Bella’s Case Study:

1. Given your understanding of job satisfaction and employee engagement, discuss/describe

why each is important in organizational settings?

Ans: The term job satisfaction describes a positive feeling towards the job resulting from an
evaluation of its characteristics. Some factors that has effect on job satisfaction are: rewards
and incentives, relationship with superiors, opportunities to use skill and abilities and job
security.

Employee engagement is the workplace approach designed to ensure that all are committed to
their organization’s goals and values, motivated to contribute towards success and at some
time are able to enhance their own sense of well-being. It depends upon job satisfaction.
Both job satisfaction and employee engagement are necessary for any organization because:
i. It will ensure that absenteeism and attrition rates are low.
ii. It will improve efficiency and productivity.
iii. Maintaining good organizational environment.
iv. Reputation of the organization among the general public will be more.

2. Discuss/offer insights regarding the results of the employee survey. As you study the results,
what stands out? What conclusions can your draw?

Ans: Following insights can be offered on the basis of employee survey:

i. Managers as well as common employees are not satisfied from the management
factors of the owner. [She interferes in their work without knowing the whole
scenario completely. lla’s tendency to regularly engage managers in trivial or
personal matters.]
ii. Employees are satisfied with their co-workers. [The case study states the major cause
of employee dissatisfaction was lla’s management. Thus, it can be inferred that the
co-ordination among the employees is not disturbed and they are working as a team.]
iii. lla is not fit to make operational decisions. [As stated, earlier lla’s inefficiency in
managing the task at hand has been the major factor in employee dissatisfaction so
she must appoint someone who has experience in management and is also qualified
enough.]
iv. A need of decentralization. [The managers at various levels must be involved more in
decision-making process apart from the GM and the owner.]
3. Offer general suggestions/ recommendations to Kris Jenkins regarding how to improve the
job satisfaction and employee engagement of Bella’s workforce. Be sure to distinguish
among jobs when making these suggestions and recommendations.

Ans: For improving job satisfaction, following steps can be taken:

i. Giving promotional opportunities

The case study describes that employees were leaving because of lack
of motivation. Giving promotional opportunities of workplace like promotion on the basis of
output or experience, etc. can motivate the employees.

ii. Improving incentives

Another step can be the increment of incentives. This along with
promotions will help to motivate the employees as monetary benefits are something that any
employees like.

iii. Timely rewards

The management can decide on providing rewards to those employees
who stand out or who perform well. This will give them a sense of recognition at workplace
which will provide job satisfaction to them.

iv. Giving more importance to Kris’s opinions

As it is evident from the survey that lla is not good at managing the
operational tasks, more priority should be given to Kris’s decisions and ideas.

4. Evaluate Kris Jenkins’ decision to accept the general manager’s position. Given the
information available, did she make the right decision? Why or why not?

Ans: Yes, her decision to accept the GM post was right in my opinion because of the following
reasons:
i. It is the dream of any employee to get the freedom in job to make decisions on his
own. This gives him confidence and job satisfaction. In this case, Kris is getting the
GM position at Bella’s with total authority on the operational tasks and decisions.
She can decide as assigning the jobs and also everyone will be accountable to her.
ii. She will be able to attain valuable experience in making Executive Decisions which
she is craving for. She can learn on-the-job and can bring up the company by herself
which is a huge credit for anyone in their resume.
iii. The current situation calls for employee satisfaction. The employees will be more
open to a GM who is good with them and who understands them. As Kris is someone
who has valuable experience in dealing with employee, it is quite clear that Kris is
tailor-made for the job.
iv. Finally, she wants to be the owner of a saloon with vision and objectives almost
identical to lla’s views. So, she can learn from the experience of lla and Lynn as well
which will ultimately help in future with her saloon.