to which the owner want it to be done or by when he want it done. The
owner must define a very clear picture of the future-a vision of the team. The old
expression says “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you
there”.
Journeys without a clear destination leave groups feeling flat and lost. Keeping staff
informed on where they’re headed and how best to get there means the business
owner must be prepared to acknowledge and adapt to changes in operational
conditions and even objectives. Business owner as the leader of the team, cannot sit
back and watch, but instead must create and recreate the vision and team spirit that
stops people losing heart and becoming lost.
Business owners as leaders must be genuine, even if it means lowering your guards.
They must be able to laugh at their own flaws. Must not be afraid to talk about tough
stuff. The owner must find ways to have the difficult conversations in the knowledge
that burying problems does not make them go away.
Lack of skill, information, tools, time or empowerment to perform duties could also be
the reason for non-performance.
Not understanding the importance of the task at hand may also be the reason for
non-performance.
Not understanding the instruction could make employees not to do the task as they
think that the boss might not notice. (Instruction not making sense)
Employees may have a better way to do the work that the way the boss told them.
But the boss may not be open to suggestions and employees will keep doing it their
way hoping the boss will not notice. When the boss notices, he will give them Hell
and this will demotivate them.
Personal problem or crisis will distract people resulting in poor performance.
Given jobs that people are not suited in affects performance and morale.

7. Underpaid or not being appreciated affects performance of persons. Solution is, pay
more and expect more. Otherwise the business will loose good staff.
Lack of physical or mental ability makes people not to perform to the level of
expectation.
Face up to non-performing staff. Lazy, bitter and uncaring people do not meet
performance expectations. The owner must not tolerate staff that pulls the team
down. Must not be afraid of people not doing their job. They are not rescuable, but
they are toxic and they will kill business.
The owner must be confident and dependable. The owner must be known as the
straight shooter-must play hard, fight fair and never give up. Staff should know that
their leader will not desert them or try shift the blame, but seek to protect them, even
if it means standing in the line of fire.
The owner must ask questions to stay abreast of what is really going on. Must follow
through on commitments to build trust and maintain it. Allow others to speak first to
afford an equal communication stage.
Expectations of the business owner.
Owner must clearly articulate workplace and performance expectations.
Do not assume that employees know or should know what you expect. Ask for
performance.
Acknowledge good performance.
Refuse to accept poor performance.
Prepare for and deliver annual performance appraisal
Assist your staff in identifying job development and career development goals
Model the behaviours and actions you expect of others. Lead by example.

8. Setting and communicating expectations
develoment planning position description
Managing
performance is a
performance appraisal cycle and performance
expextations
ongoing process
coaching and feedback
preparing for appraisal
Performance and accountability is driven by leaders. They help employees
understand what is expected of them and gain staff commitment to achieve the
expectations
Expectations are shared in writing and directed towards behavior and workplace
conduct.
Terms for expressing measurement
Quantity: specifies how much work must be completed within a certain period of
time, e.g., writes 40 decisions per week.
Quality: describes how well the work must be accomplished. Specifies accuracy,
precision, appearance, or effectiveness, e.g., 95% of documents submitted are
accepted without revision.

9. Timeliness: answers the questions, By when? , How soon?, or within what period?,
e.g., all expense sheets will be logged and paid within five working days of receipt.
Effective Use of Resources: used when performance can be assessed in terms of
utilization of resources: money saved, waste reduced, etc., e.g., the criminal
background check project will be completed with only internal resources.
Effects of Effort: addresses the ultimate effect to be obtained; expands statements
of effectiveness by using phrases such as: so that, in order to, or as shown by, e.g.,
establish inventory levels for storeroom so that supplies are maintained 100% of the
time.
Manner of Performance: describes conditions in which an individual's personal
behaviour has an effect on performance, e.g., assists other employees in the work
unit in accomplishing assignments.
Method of Performing Assignments: describes requirements; used when only the
officially-prescribed policy, procedure, or rule for accomplishing the work is
acceptable, e.g., 100A Forms are completed in accordance with established office
procedures
Points to keep in mind
1. Written performance expectations let you compare the employee’s performance
with mutually understood expectations and minimize ambiguity in providing
feedback.
2. Performance expectations exist whether or not they are discussed or put in
writing. When you observe an employee’s performance, you usually make a
judgment about whether that performance is acceptable. How do you decide what’s
acceptable and what’s unacceptable performance?
3. Establishing a baseline for measuring performance allows the supervisor to
provide specific feedback that describes the gap between expected and actual
performance
Coaching and Feedback
“When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is
measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates.” – Thomas S.
Monson
Feedback is defined as information we provide to employees about their job
performance and their work-related behaviour in order to help them meet individual,
group and organizational expectations and goals. Feedback can reflect positive
performance, competent performance, or needs improvement performance. In any of
these cases,

