Assignment 2: Professional Development Program Proposal

First Name Last Name

Strayer University

BUS 520

Prof. Andrea Banto

October 15, 2017

Assignment 2: Professional Development Program Proposal

Due: Week 6, worth 175 points

Length: The assignment should be five to seven pages, excluding title page and reference page

Important: You will continue with the same organization you selected in Assignment 1.

Focus: For this assignment, you will develop a proposal for a professional development training program . The program centers on motivational strategies and how an emotional intelligence management approach would benefit department managers.

Context:

Imagine that the CEO has charged you, the task force leader, with researching emotional intelligence (EI) in order to propose a professional development program.

Key considerations:

· Your proposal should detail how a new incentive program, based on an EI management approach, will foster teamwork, strengthen interpersonal relationships, enhance communication, and increase overall performance. Be sure to focus on these aspects throughout your paper.

· Your program’s proposal must include supporting research concerning how motivational strategies enhance job satisfaction and team output. Insert these references/ sources to support your position throughout the paper.

References needed: at least two quality resources such as the course textbook, company website, business websites (CNBC, Bloomberg, etc.), resources from the Strayer Library, and/or outside sources. Note: Wikipedia and web-based blogs do not qualify as credible resources.

IMPORTANT: Please remove the text in color in this template and replace with your information.

Leave the text in black as it is. You are required to write the questions and then provide the response or use headings for each section.

You must use headings!

Introduction

In this section, provide a brief introduction of the company you focused on in Assignment 1 and restate the problem you identified.

1. EI and Motivation

· Discuss the specific EI building blocks that would help management improve on employee performance and job satisfaction. Describe each of the building blocks and be specific on the impact.

· Describe how your team will utilize positive or negative reinforcements to influence the employees in the company and resolve the issue. Specific examples of positive or negative reinforcements should be provided here. Be specific about how each of the examples you provided will help with influencing the team members and solve the issue.

2. EI and Social Skills and Decision Making

· Identify the core concepts of emotional intelligence in the textbook.

· Take each of the core concepts and discuss and explain how they would enhance the social skills and the decision-making efficacy of the management team.

3. Effective Teams

· First, describe the core attributes of an effective team.

· Discuss specific strategies you would implement to develop team dynamics that will benefit the organization.

4. Reward Systems

· Create an effective reward system for this organization. Be specific about the rewards offered in this program and why.

· Discuss specific strategies you would incorporate to motivate your employees and influence behavior.

5. Executive Summary

· The executive summary should be one-page in length.

· Summarize your recommendations and research findings in a one-page executive summary that you will present to the CEO in an upcoming executive meeting.

· Note: An executive summary is a condensed version of your full report.

· It should summarize briefly all the main points in concise paragraphs.

· It should be written clearly and should use language appropriate for the audience.

· You will write this last.

Sources

Sample Source List

1. Michael Harvey, 2013, The Nuts & Bolts of College Writing, http://libdatab.strayer.edu/login?url=http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=590706&site=eds-live&scope=site

2. William R. Stanek, 2010, Storyboarding Techniques chapter in Effective Writing for Business, College and Life, http:// libdatab.strayer.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=359141&site=e ds-live&scope=site&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_23

3. Zyad Hicham, 2017, Vocabulary Growth in College-Level Students’ Narrative Writing, http://libdatab.strayer.edu/ login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.9b7fad40e529462bafe3a936 aaf81420&site=eds-live&scope=site

4. Anya Kamenetz, July 10, 2015, The Writing Assignment That Changes Lives, https://www.npr.org/sections/ ed/2015/07/10/419202925/the-writing-assignment-that-changes-lives

5. Brad Thor, June 14, 2016, The Best Writing Advice I Ever Got, http://time.com/4363050/brad-thor-best-writing-advice/

6. Karen Hertzberg, June 15, 2017, How to Improve Writing Skills in 15 Easy Steps, https://www.grammarly.com/blog/ how-to-improve-writing-skills/

7. Roy Peter Clark, 2008, Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

8. C.M. Gill, 2014, The Psychology of Grading and Scoring, Essential Writing Skills for College & Beyond

9. ABC Company’s Policy & Procedures Committee, Employee Dress and Attendance Policy, this is a policy in my office

10. Henry M. Sayre, 2014, The Humanities: Culture, Continuity and Change Vol 1, this is the HUM111 textbook

http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/2013_acs_hmong_analysis_article_for_website.pdf

Hmong Studies Journal (census data)

http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hmong-census-data.html

“Mental Health of Hmong Americans: A Metasynthesis of Academic Journal Article Findings,” by Lee, from the Hmong Studies Journal (2013). http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=93479611&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Cuban Americans

Hispanics of Cuban Origin in the United States, 2011

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2013/06/19/hispanics-of-cuban-origin-in-the-united-states-2011/

Hispanic Americans

Pew Hispanic Center: The 10 Largest Hispanic Origin Groups: Characteristics, Rankings, Top Countries

http://www.pewhispanic.org/files/2012/06/The-10-Largest-Hispanic-Origin-Groups.pdf

“Mental Health at the U.S.-Mexico Border: A BRFSS Glimpse,” by Olson et al., from Hispanic Health Care International (2007).

http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=2009712397&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Other Cultural Considerations Resources

“Stereotypes of U. S. Immigrants from Four Global Regions Stereotypes of U. S. Immigrants from Four Global Regions,” by Timberlake and Williams, from Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell) (2012).

http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=83172359&site=ehost-live&scope=site

© 2015. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.

