McConnell Spice Case Study: Motivation, Trust and Relationship Building Affecting Organizational Effectiveness

Introduction

Organizational effectiveness calls for every team member to undertake their duties in the best possible manner. A firm needs to have the capacity to deliver the aspired results with minimum utilization of human labor, money, time and material resources. With an efficient operation, an enterprise will register high productivity with minimum waste. Incorporating efficiency and effectiveness in a firm ensures there is the attainment of profits due to operations with minimal waste (Di Stefano et al., 2019). An effective organization is built on the pillars of decision making, leadership, culture, work procedures and people. To achieve and maintain success, an organization is required to adjust to the ever-changing environment. Enhancing continuous development and growth of an enterprise will necessitate strategies in improving and assessing organizational efficiency. The company’s personnel are the best in understanding the performance, goals and needs of the firm. Therefore, employees can create a more profound sense of dedication, purpose and loyalty which is vital in developing new strategies that enhance organizational effectiveness. With all that, this paper reviews the case study of McConnell Spice to identify issues in building relationships, examine concepts of ethical behaviour, trust and motivation and develop a plan to address the situation.

Issues in Relationship Building at McConnell Spice

One of the main dimensions in creating relationships in organizations is examining the quality and frequency of collaboration. Employees are in a position to examine and solve issues together in a highly collaborative enterprise (Jiang & Men, 2017). In the case study, the chief information officer, Charles Jackson, appears to collaborate with his team in implementing a knowledge-sharing application in the company. Jackson has built a good relationship with the IT director at ADM. This enables Jackson to get insights from ADM on the relevance of knowledge-sharing systems in enhancing competitive advantage. There is also a good collaboration between the board of directors and Ann McConnell as they all engage in decision making and agree to support the IT project.

Diversity and inclusion were critical in relationship building at McConnell Spice. An enterprise that understands the importance of different experiences and individual perspectives become the most innovative. With high inclusivity, a firm can triple its cash flow. In the case study, Jackson’s teams have a good diversification which made them identify three global providers in knowledge-sharing applications. The inclusion concept is presented when Ann McConnell involves Jackson and his team in researching for the best firm in providing IT solutions. The firm’s employees felt that their opinions were valued as the company’s president and the board were ready to support the project. This was crucial in enhancing good relationship at the firm.

Communication is regarded as the backbone of a good relationship. Employees can understand and act cooperatively on important information when there is effective communication in the organization. In the case study, good communication is witnessed between Jackson and the company president when discussing introducing a knowledge-sharing application in the firm. Jackson communicates well with his IT team and dedicated long nights to identifying the project’s best IT companies. This illustrates that Jackson’s team has a relationship built on communication, teamwork and understanding. McConnell illustrates good communication with Jackson by informing him that the company’s board will not make it to the meeting. In this way, Jackson understands with her boss and plans to do all the evaluation and recommendation reports in their absence at the meeting.

Trust, Motivation and Ethical Behavior in Creating Positive Management Relationships

Organizational trust is an imperative aspect of work relationship among workers and between managers and workers. Scholars refer to trust as the readiness to boost the resources invested in a person due to better expectations from their mutual interaction. Trust is a vital precursor for team cooperation which establishes constructive behaviour for good relationships (Ozyilmaz et al., 2018). Trust in the firm will develop when employees develop a sense of being valued and appreciated. Workplace trust focuses on global issues affecting the enterprise like organizational justice and support. Management trust considers the helpfulness, respect and capabilities of the manager and supervisors. Workplace trust positively impacts organizational commitment and turnover, while trust in management affects working behaviour and satisfaction.

The link between performance and motivation is a global concern among organizations that fail to utilize motivational theories appropriately. Motivation focus on influencing people to work towards attaining a defined goal. Today’s marketplace is highly competitive, and to be successful, all personnel’s drives have to be stimulated and satisfied to enhance organizational performance. Managers at firms have management’s devices that can inspire latent effort on employees and create a conducive working environment for performance. Motivated workers appear to be valuable assets and most reliable in firms. They become punctual, loyal, adhere to work schedule and establish a long-term commitment to the firm.

Having an ethical foundation will reflect how investors, the community and clients perceive an organization. Ethical behaviour is the source of self-respect and pride that a firm can have. A business requires ethical employee relationships to enhance proper running. The workplace should shun unhealthy personal relationships and competitions by creating a surrounding where workers are fairly and equally treated (Sitzmann & Weinhardt, 2018). The business should not focus on nepotism by recruiting unqualified members of the family in a job. This will create unfavourable working conditions as the hired individual will enjoy favouritism and resentments. The treatment of customers should be based on honesty, timely delivery of goods and addressing their opinions. Every firm requires an ethical customer association as it helps build a reputation which improves success.

Application of the Notions of Ethical Behaviors, Trust and Motivation to McConnell Spice Case Study

In the workplace, employees trust the organization when there is the proper utilization of resources and an effective reward system. At McConnell Spice, there was proper utilization of resources as Jackson’s team was given the devices to research the best IT firm for application installation. Ann McConnell trusted Jackson as being the best chief information officer and hired him at her company. Jackson was highly committed to his work because Ann McConnell trusted him to meet with top executives from the selected firms to address the application project. In this way, there was a good working relationship, and the firm is destined to have the best knowledge-sharing application.

McConnell Spice has strived to enhance ethical relationships when interacting with clients. Jackson was honest to inform the top executives and IT staff from the three selected firms about the type of application they wanted. At the enterprise, there were no unhealthy personal relationships among employees. Jackson communicated cautiously with her boss, the board and executives from other companies. The staff meetings fostered ethical work proceedings, and this guaranteed smooth work operations. McConnell is very friendly to Jackson, as evidenced by their conversations. When McConnell claims that Jackson agrees with considering Standard Company and being among the best selections and then winks at him shows that they have a friendly and close work association. This creates a positive working environment where employees are free to communicate and share ideas with their boss. Favouritism is evidenced when McConnell decides to select Standard Company owned by her uncle’s son-in-law to be among the firms to implement the knowledge-sharing application. However, Jackson does not support Standard because it lacks the resources to handle complex applications.

Employees can be motivated by being given relevant training and education. This makes employees capable and willing to work towards attaining set goals. Jackson was motivated because of his training in information technology and the benefits he got from his position. Jackson had two years working experience at McConnell Spice and the company’s president considered him to be the best. Jackson is inspired by the good working relations and seeks to improve the information systems at the firm. Jackson is a loyal, reliable and highly committed employee to the firm due to his motivation.  The management considers him as a valuable asset and assigns complex tasks to him.

Strategy to Handle Jackson’s Situation

This management plan focuses on reviewing stakeholders’ expectations, resolving conflicts, and ensuring organizational needs are attained. Communication is vital because it encourages sharing ideas, opinions and concepts for an improved organizational relationship (Fiaz et al., 2017). Communication also boosts understanding, and all personnel can develop a sense of belonging. Accountability on work procedures ensures employees understand what is expected and can align their practices with performance. Collaborative working will foster interaction, communication and trust as employees will depend on each other for organization performance. Finally, training and education programs will provide an opportunity for improving skills and knowledge among employees. With this, employees can utilize the best business strategies to improve production with minimum costs.