Investigating High Turnover Rates of Consultants at XYZ Training

This report examines the high turnover rate of training consultants at XYZ Training, focusing on the impact of leadership changes and motivational factors. It analyzes the shift from a previous open management style to a new leadership approach under Fiona, highlighting the removal of key elements...Read More

Running head: HIGH TURNOVER OF CONSULTANTS
HIGH TURNOVER OF CONSULTANTS
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
Employee engagement refers to the relationship between the employees and the
organization. An employee who is engaged feels enthusiastic and good about their work and
therefore takes pride in their work and also help in improving the reputation of the organisation.
According to the equity theory of motivation whenever the employees feel that they are not
being treated fairly they change their actions accordingly. The company XYZ Training
consultant is the company chosen for the purpose of this study. This company is presently facing
the same problems of demotivation and high attrition rates of training consultants. The main aim
of the paper is discuss about the various motivational factors that are presently missing in the
company and to recommend some strategies that can immediately be carried out by the
company. The paper will discuss about various motivational theories, analyse all the major
motivational factors, reasons for poor leadership and recommendations of strategies for
improving the employee engagement.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Application of employee engagement theories for identification and discussion on the elements
that existed in the old organizational environment and which all elements are removed in the new
environment under Fiona’s Leadership...........................................................................................4
Explanation and analysis of the training consultant’s behaviour using organizational justice and
equity theory of motivation.............................................................................................................6
Reflection on instances where Fiona’s leadership may not be suitable...........................................8
Immediate changes that should be made by Fiona to improve the staff engagement and
motivation at XYZ.........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Employee engagement refers to the relationship between the employees and the
organization and also refers to the level of commitment that the employees feel towards the
organization. It also includes the way employees behave on the basis of their engagement with
the organization. For instance an engaged employee will feel god about their job and therefore
they can help in improving the goodwill of the organization (Aguenza and Som 2018). The
equitable theory of motivation discusses about the distribution of all the resources between the
various concerned parties and measures the ratio of contribution and benefits so derived by each
of them. The company chosen for the purpose of this study XYZ Training consultancy. The
company under study is being faced by the same problems of high attrition rates of the training
consultants because of lack of motivation and other employee engagement activities in the
organization (Albrecht et al. 2015). The main aim of the paper is to discuss about the importance
of employee engagement activities and equity motivation al theories to ensure fair and equitable
treatment of the employees. The paper discusses about all those motivational elements that are
missing in the company, the theory of equitable motivation in the organization, discussion on
reasons for unsuitable leadership style in the organization and the paper will also discuss about
all those strategies that can be immediately used by the leader to improve employees
engagement.

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Discussion
Application of employee engagement theories for identification and discussion on
the elements that existed in the old organizational environment and which all
elements are removed in the new environment under Fiona’s Leadership
The employee engagement theory discusses about the ability of the leaders to engage all
the employees in the organization such that they feel engaged with their job and to the
organization. The leader ensures that all the employees feel committed to the organization. When
the employees are engaged they give their full attention to the job and they are inspired to their
best. It is actually a two way relationship between the employees and the employer and the way
they respect each other through open communication, transparency in all their activities and
others. It includes- job satisfaction, employee commitment and empowerment of the employees.
Job satisfaction refers to the level of happiness the employees derive from their jobs because of
the employer. When the workforce is happy they are productive therefore employee engagement
includes job satisfaction. Employee commitment refers to the feeling of connection of the
employees with the organization. Employee engagement also includes empowerment of
employees such that they can freely communicate about their ideas and any other information
freely and easily with the management. Some of the major characteristics of the engaged
employees according to the theory are that of- they are motivated, they are engaged, and they
feel empowered and these employees help in improving the overall performance and reputation
of the organization (Carasco-Saul, Kim and Kim 2015).
The employees of the company under study were motivated more when the ownership of
the company was there is Tim the father of Fiona because he had adopted an open style of

