Question

Recruitment and Selection question

Root of the Problem Landscaping is a small yard-maintenance company that got its start in 2006. The company specializes in small-scale operations, including installing and maintaining flower beds, ponds, hedges, and lawns. The company employs five site supervisors and approximately 30 groundskeepers. The owner, Daniel Black, is himself involved in the work performed at most sites and is the sole negotiator of terms with clients. Originally serving only Halifax, Nova Scotia, the company has grown to accommodate clients as far away as the Moncton, New Brunswick area. Now in its third season of operation, however, Black has noticed a decline in his company’s rate CAsE sTudy of growth because the gains associated with opportunities afforded by new clients have been offset by the loss of older ones and also because he is having difficulty maintaining lasting employer–employee relationships. You have been hired on a consulting contract by Root of the Problem Landscaping to investigate why business growth has stalled. You begin by interviewing Black and his site supervisors to establish what, if any, customer feedback they have received, to find out what qualifications both Black and the supervisors have, and to investigate the state of employment satisfaction. Some negative customer feedback is associated with lack of knowledge and skills on the part of both the supervisors and the groundskeepers. Clients have noted that there have been instances where flowers have been removed that should not have been and weeds have gone unnoticed. In addition, there have been some instances where trees and shrubs were not properly planted and cared for. There has been a lack of attention paid to sun/shade and/or depth considerations, so some plants did not survive the winter. Most negative feedback that has resulted in a lack of repeat business is associated with job sites where Black had little or no involvement in the actual landscaping. You notice a tendency for Black to attribute customer dissatisfaction to the customers’ own personality flaws as opposed to anything his company may be doing wrong. The supervisors can provide little or no additional information because, as instructed by Black, they rarely communicate with clients. Your interview with Black has revealed that he has extensive knowledge and skills associated with landscaping as a result of a lifetime of hands-on experience. He is also passionate about his work. You also notice that he doesn’t know where his knowledge came from and sometimes thinks specialized knowledge that he has should be common sense to others. Black’s employees have limited knowledge of landscaping compared to Black’s knowledge, and what they have seems to have been gained by learning on the job with Root of the Problem Landscaping. You have noticed that many of the employees seem to be dissatisfied with their workplace environment, and some report that they find Black to be unprofessional and inconsiderate as an employer. Jobs are often interrupted or delayed because of a lack of proper inventory procedures, resulting in frequent trips to hardware stores, etc. You notice some employees having difficulty with lifting tasks and the operating of machinery. Some employees are working with two gloves and others with only one or none. Some employees seem to be suffering from aches and pains, and you can see bad sunburns on their bodies because of a lack of sunscreen use. Some older and less agile employees seem to be attempting physically demanding tasks while the younger, fitter employees are engaged in less strenuous activity. You have been observing Root of the Problem Landscaping both when Black is there and when he is not. When Black is present, the job seems to get done, but you notice he often has to go back and work on tasks that were not completed properly by his employees. When fixing a problem, he tends to complain to the employees but does not instruct them on how to do it properly in the future. You observe instances where Black is unduly harsh in his criticisms of the employees and seems to lack some people skills. There is evidence that the employees do not have respect for Black and his business when you observe them “cutting corners” on the job when he is absent. As a result, there is ongoing turnover.

Questions

1. If Black had conducted a job analysis prior to employee selection, how might his company have benefited? Include considerations of employer, employees, and clients.

2. Using the O*NET website, if you type “landscaper” into the space pro-vided for the occupational quick search, a list of job titles appears. Select the “first-line supervisors/managers of landscaping” job title and review the knowledge, skills, and abilities listed. Which of these does Black cur- rently possess? Which of these is he lacking? What about the employees?

3. How would you improve the situation? What would you do in hiring new employees? What would you do with Mr. Black?

Answer 1

If Black had conducted a job analysis prior to employee selection, how might his company have benefited? Include considerations of the employer, employees, and clients.

If Black had conducted a job analysis prior to employee selection, Black could be hired people more adequately with enough knowledge according to the duties employees will have to perform, also with a job analysis Black is able to know how to train his employees so that everyone has the same knowledge to do the job, and how much he has to pay employees for his job; also, Black are going to know which equipment is required for the job and for the employees so that employees can have a health and safety workplace. For the side of employees, having a job analysis they will know exactly what their duties are, having as result an excellent job performance because they also are going to be paid accordingly to their job; moreover, employees with the appropriate knowledge and preparation can perform their job in an excellent way, making clients feel happy with the job done and willing to come back to Root of the Problem Landscaping

Using the O*NET website, if you type in “landscaper” into the space provided for the occupational quick search, a list of job titles appears. Select the “first-line supervisors/managers of landscaping” job title and review the knowledge, skills, and abilities listed. Which of these does Black currently possess? Which of these is he lacking? What about the employees?

The knowledge Black currently have is how to are to administrate and manage the company, customer and personal service, sales and marketing, economics and accounting; But, he has lack of knowledge in how to train his employees and how to share his knowledge with them in order to improve work performance.

The skills he has are monitoring the job, time management, is active learning; however, in this case, Black is having a large list of lack of skills such as active listening, coordination, speaking, complex problem solving, judgment and decision making, instructing, learning strategies, and persuasion

However, I think the main problem of Black with his employees is the lack of abilities, such as oral expression and comprehension, deductive reasoning, and speech clarity since is difficult for him to explain what he wants from his employees.

On the other hand, employees have knowledge as a landscape and grounds maintenance labourer, but they need to be trained.