10. Feedback must:
Focus on facts, not attitude
Be detailed
Be accurate
Be future oriented
Be supportive
Be timely
Be continual
To improve performance
Look for patterns in the employee’s behaviour. If you see a performance problem or
a potential performance problem, determine if the employee understands what is
expected, what obstacles might be preventing good performance, and whether there
is a lack of skills, training, or motivation.
To maintain standard performance
Give praise to keep performance on track.
If the person wants to expand skills, allow for appropriate training.
To encourage employees to exceed performance standards
Praise to keep performance on track.
Provide training to expand skills.
Mentor for increased responsibility.
Assign special projects, when possible.
To assist employees in developing new skills
Provide training.
Give feedback to reinforce learning.
There are two types of feedback, reinforcing and redirecting.
1. Reinforcing feedback identifies job-related behaviours that contribute to
individual, group and organizational goals and encourages the employee to repeat
and develop them. In other words, use reinforcing feedback to tell employees what
they are doing right.
2. Redirecting feedback identifies job-related behaviours that contribute to
individual, group and organizational goals and helps the employee to develop
alternative strategies. In other words, use redirecting feedback to highlight a gap
between expected performance and actual performance.

11. Reinforcing Feedback Conversation
1. Intention
Be clear with yourself so you can be clear with your listener. The purpose of the
reinforcing conversation is to acknowledge behaviour you want to see continued.
2. Description
Describe specifically the actions or communication you are reinforcing. If the
behaviour can be seen or heard, it can be repeated:
NOT: ―…doing a good job.‖
INSTEAD: ―…meeting the deadline, catching the miscalculation, acknowledging
others.‖
3. Effect of Behaviour
Tell the listener how their behaviour contributes positively to the work or workplace.
―Your calm reply reduced the chance of conflict.‖
4. Appreciation
Tell the listener you appreciate the behaviour and its positive impact. Thank them.

12. Redirecting Feedback Conversation
1. Intention
Be clear with yourself so you can be clear with your listener. The purpose of the
conversation is to redirect behaviour you want to see changed.
2. Description
Describe the actions or communication you are redirecting. If the behaviour can be
seen or heard, it can be altered.
NOT: ―Mouthing off to a co-worker or ―not giving good service.
INSTEAD: ―using profanity, using a loud voice‖, or repeatedly interrupting the client
when they are attempting to give you information.
3. Effect of Behaviour
Tell the listener how their behaviour negatively affects the work or workplace. ―The
workplace expectation is to communicate in a positive manner with our customers –
internal and external customers. When I hear you tell your co-worker his idea is
ridiculous, it seems like a good time to remind you of our workplace expectation.
It’s at this point that we might run into one of the 3 R’s:
Reluctance
Resentment
Resistance
People are not motivated.
Wikipedia free encyopedia defines motivation as a psychological feature that
arouses an organism to action toward the desired goal and elicits controls and
sustains certain goal directed behaviours.
The definition is telling bosses to stop employing old school approach to motivating
employees.
Threats
Pleading
Carrot & stick incentive programs
Motivation is not something you do for someone. It is an emotion. It comes from
within. Managers can create the type of work environment that enables and
encourages the self-motivation to come forth.
Things that must be avoided when motivating staff.
Do not assume that you know what the problem is. It becomes easy to draw a
conclusion based on past experience, however the problem with the approach is that
every situation is different and people involved are also different.

