Managing City Benefits Case Study

It has been shown that employees who have a high satisfaction rate on the job or with the company that they work for, are less likely to leave the company that they work for compared to those who have a less satisfaction rate (Hellawell, 2012). As mentioned earlier, this would result not only in cost savings, but it would improve the overall relationship between the employee and the company. Employees that are committed and satisfied are not only not going to leave, they would also be able to contribute more and be more effective and efficient.

Organizations that are serious about making improvements are going to have to deal with the issue of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction can be best described as the positive feeling that an individual has about their job resulting from an evaluation of the job’s characteristics (Robbins & Judge, 2009, p.31). It would seem natural to think that job satisfaction would have a positive correlation with successful organizations. What impact does job satisfaction have on an organization? Research will show that there are not only internal effects from performance related issues, but also external effects that impact customer satisfaction.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is an agency under the US Secretary of Health and Human Services that protects and provides health and human services to American citizens. The agency administers more than 100 programs some of which include: social services, health insurance, prevention and wellness, research, among others (HHS, 2017). This assignment analyzes of the agency’s policies, procedures, and plans regarding unions, privatization, pensions, and productivity.

Thirty-one percent of employees are at least marginally dissatisfied with their current employee benefits while twenty-six percent are completely unsatisfied (Fronstin, 2013). It is the hope of the company to offset these feelings of dissatisfaction by uncovering what are the most desirable benefits available to employees. It has been found that there is a blatant correlation between employees that are happy working for a company and the success of said company (Stanger, 2013). Figure 1.1 displays benefits that employees find to be the most successful.

As factors of job satisfaction are dynamic in nature managers do need to be vigilant about this. Some of the key factors of job satisfaction are the key drivers and should be always handled on priority basis.

There are five major components of job satisfaction, one being monetary benefits (Ghillyer 2010). According to Ghillyer (2012) an employee’s behavior towards their pay may affect their work performance. The issue that arises with employee motivation is that management is unable to satisfy all (Ghillyer 2010). This becomes an even larger problem when employees being joining unions, resigning and being frequently absent (Ghillyer 2010).

In today’s work place employee satisfaction is just as important as it has ever been in history. With employer cutbacks, job eliminations, pay reductions, and business closings employee satisfaction must be at the forefront of employer’s plans to be successful. In the case of Riordan Manufacturing the company has a problem it cannot ignore, employee motivation. Riordan Manufacturing is a global plastics producer that employees 550 people and earns an

One of the primary missions of City A is to provide services to its constituents in the most cost-effective, legal, and ethical manner. Recent issues within the city manager’s office have eroded the public’s trust, in part due to a budget crisis that caused many vital employees to lose their jobs, thereby reducing city services. An atmosphere of tolerance for unethical and illegal behavior has been fostered within the office, leading to a dysfunctional governmental unit lacking an ethical framework from which to operate and void of leadership needed to guide the city employees. Implementing reforms in the city manager’s office is necessary in order to achieve change in the office that will promote ethical behavior and develop effective

Changes in organization can make conflicts to emerge. However, in occasions changes are necessary to produce better outcomes within the organization. Depending on the changes the organization makes, HR directors and Union managers must be aware that their decision can make several employees to no agree with them. This paper will discuss the satisfiers and disatisfiers present during the process of changing the health insurance. Moreover, it will determine what influenced the manager decision. Furthermore, it will discuss whether striking is a viable option to have a better decision on the health insurance issue or if there is another job action that the organization can take. Lastly, the author will give an opinion and determining the best option to make an organizational change.

When an organization’s economy suffers a shortfall, spending ought to be adjusted. In the case study Managing a City’s Health Benefits the City no longer would be able to afford the high annual costs of employee insurance (Denhardt & Miller, 2000). Proposals from different insurance companies were to be evaluated by a specialized consultant in the health insurance industry and a wise decision that would protect employee’s interests and well-being was critical (Denhardt & Miller, 2000). Pertaining this case study, the satisfiers and dissatisfies, the city’s authority on decision making, the right to strike, and leading organizational change will be further discussed.

In the following case study we will review the case “Managing a City’s Health Benefits “. We will be discussing how Herzeberg’s satisfiers and dissatisfiers seem to be demonstrated. We will also be reviewing how unfriendly the state laws are to the labor force and how it should influence the management’s decision. Lastly we will discuss the best way to lead organizational change and how it can be applied effectively to this case.

According to Fredric Herzberg, “achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, and advancement” are all job satisfiers (Starling, 2011, p. 357). Yet, when dissatisfiers are not eliminated first, it may impede job satisfaction. Dissatisfiers are “company policy and administration, supervision, salary, interpersonal relations, and working conditions” (Starling, 2011, p. 357). Relating this to the case study, we may find that several dissatisfiers are present and unfortunately, because of financial difficulties, it will take time to eliminate them. However, the goal would be to eliminate dissatisfaction to the least extent possible. The first dissatisfier is the change in company policy that will take place due to the circumstances. This change most likely will

Presently, the mentality of many employees accepting positions for monetary benefits are no longer appealing. The views of employees with each generation are evolving, they do not want to work only for compensation purposes but for their work to be meaningful and beneficial. The organization benefits from this type of attitude when the organization goals are aligned with the personal goals of the employees. “There is nothing that moves an employee more than work that is linked to whom they are as an individual” (quote). Organizations that have these employees are less likely to experience turnovers, poor performance reviews and employee job dissatisfaction.

According to Herzberg, the factors leading to job satisfaction are distinctly different from those that lead to job-dissatisfaction. Therefore, the managers who seek to eliminate factors that create job-dissatisfaction can bring about peace at the workplace but cannot motivate the employees. These factors are termed as hygiene factors comprising administration, supervision, working conditions, salary and wages etc. While absence of hygiene factors will lead to dissatisfaction, mere presence of these factors will not satisfy (i.e. motivate) the employees. In order to motivate the employees, managers must resort to ‘motivators’ (those factors that motivate the employees towards better performance) such as recognition, challenging assignment, responsibility, opportunities for growth and self-fulfillment etc.

Job satisfaction is the very important factor in general quality of life because it is closely connected with working life (e.g. Argyle, 1989; Bang & Lee, 2006), with family life, everyday life, and mental health (Orpen, 1978; Schmitt and Bedeian, 1982; Faragher, Cass & Cooper, 2005). Level of job satisfaction is also highly related to turnover, absenteeism rate, work productivity or accomplishment (Muchinsky, 1977; Organ, 1977). Many researchers (e.g. Cherrington, 1994; Acorn, Ratner & Crawford, 1997; Ostroff, 1992; Spector, 1997) state that employees who experience high job satisfaction contribute to organisational commitment, job involvement, their physical, mental health and overall well-being are improved. Job dissatisfaction on the