The Role of Line Managers In Improving Employee Performance

The report provides a detailed examination of Cranswick, Sutton Fields Site organisational culture practices to determine the role played by the line managers in improving employee performance. Recently, the firm has experienced changes in leadership resulting from discriminatory complaints from a section of the employees. The site is also a subsidiary of the larger organisation which is popularly known for its excellence services in the production and supply of food products. As such, an issue of concern arises when managers perform contrary to the expectation of the industry policies yet Cranswick is an important contributor to the social and economic welfare of U.K Economy.

Studying about organisational culture at Sutten Fields and the impact of managers in influencing employee performance presents an opportunity to develop existing literature that is divided on the role of line managers at departmental and organizational levels. The study takes an interpretive approach through the use of qualitative techniques to obtain data and make recommendations for improvement. By focusing on the culture of the firm in the perspective of the employees, the report provides and insightful discussion that sets a foundation for the line managers to build a working environment that accommodates all the affected stakeholders.

Introduction

The nature of a firm’s business model influences the organizational structure and culture. While the former depicts the strategies and resources needed to implement the corporation’s wealth, profit and growth maximization goals, culture stipulates the shared beliefs and values that determine the behaviour of individuals in an organization. Culture strongly influences people by affecting their emotional and physical attachment to the vision and mission statements. A well-laid out and healthy culture has a positive impact on firm’s performance. With this regard, the project will examine the organizational culture applied at Crunswick, Sutton Fields with the intention of determining the role of organizational influencers in motivating workers to adopt a high performing culture.

Perceptions and views of the employees on the firm and how the underlying culture impacts their performance are used to make recommendations for practical purposes. The report utilizes various models including PURCEL and AMO to define the role of employees in individual positions and how their actions and values motivate the subordinates to adopt a productive culture. Line managers lead by example since they are they are directly engaged in implementing the organization’s vision at a functional level. The line managers position the department in a manner that allows for effective and efficient operations. Armstrong and Taylor (2014) noted that line managers are instrumental in driving the agenda of the company by placing employees in their respective job roles, supervising operations and developing values that establish the mission of the specific unit. A motivated and highly performing manager breeds a functional team that is energized to generate positive outcomes. The case study of Cranswick provides a strong foundation in the evaluation of organizational culture and role played by role managers in developing an effective team as discussed in the rest of the report.

Organizational Background

A constituent of the FTSE, London Stock Exchange, Cranswick PLC operates in the food industry as a producer and supplier of fresh supplies. Founded in 1974, the company has grown to become one of the leaders in the industry by offering food solutions to grocery retailers and food service wholesalers (Cranswick, 2017). With estimated annual revenue of $1.2 billion, Cranswick has multiple competitive advantages that continue to position the brand in the global marketplace. One of the core resources that has enabled Cranswick retain its financial strength and continue to develop and penetrate new markets is the employees. By the close of 2017 trading period, the firm had 5614 employees working in its 12 production facilities across the United Kingdom (Cranswick, 2017). To survive and maintain market position and sustainability prospects, the workers, supported by the line managers play a critical role.

Cranswick focuses on employee engagement programs to develop its operational strategies. The programs are calibrated to assist employee link their particular job descriptions with the purposes and objectives of the firm (Cranswick, 2017). Through the Annual Staff Survey program, the workers are able to provide their views on different activities and conditions of the organization for improvement purposes. Communication is enabled through the Works Committee and regular meetings that are set up by the company’s directors. In addition, workers are attached to role models who work in collaboration to mentor and offer guidance in a personal and professional manner. The workers are able to identify with their role models who act as examples and as such, employees are able to emulate their actions when conducting their day to day operations. The firm further reports that line managers are periodically offered training so that they are positioned to empower, support and motivate their functional teams in implementing the core strategies of the organization. Notable is also the Employee Engagement Strategy that is utilized in building relationships among the employees to ensure that they are creative and innovative (Cranswick, 2017).

The above assertions are documented and stipulate the intentions of the brand in cultivating a culture that propels the employees to become emotionally and physically engaged in the activities of the organization so that goals are realized. It is evident that the company is aware of the importance of the workforce and line managers during the planning and implementation of strategies. If the line managers carry out their mandate as expected by motivating the workers to remain resilient in performing their roles for better outcomes, then the organization is assured of market sustainability. Through the documented policies, implementation of the engagement and other employee appraisal programs and support of the line managers, the company’s culture is established (Schein, 2016). For instance, the company greatly utilizes the top-down approach to communicate and deliberate on strategies suitable for running its affairs. As such, the likelihood of having strong connections between the leaders and individual workers is low as explained by the Purcell framework in the literature review section of this paper. 