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management. Staffs was empowered to enter his office at any time to discuss on some important
issues and this habit was a result of the organizational structure. Tim’s office was located on the
same floor as that of the consultants moreover the washroom facilities and canteen facilities was
also shared by the consultants and the managerial people (Dabke 2016). This made the
employees feel that there was equitable treatment of all the people in the organization and
therefore they felt free to discuss any issues faced by them that was also immediately dealt with
and therefore it helped in improving the performance of the organization and led to more
informal communication between all. On Friday, Tim ensured that he had a meeting directly with
the staff and the training consultants such that they could discuss about the progress of trainings,
about clients and other issues and it would end with a plan for the next week that is what will be
done in the next week (Musringudin, Akbar and Karnati 2017). Such meeting helped the staff in
understanding what is expected from them by Tim. Tim was also engaged in all the aspects of
business as he directly discussed with the clients on the training material and the delivery
schedules and therefore provided customized services to them. Moreover the staffs were engaged
in determination of their work schedules and they were consulted before work was assigned to
them (Huang, Ryan and Mujtaba 2015). The salary and other facilities for the full time
consultants of training as also different from others. Tim conducted yoga sessions for improving
the wellbeing of the staff. A performance appraisal system was there when Tim was the
managing director of the company and people received rewards for their good performance.
After Fiona became the managing director she brought changes to all the above factors that
affected the motivational factors of the employees and they started resigning.

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Explanation and analysis of the training consultant’s behaviour using
organizational justice and equity theory of motivation
Organizational justice refers to the perception of the people about the fairness at the
workplace. These perceptions are basically of 4 main types- distributive, procedural,
interactional and informational. Procedural justice refers to the processes perception that leads to
certain outcome. Distributive justice refers to the fairness and equality of outcome. Interpersonal
justice refers to fairness in interactions between people and informational justice refers to events
of justice of various accounts. Employees care about such justice perceptions in organizations,
there is a process behind formation of employees perception of fairness and it has an impact on
their reactions in case of perceived injustice. The equity theory of motivation on the other hand is
dependent upon the principle of equity (Karanges et al. 2015). According to this theory, the
motivation of the employees is directly related with their perception of equity, justice and
fairness in the organization where they are employed. The employee’s motivation is higher when
they feel that there is higher degree of justice and equity in the organization and vice-versa. In
order to measure the fairness in the organization, the employees finds out the ratio of their
contribution to the outcome achieved by them and compares the same with others. There can be
an equity tension in the organization when the ratio as calculated by the employee for himself
and for others is unequal.

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Figure 1: Equity motivation theory
Source: (Lăzăroiu 2015)
In the company under study, there is a state of equity tension because the employees are
not given any rewards for their good performance but are given rewards when they follow
whatever is said by Fiona the managing director of the company without asking any question.
Whenever the staffs oppose any decision of Fiona he is given tasks of poor schedule and full day
training on Saturdays. While those people who follow Fiona direction and they are placed in
Fiona’s good book are the ones who are given work schedules of their choice and various other
benefits such as promotions and training. Moreover Fiona had decided to remove the old
performance appraisal system since she considered it as waste of time and all promotions and
other opportunities were not dependent upon the capabilities of the personnel but depended upon
Fiona’s discretion (Osabiya 2015). Further there was a complete change in the organizational

