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GM 591: Leadership and Organizational Behavior Course Project Outline

Ashanta’ Savage

2331 Turnesa Avenue, Sacramento Ca, 95822

ashantasavage@hotmail.com

916-844-9269

GM591 ON/SEC V – Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Professor Anne Hallcom

February 19, 2011

DeVry University is an accredited nationwide University whose headquarters are based in Chicago, Illinois; there has also been global expansion to Belize and Calgary. DeVry University’s primary goal and focus is providing quality practitioner oriented education to students and has for nearly 80 years. “The Sacramento Center, as the campus is called, is booming. Marcela Iglesias, who has been dean since it opened in 2003, estimates that the campus will exceed its capacity of 825 students within a year, and DeVry officials have begun to search for more space.” (Keller, 2010). Along with DeVry University, Carrington College, Ross University, Keller Graduate School of Management, Becker and Stalla have also been acquired under the DeVry University Inc. umbrella and are affiliated with the brand. Advanced Academics is a school recently acquired that is targeted to middle school and high school students as a means of completing their middle school and high school degrees, to ensure a greater chance of success and continuing their education after they graduate; and also been acquired under the DeVry University Inc. umbrella and are affiliated with the brand. “DeVry's origins trace back to 1931, when Dr. Herman DeVry established DeForest Training School in Chicago to prepare students for technical work in electronics, motion pictures, radio and, in later years, television. The school's name was changed to DeVry Technical Institute in 1953, which then became DeVry Institute of Technology in 1968. Over time, the DeVry system expanded its curricula and degree offerings and also underwent expansion. In 1987, DeVry merged with Keller Graduate School of Management and in February 2002, became known as DeVry University in most places. Today, DeVry operates 23 campuses across the United States and Canada. 21 of them are known as DeVry University, but two of them (in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and New York) continue to operate under the name of DeVry Institute of Technology.” (LexisNexis). DeVry University has come a long way since being originally founded as DeVry Institute of Technology in 1931, and has shown that they are dedicated to serving the individuals who want to obtain that education and better themselves. Our campus is fortunate enough to have both DeVry and Keller Graduate School of Management programs offered at our campus to students, allowing those that finish their undergraduate degree to continue onto Keller and not have to worry about participating solely online or relocating; our Campus Dean Marcela Iglesias also recently appeared on air on February 7, 2011 on Univision Television promoting our campus in addition to the National Open House we just hosted Saturday, February 12, 2011 to increase awareness about DeVry University and Keller Graduate School of Management. The point is DeVry University is growing and advancing in all different directions and has been since 1931which explains the fact that there are over 90 campuses where the focus is to provide a high quality education to students that is correlated with what is relevant and applicable to the jobs today and not 20 years ago.
My role at the DeVry University, Sacramento Campus is as an Operations Support Coordinator, and I was promoted to Operations Support Coordinator in June of 2010, prior that I started with the company in June of 2009 as an Administrative Assistant. My primary function as an Operations Support Coordinator includes being support to operations as a whole at our campus, that includes registering students and helping them move through the admissions process, assisting students who have a question or concern that they need resolved, coordinating and facilitating events such as the New Student Orientations or National Open House; as well as provide support to our various departments, which include, Admissions, Student Central which houses our student finance consultants and our student success coaches, as well as Academics if they are in need of my assistance. My role also includes duties specific to myself that still apply as support such as handling payroll for faculty, entering and making the schedule for our campus each session for both graduate and undergraduate students and handle transcript requests in order to obtain the student’s officials transcripts for our records. The my role also consists of general duties such as administering assessment testing, handling and directing student traffic, paperwork, email and phone correspondence, delegating tasks to student workers, scanning and verifying files in addition to taking tuition payments to process and have them posted to the student’s account so that they can continue to register and thus continue their education.
