ComSyst Technologies (CST)
Executive summary
ComSyst Technologies (CST) is an Australian based global company that provides services related to systems development and communication software. The company has expanded its operations overseas and is present in the United States, New Zealand, India, South Korea, and the Philippines. CST has recently been facing challenges related to attraction, development, and retention of employees, as well as teamwork and performance management. The rate of employee turnover has been increasing in the last two years, with the company unable to hold on to its most talented and experienced staff. Employees are also lowly motivated and feel that their efforts or performances are not being appreciated. Another critical issue within the CST workforce is the lack of career development. Employees feel that the company is not making efforts or doing enough to advance and develop their careers to another level, and thus are leaving to seek opportunities in other companies that can guarantee growth. The staff is not updated with the most recent skills and technology in the systems development and communication software market, which keeps on evolving. This has contributed to the company’s decreased market share in the last two years through the loss of major tenders to competitors. Some strategies are recommended for CST to improve the current situation and overcome its challenges. To attract and retain highly experienced and talented employees, the company needs to develop a career development program to promote the growth of employees as well as the advancement of their careers. To improve teamwork, performance management, and team development, CST needs to develop empowerment and motivation programs such as rewards and promotions for positive performance. Recognizing and appreciating employees’ efforts will also improve the retention rate, as they will feel wanted and valued by the company. The company also needs to cultivate a team-based culture by encouraging employees to work in groups. Teamwork initiatives such as coaching and mentorship will improve individual and overall company performance.
Introduction
Multinational companies are vulnerable to a series of challenges owing to the highly sophisticated global market, with high competition for labor and expertise. CST is, therefore, facing a hard time to attract and retain the best global talent as the company faces competition from other large companies operating in the same market. The communications software and systems development market evolves with technological advancement. As a result, companies operating in the same market as CST are seeking to hire the best talent possible that will improve their service provision and thus grow their competitive advantage. Attracting and retaining top talents requires more than just scouting. Employees are attracted and retained by various factors related to management within a company. These include work-life balance, development opportunities, education, and training, among other benefits that make employees feel motivated. CST seems to lack such management strategies that attract and retain the best talent, thus risking losing its reputation in the future. It is also the responsibility of managers within a company to cultivate a team-based high-performance culture. There are some strategies that managers in large multinational companies such as CST use to create a high-performance team-based culture. These include setting clear expectations, the definition of employees’ roles, enhancing growth and development, and building trust. Through effective teamwork, employees raise their individual as well as collective performance. CST, therefore, needs to develop effective strategies for growing a high team-based performance culture. Building employees’ capability and performance is significantly reflected among successful companies. High performance requires employees to be well equipped with the necessary and up to date skills in the industry of operation. The nature of services that CST provides requires regular training of staff to equip them with modern skills in systems development and communication software. Failure to build capacity may lead to stress, burnout, and low performance, as employees are unable to meet customer demands. CST, therefore, needs to develop strategies of building capacity and performance among its workforce.
Background
CST was formed in 2001, with the business objective of becoming one of the largest communications software and systems development service providers in both the domestic and global markets. Based in Melbourne, Australia, the company employs more than 1000 staff and experts in information, communication, and technology. CST has expanded to open branches in Europe, Asia, and America. Most of its clients are large and medium-sized organizations operating in different industries, which need services related to optimization of operations. The nature of the industry that CST operates in is highly competitive, with every company seeking to offer clients the best and latest experience. To remain competitive, companies in this market need to have the best talented and highly experienced workforce that understands and supports the rapidly changing market due to technological advancements. However, CST has failed to match this requirement for the past few years. The company’s market share has reduced as reflected by the loss of three big tenders in the last two years. This owes to poor management of people and teams. The company does not cultivate a team-based high-performance culture. Staff retention is low, with some of the main specialists resigning. Lack of technical skills and capability within the workforce has been identified as a factor leading to low performance. The company has failed to maintain an updated workforce with the latest technology, and this has created a gap between CST and competitors. This is because its employees do not match the capabilities and skills of competitors.