Sutton Fields

The assumption of the organization, which has headquarters in Hull, UK, is that the aforementioned culture is replicated across the 12 production facilities (Cranswick, 2017). Notably, functions are decentralized such that each facility has a manager that is assisted by several line managers to conduct operations on behalf of the brand. Sutton Fields employs 430 permanent employees and a further 100 part-time workers to help in various job roles depending on their experience and skill sets (Cranswick, 2017). In the past two years, the site has experienced changes in leadership structure after the manager was removed from his position due to reports of harassment and bullying incidences. Such claims greatly influence the culture of the workers given that the line managers have a direct influence on employee performance.

The paper therefore seeks to establish the connection between the actions of line managers at Sutten Fields and how they influence performance of the workers by way of establishing the working culture.

Research Objectives

By focusing on Cranswick, Sutten Fields as case study, the project is guided by the following objectives.

1. Provision of a critical analysis of organizational culture. Culture depicts the values exhibited by workers and as a result, influences their motivation which affects productivity.

2. Determination of the factors that impact performance of the workers at Sutten Fields site including food safety, conduct issues and underlying organizational policies. The applicable business model affects the operating environment which ultimately influences the culture.

3. Assess the strategic importance of focusing on organisational culture and how the human resource department impacts performance.

4. Establish the right approaches to promote a healthy working culture and come up with recommendations to assist the line managers motivate the workers to remain engaged and produce positive returns.

Literature Review

To meet the mentioned objectives of the project, this section provides a review that utilizes a conceptual and holistic approach for a comprehensive analysis. The review focuses on recent documentations that offer knowledge on the role of line manager in improving employee performance by applying practical human resource (HR) models including Purcell and Amo. In addition, the role of line managers in conducting the devolved HR activities as part of job description is examined to offer practical insights as to how culture is developed at a functional level.

Definitions

Organisational culture

The underlying beliefs and assumptions that guide interactions between people in an organization constitute culture. According to Hogan and Coote (2014), culture influences how employees relate and identify with their organization.

Line manager

The line manager plans, coordinates, supervises and controls operations at unit level. Line managers equally manage the employees by assigning them tasks and supervising their day to day operations at the organization (Bolino et al. 2016). The line manager reports to senior personnel on behalf of the unit and organization. Evidently, line managers are in direct contact with the workers in the day to day operations of the firm.

Role of Manager in Increasing Employee Performance

A research managed by Sue Hutchinson, Associate Professor in Briston Business School revealed that line managers are of importance in people management and operational performance (UWE Bristol, 2017). The researchers built on earlier work that sought to identify the role of people management on organisational performance. The empirical evidence obtained from the study established that line managers affect employee behaviours, attitudes and values by the way they approach the issue of leadership and people management, and as such, they drive success of a firm (UWE Bristol, 2017).

A series of case studies were utilized with the intention of acknowledging the contextual nature of the role of line managers. The authors studied a number of firms including Tesco, DAS and Nationwide. The findings showed that line managers no longer perform the traditional roles of supervision but are increasingly being involved in complex and ambiguous roles and more responsibility in the area of people management. The study noted that the managers are often overlooked and unsupported essentially due to conflict of responsibilities, work overload, and absence of adequate skills and training. Sue Hutchison and associates recommended for an improvement in practical skills, support and behaviour needed for adequate people management.

In an article about the role of managers in uplifting organisational performance, Kurkarni (2016) noted that line managers are the strongest link between a firm and employees and as such, they must act as instrumental levers in the development of worker’s performance. Kurkarni (2016) argued that learning and development should be considered in equipping and empowering line managers become efficient in establishing a productive work environment. The author outlined a framework, namely 5As that depicts how line managers contribute to the agenda of the organization through learning and development. The 5As include, linking departmental goals with the strategy of the company, anticipate positive returns, establishment of a team, promote effective job application and accountability.

It is upon the line managers to consider the personal and professional needs of the workers when designing learning objectives. Workers depict diverse characteristics and talent that are influenced by social, economic and professional backgrounds. Understanding that employees are unique gives the managers opportunity to design varying training and development materials for a healthy working environment. Kurkani (2016) asserts that consideration on the strategies of the company and how they match with the skill sets exhibited by workers is important to promote a seamless relationship.

