4.1 CASE STUDY Many Managers, Different Styles Vanessa Mills was recently hired

Question

4.1 CASE STUDY Many Managers, Different Styles Vanessa Mills was recently hired to work at a branch of Lakeshore Bank as a personal banker. The branch is very busy and has a large staff, including three on-site managers. As a new employee, Vanessa is trying to figure out how to succeed as a personal bankerwhile meeting the expectations of her three very different managers. As a new banker, Vanessa has not opened many accounts and feels very uncertain about believingthat this manager is continually wtching and evaluating her.Several times Marion has publically criticized Vanessa, commenting on her shortcomings as a personal banker Vanessa tries hard to gether sales numbers upso she can keep Marion off her back. Vanessa is paid a salary, but also receives a commission for activities including opening new accounts and selling new services to customers such as credit cards, lines of credit, years. Bruce started out as a teller and worked loans, and stock accounts. Personal bankers are expected to open a certain number of accounts each month and build relationships Mnday morning meetings. At these staff with customers by exploring their various banking needs and offering services to meet those needs branch, has been with Lakeshore Bank for 14 his way up to branch manager. As a manager, Bruce ls responsible for holding the bank staff's for new accounts as well as the target number for new accounts. He also lists the number of Marion Woods is one of the managers at Vanessa's branch. She has worked for Lakeshore Bank for 10 years and prides herselfon the success of the branch. Marion openly talks about employees' progress in terms of the number of accounts opened or relationships established, and then commends or scolds people depending on their productivity. Marion stresses to Vanessa back into his office where he sits hidden behind his office because she does not have to worry about having her performance scrutinized. However,sometimes when Vanessa is trying to help customers with a problem that falls outside of her banking knowledge, she is stressed because Bruce does not provide herwith any managerial support. using the scripts that Marion provides to successfully convince customers to opern new accounts or accept new services with the Thethird manager at the branch is Heather Atwood. Heather just started at Lakeshore

Explanation / Answer

(1)

Marion, as a manager, believes that the employees need to be controlled, forced and threatened to deliver work. This is a typical attribute of a leader believing in Theory X. She thinks that people need a constant flow of either reward or punishment (depending on performance) in order to perform consistently. Bruce, on the other hand, is taking a rather passive or inert role where his contribution to the growth and performance of the team is informational only. He only provides information or facts regarding performance or non-performance of employees but is reluctant to analyze or improve the same. His behavior is neither related to theory X nor to theory Y. Finally, Heather assumes Theory Y is perceiving the team as already motivated people and focus on the learning and growth of the members. He enjoys seeing the employees grow and enjoy their work. He supports their growth with his knowledge, empathy, and kindness all the time.

(2)

Customer service agents must handle various types of customers. They also come across several challenges which need to be dealt with patience. Most employees who join such jobs with an initial excitement to help others lose their enthusiasm after a few months. For better customer service, it is very important that the management keeps the employees happy and motivated all the time. At the same time growth of these employees is very crucial because, with growth, they can be able to serve different types of customers using various style. Considering all these things, the Theory Y seems more applicable and the method that Heather applies is more suitable. However, it must be stated that some amount of monitoring and control with appropriate reward and punishment system must also exist in the system.

(3)

Marion, as a manager, must not be focused only on counting numbers. She must understand that the improvement from the employees must not result from her commending or scolding. What is needed is the growth of the employees and support to them during non-performance. She should, therefore, focus on building skill, competence, and confidence of her team members. Bruce must come out of his inertness and take a more aggressive or supportive role which can be useful for the employees in achieving their objectives. He should analyze the gaps in the non-performance of the individual team members and provide them guidance for removing those gaps. Finally, Heather can assume a more enveloped role where besides providing support to the employees, he can take the ownership of their growth.

(4)

She should first find the areas where she has performed above average, average, and below average. For the are areas of non-performance, she must sit with the managers to identify the gaps and formulate future strategies to overcome those gaps. Once the strategies are formulated, she should strive to prepare an actionable plan for achieving the objective for the next appraisal session. At the same time, she should prepare herself in the areas of good performance as to how to present these achievements in a more interesting and value-appropriating way to the managers during appraisal time.

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