The issues at the DeVry University, Sacramento Campus that contributed to the problem being discussed are the economic downturn that occurred during the 2008, which still goes on today and how it has contributed to the lack of students wanting to or actually being able to enroll in school. The events that contributed to the problem being discussed are the significant decline in enrollment and difficulty meeting the enrollment quota partly due to ongoing replacing of the admissions staff members. The actions that contributed to the problem being discussed are the significant decline in employee appreciation, recognition, morale, and incentives; and have caused tension and stress to build up within the workplace.
How can morale and motivation be improved within the workplace at the DeVry University, Sacramento Campus to restore productivity? The problems at the DeVry University, Sacramento Campus are low employee morale and motivation, due to the lack of employee appreciation and recognition that management has displayed to the staff over the past 2 years. The nature of the problem is the fact that there is so much tension associated with the decline in enrollment and the impact it has placed on our locations’ financial budget. Anne Bruce, author of Building a High Morale Workplace, says that today’s managers are faced with a challenge of creating morale and sustaining it within the workplace. “I would argue that it’s building and boosting and, more specifically, sustaining morale in a workplace that’s enveloped by anxieties over change, reorganization, loss of job security, and technology, not to mention the stress and strain of always having to do more with less.” (Bruce, 2003, p. 22). Despite the decline in enrollment and difficulty meeting our budget, management should still be working to ensure that our workplace is an environment where we feel that we are still valued and actually feel comfortable working, so that the issues that are surrounding us are not impacting our performance or how we feel about work. I believe that management has been so focused on enrollment and the ways that we are going to meet budget that they forgot about the fact that in order for us to work productively, collectively, and efficiently that we need to have a work environment that is conducive to the way that they expect us to perform. Anne Bruce also states, that morale is directly correlated with the way that employees are influenced to perform, “The impact of morale is wide and varied. Morale directly affects the motivation of employees and can greatly influence their ability to perform. The attitude of your employees toward you and the organization can make all the difference.” (Bruce, 2003, p. 24). The lack of morale and motivation is a problem for the middle and lower level employees of the company; it is also a problem for the overall operations of the DeVry University, Sacramento Campus. I have noticed how employees seem more lifeless and easily irritated and stressed because they are either working hard and not being recognized for it, or they have lost their motivation to work hard and are doing the bare minimum just to make it through the day. “Motivation accounts for the level and persistence of a person’s effort expanded at work.” (Hunt, Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, 2010, p. 130). The persistence and willingness to perform at a high level is no longer being exhibited by the staff, and it is noticeable that management needs to show encouragement, appreciation, and recognition needs to their staff in order to help turn the performance and behavior around The tension has caused management to neglect the feelings and motivation that the employees need in order to do their jobs more effectively and more enthusiastically. “Morale has to do with the enthusiasm and commitment people bring to their jobs every day. It affects their motivation to perform. Low morale = low motivation. High morale = high motivation. It may not be quite that simple, but there is a direct correlation between morale and motivation.” (Bruce, 2002, p. 48). Employee morale and motivation are very important factors when it comes to employee productivity and efficiency within the workplace. High morale and motivation is associated with a structure that is conducive to workplace that welcomes collaboration and ensures that the employees feel involved and valued. There is plenty of emphasis on the fact that the employees need to work hard and go above and beyond in order to ensure that budget is met, but management fails to consider the fact that they expect their employees to overexert themselves without receiving any recognition or appreciation for the efforts that are contributed. This only helps to lower the morale and motivating factors within the workplace that much more, which in turn makes it difficult for employees to want to be motivated to go above and beyond. The low morale and motivation factors have spread throughout the entire campus and applicable departments that all play a part in ensuring the campus is meeting budget. From the admissions department, to student finance, and academics we all play a role in ensuring that students make it through all of the required steps in order to get them registered and our numbers that much closer to meeting budget. Seeing as how we are in the process of registering students for our spring session and still have to register over 300 students with only a week left, would make this our fourth time