You are a management consultant called in to advise an organisation which has undergone significant change, involving both voluntary and compulsory redundancies, in the last two years. Employee members have reduced by 60 per cent while the workload has remained unchanged for the organisation as a whole. Employees, including managers and supervisors, now work under significantly increased work pressure. Senior management are concerned about the low morale and commitment to the organisation which they now perceive among the remaining workforce. Six months ago the senior management team decided to introduce a major exercise to improve communication within the organisation.
They wanted employees at all levels to understand better the problems of the organisation, the management strategy adopted to deal with these problems, and the senior management team's growing confidence that the situation was now improving significantly. Productivity and cost effectiveness had improved substantially. Moreover, major programmes of technical improvement and investment were now under way.
One important element of this programme was a training course in interactive skills for first-line supervisors. The personnel manager has told you that this programme has failed.
Personnel Manager: 'We wanted to build up the supervisors' role with their own people. Therefore we wanted the supervisors to talk with their people about our plans and to get their ideas and views. We put them through a one-week course in interactive skills and human relations skills. But it failed. They enjoyed the course. They all said they gained a lot from it. But when we asked them to communicate to their people about plans for this year, they said they did not feel confident enough.'
Consultant: 'Do they understand the plans? Do you feel that the plans have been presented to them in a clear enough way? Are their own managers communicating effectively with the supervisors? Do their managers provide support and encouragement to the supervisors?'
Personnel Manager: 'I'm not sure, possibly not. We give them copies of our detailed plans. They see everything. In any case I think they are afraid of being criticised by their staff. They don't want arguments with them and they don't feel sure enough about the plans. They wonder about job losses in the future.' The role of first-line supervisors had been changed with the introduction of a professional Personnel Function. Supervisors no longer fully understood the terms and conditions of employment, bonus schemes, job evaluation systems and employment legislation relevant to the organisation. Moreover the staffing reductions had meant that supervisors were increasingly taking on tasks once carried out by their subordinates. Thus the role of the supervisor had come to be solely a technical, and no longer a managerial role.

Questions

(a) Assess the effectiveness of the training programme, identifying the problems experienced.
(b) Identify the main issues you feel will need attention if communications within this organisation are to be improved.
(c) State what advice you will offer to the organisation about how to proceed from the current situation.