North South University

School of Business and Economics

MBA Program

Course Name: Management and Organizational Behavior (BUS 520.5)

Spring 2021

Case Study-3
 

Submitted to:
Mahmud Akhter Shareef
Submitted by:
Name ID
Md. Borhan Uddin 2035097660
Shakhawat Hossain Mahi 2115460660

Samanza Doha 2115473660

Zaka Antara Islam 2115499660
Mohona Mahmood 2016433660

Date of Submission: 08/05/2021

 
 Target market retention by meeting internal competencies
Introduction:

Paul Gibson is one of the division supervisors at TLC Pools Limited and reports to Jack
Armstrong, who is the President in the company; Jack was previously hired as a lifeguard
and had been promoted to a supervisor recently. He was one of the best and most
productive supervisors and managed his division well. However, he was facing some
troubles in managing a new lifeguard, Cindy Caruthers who lacks motivation and efficiency.
The workload in summer is usually at its peak, and hence Paul had asked Jack to hire
someone to work on one of the pools. However, since the newly hired boy was underaged
and inexperienced, he was soon let go by Cindy’s building superintendent, and Paul had
to go back to the old system. Soon problems reappeared again and Paul had to resign.

TLC Problem Analysis:

1. Demotivated employees:
One of the major problems of TLC’s employees were that they were not motivated enough.
They belong to Theory X group of people who had counterproductive behavior. The often
engaged in the following behavior:

 Skipping work even after supervision

 Arriving late which is not company policy
 Calling in sick

2. Lifeguards disobeyed orders of Paul:

As mentioned in the case, Paul was not sure if the employees were listening to him when
he suggested methods for cleaning. Cindy in particular did not follow his orders either.

3. Absence of Authority to Paul:

Paul’s suggestions were not valued, and he was often micromanaged by Jack and others.
For example, he was asked not to pressure the new staff by Jack. Again, without properly
assigning assistant and replacement to address the inefficiencies of Cindy’s work he was
asked to fire the teenager.
4. Unable address the transportation problems and additional cost:
Paul was having transportation problems and was reluctant to purchase the bike. He was
also concerned about the added expenses.

5. TLC was understaffed:

Summer was one of the busiest seasons and Paul was already facing issues with the existing
employees. He wanted to hire someone for cleaning the pool as Cindy was not willing to
do the same. He was also managing a lot of things such as scheduling of lifeguards, training
lifeguards, hiring, and firing of lifeguards, payment schedules, public relations, supply
scheduling, and other tasks assigned on his own which made it difficult for him to continue
with his daily work.

6. Paul was overburdened:

Paul already had a lot of responsibilities. He has been responsible for Public Relations,
Human Resource Management, hiring new employees, Recruitment & training, Firing
employees. In this situation, he provided additional time to train Cindy for her
inefficiencies which interfered with his routine work.

7. Unprofessional behavior of Cindy:

Cindy had negative organizational commitment and negligence for job completion.
Furthermore, Cindy never notified her superiors of training a 15-year old to avoid her
responsibilities. (Informational Justice)

8. Unprofessional behavior of Paul towards Cindy:

Due to unbearable pressure, inappropriate response and decision towards employee
management from superiors, Paul lost control and lashed out to Cindy against her action to
hire someone else to do her job.
9. Procedural Justice:
TLC officials are not taking into considerations their employees voice and correct ability
in regard to problem solving.
 10. Lack of Collectivist Attitude:
Jack is only focusing on surpassing their competitors, ignoring his employees’ needs. He
is also not focusing to improve internal competencies to provide best service and to help
efficient supervisors with necessary perks.

Recommendations:

In this situation, Jack Armstrong should focus on the following recommendation-

1. Retaining Paul:
The focus should be on retaining Paul as he is vital to the success of TLC Pools Ltd.
Given the fact that he has displayed good performance towards his job, TLC can consider
working towards increasing his motivation
2. Hiring assistant:
TLC company should hire an assistant to Paul who can contribute more if provided with
extended hands to mitigate work load with such huge responsibilities. He is already
overburdened.
3. Provide Transportation:
TLC company should have provided transportation to all the supervisors as they have to
visit all the pools of a division which needs much transportation. If they decide to retain
Paul, they should definitely provide at least transportation for Paul or provide
conveyance.

4. Increase Salary:
TLC company should increase the salary of Paul to motivate him as he was doing his job
very sincerely. He was handling a lot of duties on his own.

5. Consider changing routine tasks:

TLC Company should consider changing the routine tasks in order to increase the
productivity. They can introduce division of labour to reduce boredom and absenteeism.
They should organize their schedule in order to provide a better service to their
customers.
6. Changing recruiting strategies:
TLC company should change their recruiting policy. Because the current recruiting
policy is not working well. Purchasing employees from a competitor company and let
them work under a younger person is not a good strategy for a company. For instance, the
other employees were not following Paul’s orders. Also recruiting, young employee of 13
years old is not a good strategy for such a well-established company.

7. Change Training strategies:

TLC company should also change their training strategy in order to increase their
efficiency and customer satisfaction. Newcomers should work under a life guard for
some days in order to come with equal efficiency and bring proper customer satisfaction.

8. Give more authority to supervisors and productive employees:

We have seen that Paul did not have much authority and was often micromanaged by his
superiors. Since Paul belongs to the group of people in theory Y who are not lazy and do
their job properly, giving authority to them will increase their motivation on the job.

9. Strict monitoring:
Employees in TLC who belong to theory X group of people should be strictly controlled
and monitored. Managers must closely supervise to address and replace where necessary
before peak schedule.
10. Reinforcements:
TLC can introduce positive and negative reinforcements to motivate the employees by
rewarding good behaviors and punishing the bad ones.
11. TLC's Approach towards its Company:
It is apparent that there can be some improvements in the company and motivation
amongst employees, so therefore TLC can;
 Consider changing routine tasks
 Being more creative
 Rotation of its employees
 Changing their recruiting and training strategies
Conclusion:
Based on the above recommendations, Jack Armstrong should retain Paul Gibson as he is the
most experienced and efficient supervisor of TLC Pools Ltd. If his retention is not confirmed the
rivalry in the commercial swimming pool service would hire him resulting in losing the best
contracts which are already less in number than other competitors. Life guards like Cindy should
be well-trained before placing them under best supervisor as allocating time for unskilled
employees will result in reducing efficiency. Besides the best supervisor may not provide
organized supervision to other areas. Besides the recruiting and training strategies of the
company are not industry average and if not altered will result decrease in customer retention as
the success of service industry depends on the best service rendered by the resources. Jack
Armstrong should consider all these issues for future success in the industry.