The objectives of this study are to find out what causes the decline in employee performance in a selected digital consulting firm by applying the insights of the Situational Leadership framework to better understand the circumstances that occur. The hypothesis is that some of the leaders with different cultural values in the company were leading without understanding the actual level of development of their employees and applying an inappropriate leadership style to their followers.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Leadership Concepts
- Define the Situational Leadership
- Hersey-Blanchard's Situational Leadership Framework
It is considered from the relationship between the level of competence and commitment of a follower, then approaches an optimal leadership style to achieve the level of the follower's readiness. The second part reflects on the developmental level of followers which can be diagnosed by understanding an individual's level of competence and commitment.
Support Variable: The Cultural Dimensions
Moderate), high competence and variable commitment (D3: Moderate to High), to an expert who has high competence and high commitment (D4: High). The good situational leader must be able to diagnose his individual follower's competence and commitment level for the best direction and support.
LITERATURE REVIEW CONCLUSION
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- Research Questions
- What causes the declining of employees' performance even they are currently happy with their job?
- What actions should managers do to help improve the employees' performance in this case?
- Does cultural diversity in the workplace affect the employees' performance?
- Hypothesis
- Unit of Study
- Instrumentation
- Interview Question Design
- Your team performance is falling rapidly. You have noticed that your staffs have not been responding to your friendly conversation as usual and
For populations smaller than 1000 individuals, Neuman recommended that 30% of the population size should be a satisfactory fit (Neuman, 2003). With a total of 12 respondents, we could calculate 30% of the total number, since this company consists of a total of 40 employees. Ultimately, it is important to gather information from these members in order to understand management's impacts on the company's observable results and to receive better evidence of how employees perceive the company and its management.
Initially, the researcher approached 3 managers from 3 different departments of the firm by sending an informal request for an interview letter by email. A set of leadership interview questions consists of 12 questions assuming that the interviewees are facing 12 different situations in the company. Each of the situations that the interviewees can answer differently according to their views and experiences.
Leader A: I'll talk to them nicely to make them feel better and then set up clear goals to give them direction
Employee Job Satisfaction and Development Level Assessment The set of employees' interview questions are divided into 3 parts; the first
You have noticed that your employees have not responded to your friendly conversation as usual and that your employees have not responded to your friendly conversation as usual and are obviously concerned for their well-being.
Can you tell me what causes you to feel happy working here?
Employee A: I always encouraged and confident to come up with new ideas and purpose to the team
- Validation
- Reduce the number of questions in employee interview from 25 questions to 10 meaningful questions in order to give more time for the
- Adding a short demographic profile consisting of gender, age, nationality, working period, department, and position
- Adding instructions note for online interviewees to reduce misunderstanding and confusion
- Data Collection
- Data Analysis and Limitation
First, the researcher must identify the main keywords in the statements and use systematic reduction to sort thematic codes. In a qualitative study, the analysis of information explains the reasons for collecting the material, so the outcome of the information must be converted into a definitive conclusion that can answer the research questions (McEachin, 2011; Walsh, 2003). Analyzing qualitative research requires thinking, experience and knowledge from the interpreter, which may contain biases and prejudices from internal intuition.
The researcher must reduce the biases from the case study analysis to best explore the available data and the breakdown of solutions to the problem encountered in the company. Coding technique is a way to reduce the pain point of analyzing qualitative research by indexing and categorizing the data to find significant patterns of information. This linkage would ultimately explore the key thematic ideas that the codes from the interviews represent.
FINDINGS DISCUSSION
Introduction
What causes the declining of employees' performance even they are currently happy with their job?
What actions should managers do to help improve the employees' performance in this case?
4.2 Findings
Demographic
Most of the respondents have been working in the company for more than 3 years, only 5 of them are completely new to their job with 1 to 3 years of experience in the company.
Situational Leadership Interview Results
From the investigated responses of the business development team leader revealed that the team leader mostly responded towards the application of high directive behavior in these assumed circumstances receiving respectively 50% of the score for leadership style, 25% for coaching and 25% for support. From his answers, he would apply the direct leadership style when he is faced with a situation that creates a risk to the team's performance. The head of the graphic design team answered the interview questions specifically, he came closest to coaching style behavior to solve these circumstances with 75% of the score to coach leadership style and 25% to support actor .
The main theme obtained from the coding technique indicated that he approached his team with a high supportive behavior while also being highly directive. He decided to use a supportive leadership style only in positive situations, for example, in a situation where the noticeable performance of his team is increasing. 34;I would make sure that each team member is aware of their responsibilities and also the expected standards, but more importantly, I choose to support my team.
Employee Interview Results Part I: Job Satisfaction
The leader of the computer engineering team is otherwise evenly chosen for leadership with a coaching and support style by 41.7% and for a directing style by 16.6%. He introduced a directive leadership style only in situations where his teammates did not have the expected responsibilities, for example, when his team missed the goal of a meeting he had set and turned the meeting into a huddle, he responded to this situation with redefined goals. and directed carefully as he said "Sometimes things need to be controlled, especially in such a situation I would remind them what our goals are and give them concrete tasks to complete". The interviewees indicated that almost half of them work independently, while the other half said that they are good team players and helpful teammates.
