Problem Facing Mylan Inc Business Essay Example

Organization Behavior Challenges

The organization of concern is Mylan Inc. It is a pharmaceutical company. Normally, large companies such as Mylan Inc. face a number of problems in their business operations: poor organization structure, complex and complicated communication channels and networks, poor motivation practices, poor organization of job design, and poor leadership styles and practices among other organization behavior elements.

The challenges can be diagnosed using the organizational behavior theories such as motivation theories. It will be done through the identification and discussion of the organizational behavior theories that can be used to analyze the challenges and provide the best solutions for the organization, based on the identified challenges.

The Challenges or Problems that the Organization Faces

There is a set of problems and challenges that the organization faces in motivating its employees, which are based on its motivation practices. Unmotivated employees are unsuccessful; such employees tend to exhibit lower morale. Mylan management has not shown any practice of effective motivation in the workplace that can increase its employees’ morale in fulfilling the duties assigned to them.

The employees are reluctant in undertaking duties assigned. They have become lazy to undertake the tasks assigned to them. They take longer times to finish small quantities of workloads and easier tasks and are reluctant to accept any improvement suggested to them. Due to the poor motivation practices, a number of other primary and secondary problems have resulted in the organization. According to Griffin & Moorhead (2011), these problems include spreading of negative information to the external partners of the organization by the informal groups formed by the demotivated employees in the organization. It has negatively affected the good reputation and publicity of the organization together with the public relation with any other potential individuals who are willing to join the workforce of this organization.

Moreover, productivity has been observed to have dropped drastically in the last four months due to the sluggishness; dormancy of the demotivated employees has led to slower production processes. Thus, fewer customers are attended to daily, poor customer service and slower service delivery and lower production quantities and poor quality products are evidenced in the organization within this period. However, the top management cannot find better ways of practicing motivation to its workforce. They are at the same time reluctant to develop and implement any effective motivation practice. They are confined more to other activities in the organization than motivating their employees. Sometimes, management becomes very slow to incept motivational practices in the organization. It happens despite the fact that management possesses the ability and experience, which recognizes the need to inculcate these motivational approaches in the organization. The end result of the neglect and poor technique adoption is that employees become less motivated, and, in the long run, the organization faces losses as it experiences less or poor output. Employees also become less satisfied with their jobs as no motivation endeavor is forthcoming from the decision makers in the organization. As employees become less satisfied, their morale dwindles, and their productivity gets immensely affected.

The Theories of Motivation in the Organizational Behavior

The organization should consider the applicable and relevant organizational behavior theories that will enhance better motivation practices. A number of theories are available to help the organization solve the problem. The theories originate from the neo human relations school of thought and scientific leadership in the organization that provides effective ways to deal with organizations’ multiple problems. The theories include Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that suggests some of the ways of motivating the employees and the benefits obtained. Another theory is theory X and Y that entails what leaders in organizations should do to encourage their workforce to work productively (McInerney, Walker, & Liem, 2011). In lieu of the scientific leadership theories, the organization can apply the theory by establishing a good work scheduling where workers are assigned tasks according to their skills. Productivity of employees determines organizational performance, hence offers avenues for possible improvements.

The Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

In this theory, a decline in a need’s importance is felt one’s fulfillment is ascertained, and the next higher need activated. In each of the five levels pointed out by Maslow there exist multiple opportunities of fulfilling the requirements of a job. Maslow places the needs in levels of the hierarchy at the bottom, being simple and basic, and at the top, being complex and take time to achieve. Taylor states that what satisfies the needs at the higher order levels (that include self-actualization and esteem needs) are creating challenging work and enhancing creativity, allowing employees to participate in decision-making and giving opportunities for job autonomy and flexibility; giving responsibility for important jobs, promoting the employees to higher status jobs and praising them, as well as recognizing them by the boss, respectively (McInerney, Walker, & Liem, 2011).

He goes further to depict that the lower order needs that include social needs, safety needs and physiological needs can be satisfied by enhancing friendly working environment to the employees with the coworkers, enhancing interaction with customers and assigning pleasant supervisors to the employees; offering safe working conditions and job security, offering the same levels of compensation and benefits to the employees; offering rest and refreshment breaks between working hours, as well as physical comfort on the job provided by considering the ergonomics and establishing reasonable work hours, respectively (McInerney, Walker, & Liem, 2011).
Douglas McGregor-Theory X and Y

Theory X

The theory stipulates the role of management as that of organizing thee major components of productivity that include people, money and materials of economic ends. The theory depicts that the process of organizing people, directing employee’s efforts, ensuring employee motivation, controlling the actions of the people in workplace and modifying the different behaviors of the employees is an important approach of attaining the overall essence of theory X (McInerney, Walker, & Liem, 2011). If management does not assume the responsibility of construing employee performance to organizational goals and objectives by ensuring constant motivational approaches incorporation in the organization, there are higher chances that performance and employee morale will dwindle tremendously. On certain occasions, the employees may turn hostile due to poor remunerations and compensation schemes. Overly, if management would want to thwart such negative feelings or perceptions that may be ingrained by the employees, it is necessary for management to undertake proactive motivational approaches.