13. Do not assume that people are motivated by the same things. Motivation is personal
in nature and today’s work force is diverse than ever before.
Today’s workforce consists of multi-generations, all motivated differently.
Generation: Year born:
 Generation Y (Millennial’s) 1977 to present
 Generation X 1964 to 1976
 Baby boomers 1946 to 1963
 Matures 1901 to 1945
Do not implement an incentive program. Rewards motivate people to get rewards
and not improve performance. For lasting change, managers need to roll up their
sleeves, jump into the trenches with the troops; provide direction, leadership, training
and support. All the motivation in the world will fail if employees are not properly
trained and developed to succeed at their job.
Carrot and stick incentive programs are artificial inducements that are nothing more
than control and seduction. “You do this, I give you that.”This will not permanently
change the behaviuor. Rewards are perceived as entitlement. Staff begin to budget
on incentive money to expand their lifestyle. This will create a morale problem when
trying to remove it. You will be seen as a villain.
Walk the talk. People believe what they see not what they hear. Words must match
the action. When managers say one thing and do another, it creates cynicism that
creeps into the whole workplace. Managers who walk the talk directly affect the trust
of employees. Trust is the link. You either lead by example or don’t lead at all.
Do not try to motivate the employees by creating a competition where there are
winners and losers. Inevitably, there are more losers than winners in the
competitions. The question to ask is if the employees were not initially motivated, will
they be when they lose? This will only compound the motivation problem that already
exists.
Managers should not be untrustworthy. Credibility is slow to build and quick to lose.
It takes evidence of a single lie for manager to be branded a liar. In contrast, a
person has to tell a lot of truth to qualify as an honest person. Trust thrives where
managers give their employees no reason to distrust. When staff does not have trust
and confidence in management, productivity falls, gossip spreads, staff turnover
increases, cynicism spreads, and motivation goes out of the window. Lack of trust
will have a disastrous effect on company profits.
Motivated employees feel in control of their destiny. Do not over control the situation.
The more a manager controls, the more they evoke behaviors that require greater
control or managing.

14. Don’t be invisible. Managers tend to spend most of their time in their offices
paperwork. Leaders are visible. Leaders earn followers and bosses inherit
subordinates.
Don’t be indecisive. Business owners make money by taking decisions. Inability to
make a decision is frustrating de-motivating to employees. The worst decision to
make is no decision at all.
Don’t sugarcoat the problem. Employees know what the problems and issues are,
sometimes better than the bosses since they are close to it. Trying to pull the wool
over employees’ eyes does not work. They will see through it and they will lose all
respect for you. Employees will respect and trust bosses who tell it like it is.
Things you can do to motivate staff.
Do investigate the cause of non-performance. The rule is; listen first, speak last and
be open minded. Avoid walking into the situation with an agenda and mindset of
what you think the problem is that’s causing the lack of motivation. Ask the staff
individually what they think needs to be done to rectify the situation.
Following questions could help:
On the scale of 1-10 where 10 is high and 1 is low, how would you rate the
motivation level of our staff?
Why would you rate it at…?
What do you think are the causes for this motivation rating?
If you we in my shoes, what would you do to improve the motivation of our
staff?
What motivates you to do a good job?
What type of manager do you work best for?
Take these questions seriously as this is a sign of respect which of itself will give
motivation a bit of a boost. Focus on opportunities and problems. Develop action
plan, set priorities, stick to priorities and take responsibility for your actions.
Do take a one on one approach. Develop a motivation plan for each employee.
When coming to motivation, the rule is, treat others the way they want to be
treated.
Do communicate. Communication is oxygen of a business. With communication
business thrives. You cannot over communicate, getting all hands on the deck
requires effective communication at all levels because it drives results.
The real drivers of high-performance are intrinsic (psychological) not extrinsic
(economical).

15. In summary, a business owner needs to understand that above operational needs,
he must also provide leadership to his/her staff. This will be a fulltime task involving
forward planning, coordinating duties, activating plans and controlling aspects
pertaining to staff and business. Execution of these functions will determine the fate
of the business whether it succeeds or not.
Operating procedures must be put in place and must be reviewed continually to
keep-up with the changes and time. What works today, may not necessarily work
tomorrow.
Staff must communicate with each other effectively. Breakdown in communication
will lead to quality and customer service issues leading to an increase in labour costs
and customer dissatisfaction.
Look into employee industry benefits. If necessary, have the staff share some of the
costs.
Happy employees are productive, more creative and better team players. Make
employees feel like they belong, recognize when they are making progress, take
interest in who they are, encourage exercise and make your business a fun place to
be at.