The researcher also asked about their ideal manager and the interviewee's top response theme was commitment to quality because they value the quality of their work and one said, "I would like to work with a manager who shows a high commitment to quality and When we see If our boss has this attitude, we automatically do it." (Appendix C). However, a comparison between the units of the survey showed that the Computer Engineering team has the highest frequency in evaluating job satisfaction among the entire computer engineering team, which provided very positive feedback on the general job satisfaction question.
Development Level
It is obvious why they are quite happy with their jobs as well as their level of development. The results from the implementation of these instruments showed that the Computer Engineer division has the highest average level of development, approx. at D4, with high competence and high commitment. They have high knowledge and feel confident using their skills for the tasks, but sometimes lack self-esteem and motivation.
To illustrate, one staff from the Computer Engineering team said: "I know what I'm doing with my assigned task, but sometimes I feel like I don't have motivations to do anything, and just like that, I only have the office fridge and grab a can of beer". The Graphic Design Team has a moderate level of development compared to other departments, sufficiently high theme frequency at D3 as they have high competence and variable commitment to their tasks. Business development team otherwise has the lowest development level among 3 of them, on average at D2 with some competence and low commitment level which can also directly describe why this team got the lowest job satisfaction evaluation outcomes.
Multi-Cultural Experience
Result Conclusion
The results also showed that by evaluating the general satisfaction of employees with their job, their managers and the work environment, employees responded positively to how they feel about this workplace. Conversely, when they had to rate themselves, they tended to rate themselves lower than they should have. This could mean that most of them lack confidence and self-esteem, which could lead to a problem where some of them provide unexpectedly low performance to the company.
The trust perspective suggests that a practitioner self-monitors and self-evaluates his or her performance. belief in his or her ability to succeed. The practitioner may conclude that he or she cannot achieve the task or outcome while no one is facilitating.
RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION
Recommendation
In addition, the researcher added some more steps which are; step six, evaluate after approaching the situation with a particular leadership style, then finally go back to step one if it didn't work. These processes could be added to the knowledge protocol of company management when they need to raise the motivation of their employees and improve the performance of the workforce (Sims, Faraj, Yun, 2009). In addition, there should be selective leadership training for some leaders to challenge their leadership role.
Since these days, the management level at the firm only looks at the big picture and misunderstands specific needs of their subordinates. Even they try to create a relaxed workplace environment, still, this is not the absolute solution to the problems they have. Assign a specific leadership training to this management team, can sustainably increase, at least, awareness about how to approach a certain situation and personnel with appropriate leadership style.
Research Conclusion
As this company is an SME firm with only 40 staff in total, the owners or managers are probably focusing on building their markets rather than improving the internal business from both the observation and the interview session. Instead of focusing on improving leadership skills or really examining the level of competence and commitment of employees, they are trying to shape the organizational culture, hoping to build a strong platform, however, they forget to effectively maintain the key internal success factors such as their human resources. Finally, as a multi-cultural workplace, diversity is not the main cause of the problem occurring in the firm.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Interview Question Set I: Situational Leadership Style Evaluation Now assuming you are encountered in these 12 circumstances. Please tell
Your team performance is falling rapidly. You have noticed that your staffs have not been responding to your friendly conversation as usual and obviously
You always leave your team to solve problems themselves since their performance and personal relationships have been good. However, recently your
Now you are considering a significant modification in the company though your team has a fine record of performance. They respect for your decision and see
The company is deliberating major changes in the organization structure. Your team has been doing well in their production but also determining flexibility to
Your team is slightly lacking in direction even their performance and relationships are good. What would you do?
You need recommendations from your team on a current project so you set up a meeting. Eventually, you have gained nothing but one fine social gathering from
Interview Question Set II: Employee Job Satisfaction and Development Level
Job Satisfaction
Can you tell me what causes you to feel happy working here?
What makes you to feel displease about your job?
How would you describe working with your teammates?
Can you describe me your ideal manager?
Overall how do you feel working in this company?
Do you think you are usually able to complete a task easily and want more challenge? How?
Do you consider yourself having good transferable skills, including technical, communication, teamwork, creativity, and leadership? Can
Do you normally feel confident completing your tasks? How?
How would you describe working with foreigner? Any problem or barrier?
Which position?
How old are you?
How long have you been working for the company?
Which country do you come from? (For non-Thai)
APPENDIX B: Manager Interview Result
Your team has done well in production, while also determining flexibility in day-to-day work. Always leave it to your team to solve problems themselves, as their performance and personal relationships have been good. You are now considering a major change in the company, even though your team is performing well.
However, you want to adapt the working environment so that it is more comfortable and yet productive. However, you want to make sure everyone knows their responsibilities and expects standards. Sometimes things need to be checked/want to remind them what our goals are and give them specific tasks to complete.
APPENDIX C: Employee Interview Result
I work independently apart from my team, but when we have a meeting they are nice and friendly. The one who could be our role model for how to be a good leader and deliver quality, works.