potentially missing budget. There is even more detachment from management about the concern for employees and the stresses and pressures they are under due to low enrollment. Management’s direct focus on enrollment and meeting the enrollment budget is the direct cause of the lack of employee appreciation and recognition. “In short, low morale is a collective statement that employees feel adrift, ignored, and uninvolved.” (Rosner, 2001, p. 4). There was a time where management made it a point to reward us or show us that we were appreciated outside of the Employee Appreciate Week. They would send out mass emails, or leave gift cards on our desks, or even buy us lunch one day; even the little things like the email appreciation has come to a halt. The steady decline of those aspects has been the direct cause to the decline in employee morale and motivation within the work place, in addition to the fact that it is more difficult for admissions advisors to meet their numbers so they are being replaced with new advisors. These new advisors have to go through all of the necessary training and role playing before they can even be considered a contributing factor to helping meet budget; which actually takes away from the manpower that we did have available to help bring in individuals to meet the enrollment budget. Putting that much more pressure and stress on the senior advisors still with the organization, yet not appreciating them or recognizing them the way that they should be since they are overexerting themselves to pick up the slack is something that management should address. With that the tension is apparent throughout the workplace but management’s main concerns seems to be meeting the enrollment budget which is directly correlated to the lack in employee appreciation and recognition; which has led to the decline in employee morale and motivation. “Showing appreciation and recognizing employees for a job well done is one of the simplest and most effective ways to motivate employees to excel.”(Merisalo, 2004). I believe that management needs to recognize where they dropped the ball and consider that if they did show more employee appreciation and recognition that the performance and commitment to work harder to meet the enrollment budget would exist and there is the possibility that it would actually be met. Recognizing this would allow them to work towards strengthening the morale and motivation factors within the workplace and retain their best employees.

The scholarly sources that I will be using will come from the DeVry University EBSCOhost Library services and databases. The scholarly sources that I am using to support my claim of the problem are books from the DeVry Library, an article from the EBSCOhost database, and the textbook used for class which are titled: How to Motivate Every Employee by Anne Bruce, Editor’s Corner by Laura J. Merisalo, Building a High Morale Workplace by Anne Bruce, Boss’s Survival Guide: Managing Performance by Bob Rosner, and Organizational Behavior by Schermerhorn, Osborn, and Uhl-Bien.
These sources will allow me to support the claim of the importance of employee recognition and appreciation because they all detail the importance of giving employee recognition and appreciation and how the lack of it can cause low morale and motivation within the workplace. I believe that management has been so focused on enrollment and the ways that we are going to meet budget that they forgot about the fact that in order for us to work productively, collaboratively, and efficiently that we need to have a work environment that is conducive to the way that they expect us to perform. Management’s lack of involvement and concern for their employees and the lack of appreciation and recognition is the direct cause of the issue and until they make the necessary steps to change their involvement and concern about their employees, the workplace will continue to operate under low morale and motivation factors. Anne Bruce, author of How to Motivate Every Employee ,details how management should communicate what is important and meaningful about their jobs in order to help increase their motivation levels to perform their jobs (Bruce, 2002). Anne Bruce details how motivation is intrinsic only and how management needs to know why their employees want to be motivated by them, and with that understanding management will be able to better engage employees in their jobs more effectively and influence their behavior to where they are more enthusiastic about the work that they are performing (Bruce, 2002). Anne also details the importance of clearly communicating what employees can expect once they meet or exceed the expectations and standards that have been set (Bruce, 2002). Anne is stating that it is important to consistently and immediately reward employees for their efforts, otherwise the motivation and morale factors start to decline (Bruce, 2002). This source supports my claim of the problem and the importance of employee appreciation and recognition within the workplace and how not having these factors in place can lead to issues with performance in the workplace. Anne Bruce, author of Building a High Morale Workplace, details the importance of turning around a negative work environment and turning it into one that has employees who are excited and motivated to come to work and the importance of sustaining the morale within the workplace. In Building a High Morale Workplace, Anne states that management needs to be concerned with