Line managers are suited to correlate learning inputs with performance outcomes (Kurkarni, 2016). Expectations on the job should be clearly outlined by cultivating a high performance mindset. Success should be envisioned in conjunction with the team members. To improve the working environment, managers are advised to create connections with the employees so that that they are positioned to learn individual learning expectations, needs and outcomes. Kurkarni (2016) recommends development of state of creative tension which Fung (2016) defines as a culture of consistent upgrading within the alliance. Learning discussions that can be enabled through virtual communities, proactive assessments and mentorships are some of the strategies considered beneficial in the development of healthy and successful working alliances.

Siemens (2014) noted that 85% of job knowledge is learned on the job and just 15% is learned through formal and informal training programs. As a result, it is recommended for line managers to continuously devise new job roles, responsibilities, and methods for employees so that they can practically implement their jobs and become effective for better performance. In this regard, a culture of trust is placed on the employees such that the line manager has total faith in their ability to commit to the job and produce outcomes (Siemens, 2014; Kurkarni, 2016). Learning should then be tied with performance and career goals such that there is constant analysis of outcome versus projected results for improvement.

Barbara (2014) conducted an empirical research to identify the roles and skills required by line managers to become effective performance coaches as well as the benefits attributed to the entire organisation. Quantitative methodology that involved a sample size of 45,000 employees across various industry sectors in Africa was utilized. Line managers with varying degrees of work experience and skills participated in the study. The findings of the study concluded that line managers are aware of their role in bridging performance gaps of their employees. The coaches identified their different roles which include mentorship, provision of support and enabling performance. The study further revealed that in most instances, good performers require less mentorship than poor performers. The line managers have set weekly or monthly frequencies for the coaching programs in an effort to improve employee’s job performance.

In line with the above studies, conceptual frameworks, namely Purcell and AMO that best explain the practical implications of the role of managers in improving employee performance are discussed.

Purcell Model

Purcell et al. framework, also referred to the people-performance model is based on two assumptions: that all employees have the potential of participating in discretionary behaviours and, line managers are have discretion in the manner in which they apply HR practices and how they behave towards employees as illustrated in figure 1 (Savaneviciene, 2010).

The model argues that employees possess the required skills to perform their roles successfully. In addition, the workers are adequately motivated by being provided with the required incentives and opportunities (Savanaviciene, 2010). The work environment should be healthy by promoting healthy work life balance. Through the model, it is evident that the organization is responsible for setting up practices and programs that are motivating so that workers are geared towards performance. The line managers are in direct contact with the employees and it is their mandate to establish conditions that motivate them to excel in their jobs.

Purcel et al. recommends a number of HR practices that are adequate in building performance which include job security, performance appraisal, career growth, professional life balance, communication, training and development and job satisfaction. When all these HR practices are provided at an individual level and in a balanced manner, line managers are positioned to promote high performance among the workers for excellence.

Role of Line Managers in Devolving HR Practices: Theory Application

AMO Model

According to Guest (2011), work performance is impacted by ability, motivation and opportunities available for the workers to maintain their personal and professional well being, and make meaningful contributions to the organization. Employees should be equipped with the necessary skills and resources to perform their different roles. In addition, there should be adequate intrinsic and extrinsic incentives to maintain the morale towards their jobs (Boxall et. al. 2016). Career growth opportunities should also be availed by creating new roles and penetrating and developing new markets so that workers are geared towards performance. Boxall et al. (2016) and Guest (2011) noted that if one of the components is missing in the equation, then work performance is below average. The three should be available in balanced proportions to maintain high performance levels. Given that line managers directly manage operations and employees on behalf of the organization, it is upon them to ensure that ability, motivation and opportunities elements of HRM are adequately provided.

The review sets the foundation of understanding the role of line managers in influencing performance of employees at Sutten Fields. It is evident that HRM is now devolved to the line managers and as such, they are of critical importance in upgrading productivity at unit and organizational levels.

Methodology

A mixed approach method is applied to obtain data from the respondents and analysis of the findings. Quantitative techniques comprising of interviews and questionnaires are used to determine the opinions of the managers and employees on the issues, and departmental data including accident statistics and breach in contract are obtained in determining broad trends. Appendix A is an illustration of the various methods used to capture data.

In particular, the project utilizes the interpretivist approach. There are two primary approaches used in social sciences for research, positivist and interpretivist (Lindlof and Taylor, 2017). Positivists are poised towards the application of scientific quantitative techniques such as social surveys, official statistics and structured questionnaires (Mark, 2007). The motivation for using the methods is that positivists believe that the society and social acts shape individual actions. On the other hand, interpretivists mainly use humanistic qualitative methods including unstructured interviews and participant observation. Interpretevists are of the assumption that people are not ‘puppets’ who just react to the social forces (Lindlof and Taylor, 2017). People are intricate and complex and as such, they react to same objective realities differently and as such, scientific approaches are not efficient.

