People Management

Running head: PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
People Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note;

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Introduction
Stress is a significant cause of poor work performance, and it can be the result of
many factors. It is a significant issue that both the managers and the employees worldwide
are worried about. Dealing with the theme of poor performance is a robust yet emotive issue,
and it is shocking that most of the organisations fail to address the same (Gross 2017).
However, the given case study of Corey has highlighted that he is expiring in a total of three
factors, and they are home demands, personal demands, and task demands. As per the case
study, Corey, who was once considered to be a high performer by his peers, colleagues and
bosses, has had undergone some changes in his life that have caused him to decrease his work
performance and receive the tag of “less than satisfactory” employee. It is very saddening for
Corey as well as Shadi, his supervisor. This has further led to the impact the organisational
outcomes negatively and loss in customer base. The main aim of this reflective paper is to
describe the case study of Corey and to make use of the things I have learnt throughout my
course in the process of decision making, taking into consideration the practical and ethical
nature of decision making. In shall be a reflection on the quality of decision making regarding
the people in organisations, concerning the case study that I have chosen. I will also be
outlining my practice in this paper.
Background
Corey has been working at his current job for four years, where he has built a rapport
as a high performer. He has consistently received a high-performance rating. However,
recently, Corey’s most recent evaluation completed three weeks ago, rated him as "less than
satisfactory." His supervisor, Shadi, was wondering why his previously active performing
team member was now performing so poorly. After discussing these results with Jennifer,
Corey’s Manager. Shadi found out that about six months ago Corey's behaviour changed at

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work, leading to Corey taking more extended lunches and getting to work later, Corey’s
relationship with the team has started to deteriorate due to Corey’s becoming increasing
short-tempered. Corey has had some personal thing in his life happen; he has separated from
his long term partner and was in the process of negotiating caring responsibility for their
eight-year-old son. In a meeting between Shadi and Corey, Corey advised Shardi that he is
struggling to manage his commitments and the current workload. He mentioned that he was
seeking some assistance outside of work to lead with his changed situation, although he
thought that he would benefit from flexible working arrangements to help. Shadi provided
Corey with a short-term agreement to work from home two mornings of the week to help him
adjust. Three weeks later, Corey's performance had not yet improved, and he had been calling
in sick to work more frequently. Corey's return has caused frustration between the rests of the
team. After a day off from work, Corey came back to the office and discussed his concerns
with Shadi, indicating that he would like to be transferred to another area that was less
pressured.
Motivational theory fitting with the situation
Corey has always been consistently receiving a high-performance rating from his
customers for the last four years. This display the method of need for achievement (nAch)
proposed by McClelland's. McClelland hypothesized that the specific needs of an individual
are acquired with the passage of time, and their life experiences shape them. Majority of
these needs are classified as either power, achievement or affiliation. The effectiveness and
motivation of a person in some job functions are all influenced by all these three needs, and
therefore, this theory is known as the “three need theory” or “learned needs theory”.
According to McClelland’s, the need for achievement (nAch), need for affiliation (nAff), and
the need for power (nPow) are the three primary learned needs of an individual. McClelland’s
theory has concluded that the three motives are mostly independent of each other; a person

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can be high or low on all three, but one is usually dominant. (Kalliath et al. 2014 p. 179). In
Corey's case, the nAch is his dominant trait (Khurana and Joshi 2017). nAch is the needs of
an individual that seeks to accomplish goals that are difficult and challenging; these
individuals typically find environments which provide them with a high level of control and
personal responsibility along with social recognition for their achievements. It is to note that
the people with a high need for achievement (nAch) seek for excelling, and they tend to avoid
both the high-risk and low-risk situations. The achievers avoid low-risk situations as they
believe in the fact that the easily attained success is never a genuine achievement. On the
other hand, in the high-risk projects, the achievers seek the result as one of the chances
instead of one's effort. The individuals with high nAch prefer the work that has a reasonable
chance of success, i.e., 50% chance.
The next theory about Corey's case is that of Operant Conditioning. It is the theory
proposed by B.F. Skinner and is based upon the notion that learning is a function of change in
overt behaviour (Pavlov and Watson 2017). As per the theory, the difference in individual
action is due to the response to events of an individual that cause in his surrounding
environment. It is also to mention that by means of operant conditioning, a person makes
associated between a specific behaviour and its consequences (Usman and Oghu 2019). In the
case of Corey, the recent lacking of Corey is actions that are a result of environmental factors
that are shaping his work behaviour. Due to Corey's relationship breakdown and trying to
navigate caring arrangement for his eight-year-old son, this would be causing stress on
Corey. I think Corey and his manager need to discuss how they can work out some flexible
work-life balance.
Furthermore, the third theory in relation to this case study is that of Adam's Equity Theory. It
was developed by John Stacey Adams, and according to Ryan (2016), it outlines the basics of
the prevailing motivation theory. As per this theory, there are two fundamental elements in