their employees and their work environment, and how management needs to know what is involved in creating a high morale workplace where their employees actually love to come to work and there is a strong motivation to contribute to the efforts of the organization (Bruce, 2003). Anne even suggests different ways that management can go about creating and sustaining that high morale factor within the workplace in order to help motivate their employees to perform at higher levels more enthusiastically (Bruce, 2003). This source supports my claim of the problem and the importance of management needing to improve and sustain the morale and motivating factors within the workplace and how not having these factors can lead to issues with performance and employee motivation and morale in the workplace. Bob Rosner, author of Boss’s Survival Guide: Managing Performance, states how low morale impacts the behavior and willingness that employees have to work hard or come to work at all. Bob details how the increased amount of “sick” employees is attributed to the low morale and lack of employee recognition and appreciation that should be given to employees on a daily basis (Rosner, 2001). Bob states how management needs to be more concerned with their employees and with completing performance appraisals, showing appreciation and recognition and engaging and supporting employees in order to break down the wall of low morale and motivation in the workplace (Rosner, 2001). Bob also details the importance for management to observe and be aware of any issues that are occurring within the workplace, allowing them to better go about resolving those issues while maintaining a positive and productive work environment for their employees (Rosner, 2001). This source supports my claim of the importance of management needing to be more concerned and observant about their employees and the work environment that is currently in place within the workplace, and how management can and should take the necessary steps to improve the work environment for their employees in order to help increase workplace morale and motivation within their staff. Laura J. Merisalo, author of Editor’s Corner, states that employee appreciation and recognition is one of the easiest things that management can do in order to motivate their employees to excel within the workplace, but yet it seems to be a motivational technique that is not practiced the way that it should be (Merisalo, 2004). Laura also details how management should recognize their employees and show appreciation for the work that they do and how providing consistent training and development opportunities; this is a way that management can do help to promote motivation and higher morale for the employees within the workplace (Merisalo, 2004). Laura also states that management needs to observe what is going on within the workplace to better position themselves to stop any behaviors or processes that are not being conducive to the workplace environment they would like and expect their organization to have (Merisalo, 2004). This source supports my claim of the problem and the importance of management needing to be more concerned and observant about their employees and the work environment that is currently in place within the workplace, and how management can and should take the necessary steps to improve the work environment for their employees in order promote a more conducive work environment for their employees. The Organizational Behavior textbook by Hunt, Schermerhorn, Osborn, and Uhl-Bien defines and details motivation and the different motivational theories and how motivation ties into performance within the workplace (Hunt, Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, 2010). This textbook also suggests ways to create motivational opportunities within the workplace such as incentives and rewards for employees performing the way they are expected to workplace (Hunt, Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, 2010). The textbook also details ways that management can use the job designs within their organization as ways to help promote motivation within the workplace and thus create a happier and more productive staff contributing to the overall goal and performance of the organization workplace (Hunt, Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, 2010). This source supports my claim of the problem and the importance of finding ways to motivate employees within the workplace and how providing appreciation, recognition, and incentives are ways to help improve the motivation within the workplace. All of these sources I have included have helped me to support the root cause of the problem within my organization which is the lack of employee motivation and morale. These sources have helped me to discover that the root cause of the problem is causing the lower levels of morale and motivation within the workplace at the DeVry University, Sacramento Campus, and give testimony and details about the importance of giving employee appreciation and recognition and how not doing so can impact company operations.

The scholarly sources that I am using to support my analysis and proposed solutions are books from the DeVry Library which are titled: Retaining Top Employees by Leslie J. McKeown, Building Your Team’s Morale, Pride and Spirit by Gene Klann, How to Recognize and Reward Employees: 150 ways to Inspire Peak Performance by Donna Deeprose, and Organizational Behavior by Schermerhorn, Osborn, and Uhl-Bien.