Based on nature of the research question, interpretivist approach is the most appropriate philosophical approach. Employees are diverse and as such, they present different attributes and values. As a result, they react differently to situations. Based on Maslow Hierarchy model, some workers in the same department have varying needs such that some seek for job security, others are more concerned with the safety attributes of the workplace while others are inclined towards actualization (Healy, 2016). Management should therefore provide a variety of incentives and work conditions for individual satisfaction. Notably however, there are constant variables that influence performance in similar proportions. Such conditions include the ability of line manager to effectively communicate job roles and expectations, treating all workers fairly, honesty and integrity. The interpretivist model is therefore the most suitable for this project.

Both primary and secondary data sources are used to build on the research. Primary data is used to determine the exact views of the workers about the culture of Sutten Fields and how it influences their work performance. In addition, line managers are interviewed to access their contribution in improving the conditions of the workers and subsequent job performance. Secondary data is obtained from the company’s report and surveys to make comparison between the ‘documented truths’ and the ‘real truth’.

Findings, Analysis and Discussion

Findings  

A survey titled ‘Your Say’ by Smith and Anderson (2018) constituted part of the secondary source used to generate information about the underlying organizational culture at Sutton Fields. The intention of the survey was to establish the view of employees on the Cranswick. The first section of the report tackled issues dealing with the employee’s empowerment, personal growth, recognition, engagement levels, health and safety and well-being as presented in Appendix B.

72 percent of the workers claimed to have had a favorable induction period. 88% of the workers asserted that they felt welcome during the first days of work while only 13% felt unwelcome. Further, 75% of the worker said that the training that occurred during the first 12 weeks of job enrollment helped them to be aware of the job expectations in terms of performance. 25 percent of the workers found no connection between the 12 weeks training and on the job performance expectations.56 percent of the workers claimed that the outcome of working at Cranswick matched with the initial expectations but 44% found no connection between expectations and results of working at the firm.

Notably, only 8 percent of the workers believed that the salary and wages received are comparable to other people in rival organizations. 72 percent of the workers were not satisfied with the offered financial incentives. 69% of the workers were aware of the company’s values and how they affect the overall goals at departmental and organizational levels. 

With respect to the role of the line manager, only 59% of the workers believed that their supervisor treated them as human beings in need of care and respect. 74% of the workers said that the manager sets high performance goals and only 54% asserted that the manager was committed to educating them about change and how it affects them at personal and professional levels. 52 percent of the workers believed that the manager helped them perform better while 33 percent found no laudable association between the leadership exhibited by the line manager and individual employee performance expectations. Only 41% of the workers said that communication from leadership is open and honest. Generally, most of the workers had no confidence in the leadership exhibited by the management.

Appendix C is an illustration of the viability of accidents at the site between years 2017 and 2018. Prevalence of accident cases varies per department with 0.3 percent being the average rate. With regards to health and safety, 56% of the workers at Sutten Fields believed that promotion of an accident-free zone is a priority to the management. 64 percent felt that line managers are committed to provision of a secure working environment. However, only 44% of the workers, less than the total population perceived the working environment to be healthy enough to enable them speak out about health and safety related issues as shown in Appendix B.

Appendix D presents data about non-conformance to production policies. The procedural breaches per department are provided. In almost all the sectors of the field site, the firm is accused of conducting activities in ways that are not in accordance to the stipulated industrial and health policies. The issues are of critical nature since RED non-compliance is issues of the highest breach given that they concern food safety. A total of 84 issues are outstanding and no corrective action has been taken by the management. The high number of issues relating to food safety, which is the foundation in which the brand is developed, means that the managers are not willing to address and enhance food safety. The implication of the breaches is that employees may become complacent in their roles and the culture of non-compliance is translated across the firms sectors.

From the company’s report, the organization provides periodical training and development programs to ensure that employees are engaged in their jobs (Cranswick, 2017). In addition, the firm documents Gender Pay-Gap report as a strategy to showcase its commitment in providing a healthy working environment for the workers, in particular women who in most instances are marginalized (Walker, 2017). Noteworthy, most of the information about the organizational cultural practices at Sutten Fields are obtained directly from the employees –through the surveys- and indirectly from the line managers using the company reports and documented policies. The above data is used to provide a discussion of the findings and possible recommendations.

