The goals of the team management system at Marshalls align with the philosophy of human resources management. The system aims at balancing the needs of the employees like compensation and benefit plans with the goals of the organization like improved productivity through efforts like purchase of capital equipment and suitable company policies. These efforts are geared towards increasing the morale of the employees and boost the productivity of the business to ensure it meets its targets.
Also, the company places an emphasis on how the ideas and opinions of different employees can contribute to improvement of the work processes. It has created different teams that are considered as consultative bodies by the top management. The ideas and opinions of the members of these teams are evaluated by the top management to determine their value and efficacy to the organization before being adopted. The approach makes the management the final decision making organ to ensure organizational activities are geared towards attaining the set goals and objectives for the business.
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According to Maslow, an individual seeks to satisfy the lower level needs before seeking to satisfy higher level needs. At Marshalls, the management meets the physiological needs of the employees through focus on compensation and benefit plans (Miller, 2013). These needs are vital for the survival of the employees as they ensure they can afford the basic demands in life like food, clothing and shelter.
Secondly, the company meets the security needs of the employees by ensuring it has stable policies that promote fair workplace practices and a safe working environment. For instance, the workplace teams meet regularly to determine the best approaches to improve the working environment and ensure the employees feel motivated in their roles.
Thirdly, the management makes efforts to meet the belongingness needs of the employees. Through various teams, employees cooperate and exchange ideas through diverse forms of interaction. The environment makes the employees feel comfortable as they work with cooperative peers where chances of seclusion are limited.
However, the esteem needs of the employees are not met. The management has failed to recognize and reward employees that work for long hours i.e. 12 hours daily. There are no tangible policies to reward individuals like Kenny Suh that demonstrate dedication and commitment towards their roles in the organization. Also, such employees lack prestigious job titles and assignments that recognize their value in the company.
Also, the self-actualization needs of the employees are not met. Despite the prevalence of a team culture in the organization, the decisions made by the various teams remain suggestions that can either be adopted or disregarded by the management. It demonstrates the lack of workplace autonomy for the team members as they are not consulted by the top management in the final decision-making processes in the company. It also indicates that none of the team members is regarded as an expert in the diverse issues deliberated on in the team meetings. It makes the team members lack a sense of achievement as the teams are mere consultative bodies rather than decision-making forums.
According to McGregor, the situation at Marshalls depicts Theory X type of management. The ideas and suggestions generated by the teams were regarded as mere input as the top management retained the right to make the final decisions at the company. The approach made some employees like Bill Berning apprehensive and non-committed towards the organization. The failure by the management to recognize the contribution of the employees also led to open hostility like that of Natalie Nelson who depicted the management as insensitive and inconsiderate of the value of other employees in the company.
According to Likert, the situation in the company demonstrates System III i.e. the consultative organization. There is employee consultation through the different teams at the workplace. However, the teams are regarded as consultative bodies and the ideas generated are not binding to the top management. The final decisions are the prerogative of the management. The scenario makes employees like Natalie Nelson believe the management in the organization is autocratic and the team efforts are worthless.
According to Blake and Moulton, the situation at Marshalls depicts an authority-compliance management. Despite the efforts made by the company to enhance teamwork, most of the ideas and opinions generated in these teams are often disregarded (Biech, 2014). The management reserves the right to make the final decisions that are unquestionable. The scenario has led to open hostility by some sections of the employees towards the management where some like Natalie are openly opposed to the nature of team management in the company.
The failure by the management to include the team members in the final decision-making processes demonstrates a management that is autocratic. It would be prudent for the top management to engage and involve the employees at the team level when discussing the ideas and suggestions that emanated from their teams. The lack of such involvement depicts a management that perceives the employees as a means to an end. The main focus of the management is for the employees to attain the envisaged targets using the current policies and systems.
References
Biech, E. (2014). The Pfeiffer book of successful team-building tools: Best of the annuals (3rd ed). Chicago. McGraw-Hill.
Miller, K. (2013). Organizational communication: Approaches and Processes (6th ed). New York. Pearson.
