Lenora Hapkins, an employee of Tyson's Production, was proved to be a difficult employee in her field assignment in the Marketing Department. Rather than risking a fight with the union for firing her, she accepted the decision to be moved to the "front office" under a different manager. 

Allison Clark was a reluctant supervisor. She handles three (3) minority employees, including Lenora. Fortunately, two (2) of the three (3) employees were veryproficient. 

In Allison's point of view, Lenora has an awkward personality, poor communication skills, and little involvementwithherco-workers.Afterathree-monthperiod,AllisonwantedLenoratolearnsomeother tasks so that she could back up the other secretaries in the unit. Lenora's cross-training proved difficult for two(2)reasons:(1)shedidnotgetinvolvedinthetrainingprocessitself,consequentlylearningalittle, and (2) she resisted helping others when the workload demand edit. 

Allison already decided to talk to Lenora about her unwillingness to help out. Lenora countered that she felt she was taken advantage of and paid improperly for the work she was being asked to do. 

Ted, the personnel officer, was concerned that the union might file a grievance on the issue of Lenora's being in the wrong job classification. He suggested giving her a temporary adjustment, to be made permanent on her performing successfully. Allison agreed, and Ted explained the decision to Lenora. He gave a pep talk about working hard now to have things pay off later.

However, his message did not seem to get through. Three(3) weeks after Ted's meeting with Lenora, one of the secretaries complained to Allison that Lenora was not helping out on a major project. In fact, the secretary had asked for help on several occasions. At one point, Lenora outright refused.

Questions:

2. What were the problems mentioned in the study? How do these problems affect organizational goals?
4. What motivational theory can help Allison distinguish the needs of Lenora as an employee? Justify your answer.
6. If you are Allison, what measures would you do?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Problems mentioned in the study 1 Lenoras difficult personality poor communication skills and lack of involvement with coworkers 2 Lenoras resistance ... View the full answer