Discussion 

The critical focus for the HR function is to support the organisation in achieving its core mission and vision statements. However this can only be accomplished through successful competition in its labour market. To put this into context, the firm is involved in finding and recruiting the right people who have the required skills and attitudes and are prepared to work at the rates of pay offered and in the conditions which the organisation is able to provide (Long et al, 2016).  What does all this mean for Cranswick PLC and specifically the Sutton Fields site situated in Hull?

From the Smith and Henderson survey and company’s reports, it is evident that training and development opportunities are offered to the workers accordingly. However, the line managers tend to focus on the employees when they are new to the organization and that is why satisfaction rate for the induction level is at 88%. With time however, the workers tend to become disengaged since the line managers are not considerate of their personal needs. There lacks consistency in the line managers efforts to connect with the workers at a personal and professional level. According to John and Bjorkman (2015), line managers act as HR representatives since they are in direct contact with the workers by providing the needed skills and training to perform their various roles. If the managers are only concerned with the output without considering the personal needs of the workers, satisfaction levels go down leading to unhealthy relations. Employees want to be appreciated and entrusted with the goals of the firm at an individual level. Given that the managers at Sutten fields are more concerned with reaching targets at the expense of employees, there exists a gap with respect to productivity.

 The company’s policy on recruitment is such that 95% of the workers are based in the local areas as a way of uplifting the social welfare of the community. The focus for the site is a 10 mile radius from Sutten Fields such that most of the current workforce lives within the region (Cranswick, 2017). The approach however marks the boundary for most jobs simply because they are not as well paid or exciting in career terms as so to attract people from other regions. Whilst the boundary is small in terms of concentration for the site, the diversity of ethnic backgrounds is vast. This is driven by the fact that the surrounding regions of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire are flooded with low skilled labourers, plus the availability of food manufacturing and the local farming industries. These industries employ a large number of overseas staff who are interested in improving their earning power, building up work experience or desiring to experience the opportunity of living overseas for a period of time. At the Sutten Fields site, Si there are currently 140 permanent Polish employees, 35% of the entire workforce, 10% of permanent staff are of Romanian origin a figure rising month on month (Cranswick, 2017).

By encouraging individuals from the local region to apply for jobs at the site, the firm is said to be socially responsible. Corporate social responsibility is an initiative that is applied to improve the livelihoods of the community members even as the firm focuses on the core strategies; wealth, profit and growth maximization prospects. First, the firm is able to connect with the local community leading to a high reputation. Growth of the firm is of benefit to the members and as such, employees will be committed to high performance so that more individuals from the community get job opportunities (CIPD, 2017). Secondly, the region is home to people from different ethnic and economic backgrounds. Such attributes lead to a more diverse workforce thus leading to more creativity. A diverse team possesses wide knowledge that when adequately used leads to creation of innovative ideas that can be used to improve operational strategies for a better competitive advantage.

Although employee diversity breeds innovative aspects for Sutton Fields, in contrast, it makes it difficult for the line managers to provide a balanced incentive program. According to Sue and Rasheed (2015), in a competitive and pressurizing work environment, managers carry the burden of balancing the needs of multiple workers given that they come from different backgrounds. The employees share a common organizational goal but varying professional and personal needs. Line managers are therefore encouraged to implement a variety of incentive programs so that the workers can identify with the ones that maximize their needs at an individual level. From the survey, most of the workers claimed that the manager is more focused on performance rather than the techniques and environment in which the production takes place.

The firm is production incentive and as a result, accident occurrence rate is high. In appendix C, it is evident that in most of the facilities, accidents are prone to occur. Such a situation is unfavourable to the organization given that it creates tension such that rather than focusing on the job at hand, employees concentrate on avoiding falls and injuries. Wetzel and Thebet (2015) reported that sites should have zero tolerance to accidents to avoid legal suits and damaging reputation. Given that accident incidences are prevalent in most of the units, it is evident that the management is not totally committed to eradicating the problem. The employees may feel unappreciated and given that more than 60% of the workers claimed that they are not free to give views regarding safety and health at the workplace, the working culture is not healthy for productivity. Notably, 52% of the workers reported that they believe the management will not take the results of the survey into consideration.

The implication of such findings is that there is no open communication between the employee and the employer. The organization therefore practices a top-down approach which according to Fulmer and Ostroff (2017) provides no opportunity for relationship growth. The strategy is such that employees are recipient of major decisions and their role is to implement without questioning (Neal, 2005). Only the resilient workers tend to ask questions by risking their job security status. Given the low unemployment rate, employees at the site will therefore assume the issues so that they do not lose their status quos.