These sources will allow me to support the claim of the importance motivating, appreciating and recognizing employees, in order to have a more productive and higher morale work environment. These scholarly sources detail the importance of how appreciation and recognition tie to employee performance and motivation factors. If management would have taken the time to understand and continue the recognition and appreciation efforts that were in place at one point in time and how the nonexistence of that is impacting performance, motivation and morale within the workplace. It also would have prevented the tension and stress that is now present and actively working within the workplace, because even with the decline in enrollment and meeting budget, employees would still feel valued and even motivated to come up with ways to help meet budget. Leslie J. McKeown, author of Retaining Top Employees, states that a recognition program needs to be implemented and should be targeted at the right people within your organization (McKeown, 2002). Leslie also states how designed and correctly implemented recognition programs play a key role in retaining employees with the company in addition to sustaining them as top performers (McKeown, 2002). Leslie states how these recognitions programs should be set up to where they are rewarding the best employees and be used as a method to help support the continuation of those same behaviors within the workplace (McKeown, 2002). This source supports my analysis and my proposed solution to the problem by detailing the importance of recognition and appreciation programs and how vital they are to performance and employee motivation and workplace morale. Gene Klann, author of, Building Your Team’s Morale, Pride and Spirit, states hoe morale is an important factor within the workplace and when it is present relationships are strong and productivity is high as well as the motivation and willingness to contribute from employees (Klann, 2004). Gene also goes on to suggest ways to improve morale by doing thing to recognize and appreciation the employee in various ways. Gene also states how communication is key in building and improving the morale within the workplace, and how communication make the employees feel important, valued and brings a sense of security when they are included(Klann, 2004). This source supports my analysis and my proposed solution to the problem by detailing the importance of recognition and appreciation programs and ways to go about implementing them that is conducive to the work environment management wants to have, in addition the importance of communication and how it plays a factor in increasing morale in the workplace. Donna Deeprose, author of How to Recognize and Reward Employees: 150 ways to Inspire Peak Performance, states various ways that management case show their appreciation and recognition to their employees. Donna states the importance of management recognizing and rewarding the behavior as well as the outcome (Deeprose, 2007). Donna even suggests guidelines and the importance of making the workplace as pleasant as possible because the days of having one breadwinner to care for the family is long gone (Deeprose, 2007). More and more people are spending more and more time in their lives at work, because of the 40 hours a week work week it is more important now than ever to make the work environment more fun or pleasant for employees to be. The Organizational Behavior textbook by Hunt, Schermerhorn, Osborn, and Uhl-Bien defines and details leadership and organizational behavior concepts that will help management in their efforts to improve morale and employee motivation within the workplace by showing more appreciation and recognition to their employees, rewarding them in various ways for their performance and efforts individually and when applicable as a whole(Hunt, Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, 2010). The textbook also details ways that management can use the job designs within their organization as ways to help promote motivation within the workplace and thus create a happier and more productive staff contributing to the overall goal and performance of the organization(Hunt, Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, 2010). This source supports my analysis by detailing the importance of the correlation between productivity and showing employee appreciation and recognition in the workplace. This source supports my analysis by detailing the different leadership and organizational concepts that management can use to be more effective with providing appreciation, recognition, and incentives to their employees to help improve the motivation within the workplace. These scholarly sources give testimony to the importance of implementing and maintaining some kind of employee recognition and appreciation program within the workplace in order to promote employee motivation, morale and productivity within the workplace; they all state how important it is for the employees and for the operations of the organization overall. These sources give examples of employee appreciation and recognition programs that can be implemented ways to improve giving employee appreciation and recognition and all support each others’ views and suggestions about how to resolve the issue with the campus. These scholarly sources will help to resolve the problem of low morale and motivation at the DeVry University, Sacramento Campus, and allow management to better implement a plan to go forward with showing employee appreciation and recognition more consistently.

The causes of the low morale and employee motivation problem at the DeVry University, Sacramento Campus, are the lack of employee appreciation and recognition and a difficulty meeting the enrollment quota which has now become management’s primary focus.
