Case Study
Lyricis a wholesale and retail clothing business which was born from the passion of two High School friends called Mary and Rachel. The business idea was already doing great within their circle of family and friends, so they decided to start an online enterprise selling their garments.
“Our mission is to deliver a quality product with exceptional price-value and superior customer service.”
Also, Mary and Rachel agreed on the core values ofLyricas follows:
· Sell the highest quality products available.
· Satisfy, delight, and nourish our customers.
· Support team member excellence and happiness.
· Create wealth through profits and growth.
· Serve and support our local and global communities.
Lyrichas grown and now has a staff of 35 people as well as three retail shopfronts and a warehouse. Its Human Resources department is establishing various work processes. Among them are processes for workplace collaboration between employees and managers. They know how important it is to facilitate employees' contributions and to having managers and staff work together to create processes that will achieve desired outcomes and at the same time, foster healthy working relationships. It's part ofLyric's core values - "team member excellence and happiness."
The Human Resources department's roles include:
· maintaining employee records and payroll
· performing other administrative tasks as part of its role in staff resourcing
· acknowledging that direct work with personnel requires collaboration with managers in employee conflict management as well as in disciplinary procedures with employees
· acknowledging that managers must participate in performance management
· acknowledging manager roles in assisting with organising and facilitating training and professional development
· managing rehabilitation and return-to-work programs in direct liaison with staff, management and any relevant health professionals
· running a well-being program for all staff to access including health advice, workshops, and support.
TASK 6
Six months ago, David finally got the break he had been hoping for. He was appointed team leader of the customer service trainers ofLyric'ssales and marketing unit. To him this was a chance to show upper management what he is made of. His career was about to take off!
Straight away he called a team meeting and announced that, from then on, everyone was to adhere strictly to the standard working hours stated in their job contracts. Also, that he intended to check everyone’s expenses quite carefully when they return from their frequent interstate sales training trips. Under no circumstances was he going to let his budget blow out.
The trainers tried to point out that their frequent travel is often done outside working hours and a lot of their preparation for training is undertaken in their personal time; that they saw some of the ‘relaxed’ time-keeping when back at head office asquid pro quo– normal give and take. David replied that, on the contrary, this is a normal part of the job and that they’d better get used to it.
Another unsettling incident occurred once when the training manuals and training aids David had ordered hadn’t turned up in time. David announced publicly ‘Sheila was supposed to send them and, as usual, she messed up. I won’t have my unit looking unprofessional."
Seeing which way the wind is blowing, the trainers kept their thoughts to themselves at first. Over time though, they had quite a few things to say among themselves.
‘Fancy him checking on our expenses. He’s the one known for over-claiming!’
They all agree on that point.
‘David often does one thing yet says another. If he thinks I’m doing any travel or preparation in my own time anymore, he’s got it wrong.’
‘What really gets me,’ says Margot,‘ís that the only way David seems to feel good about himself is by putting others down. He even does it in training sessions. I’ve seen him lose it with trainees because they don’t understand him. What in the world were management thinking when they made him a team leader?’
‘Poor Sheila. She never makes mistakes on our programs – only David’s. He left her such poor instructions about what he wanted.’
‘He won’t listen to us. He always has to be the one with the answers and the good ideas. We might as well forget about suggesting anything or pointing anything out to him. I’m off to polish up my resumé!’
‘Me too! He’s such an aggressive person whodoesn'tcommunicate management decisions or any changes well. I’m not staying around either,’ says another.
Upper management found out that Sheila and other staff members were unhappy at work and intended to move on and find other jobs. This was a concern to them so they called their Human Resource department in on this. HR would know what to do!
HR called David aside and reminded him ofLyric'scontinuous improvement approach. Six months into the team leader role, it was time for David to get feedback about his leadership and management styles. The business has a procedure for this - aperformance feedback questionnaire.
It was explained to David that asking his team for feedback is a way to help a manager improve. They warned that there will always be feedback that a person may not like or necessarily agree with, but this is the type of feedback that helps a person improve the most. Furthermore, the company offers training opportunities to its managers and staff when needed.
David is serious about becoming a good manager. He knows he'll have to receive feedback without taking anything personally. He was up for getting feedback from his co-workers and addressing changes to his management style.
For this following task, you are in the role of one of staff who discussed David's leadership style in the canteen. You've personally experienced it as well as heard what everyone else had to say about David's leadership style. You must the complete the performance feedback questionnaire to evaluate David's performance as your manager/supervisor. Download and complete this performance feedback questionnaire template:
Performance Feedback Questionnaire
Download Performance Feedback Questionnaire
Remember thatLyric'score values are:
· Sell the highest quality products available.
· Satisfy, delight, and nourish our customers.
· Support team member excellence and happiness.
· Create wealth through profits and growth.
· Serve and support our local and global communities.
Pursuant to "supporting team member excellence and happiness" the Human Resource department issues anonymous performance feedback questionnaires on a 6 monthly basis to all ofLyric'sstaff. Usually the information gathered is used to determine whether a leader or manager would benefit from some training.