Main discussion
Large multinational companies face problems mostly related to people and management, which determines their ability to compete in sophisticated global markets. CST has lost its competitiveness as a result of challenges emanating from poor staff management. Since employees are integral to an organization’s success, CST needs to identify these problems alongside their probable solutions. Among the main challenges that we have identified as being faced by our client (CST) are low engagement and poor employee performance. These problems are interrelated such that one contributes to the other. For instance, low engagement results in low employee performance. High performance is the reward for high motivation among the workforce. Employee engagement, on the other hand, is used to refer to high involvement and commitment towards the achievement of organizational goals. Employees may record poor performance because of various reasons, but four main ones hinder their ability. The first one is the lack of adequate resources. Resources such as time, capital, equipment, among others, hinder employees from accomplishing tasks effectively. Lack of resources leads to discontent and stress; hence employees tend to feel disengaged. The second reason is the obstacles between procedures. This could be in the form of clients, managers, colleagues, or other issues related to decision making and lack of collaboration in the workplace. If employees feel uncomfortable when performing their duties, they will be disengaged, perform poorly, and thus seek to leave. Obstacles tend to complicate the role of workers in a company. The third factor is the lack of skills and development in the workforce. Factors such as new technology and ideas in the market may change the roles and responsibilities of employees. They may be required to undertake completely new tasks, maybe or adapt to new procedures for completing tasks. this requires some training to equip staff with the necessary skills. Lack of training, however, may result in a lack of skills; thus, employees feel disengaged. Failure to set clear expectations is also a reason for poor performance. This causes misunderstanding and confusion among employees, as they are not sure of what should be done and at what level. The staff needs to understand what performance levels they need to attain to contribute towards organizational goals attainment adequately. This contributes to a fully engaged workforce. In addition to these reasons for poor performance, low employee motivation is contributed by various factors. Lack of a reward program within an organization is one of the factors. Employees deserve to be recognized and rewarded for hard work and positive performance. The strategy of rewarding might, however, vary with employee preference or the organization structure. Some forms of rewards may include salary increment, more responsibility, or promotion. Despite the form of reward, employees will always feel valued and commit more effort to the benefit of their company. Rewards encourage positive behavior leading to high performance at both individual and organizational levels. However, the lack of punishment might as well lead to low motivation. Companies need to have a disciplinary program for discouraging negative behavior and low performance. When employees realize that there are no consequences for low performance, they tend to relax and become less concerned about their tasks. They also feel that they are less responsible for poor performance and failure of the organization, thus leading to low motivation and disengagement. When employees burn out, they become lowlily motivated. Burning out and low motivation, however, relate in that; one factor causes the other. Regular reenergizing is therefore required to maintain high motivation and top performance among the workforce. This especially applies to diversified workforces, which include staff from minority social groups. Such workers seem to be highly vulnerable to disengagement and low motivation; hence managers need to reenergize them regularly. consequently, poor performance is not solved by one solution. The CST management and human resource department need to consider the various factors that have combined to contribute to poor performance. Companies in today’s global markets have to deal with the widespread problem of employee engagement. The conducted research has revealed a figure of 13% of the fully engaged employees in their companies, globally. This shows the significance of this problem among global organizations, including CST. Considering the importance of employees in organizations, it is worth investing a lot of resources to make them engaged. Employees’ expectations need to be redefined every time after the enactment of new policies and initiatives by managers and stakeholders. The purpose of doing this is to ensure that their expectations are clear and adequately support them to perform at their level best. Although it is important to measure the level of employee engagement, more emphasis should be placed on improving it by closely monitoring essential elements that contribute towards engagement. An effective strategy of enhancing engagement within organizations today is the implementation and cultivation of a transformational culture, supported by performance-based and development strategies. CST is facing the challenge of low staff retention, which is largely contributed by employee burnout, accounting for over 50%. This is a factor of poor management, the inability of employees to understand their expectations and the overall company strategy, and a negative culture in the workplace. What CST needs to understand is that employee turnover is expensive, regardless of the forgone high wages that some of the most experienced employees were earning. The estimated cost of replacing staff ranges between 90-200 percent of annual earnings. The high turnover rate also negatively impacts on remaining employees by lowering their morale. In the highly dynamic modern business world, the ability of managers and business leaders to positively influence employees to remain with their organization is crucial. Additionally, incentives such as basic pay, job security, allowances, career development opportunities, are highly considered by employees when deciding to commit their future to an organization. CST has failed to implement effective strategies for addressing this. Resignation of some of the main specialists in CST is an indication that employees feel they are not appreciated enough, and their efforts are not recognized. Additionally, it seems that rival companies are offering better terms to employees. Staff at CST feel stagnant and lack confidence in developing their career further. Career development does not just entail improved financial positions but also greater responsibility leading to better job experience. CST should also have considered technological advancement within the company’s operations. Incorporation of technology is essential in the attainment of both short term and long term organizational goals. The most successful companies are characterized by high and modern technology. It led to the achievement of both tangible and intangible results through minimized risks and increased competitive advantage. For CST to survive in this highly volatile market, it needs to invest heavily in technology and research on new opportunities, which will increase the company’s competitive advantage and market share.
