Norman doesn't allow any upward influence. He has a vicious temper and takes any complaints or suggestions from subordinates as a personal insult. By doing this Norman has destroyed all lines of communication and lost the ability to receive any upward influence from his subordinates.

One simple solution for Norman would be to learn to control his temper and deal with constructive criticism. By doing this he will become more responsive to the needs and suggestions of his subordinates. The advantage of doing this is that he will receive more feedback about the day-to-day operations of the shipping department. Although there are not many disadvantages of this, one possible disadvantage is that he would need to take time out of his schedule to enter into feedback sessions with his subordinates.

Norman may also want to change the format of his weekly department meetings. Instead of reading the list of e

A hands-on-approach by upper management may also prove useful in alleviating this problem. If upper management spent some time observing and interacting with the shipping clerks they would recognize the origin of the problems. Then they would be able to address the problems before they got to serious. The disadvantage of this solution is that upper management would have to take time away from daily activities in order to observe the clerks.

Norman needs to become more considerate to his employees needs and concerns. By acting more supportive and in a more helpful manner toward his employees, he will be able to build relations with them and gain referent power. The advantage of doing this that once you have developed a relationship with someone the more you can ask of that person.

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To create a productive and effective work environment a manager needs to create a feeling of teamwork and common goals among the employees.

Another possible solution for Norman is to set up priority accounts with large or special clients. These accounts could be handled through the regular channels of the sales office, but they would carry a classification as urgent. This would ensure expedient delivery of good while reducing confusion because they would appear as regular orders to the shipping clerks. By doing this Norman will still get the praise of the sales representatives; on the other hand his is going to increase the workload demanded of people in the sales office.

Norman may also want to petition his boss and the union for more flexibility in rewarding tangible rewards. Tangible rewards such as monetary rewards, sporting event tickets, free meals, ect., all have the potential to increase employee productivity. The disadvantages of this system is that rewards such as these sometimes result in compliance rather than commitment and the employee may do only what is required to obtain the reward and nothing else.

Issue four: Control over information

Norman could also divide his workforce into two teams. One team would only deal with regular customer orders while the other would only deal with the special orders that Norman takes himself. The advantage of this system is that it will reduce role ambiguity and confusion among the shipping clerks. The downfall of this system is that it may create a workload imbalance between the shipping clerks.

Norman's misuse and lack of reward power have been a major source of employee dissatisfaction. He is unable to offer many tangible rewards for employee excellence due to a strong union contract. The reward powers that he does control such as favorable assignments and more overtime he misuses and rewards only to a selected few.

Issue two: Compliance rather than commitment

Leaders have influence over their followers but effective leaders realize that followers also have influence the leader. It is clear from the case that Norman only exercises downward influence, due to his attitude toward his employees and his reactions to their suggestions and comments.

Norman needs to become more considerate to his employees needs and concerns. By acting more supportive and in a more helpful manner toward his employees, he will be able to build relations with them and gain referent power. The advantage of doing this that once you have developed a relationship with someone the more you can ask of that person.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 5566
Approximate Pages = 22 (250 words per page double spaced)