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MGTS 3604: Human Resource Development - Allison Clark Case Study Assessment Answer
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Internal Code: 1AIJDJ
Code: MGTS 3604
Allison Clark Case Study Assessment Answer
Assignment Task: MGTS 3604 Allison Clark was a reluctant supervisor. As executive assistant to the commissioner of Client Services with the Department of Disability Rehabilitation, she had the responsibility to supervise the day-to-day work of a secretarial and clerical support staff in the Commissioner’s office. While she liked her work, she did not enjoy supervising and she felt she was just ‘thrown’ into this supervisory position. Allison, white, supervised a three-person staff of female minority-group members and had the MBTI personality type of INTJ. Given her dislike for supervising, she was fortunate that her staff performed their work smoothly and competently, even when they were busy. Wilma Johnson, who hails from Alice Springs, was the senior secretary, having been with the Commissioner for over eight years. Wilma was very professional and competent, able to handle her various tasks skillfully and effectively and she wore this as a badge of pride! Joan Carter handled more of the technical procedures and operations associated with disability rehabilitation matters. Joan, in her position for just over a year, was just beginning to achieve proficiency in this complex area and was doing an adequate job. Joan has struggles with her cognition, but has been able to formulate strategies to overcome her challenges and is a star performer alongside Wilma. Both Wilma’s and Joan were grade 8’s in the civil service system and are great support systems to one another. MGTS 3604 And then there was Lenora Haskins, a 21-year-old office clerk, grade 6. Lenora comes from a low socio-economic background and had very authoritarian parents growing up. Lenora’s parents did not discourage or encourage the pursuit of education, but could not afford to keep Lenora in school past her fifteenth birthday. They did not spend a lot of time with Lenora in her childhood, as she was mostly left to her own devices, leaving her with very low social skills and always in survival mode. As such, as soon as Lenora completed year 10, she left school to support her and her family. Lenora secured a job with the state government when she was through an employment program designed specifically for school leavers in her position. Lenora is currently living at home with her parents to financially support them. MGTS 3604 In recent months, things were not working in out in the department that Lenora has originally started in and was moved into Allison’s department due to the less than favourable circumstances of her last post. Before the transfer, she has been working as a clerk in a nearby regional administrative office. However, her performance in that job was lethargic and uninspired. She had to be supervised closely on a regular basis, and while the work she did met a minimum standard, there were occasional errors and lapses. Non-exempt employees in the department belonged to the State Service Employees Union. Rather than risk problems with the union over firing her, the decision was made to move her to the Commissioner’s office. MGTS 3604 Allison saw Lenora as quiet and without much of a personality, “a real lump” as Allison put it and was very unapologetic about her judgement of Lenora. Allison was not interested in knowing what Lenora’s story was, as she felt it was not her job to be a psychologist within her team – in short – Allison believed she was there to run the department and to fulfill her job description as supervisor. In addition, due to the lack of parental social coaching, (unbeknownst to Allison and other members of the department) Allison and the rest of the department believed Lenora had very poor communication skills, which socially isolated Lenora, because her colleagues showed little enthusiasm for working with or supporting her. Lenora essentially retreated into herself and deeply suffered from social anxiety – but Lenora was not silly! Lenora completed an IQ test that was recently administered to her by the HR the department, for the HR department to understand why there were issues within her original department. In her IQ test, Lenora scored 110, which is above average intelligence. The HR department review her scores and were bemused why Lenora was not performing. The HR department felt she should be shifted to Allison’s department as it may have just simply become a poor fit of personalities within Lenora’s previous department. Lenora spent about three months learning the routine assignments associated with her new position. At that point, Allison decided to expand her responsibilities so that Lenora could service as a back-up for most of Wilma’s and some of Joan’s duties, on an as needed basis – for example, whenever, either Wilma’s or Joan were on a vacation or out sick. Both Wilma and Joan supported this plan – they are very much about community and supporting individuals within their community. The effort to cross-train Lenora met with two problems, though. The first problem became rapidly apparent: Lenora just did not seem to understand what was going on. She appeared to be personally uninvolved in, almost bored by the cross- training efforts. For example, whenever Wilma or Joan would explain a procedure, Lenora seemed to pay little attention to what they were saying, although she did take a of notes. Consequently, on a few occasions when Wilma’s or Joan was absent, Lenora could not do the work, saying she did not know how. Lenora’s reluctance to participate in the work of the office could be especially troublesome when things got busy, for she rarely pitched in and helped others. The Commissioner’s office was frequently assigned special “rush” projects that had to be prepared, completed, and distrusted to various field offices or constituent groups as quickly as possible. When these conditions arose, everyone was expected to help and perform as a team player. Too often, Lenora seemed content to sit passively at her desk, even when her work was completed, and watch as everyone else hustled to meet deadlines. MGTS 3604 After one such particularly frusrating episode, Allison talked to Lenora privately, cautioning to her about her lackadaisical approach to her work. During the conversation, Lenora mentioned that she had been taken advantage of and felt she was being asked to do grade 8 work when was only being paid to do grade 6 work. This comment posed a second problem that face Allison in cross-training Lenora. Shortly after her meeting with Lenora, she discovered that Ted Matthew, the personnel officer for the department was concerned about this same issue. According to Ted, the union could file a grievance claiming that Lenora was in the wrong pay classification to the work assigned to her. He suggested that they avoid any union problems by giving Lenora a temporary adjustment in salary; if Lenora performed well, she would be given a permanent increase to a grade 7. Allison and Ted agreed that for them to make the increase permanent, Lenora would have to do a much better job than she was presently doing. Ted, also a minority employee, explained the decision to Lenora in a private meeting. He also gave a pep talk, pointing out that extra effort now would pay off down the road. Lenora’s reactions were difficult to gauge, although she did not appear overly enthusiastic during or after the meeting. Allison figured it would take a little time for Ted’s message to sink in and did not become immediately concerned. MGTS 3604 She knew it was unrealistic, and unfair, to expect an instantaneous transformation. Nonetheless, over the course of the following three weeks, Allison became more and more perplexed: It appeared that Lenora simply had not “gotten the message” at all. Finally, one afternoon she had a discussion with Wilma that did not only confirm the issue, but made Allison realise the further action was necessary. Wilma came into Allison’s office shortly after lunch and close the door exclaiming “I need to talk to you about Lenora - You know how busy we’ve been with the new regulations and the downsizing. I’ve got work piling up and Lenora is just not pitching in.” Allison knew what Wilma was talking about, having given her a couple of big assignment earlier in the day. However, Allison was also surprised by Wilma’s observations. Even though Wilma had never been particularly enthusiastic about Lenora’s performance, she usually implied that Lenora was doing her work acceptably. Allison was also aware that she could not do too much to Lenora, as she was protected under the state employment equity law. Wilma continued: “I’ve got a pile of things to do and Lenora won’t help out. I’ve asked for her assistance a couple times, but she either ignores me or really complains about helping. And just a minute ago, when I asked her, she just at me and said, “I’m not going to do that.” I need help, and I’ve no time to argue with anyone.” Allison leaned back in her chair, wondering what to do next. She then thinks to hire your HRD consulting team to help solve the problems the department is facing and to formulate an intervention, and create goals with Lenora.This MGTS 3604: Human Resource Development Assessment has been solved by our Management experts at My Uni Paper. Our Assignment Writing Experts are efficient to provide a fresh solution to this question. We are serving more than 10000+ Students in Australia, UK & US by helping them to score HD in their academics. Our Experts are well trained to follow all marking rubrics & referencing style.