The direct cause of the problem is the lack of employee appreciation and recognition shown to employees by management. The lack of employee appreciation and recognition is caused by the tensions of failing to meet the enrollment quota, management well feel the pressure and stress especially because they are going to be reprimanded by their managers and direct reports. This is making it easier for management to forget about the concerns and needs of their employees, and their need to be appreciated and recognized for their efforts in trying to make sure the enrollment budget is met. Which then makes the employees feel less valued and motivated to overexert themselves to make sure that budget is met, because the assumption they will not be recognized or appreciated will more than likely become a reality. Donna Deeprose details the importance of tracking the progress of the employees in order to better reward and recognize them for their efforts and how management can help keep up morale and motivation by doing this. “If your reason for establishing recognition and reward programs is to improve performance, it’s not enough just to set goals for your employees and then wait until reward time to see if they’ve met them. Managers need to keep up with employees’ progress toward goals, facilitate employees’ access to resources, and guide them toward solutions to problems that block their progress.” (Deeprose, 2007, p. 43).
The direct cause of the problems is that meeting the enrollment quota has seem to become the primary concern and focus of management, due to missing the last three enrollment budgets set for the campus, it has been more important than ever to meet the budget. The inability to meet the enrollment budget in the past enrollment periods, has caused management to fixate solely on the enrollment budget and how they are going to go about meeting it this time. This is causing management to be less involved and receptive to what is going on within the workplace or how their employees are feeling, which is helping to contribute to the low morale and employee motivation aspects within the organization. Gene Klann, author of, Building Your Team’s Morale, Pride and Spirit, states that communication is a key way for management to improve morale within the workplace, there is a break-down in communication between management and staff and until they begin to openly and effectively communication morale will say where it is. “Communication should be continual, open, honest, and safe. No opinion is discounted, no idea is silly, and maximum dialogue is encouraged.” (Klann, 2004, p. 19).
Leadership and Organizational Behavior concepts present in the problem are organizational learning, content theories, and monetary versus nonmonetary. These are factors that management is either lacking or does not have implemented and is contributing to the lack of employee recognition and appreciation they should which has become the direct result of the low morale and employee motivation present in the workplace.
The organization learning concept is present in the problem and “is the process of acquiring knowledge using information to adapt to changing circumstances.” (Hunt, Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, 2010, p. 19). This concept would allow management to better prepare themselves to deal with changes such as economic difficulties and show to go about them. It would also prepare them to not allow themselves to be consumed by the stress and pressures of meeting the enrollment budget, and realize that their focus should be on the employees and how we are going to work to meet the enrollment budget as a whole unit. “Learning is ‘sense making’: it is the process that leads to knowledge. Thurber once said, ‘In times of change learners shall inherit the earth, while the learned are beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists’. Organizational learning requires learning rather than being learned.” (Dixon, 1999, p. 1). Management needs to learn how to effectively go about providing appreciation and recognition to their employees in order to change the morale, failing to do this will keep the organization going in the same cycle that it has been and caused otherwise great employees to be reprimanded for it.
The content theory concept is present in the problem and it “profiles different needs that may motivate individual behavior.” (Hunt, Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, 2010, p. 110). This concept would allow management to better proceed with their employee appreciation and recognition approach, because they will be able to better identify what motivates each individual’s behavior allowing them to better align their employee appreciation and recognition program to be successful. This is force management to no long think and accept the fact that a similar kind of recognition or appreciation suffices or motivated everyone, what motivates me will not be the same thing that motivates Sarah. Being aware of this will allow management to better personalize the appreciation and recognition allowing the morale and motivation factors to increase with the employees within the workplace. “Figuring out what behaviors and accomplishments merit recognition is just half the job of designing a recognition and reward program. Deciding what rewards to give is the other half. The most obvious approach would be to put yourself in the shoes of the people you want to recognize and ask yourself what rewards you would appreciate receiving in the same circumstances.” (Deeprose, 2007, p. 67).