The theory additionally states that employees must be motivated in their work since it has several assumptions that entail: An average man is naturally indolent and, therefore, works as little as possible; he has no ambition, does not like responsibility and, therefore, cannot be assigned any responsibility and prefers to be led, supervised and directed; he is inherently self-centered and indifferent to organizational goals and needs to be achieved; he is resistant to change and, therefore, posing difficulty whenever an organization wants to make changes in its processes, and, finally, he is susceptible, not very bright and, therefore, his decisions and thoughts can easily be influenced by his superior.

Theory Y

The responsibility of the top management to organize the elements of the productive enterprise in the interest of economic ends also applies according to this theory. However, employees/people are not by nature passive or resistant to organizational needs. The experiences they have in the organizations make them behave that way. D’Adderio & Pollock (2014) state that, people are, therefore, ready to direct their behavior towards the achievement of the organizational goals and needs. They have the potential to develop in the organization, such as their skills, and they have the capacity to take responsibility and feel motivated. The management does not need to enforce these factors or behaviors in them but only needs to make it possible to recognize and develop these human characteristics for themselves. The most important task of the management is to establish and arrange the working conditions in the organization. They also have to come up with effective methods of business operations so that people can realize their goals in the most effective ways. It is made possible by directing their efforts towards the achievement of the general objectives of the organization (D’Adderio & Pollock, 2014).

Scientific Theories

The scientific management theory was first developed by Fredrick W. Taylor. He aimed at making management a science based on well-recognized, clearly defined and fixed principles (D’Adderio & Pollock, 2014). He eliminated the guess work and the rule of thumb with the scientific methods of management in order to enhance accuracy and increase productivity. He advocates for measurement, analysis, and reasoning together with the experimentation as the main instruments to be used to develop managerial systems.
The major elements postulated by the scientific management theory by Taylor revolve around the responsibilities of management. In this theory, management ought to assume the roles of planning, directing, and organizing; and managers are expected to perform their duties in a more scientific manner. Managers also should decipher approaches to compensate their employees in accordance with the performance levels attained. A differential payment system is important because it tends to take into consideration the performance levels of employees in the organization. Such that if an employee attains a higher performance score they are compensated highly as compared to less performing employees. It is also important for managers to come up with time-saving techniques; time wasting should not be tolerated in the organization owing to the fact that it deprives organization output and efficiency.

Solutions

The organization can apply the theories of motivation in its management in order to curb the challenges that it faces. Through the theories, there are common guidelines and practices that the organization can adopt to enhance proper motivation in its management. The motivation theories such as Douglas McGregor Theory X and Y, Hierarchy of needs theory of Maslow provide ways, which the organization can apply to enhance an effective motivation in the organization. Some of the best practices that will provide solutions to the organization pertaining to motivation include the following.

Providing Better and Equitable Payments

The management should ensure that the workforce is provided with better compensation for their involvement in the organization (Tracy, 2013). The package constituting the compensation to the employees such as the bonuses, perks, benefits, and pay should be sufficiently competitive in the industry. Similarly, the payment provided to them should be equitable in proportion to what other organization members receive as their payment. The employees would lose morale and start developing negative feelings and attitudes towards work whenever they realize that they are paid less as compared to employees from other organizations for the same job specification and position in the management. The management of this organization should consequently give competitive payments in their respective industry so as to curb the challenge of uncooperative employees in the organization.

Providing the Necessary Tools for Job Performance

Management should ensure that the resources required by employees to perform their duties are availed in time so that the employees’ time is not wasted. It will enhance their competency as there will be no idleness in the organization. According to Tracy (2013), training and development should be offered to the employees as a requirement to improve their skills at work. Employees ought to have a chance to perform a variety of duties from different fields and departments of the organization. They should be given increased responsibility and involve them in a special project that the organization undertakes by cross-training them. It will make their work interesting and remove the boredom characterized by specializing in a single job.

Setting Goals that are Achievable

According to Tracy (2013), the management should also set achievable and relevant goals for each employee and give them feedback on how they perform or progress toward the achievement of such goals. The goals should not be too complicated and hard to achieve or beyond their ability. After the evaluation has been done on how they perform, a reward should be provided to the employees who are timely and successful in achieving the established goals. According to Griffin & Moorhead (2011), employees can also be recognized by appreciating them and posting their names on the organization website as the employee of the year or month. They can also be given badges on which their names are written to show recognition, which will increase their morale in their work and raise their performance.

Conclusion

The organization faces a number of challenges that relate to motivation as an element of organizational behavior. These challenges that include less empowerment for the employees and job dissatisfaction can be diagnosed using the organizational behavior theories and concepts such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which can also be used to provide solutions to them. Some of the solutions that are available to Mylan Inc. include leveling the payments such as employees’ salaries and establishing goals that are achievable.