Working pressure [Case Study]

Working pressure [Case Study]

 

Written by Allen Lee

 

Case: PepsiCo

Although PepsiCo has been proud of its rapid development and strong competitiveness, its President, andrall E. Pearson, has recently been worried about the intrigue between employees at all levels of the company. According to the survey, 80% of employees once worried about their work. Many employees complain that they are not cared for, do not know what is happening in the company, or tell them how to perform their jobs.

In PepsiCo, the division of duties is not clear, which leads to fierce internal competition. Managers often assign too many tasks to employees and require them to be completed on time. Employees who can successfully complete their tasks are quickly promoted, while others often leave their jobs. On average, each person only works for 18 months in one position. In addition to the high turnover rate, the management team also overemphasized the short-term effect. The promise of rapid promotion attracted many ambitious young people, but most of them stayed in the Pepsi company for a short time. We all said that Pepsi has many positions, but there are few careers.

Pearson asked the supervisors at all levels to give more performance feedback to their subordinates, and asked them to show their true concern for their subordinate interests and growth. In the future, the company will inform each employee of the specific criteria and channels for promotion. The promotion and salary of management personnel will also be partly determined by their guidance and training of subordinates. In addition, the company requires supervisors at all levels to carefully assess the performance of employees, report to them in a timely manner, and explain in detail the basis for bonus distribution.

• 1. What are the sources of pressure on employees of PepsiCo?
• 2. Do you think that President Pearson's measures to reduce the workload of employees are feasible? Why?

Analysis:

Work pressure has become a global hot issue. According to statistics, 46% of American workers think that their work is under great pressure, and 34% of Americans are preparing to change jobs due to heavy stress. Stress not only seriously weakens the work ability of employees, but also harms the physical and mental health of employees. Experts estimate that 50% ~ 70% of physical diseases are associated with stress. In Japan, the number of people who suddenly die due to heavy workload exceeds 30 thousand every year.

In this case, employees of PepsiCo are not spared the pressure. From the case, we can see that the sources of pressure caused by employees are:

1. Workload. This is mainly caused by work overload and time pressures. If an employee is required to complete too many tasks in a short time, the stress may occur.
2. Role Conflict. In the face of unreasonable work requirements, many employees cannot satisfy their superiors even if they perform all the necessary work, which leads to a role conflict. Unreasonable work requirements will make employees feel disheartened, unmotivated, pass by, or simply seek another level.
3. Fuzzy role. Without explicit work requirements, employees cannot have a clear understanding of their work and responsibilities, which will make their work passive, it is not conducive to the enthusiasm of employees, but also makes employees uneasy and confused.
4. Interpersonal relationship. The intrigue and vicious competition within the company will lead to the alienation and misunderstanding of the relationship, and even lead to vicious conflicts, which is not conducive to individual development, but also harmful to the development of the entire organization.

In general, Pearson's processing direction is correct, but this does not mean that the implementation effect is equally satisfactory.

In the four main stress sources mentioned above, interpersonal relationship is the most important stress source. Outstanding managers are well aware that good relationships increase productivity. Through good relationships, they can put forward clear requirements and incentives for employees. If the relationship is not good, misunderstandings may occur frequently. Why does he want me to do this? Does he know how hard these goals are? Does he care? A good relationship helps us clarify misunderstandings and clarify our thoughts. We not only understand what "content" is in our work-goals, rules, and requirements-but also what "why ". Incompetent managers can stay at a distance, for fear that employees may use personal friendship to seek advice.

However, an excellent manager should not only care about the subordinate's work, but also the subordinate's personal situation. An employee with 20 years of experience in advertising companies said:

I have worked for several devil managers and I cannot find them again. I quit a high-paying job because my top boss is too much. My father, who lives outside of China, suffered a severe heart attack. I had to stop all my work and fly to my mother and sister to take care of him. The manager kept calling me and asked me to go back. Then he delivered the live package to my hand-to the hospital! Too much. I sent back my work, and wrote the words "I resigned. Later, I found a new job and didn't know anything about my new boss. After a year of work, my mother suddenly got seriously ill. I think, "it's a bad thing ." But I am wrong. I told the manager that he would ask me to take the first flight home, and the expenses will be reimbursed by the company. He advised me to relax, do everything I should do, and wait for my work to come back. Five years ago, I once determined that "managers" did not have good things and he helped me change my mind.

Obviously, enterprises rely on competent employees who tend not to be loyal to the enterprise because of the so-called superiority of material conditions. The sincere care from superiors can improve employees' engagement to a certain extent.

Many companies believe that if the employee's work efficiency is not high, at least far from meeting the expected requirements, they will be dismissed. However, this practice is obviously problematic. If you do not have a deep understanding of the cause of employee inefficiency, the bad situation will continue to plague the company. Generally, the pressure sources of workload, role conflicts, and blurring are caused by poor management by managers. Therefore, in addition to tracking the performance of employees, enterprises must also evaluate managers. At present, many international companies adopt a 360-degree evaluation system to evaluate managers, in this way, inappropriate managers can be filtered out to some extent.

Pearson's practice relies heavily on the rationality of personnel allocation and arrangement. If the Organization's personnel structure is unreasonable and no suitable candidates are arranged for the corresponding positions, Pearson's approach is likely to cause problems, the employee with 20 years of experience in the above advertising company quit his former high-paying job is a good example.

References:

• Li Jianfeng; organizational behavior management; Renmin University of China Press, 2000
• [Us] Curt Coffman, [US] Gabriel gonzarez-Molina; [medium] Fang Xiaoguang; "Thus, embark on the road to success"; China Machinery Industry Press, 2003
• [Us] Benson Smith, [US] by Tony Rutigliano; [medium] Fang Xiaoguang; discover your sales advantages; China Machinery Industry Press, 2004