Monetary versus Nonmonetary rewards concept is present in the problem and is the process of rewarding employees in nonmonetary ways versus monetarily. Due to the decline in the financial rewards given to the campus because of the inability to meet the last three enrollment periods, management cannot afford to reward their employees in a monetary fashion like before. This concept would allow management to offer rewards in a nonmonetary aspect to help increase morale and motivation within the workplace. Management could find various ways to motivate employees without providing monetary rewards. Management could recognize employee by giving them an extra break, allowing them an extra vacation day or the various other appreciation items by brainstorming or simply getting feedback from the employees as to how they would be to be recognized and appreciated. All of these concepts, ideas, and insights have allowed me to better understand the root cause of the problem with the organization, and better understand that the reason the morale and employee motivation factors are so low is because of management and their inability to continue to show employee appreciation and recognition through trying and difficult times for the organization. These concepts, ideas, and insights better allowed me to understand what management would need to do in order to fix the problems that have been created as a result of their involvement.

One possible solution to the problem would be for the DeVry University, Sacramento Campus to implement an employee appreciation and recognition program that is consistent and efficient with showing employees appreciation and recognition. The pros of this solution would be that the employees will begin to feel more valued and appreciated for the work that they do contribute, it will increase the employee’s performance and willingness to participate to contribute in other ways, higher productivity, higher morale, higher employee satisfaction and motivation, and a more conducive work environment for all. The cons would be that the employee appreciation and recognition plan is poorly implemented and used by management; the plan is based around favoritism factors and does not really give appreciation or recognition to those employees truly deserving of it, and it could help sustain or further decline the morale and employee motivation factors within the workplace. Steps the Sacramento Campus management can take to implement such a program would be to compile a survey and get the input from employees about some of the things they would like to be in the program. In addition, to the survey I would suggest that management also talk to their employees to see if they can get a better understanding or different perspective as to how to recognize and show appreciation to their employees. Then I would suggest that management get together and also decide on and include any aspect that they would like to see their employee recognition and appreciation plan posses in order to make it more well rounded and effective. Then management can take those results and create a program that includes choices from both the employees and management. I would suggest that run a pilot on the program for a few months or so to effectively measure the success of the program, and better align themselves to make the necessary modifications to make it more efficient. Once management felt comfortable and came to a consensus on the program and all it entailed, I would suggest that it is put into practice immediately in order to show their employees they are appreciated and that their involvement in the creation of the employee recognition and appreciation program was taken into consideration and applied, thus helping them to promote their efforts to increase morale and motivation within the workplace.
Another possible solution to the problem would be for the DeVry University, Sacramento Campus to improve their registration strategy to prevent the associated stress and tensions from building up due to potentially missing the enrollment budget. The pros to this solution would be the fact that it will allow for a more formalized plan of action that will be taken in order to tackle the large student population that we have, and allow us to capture them in a more effective way in order to meet our enrollment budget, we will not be penalized as a campus for not meeting the enrollment budget, the campus will receive its financial ‘reward’ as a means of meeting the enrollment budget set by the campus dean’s direct reports, it will eliminate the tension and stress associated with trying to meet the budget, it will allow management to being to focus on the employees and improve their efforts on showing employee appreciation and recognition. The cons would be that even with a formalized plan in place to meet the enrollment budget that management would not concern themselves with showing employee appreciation or recognizing employees for their efforts and contribution to the process, the plan will fail causing management to further disregard their employee’s concerns and needs, and the plan could somehow promote unethical factors that would allow budget to be met. Steps the Sacramento Campus can take to improve their registration process would be to first develop a strategic plan as to how they will go about the registration process. I believe that all of management needs to be involved in this process and not just the current manager Lisa, who has been in charge of it for the last three sessions. It has become apparent that she either cannot formalize an effective plan on her own or she is procrastinating with making an effective formalized plan and the campus is suffering as a result. A formalized plan will help prevent procrastination and the inevitable built up stress and tension due to difficulty with meeting the enrollment budget. This plan needs to be made before the start of the enrollment period begins so that when it is time to start registering students we are not behind due to the plan not being finalized. Then I would suggest that Lisa then puts the plan into action along with her student success coaches in order to bring in the students or correspond with them in some fashion as to get them registered for classes via the paper registration method, before the enrollment period opens for the new session. The paper registration method will allow us to tentatively get students registered for their classes before the system actually opens us to allow us to do so, so we have a record of the classes that the students want to register for and when the system opens all we have to do is enter the classes into the system. This will allow the campus to get a head start on the registration process and make it much easier to register that much more students within the 8 week timeframe. Then I would suggest that management and lisa get together sometime before the system opens up to discuss the progress and effectiveness of the plan and if any modifications need to be made in order to make it more effective and practically guarantee budget will be met. If in fact that Lisa and management finds that the plan is working well or is working well post modification then they will be able to fully implement the plan to use for the remainder of that session and future registration sessions to come. The last step would be to put the plan into action and adhering to it will help guarantee an increase in the success rate and present a greater chance of meeting the enrollment quota and thus allowing the campus to be rewarded financially for doing so.
