Interview On Leadership and Employee Motivation at Euromed Laboratories Philippines Inc. SAMPLE OUTPUT ONLY I. Brief Introduction Although companies are successful externally or economically throughout the years, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are also successful internally. Many companies face internal challenges affecting the stability of the organization in terms employeemanagement relationships, leadership issues, as well as employee motivation, performance and commitment issues. The interview conducted with a department head having extensive HR management experience in the corporate and academe setting presents a situation a of a family-owned manufacturing company where organizational behavior exhibits challenges and issues in leadership and employee satisfaction, motivation, performance and commitment, the steps taken to address the situation as well as the consequences to non-application of resolution. II. Profile of the Company: Name: Euromed Laboratories Philippines, Inc. Address: United Nations Avenue, Manila Contact No.(02) 8524 0091 Email: corporate@euromedlab.net Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/Euro-med-Laboratories-Phil-Inc239120086138943/ Nature of Business: Manufacturer of Pharmaceuticals Products: Intravenous fluids, sterile and distilled water Services: Manufacturing and distributing medical devices History of the Company: Established in 1990. A family-owned business III. Profile of the Department Head Name: Dr. Regina C. Dy Age: 64 Educational Background: PhD in Human Resources Management Work Experience: 40 years of corporate experience and 18 years in academe industry Retired from Euromed Laboratories Phils. Inc. in January 2021 Skills and Responsibilities: Department Management and Training Related to Human Resource Management: 1. Trained the whole department for their new SOP’s 2. Trained the department on supervisory skills / decision making skills / communication skills 3. Conducted team building activities IV. Topic for Discussion: Organizational Behavior Regarding Leadership and Employee Motivation, Satisfaction, Performance and Commitment V. Interview Summary: Dr. Gina Dy had been practicing her Human Resource skills as a Departmental Head in Euromed Laboratories Philippines Inc. since year 2000. She was satisfied with her role in the family-owned manufacturing company before she finally retired at the beginning of 2021. For her, she did not have any expectancy of moving to a higher role within the organization as she did not want to add more responsibility to her job. During her employment she had observed and discovered flaws in the organization concerning the employees’ performance, motivation and commitment that needed restructuring. Among these is the continued use of antiquate performance management questionnaires which is inappropriately designed as a one-size-fits-all questionnaire rather than being pertinently anchored on specific job duties and responsibilities of each employee. The company also lacks company-wide trainings such as supervisory skills refresher which could add and enhance skills which managers lack or fail to apply to the department they manage. Another inadequacy of the company is the lack of strategy for conflict management which management can apply as effective leaders to conflicting behavior or situation in the company that arises. Also, there is compensation dissatisfaction due to ambiguous salary grading scheme. Despite the observed flaws, upper management had not provided Dr. Gina with the opportunity to implement changes in order to improve organizational behavior. The interview goes on further to reveal that both job satisfaction and dissatisfaction is prevalent among employees. One reason for this is due to the fact that management would assign employees to jobs that do not match their skills which diminishes the performance level of the employee in a job they did not apply for. Although the company has managers who are good leaders, some are not team players and this creates employee dissatisfaction due to their lack of confidence in their leaders who distance themselves from staff. Leadership trust issues and lack of support from leaders result in lack of motivation and commitment among employees leading to fast turnovers. Upon evaluating the overall employee-manager situation within the company, Dr. Gina addresses her department’s issues through desired leadership skills by encouraging and implementing teamwork . In order to keep them motivated in their work, she treats her team to meals outside the company especially when the department has rush task deadlines. She takes the opportunity to get to know each of her staff personally and this creates comfortable and clear communication between her and her department staff. She makes sure that she explains to them how and what must be done so that they can perform their task more efficiently. Moreover, she displays integrity in her leadership by letting her staff know that she looks after their welfare and avoids blaming or finger pointing, and she “sticks up for them” when the situation arises. Not only does she demonstrate her decisionmaking skills as an efficient leader, she also guides and trains the team to make good decisions as well to enhance their job skills and give them a sense of value in the company. She designs strategies for team motivation to work effectively in accordance with the company’s goals and proven its success by accomplishing acceptable breakage and spoilage percentage, and reaching the target as well as sustaining continuous growth. Changes in the company present challenges to employees and Dr. Gina assessed and resolve these by creating and helping the team adjust to her more standardized methods as well adjustment to her strict protocols. She provided them with positive reinforcement