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Quiz 2 Management and Organizational Dynamics 5 Marks Big Bison Resorts: Finding The Key To What Employees Value

1. The CEO of Big Bison Resorts, Janette Briggs, spent two weeks working undercover in various frontline jobs at the company's resorts. This experience gave her new insights into how hard and important this work is, and the strong teamwork of employees. 2. Janette called a meeting with HR VP Frank Schuman and other executives to discuss dropping the planned "Employee of the Month" program. She now believes this won't improve performance or retention as much as addressing what employees really value in their jobs. 3. Frank initially defended the program but now agrees they should consult employees first about how to make jobs more motivating, rather than deciding for

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60 views

Quiz 2 Management and Organizational Dynamics 5 Marks Big Bison Resorts: Finding The Key To What Employees Value

1. The CEO of Big Bison Resorts, Janette Briggs, spent two weeks working undercover in various frontline jobs at the company's resorts. This experience gave her new insights into how hard and important this work is, and the strong teamwork of employees. 2. Janette called a meeting with HR VP Frank Schuman and other executives to discuss dropping the planned "Employee of the Month" program. She now believes this won't improve performance or retention as much as addressing what employees really value in their jobs. 3. Frank initially defended the program but now agrees they should consult employees first about how to make jobs more motivating, rather than deciding for

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pals
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Quiz 2

Management and Organizational Dynamics 5 marks


BIG BISON RESORTS: FINDING THE KEY TO WHAT EMPLOYEES VALUE

Frank Schuman, vice president of human resources for Big Bison Resorts, heard laughter as he
approached the chief executive’s office door. As he stepped into the room, he saw CEO Janette
Briggs seated behind her desk, regaling two other executives with a story that the three were
obviously enjoying immensely. “Oh, Frank! Good!” exclaimed Janette when she saw him
enter. “I was just telling Pedro and Marlys about my great adventure in TV land.” Janette had
been away from the office for the past two weeks, taping the popular reality TV show Executive
in Disguise instead of running her company, a regional chain of indoor water parks.
“How did it go?” asked Frank. “From the laughter I heard outside your door, it must have been
hilarious.” “Well, funny, yes,” replied Janette. “But mainly it was eye opening. After spending all
that time in our kitchens and cleaning the guest rooms and pools, I see our people and their
jobs in a totally new way.” “Is that why you called me here? I was expecting you wanted to
review our plans for the Employee of the Month program we’re unrolling next month. That is,
until I saw—” He waved his hand toward the other two people seated in the room, Pedro
Gutierrez, head of operations, and finance chief Marlys Higgenbotham. “Or at least I was
guessing they’re not here to nominate the first employee of the month.” “No, see, that’s the
issue. After working directly with our frontline staff, I’m having my doubts about putting
resources into Employee of the Month,” replied the CEO. Frank swallowed.
Employee of the Month had been a pet idea of Janette’s, so he had poured most of his time
into developing the program. Each month, a manager at each resort was going to nominate a
top performing employee to be the Employee of the Month and enjoy the glory, not to mention
a premium parking space and a framed photo posted in the lobby of the resort where he or she
worked. Now it appeared that Janette shared what, he had to admit, were his own doubts
about whether the program would really do much to improve performance or lower turnover.
Janette continued, “Have a seat, Frank, and let me tell you about what I saw the past two
weeks.” Frank settled into a chair next to Marlys. Janette brought Frank up to date: “I’ve been
telling Marlys and Pedro what it was like to work in one of our kitchens. The pace
is unbelievable. The workload is unbelievable. And the teamwork is out of this world. Frank, I
was amazed, and you would be, too. I know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich, but these
folks do a lot more than cook. They’re planning and controlling on the fly: How many salads?
How many pancakes? How can we make all that without any waste? There’s no supervisor on
the line; they’re all thinking like managers—how to please customers, control costs. Honestly,
our managers could take lessons from them on teamwork and quality control.” “It sounds like
we have a lot of Employees of the Month,” Frank said hopefully. Maybe the program wouldn’t
be canceled after all, and his group’s efforts wouldn’t have been wasted. “No, no, no!” broke in
Marlys. “The point is; we’ve tried so many programs to boost productivity. As you know, we
were looking at bonuses last year, till the economy got so bad. We simply couldn’t justify paying
more when occupancy rates were diving. But we have to do something. Now that business is
picking up in our market area, other hotels and resorts are going to start recruiting away our
best people. The question is, what can we do that will keep employees working as hard as they
are now without burning out and leaving us? We thought people would just like a little
recognition, but Janette is saying she doubts it now.” “Exactly,” said Janette. “And that’s why I
called you in. We need your expertise about human relations. What do people want? I thought
it would be pay, prizes, that sort of thing. And you went along with me. But really, Frank, can
that be it? The people I worked with the past two weeks—they have so much skill at what they
do, and they’re constantly thinking up ways to make our guests happy. They already take pride
in what they accomplish. We need to decide what will make their jobs better so they can
accomplish more without us getting in their way with, well, Employee of the Month
ceremonies.” “OK,” replied Frank, “now that you’ve put it that way, I have to ask if maybe what
we don’t want to do is decide what will make their jobs better.” As Janette and Marlys gazed at
Frank quizzically, Pedro spoke up. “That’s great, Frank. You’re saying we shouldn’t make their
jobs better? I came up through the ranks at Big Bison, and I can recall that those hourly jobs
aren’t exactly perfect the way they are.” “What I mean,” replied Frank, “is that we need to
listen before we decide.

QUESTIONS
1. How might Big Bison Resorts get input from employees to make the company’s jobs more
motivating? What impact would this effort have on the company’s performance?
2. How would Big Bison’s employees perceive the equity of the Employee of the Month
program? Compare their reactions to that program with the response you would expect
from an effort to involve employees in improving their jobs.
4. Think about a previous job you have held or hold currently. If you had the power to make
such decisions, what would you do to make the job more motivating for employees ?

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