Recommendations
Close research and investigation on the issues facing CST led to recommendations on various strategies to resolve the situation within the next two years. The recommendations are set to address the three types of issues, including attracting and retaining the best talent, creating a team-based high-performance culture, and building employee performance and capability. To attract and retain employees, the company needs to build stronger relations with the workforce and cultivate a culture that allows employees to grow. To retain the most talented employees, it requires managers and companies to practice and maintain a high level of motivation and recognition of employees’ efforts. An important aspect of engaging employees in the workplace entails the provision of the necessary stimulus and assurance to feel motivated, wanted, fulfilled, and satisfied. An alternative of overcoming disengagement at CST is building career pathways for staff to develop and remain with the company. This may take even the simplest behaviors, such as effective communication, setting clear expectations, and high involvement in decision making lead to improved engagement and productivity. The consultancy team also identified strategies that CST can use to assess the levels of engagement. This involves developing surveys for collecting data related to engagement. This tool will enable the management to identify possible weaknesses as well as remedies for improvement. Additionally, the company can seek information from more experienced employees who have stayed with the company for long, who understands the market better, and what they consider their greatest motivation. Boosting employee efficiency and productivity requires the company to focus on the employees’ lifecycle and develop resources that attract and retain new talent. Identifying new challenges in the workplace is also enables the organization to create new opportunities for employees’ growth. CST should also invest in benefits such as improved salaries, flexible schedules, work-life balance, health allowances, and training facilities to improve employees’ capability. The second set of recommendations entails the creation of a team-based high-performance culture. Team empowerment is essential in enhancing positive organizational performance. Empowerment plays a critical role in the development of staff and their subordinates by offering more opportunities to learn new or advanced roles. Server leadership is a proposed style for CST, as it enables managers to emphasize more on employee empowerment, which improves their performance by discovering their full potential. The company needs to adopt a customized strategy for addressing the individual and collective needs of employees, thus enhancing competitive advantage. An empowerment strategy that CST can adopt is job enrichment, which is considered among the most essential in achieving this. This strategy makes employees at all level departments feel valued, and their efforts appreciated. This motivates them to perform well and feel satisfied in their job positions. CST needs to acknowledge the efforts of its employees and give loyal award staff with higher positions so that they can feel appreciated. Another strategy that CST should consider is implementing a performance-based reward system, a process that connects performance management with employee accountability by creating individual or team objectives to promote continuous improvement.CST needs to recognize employees as its most important asset, which can bring success to the company. The organization should, therefore, implement strategies for the assessment and rewarding individual and team performance. A financial reward system or any other form of compensating team-based performance will directly enhance positive behavior and loyalty. This will also encourage teamwork in the organization. Participative management is also recommended to CST, a strategy that allows and encourages staff to contribute to the organization’s decision-making process. Employees need to participate in decision-making, especially those that are related to performance and motivation, as they know more about the issues they face in the workplace. In this way, they will be more satisfied and motivated to perform better and therefore become willing to be part of the company for a long time. The coaching and mentorship initiative is also recommended for CST to create a team-based high-performance culture. This strategy entails improving individual skills and performance through workplace interaction. The company should create an environment for more experienced staff to assist new employees in settling in their roles and developing their careers. This serves to enhance understanding of the organizational goals and objectives among new staff. It also enhances understanding of employees’ expectations and their required performance level. Additionally, mentoring and coaching allows older employees to learn new technologies and innovations from their newly graduated colleagues who are more updated on modern market trends. Blending innovation and experience is a significant factor in creating a high team performance culture. It also promotes loyalty and retention of experienced and most talented employees, as they feel more responsible for the success of their company. The third set of recommendations relates to developing employee capability and performance. CST should invest more in workforce development aimed at improving and sustaining high-level skills and connecting training with high performance. Sustaining skills can be attained through different strategies, including retraining, on the job training, coaching, and mentorship, among others. This enhances performance through improved teamwork. skills such as strategic reasoning can be enhanced through training programs aimed at acquiring new knowledge. This allows for the planning and rescheduling of business processes to fit the dynamic market needs. This places the organization in a better position to adapt to changes in technology and operations, thus gaining a competitive advantage. CST needs to adopt to managerial strategies that minimize bureaucracy, which is perceived to influence negative performance because it creates a barrier in developing and implementing new ideas. Reduced bureaucracy will promote teamwork and high performance as new ideas will be easier to implement.
Conclusion
CST is in a fragile situation that might be highly destructive to the company in the next few years if not well addressed. The entire challenges revolve around the management of people and teams. When a company is unable to attract and retain the biggest talents, it becomes very difficult to compete with rivals who maintain their highly experienced and innovative staff, especially in the nature of the market that CST operates. Technological organizations need to ensure that they have the best talents and most modern innovations for them to gain competitive advantage and significant market share. Managers also need to develop and cultivate a team-based performance culture that will help to drive positive results. High performance can only be maintained by building employee capability, which equips them with the necessary skills to meet client and stakeholder demands effectively. By implementing the recommendations identified in this paper, CST has an opportunity to improve to achieve the three objectives in two years’ time and get the situation under control.