for better behavior and results achieved. She also maintains continuous communication, conduct frequent trainings and develop a close relationship with them in order to improve conditions in the department for the benefit of both employees and the company. Although turnover is fast in some departments where employee do not even last their probationary period, overall the company has not much turnovers. Managers were placed in positions they are not qualified for and consequently lack the managerial and technical skills in running a department, and therefore resulting in fast turnovers. The turnover rate negatively affected the organization as stressed was emphasized in the HR team due to the need to constantly seek new hires under pressure to fulfill the departments’ needs with time constraints. To lessen the turnover rate in her department, Dr. Gina exercised leadership and management skills that would motivate her staff to stay committed, satisfied and enhance their performance in the workplace. She exerted effort in getting to know each staff personally. She expressed this as the “pinagsamahan” system. She implemented the “NO finger pointing for whoever it is at fault”. She showed support to her staff by demonstrating to them that she always take full responsibility for her department in front of the management. She “fought” for their free meal benefit which management approved. This act earned the trust and confidence of the staff and gave them a sense of value and belonging. Dr. Gina also never neglected the need to improve the current skills of her staff by constant training and coaching. Overall, her leadership traits contributed to employee motivation, satisfaction and commitment. VI. Analysis The interview with Dr. Gina presented Euromed Laboratories Philippines Inc. as a company with a deflated organization which neglects the importance of job matching in order to run a company smoothly and successfully. This neglect leads to unsatisfied and unmotivated employees and managers resulting in fast turnovers. Outdated performance tools and questionnaires also do not provide adequate solutions to performance enhancement. Management do not address the need to explore and apply new performance enhancement tools or questionnaires. Each department of the company strives on its own and its success is dependent on the leadership and managerial skills of the department heads. While other departments operate successfully due to desirable leadership traits of its heads, other departments create a sense of uncertainty and dissatisfaction among its staff due to employee-manager distancing and lack of managerial skills. This also doesn’t meet the employees’ need for “belonging”. Another factor affecting employees sense of “security” is the ambiguous compensation design for employees. Overall, the management does not provide opportunities to address the frustrating employee- management situation that affects the overall growth of the company creating a number of unsatisfied, unmotivated and uncommitted employees and managers. VII. Conclusion and Recommendation Although Euromed Laboratories Philippines Inc. continue to run and operate to this very day the company could have done more for the growth of both company and employees in recent years if management were open to newer and more appropriate behavior enhancement tools for the workplace. Openess and clarity in employee salary system must be allowed as well as other employee perks which can motivate employees. A company-wide training must be conducted instead of departmental training which is only done by some departments. Leadership and managerial skills training must also be designed and conducted. Employee-Job match must also be implemented and practiced. Open communication between employee and managers must be applied and encouraged. Team building within must also be conducted within each department and within the company as a whole. Recognition and values enhancing activities must also be part of the employee commitment program. Upper management or company owners should also outsource corporate training executives that would enhance open mindedness among the owners to enable them to realize the importance of providing opportunities to improve the conditions of their organization and thus, leading to a more progressive fulfilling company. VIII. References/Interview Questions: Questions Regarding the Person: - How long have you been in the HR Department? - Do you find satisfaction in your role since your appointment as Department Head? - Do you have any expectancy to take on a higher role within the organization during your stay with the company? - Did you find any flaws in the organization concerning employees that could be restructured? - If ever you were given the opportunity to restructure your organization what changes would you implement that would improve employee behavior? Questions Regarding Current Employees in the Company - How can you describe the dispositions of your employees in your organization? Are they satisfied and content in their respective jobs? - Do you encourage and implement teamwork in your organization? - What do you do to motivate employees as a team? - Do the strategies you design for team motivation work effectively for the organization’s goals? How? - What challenges were faced by your staff and how were you able to resolve these? - What conditions do you observe need to be changed or improved in your department for the benefit of both employee and the company? Questions Regarding Turnovers in the Company - What is the rate of turnovers in your organization? - What were the reasons of the turnovers? - How did the turnover rate affect the organization? - What plans did you implement to lessen the turnover rate in the company Zoom Interview with Dr. Gina Dy (Left) on January 12, 2022 at 2:29PM