Another solution to the problem would be for the DeVry University, Sacramento Campus to recognize the importance of preparing for such incidents as a decline in enrollment due to economic crisis. The pros would be that management will be more prepared in the future to still go about obtaining students to enroll in the event another economic crisis presents itself, it will help to eliminate tension and stress within the workplace, will allow management to continue their focus on employee’s and their concerns and avoid drifting to the same mentality as before where the focus was on enrollment. The cons would be that no one knows when the next economic crisis is going to occur so that makes it virtually impossible to plan and prepare for, the plan set in place for today’s economic issue may not be applicable to the economic crisis of the future, and the economic crisis in the future could cripple the society to the point where the plan that was made is guaranteed to fail because no one wants or can afford to go to school. Steps the management at the Sacramento Campus can take to improve their enrollment strategy and better prepare for economic crisis are to develop a strategic plan. The strategic plan needs to be one specifically applicable to the changes that can occur in the economy and hinder the progress of enrollment into the University. The need to include factors such as locations, their tuition, if they can afford to or if it is in compliance for them to offer incentives or programs as a way to get the students admitted and enrolled with the University. A formalized plan will aid in the enrollment process and would include ethical and detailed ways to increase enrollment during economic crisis. Once management had all of the necessary information and factors included in their plan, I would also suggest that they do a practice run of the plan in order to judge its success and be better prepared to modify the plan if necessary. I would suggest that they do this by using the current economic crisis situation to allow them to better measure its success and make the proper modifications where necessary. Given, chances are this economic crisis will not mirror the next one that is to take place but it can help give management a direction that will allow them to still reach the enrollment budget despite the economic conditions of the economy and all those impacted. Then when the next economic crisis hits the DeVry University, Sacramento Campus will have a plan ready to help them with maintaining enrollment and still meet the enrollment budget during the next economic crisis that follows the one we are currently in.
This assignment has influenced by personal development because it caused me to be more focused and to put in more effort to complete this research paper than I was required to be in my past courses, which in turn also influenced by academic development. This is my first real experience using only the DeVry University Library as the main and only resources in which to obtain my supporting documentation for this paper. This paper definitely challenged me personally, and I am know very aware and more comfortable with the processes that I am going to need to do in order to make an effective paper for my graduate courses. However, I feel that this paper has allowed me to grow in terms of how and where I get my research in addition to providing more information, which is preparing for me for the rest of the courses I am to take to complete my graduate degree. This assigned influenced my professional leadership development by allowing me to look at an organization where there was a conflict and figure out the root cause of the problem, the issues, and how to go about resolving those issues. This paper forced me to look at my organization in more of a leadership and managerial perspective because of the issue that we currently have within our organization. This paper allowed me to take a step further than I have before in terms of building my professional leadership and managerial development, by acting as the consultant for my organization and really researching what was going on, who cause the problem, who was all involved, how it was impacting employees and the organizational overall. This was great practice for me to see and try to resolve things from a professional leadership and managerial perspective, thus helping me to strengthen my professional leadership and managerial skills.
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