INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT

GROUP TEST
GROUP MEMBERS
NAME REG. NO

LUBOGO ANDREW 14/U/038/APD/GV

TWIJUKYE KAHIMA DENNIS 14/U/046/APD/GV

NAKAFU CATHERINE 14/U/043/APD/GV

YUSUFU ALI OCHIENG 14/U/3427/APE/PE

SSALI AKRAM 14/U/ 3421 /APE/PE

LECTURER: MADAM ABENANYE JACKLINE

Question.

a) Identify the main issues you believe will need attention if communication within this
organization is to be improved. Justify your choice of issues.
b) State what advice you will offer to the organization about how to proceed from the current
situation.

Solutions to (a).
I. Job insecurity.
This is because the employees mainly the first line supervisors wonder about job losses
in the future since they don’t receive sufficient information about the organizational
plans and changes.
II. Ineffective delivery or spell out of the plans to the first line supervisor.
The personnel manager gives detailed copies of the plans to the supervisors but they
never sit down as the senior management and the supervisors to discuss what’s in the
plans in order to make them understand what to exactly pass on to the subordinates.
III. Fear of criticism from the stuff.
The supervisors who are meant to pass on information from the senior management to
the stuff fear to be criticized by the staff. This is because the supervisors are not sure of
what exactly the plans they are supposed to communicate to the staff intend to bring
and how to execute them. This gives workers room to criticize both the supervisors
themselves and also what they are trying to pass on.
IV. Supervisors are not conversant with their roles.
Supervisors are not sure about what they are supposed to do and what they are not
meant to do. At one point in the passage, they were forced to fill up and do the
technical roles of the expelled staff instead of their managerial work.
V. Increased work pressure.
Some workers left the organization either by force or it was voluntary, the number of
the workers reduced yet the work load never reduced. So workers had to do more work
compared to what they were supposed to do and supervisors were also forced to take
on work which was not meant for them.
VI. Lack of motivation.
There was low morale and commitment since the senior management could not
motivate the supervisors and their subordinates. The supervisors lack that support and
encouragement which would motivate them to do their roles in better ways compared
to what they were doing.
VII. Lack of confidence by the supervisors.
The supervisors are not confident enough to communicate to the people about the
plans of the organization. This is not because they had not briefed them very well about
the organizational plans and how to explain them to the workers and how they have to
 be executed. This left them in a helpless situation because they couldn’t embarrass
themselves.
VIII. Lack of leadership skills.
The supervisors lack the leadership skills that’s why they don’t want arguments and they
are also afraid of being criticized by their staff. This also explains why they take on tasks
for their subordinates instead of dividing the work amongst the remaining workers.

Solutions to (b).

o The senior management should have honest, early and open communication between
subordinates and their management more so the supervisors who pass on the
information to the rest of the staff since this may help improve perceived predictability
and controllability of future occurrences whilst at the same time allowing the workers to
feel that they are valued and respected by their organization.
o An open communication environment should be developed in a way that employees of
the organization are free to share their feedback, interesting ideas about the plans of
the organization. This helps in the easy and satisfactory way of executing the
organizational goals.
o All members of the organization should always be part of the decisions taken by the
management. This enables subordinates and supervisors to also bring up new ideas. This
will help in preventing criticism.
o The management should always motivate the supervisors who should also in turn
motivate the subordinates. Motivation can be done through encouraging the staff to
work harder, appreciating the work they do and it can also be through rewarding them.
o The organization should employ more skilled workers to increase on the work force. This
helps on reducing on the work pressure.
o Training sessions should be carried out such that the supervisors are taught their roles
and also given more skills in the way to do their work like leadership skills,
communication skills etc.
o Strengthening the connection between managers and employees: by encouraging
stronger and more collaborative relationships between the employees and managers.
This improves internal communication which simplifies the flow of work.