© 2015. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.

Human Resource Management

Student’s Name

Institution

Family Dollar is an American store chain that deals with variety of products. The firm has expanded in major cities in the United States of America with aver 8,000 locations in all states except Alaska,Hawaii,Oregon and the greater Washington District of Columbia. Family Dollar (FDO), is the among the largest retailer dealers of its types in the United States. Family Dollar deals with products such as clothing, cleaning supplies, home decor and various kinds of grocery. The industry has its headquarters in Matthews, which is a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. The firm has employed several people to work under the stores. It has employed 1,400 employees who take part in the daily activities of the organization to ensure that the customers are satisfied. In the year 2004, one of the investors and one of the major shareholders of the firm demanded that the firm be immediately put up for sale. This was because the firm was not doing well in terms of its growth and productivity.

Family Dollar Stores (FDO) has been affected by major problems and this has led to poor performance of the industry. One of the major issue affecting the firm is the poor wages that the company offers to its employees. The employees of Family Dollar Stores work for long hours and in return given low wages. The employees always complain of the poor working conditions in the company and this has discouraged them. They are not motivated well by the management. It is important for every organization to understand the importance of motivating its employees. Motivated employees are more productive when compared with the less motivated employees. Family Dollar lacks a sound wage system and this makes its employees less motivated. This makes them less productive and this has led to the failure of the firm. In many occasions, the employees say their managers struggle with tight budgets as the managers themselves are working for longer hours in order to cover the store’s extended extra hours.

As a task force leader, I have discovered that the main organizational issue affecting Family Dollar Stores is the issue that pertains employee payments. The employees of the firm are subjected to long working hours and in return paid low amounts of wages. The employees of the company report to work very early in the morning and leave the industry very late in the evening. In many occasions, the employees work for extra hours and they are not paid according to the number of hours they have worked. The employees are paid low wages and this has made them become less productive in the organization (Alvesson, & Sveningsson, 2015). They are not willing to work towards the success and growth of the industry because they feel less motivated. In reality, the employees should work for normal hours and for those who are interested to work for extra hours, the management of Family Dollar Stores should pay them according to the number of hours they have worked. This will make the employees feel motivated. Highly motivated employees ensures growth of the organization and this leads to the success of the company

Long working hours and low payments has negatively affected the growth of the industry because most of the time which was supposed to be used for other activities of the firm is lost. The time is used by the customers in complaining to the management on the state of poor working conditions which they are subjected into. In order to resolve this problem, the organization should develop a human resource team which shall be given the responsibility of ensuring that the employees’ issues are well taken care of. The human resource team should ensure that the employees working at Family Dollars Store are compensated fairly in order for them to provide the labor required. The organization should develop and implement a sound wage system, which ensures that the employees are remunerated fairly throughout the firm.

Well-motivated employees have less or no complaints and this makes them to work hard in their job to ensure that the goals of the organization are met.

The organizational culture of Family Dollar Stores affects the way people work towards the growth of the company. In many cases, various businesses have different ways of doing things in their organizations. All the managers of Family Dollar Stores wear uniforms during the working days in the company while the District managers wear suits despite the kind of work they are doing. For example, the district managers of the company dress in suits when they are stocking the shelves and transferring the merchandise. The employees of the firm are not supposed to talk to one another when carrying on with the daily duties in the company. The employees should only concentrate without communicating with their colleagues in the workplace. There is no individual who is supposed to talk to the other during the working hours in the company.

The company does not hire any single mothers or men with families because they do not pay enough wages that can sustain them and their families. The management thinks that the women and men having families to take care of will steal from them in order to pay for their needs and maintain their families. The clerks of the company take home a small amount of wages at the end of each single day. The managers are hired at 50 hours a week but within six weeks, they have to work for 64 hours per week. Each store in the company are run with a skeleton crew having only two employees working at any given time unless it is on a truck day where all the employees are working without too much talking.

The employees’ morale is usually very low in the firm since they are paid minimal wages and salaries. They feel less motivated and this has led to low productivity in the organization. Family Dollar Store has a tendency of firing people when it is not able to pay for their salaries. This is not desirable since there is no job security in the company. The employees do not receive any form of bonuses for the work they do for the company. This makes them feel less motivated hence low productivity in the company. The employees enter and leave the company at a higher rate and this leads to low productivity in the company.

