Management Planning
Poor management planning practices can impede the performance of an organization, and this is certainly true for Motorola. To understand how planning practices might be undermining their function, it helps to examine some fundamental managerial principles. First, there must be clear goals established in order for employees to have direction. Without well-defined objectives that all individuals can work toward, the organization cannot move forward effectively or efficiently.
Additionally, it is important that resources are organized, so each team has what they need to accomplish their tasks. If these functions are not managed and monitored effectively, resources may become scarce or diverted for unrelated purposes, adversely impacting the firm’s performance (Moccia, 2018).
Finally, transparent communication between departments is key to ensure that collaboration is effective and successful and any changes within the organization’s operations do not go unnoticed. If any of these principles of management are neglected during the planning process at Motorola, optimal functioning could be significantly hindered or prevented entirely due to misalignment of needs and objectives or lack of coordination and information flow within the business. Therefore, it is critical that all elements of management planning are addressed correctly in order for Motorola to achieve its optimum level of success.
Employee’s Perception and Organizational Culture
Organizational culture can be defined as a set of shared values, beliefs, and practices that help to define an organization. The culture of any given organization is heavily influenced by the performance of its management, particularly with regard to how their actions shape employee perceptions. This has certainly been true in the case of Motorola; since 2009, there have been several notable changes in the company’s leadership, which have had a distinct effect on the attitudes and values of its staff (Anderson, 2008). On the one hand, this includes providing employees with increased autonomy through more collaborative decision-making processes and emphasizing innovation-driven problem-solving; conversely, however, it has also meant cutting costs and reducing staff numbers. As such, Motorola’s management team has had a decisive influence on how their employees view the company and its culture providing both positive and negative examples for all to learn from.
Ultimately, this suggests that managing change forces in organizations is critical for creating a harmonious organizational culture that employees can readily support. In today’s highly competitive business environment, it is crucial for companies to recognize that happy employees are essential for success. Poor management performance ultimately sends a signal throughout the entire workforce: one indicating that progress must continuously be made if they intend to stay ahead of their competitors. Understanding this concept will help all leaders in any industry create an environment where employee engagement and mutual respect are not only valued but practiced at every level (Anderson, 2008). Motorolas’ approach to this challenge presents yet another example of how managerial decisions can have dramatic effects on organizational culture both now and into the future.
Communication
Companies that fail to communicate properly with their employees often experience decreased employee performance. This has been the case for Motorola, which has been struggling to come up back even as other companies in its industry have seen great success. At Motorola, communication barriers such as a lack of transparency and a lack of respect between different roles have created an environment of low morale and broken trust. Furthermore, management has failed to take action on employee feedback due to its own lack of organizational structure, leading workers to feel unheard and unimportant (Krackowski et al., 2014).
Communication is key when it comes to motivating employees, but due to certain communication barriers existing within Motorola it has managed to become stuck in an unfortunate cycle of falling productivity and dwindling motivation. If Motorola truly wishes to become successful once again, it must begin by tackling these communication issues head-on and fostering more open dialogue between different stakeholders in order to build trust, engagement, and respect among its workforce. Only then can Motorola hope to improve its situation from the inside out.
References
Anderson, H. (2008). 10 reasons why Motorola failed. Network World. Web.
Krackowski, C., Chudovo, & Irons, J. (2014). What happened to Motorola. Chicago Magazine. Web.
Moccia, S. (2018). Failure of leadership. In Strategies in Failure Management (pp. 79-94). Springer, Cham.