Case study of AppSmart

The lack of trained leadership renders AppSmart Business a challenge. There is no experience in company administration for the CEO of Vancouver. The link between the family and one of the founders is why he served as CEO. Second, there is a very high turnover of employees in the company. The workers are not pleased with the management’s handling. For example, without tracking the amount of overtime done by the workers for salary purposes, the organisation pays the employees the minimum wage. Moreover, employee pay is not fair since management bases the salary on product demand and supply. The third concern is the safety of the employees in the organization. Workers in the production unit complain about the noisy environment frequently.

Despite the usual complaints, the management is reluctant on conducting a formal safety evaluation for the employees. Thus, the rate of disability in the business is high which prompts frequent absenteeism in the firm. The employees work in the company risking their safety, but the management is not keen to improve the working conditions. The fourth challenge is a lack of a long-term plan for the organization. The executive employees in the organization complain that the founders do not have any long-term vision for the business. The primary concern for them is the current growth of the firm without any plans. The rise of any business is dependent upon strategic directions and objectives that the company aims at attaining.

Lack of a long-term goal and vision shows the lack of seriousness by the ownership of the firm with the probability of failure shortly. Lastly, the company suffers from lack of professionalism within the workers’ domain. Employees should be in a position to separate their private lives from the employment life (Hegar & Hodgetts, 2012, p. 243). However, the employees in the business use their private social media handles in promoting the brands. The act leads to constant harassment in the social media, but the company is reluctant to address the concern. Besides, the members of the R&D team fail to show professionalism by meeting with outside competitors which is very unethical. It is unethical for employees to meet with workers from competing brands. All meetings with noble intentions occur within the business premises. Meeting outside the firm premise shows malicious intentions which are not ethical.

Concerns Raised by the Issues

Lack of payment equality reduces the motivation of the employees (Gerhart & Fang, 2014, p. 41-46). The employees feel that the management is prioritizing their needs. The duty of the management is to provide a proper working environment for the employees by ensuring that the working conditions are safe. However, many employees fail to show up to work because the management fails to address their concerns. It is the duty of the management to prevent further hearing disabilities on the employees by assessing the working conditions and offering a viable solution for the noise. The high employee turnover is an indication of the poor working conditions in the firm and the inadequate financial compensation the company offers. Such a turnover is a great concern because the competitors might use the employees to understand the operations of the business and use the ideas in managing the competition.

The second concern is the lack of professionalism. Expertise in business helps the investment to gain the confidence of the customer in the company. Customers prefer working with people with exceptional knowledge of their duties since they want to get the best value for their money. The manager does not have any management skills while the employees cannot separate public lives from professional lives. Such a display of incompetence communicates to the customers that the business is not a serious investment for their money. The management has the responsibility of employing individuals with the necessary expertise and provides them with the platform to conduct business without mixing their private lives. The R&D team has the responsibility of doing research in the business to identify the growth opportunities and recommend the further investment.

However, the group does not respect the rules in place and even meets with competitors. Such a scenario risks loss of information to the competitors which might cripple the business. Apart from the employees, the ownership does not have a strategic plan for long-term growth of the firm. Thus, the business risks total failure. Operational objectives enable the leadership of the company to measure the success of the business by comparing the current achievements to the targets. Without the plan, it becomes hard to gauge the performance of the firm and to solve upcoming issues using the rules and regulations. Therefore, the concerns associated with the problems are the failure of the business from reduced sales and lack of professional leadership.

Stakeholders Affected

The problems in the business affect the employees the most. The working conditions are very harmful to the point of causing disability to the employees. Most of them end up having hearing impairment due to the noisy environment. Secondly, the employees receive the lowest payment allowed by the government. However, when the demand rises, the employees work overtime to meet the request but do not get compensation for the extra hours. The workers suffer the most under the issues identified in the business. Furthermore, the management pays the employees according to the demand and supply of goods produce in their respective departments. Such an approach leads to lack of equality in the payment of employees. The lack of balance leads to complaints among the employees which risk reduced production from lack of motivation among the employees as well as high turnover in search of better payment and working conditions.

Recommendations

Employees in any organization look up to the management for directions and guidance. The management needs to have extensive knowledge about their duties to command the confidence of the employees. Therefore, the CEO needs to undertake training on administration and organization to attain the necessary skills to manage the business. Secondly, management should harmonize the payment of the employees to ensure all employees receive equal salaries. The organization needs to motivate the employees through attractive remunerations which will motivate the employees to work harder become more resourceful. It is also essential that the management improves the working conditions of the employees by providing them with the necessary gadgets to protect them from the noisy machines in the production department (Breevaart et al., 2014, p. 31-36).

Such changes will reduce employee turnover and realize higher profits for the business (Messenger & Ghosheh, 2010, p. 129). Thirdly, the ownership of the company needs to lay down a strategic plan for the firm. The plan will guide the decisions made in the industry and allow the management to measure the success of the business. The measurements will dictate the viable approaches and those that require changes. Lastly, the organization needs to come up with laws and regulations that dictate the running of the organization. The rules will prevent unethical behaviors such as employees meeting with competitors as well as hiring unprofessional workers. Implementation of the recommendations will improve the relationship between the employees and management which will enhance production and growth in the business through the employment of qualified staff.

References

Breevaart, K., Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2014). Daily self-management and employee work engagement. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 84(1), 31-38.

Gerhart, B., & Fang, M. (2014). Pay for (individual) performance: Issues, claims, evidence and the role of sorting effects. Human Resource Management Review, 24(1), 41-52.

Hegar, K. & Hodgetts, R. (2012). Modern human relations at work. Australia Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning.

Messenger, J. & Ghosheh, N. (2010). Offshoring and working conditions in remote work. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire New York Geneva: Palgrave Macmillan International Labour Organization.