Family Dollar Stores has a mission statement, which gives important information to various people in and outside the organization. The mission statement of the company is “For our customers A compelling place to shop by providing convenience and low prices for our associates a compelling place to work by providing exceptional opportunities and rewards for achievement for our investors a compelling place to invest by providing outstanding returns “The mission statement of the company provides a broad aspirational image of the company in the future. Family Dollar Stores has a slogan, which is very concise and is used to advertise the products of the company to the customers in order to increase the level of sales (Benschop, 2016).

The slogan of Family Dollar Stores is “My Family. My Family Dollar”.This has helped in selling the brands of the firm to the customers who are interested with the products. The firm has an official corporate website where important information regarding the company is posted for easy access. The website is www.familydollar.com .This site has been very useful for the company since it is used for making several important enquiries, which are necessary for the company. Every company should have an official corporate website where important information regarding the activities of the company are posted for easy access.

Family Dollar Stores faces many problems arising from various factors in the company. One of the company’s source of problems is the poor management of the organization. The managers of the company are not able to lead the team to perform towards the success of the organization. They do not have the right leadership skills, which are required for the success of an organization. The other major problem is competition. Family Dollar Stores faces a lot of competition from other large supermarkets in the region. Many companies have emerged and this has limited the growth and performance of the company. Lack of motivation on the employees has also been the root cause of problems for the firm.

The employees enter and leave the organization because of the low wages and salaries they get for the work they do in the firm. They are usually paid small amounts, which is not enough to sustain them and their families. Poor working conditions for the employees in the firm has also led to several issues in the firm. The employees are expected to work for long hours and in return get low wages (Bratton, & Gold, 2017). This has led to the rise of many complaints among the employees. Less motivated employees are less productive as compared to the employees who are well motivated. Through employee motivation, the morale of the workers is raised. The firm has poor ways of motivating its employees and this leads to low productivity.

Managing people from different cultures in an organization can be very challenging for the success of the organizations. The management of Family Dollar Stores should define the culture using an expanded definition that covers more than the race, color, sex, national origin and religion in order to ensure that the workers have been managed appropriately in the organization. The firm should hire people from all diversity to ensure that the company achieves the desired outcomes. The firm’s management should develop and implement a sound wage structure, which ensures that all the employees are rewarded fairly according to the kind of work that they do for the organization (Cascio, 2018).

The company should hire the human resource team to oversee the working conditions of the employees in the working environment. The company should conduct an employee survey to learn more about employee choices and preferences in terms of work styles and the way the managers provide feedback and working conditions for the employees.

There are several things which the management of Family Dollar Stores can do in order to resolve the issues that have been identified. One of the solutions is to develop and implement a sound wage structure, which will ensure that all the employees in the firm are rewarded appropriately according to the work they do for the organization. The management should put up a human resource team, which shall overlook at the issues related to the employees in the organization for example the working conditions (Miner, 2015). The employees should not be subjected to long working hours without paying them for the overtime. The human resource department should work together with the managers to ensure that the employees are hired without any form of discrimination. It is important for the management to offer employment for both men and women without considering who has a family and who does not. The employees should be promoted and given bonuses in order to make them work more for the company. This will lead to an increase in the level of productivity for the firm.

Several problems have affected the performance and growth of Family Dollar Stores. Among the problems, include such things as lack of appropriate salaries and wages to the employees in the firm, lack of motivating employees, poor working conditions that the workers are subjected into and the poor management practices in the organization. According to these findings, the management can take several steps in order to avoid such problems from affecting the performance of the company. The management of Family Dollars Stores should appoint a human resource team which will have the responsibility of ensuring that all the workers in the firm are well taken care of.

The human resource team will work with the manager to ensure that the employees are hired without any form of discrimination. This will ensure fairness in the way people are treated in the organization. The firm’s management should develop and implement a sound wage system which will ensure that all the employees in the organization are remunerated according to the work they do for the company. The sound wage system will ensure that the employees are paid for the extra hours they work in the company. The firm should motivate its employees well in order to attract and retain them in the work place (Pinder, 2014). The company should not allow its employees to leave the firm at higher rates since it is not desirable. Family Dollars Stores should ensure that it rewards all the employees through such things as bonuses in order to make them feel motivated. When the employees feel motivated, they are able to work actively towards the accomplishment of the firm’s objectives.

References

Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. Routledge.

Benschop, Y. (2016). The dubious power of diversity management. In Diversity in the Workplace (pp. 35-48). Routledge.

Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.

Cascio, W. (2018). Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.

Miner, J. B. (2015). Organizational behavior 1: Essential theories of motivation and leadership. Routledge.

Pinder, C. C. (2014). Work motivation in organizational behavior. Psychology Press.