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structure and included a new layout of office where Fiona and other HOD’s were given private
office of their own in the ground floor and all the consultants even belonging to different grades
had to occupy an open plan office that was there in the third floor. The washroom and the
canteen facilities were also separated for the consultant group and management group. The new
grading system differentiated the consultants on the basis of their experience but this was
considered as a wrong practise because it under-recognized the efforts of all those consultants
who had recently entered the organization and had much more qualification and were working
for as many hours as the tenured consultants. Therefore all these factors led to demotivation of
the employees on grounds of unfair treatment of the employees and therefore the attrition rate of
the organization was continuously increasing. Therefore such practices of unfair and inequitable
treatment of the employees led the consultants to behave in that way.
Reflection on instances where Fiona’s leadership may not be suitable
Fiona’s leadership is not suitable for contemporary organizations because an effective
leader in the context of modern businesses is one who has self-awareness, knows how to treat
people fairly, can motivate others in the organization, empower the employees and be capable of
engaging the employees to the organization. An effective leader must be aware of their strengths
and weaknesses such that they can improve the same. An effective leader believes in theory of
equity and treats people fairly and equally and gives an opportunity to all to show their
capabilities. An effective leader knows how to motivate others through proper rewarding system
in place that can reward people on the basis of their capabilities and not on the basis of their likes
and dislikes. Such a leader should be capable of having open communication with the employees
by creating such a climate and culture in the organization. Such leaders believe in empowering
the employees such that they can feel to take up various responsibilities. These leaders are

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capable of engaging people in the organization by developing the sense of belongingness in the
organization and to their work. This way they look after problems of absenteeism and turnover
problems and feeling of dissatisfaction. Fiona changed the entire organizational structure that
made the employees feel that there was not equity because there were different canteen facilities
and washroom facilities and the offices of the management, the employees and the managerial
staff was separated from each other. Further, she removed the yoga sessions that was started by
the previous managing director for the well-being of the people. The consultants and the staff felt
good about the same activity and these activities were earlier acting as motivational factors.
Moreover the employees felt motivated due to the performance appraisal system in place in the
organization through which their high performance was rewarded and therefore they were taking
efforts to work properly. However, with Fiona becoming the managing director, she removed the
performance appraisal system in the organization and categorized the consultants not on the basis
of their capability but on the basis of their experience and this new grading system dissatisfied all
those new consultants who were highly qualified and worked for same hours as the tenured ones.
The tenured consultants were also not happy because though they were getting a higher salary
but they were not being given any opportunity for their professional development. The
employees felt that they were not being treated fairly by the managing director because the
schedules of the employees were no more being arranged by consultation with them but were
determined by the way they behaved with the managing director and dependent upon whether
their name was there in the good books of managing director or not. All those consultants who
never questioned any of her decisions or never opposed any of her decisions were the ones who
got the opportunities of training and development. These ethical issues related to unfair treatment
affected the effectiveness of leadership style of the managing director. The leaders have a strong

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impact on the culture of the organization which determines the degree of trust, transparency and
communication of the organization.
Immediate changes that should be made by Fiona to improve the staff engagement
and motivation at XYZ
In order to make changes immediately and to improve the current situation, Fiona needs
to bring the performance management system back into place through which at least the existing
employees feel that they are being given equal opportunity to earn rewards and further there
should not be any grading system in practice because that demotivates all those consultants who
have better qualifications and work for same hours as the tenured consultants (Kumar and
Pansari 2015). The tenured consultants of training can be motivated by giving them the
opportunity for professional development. Fiona further needs to create a culture of open
communication as was at the time of Tim’s directorship. Presently Fiona does not talk directly to
the consultants but she only has communication with the head of the departments who sometimes
engage in giving wrong information in order to get a place in the good books of Fiona. However
she needs to change this and should directly talk to all the consultants and staff in order to
understand their problems and to solve them as and when they occur (Lăzăroiu 2015). The
present process is time taking and many times the proper information does not reach Fiona
because the consultants are required to share their issues with HOD’s and then the HOD’S share
the information and issues with the managing director this is causing a lack of direct
communication between the managing director and the consultants. Moreover whenever any
consultant wants to talk to their managing director they have to take an appointment and many
times Fiona even cancels the same meeting and refers the same to the HOD. Tim on other hand
held meetings directly with all the people directly in order to communicate his expectations to

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them and to hear their concerns and to solve the same as soon as they occurred such that
dissatisfaction never swept in (Singh 2016). Fiona needs to adopt the same technique in order to
gain the trust of the employees and thereby reduce the attrition rates. She needs to prepare
schedules of workers after consulting with them and should take into consideration the work life
balance of the employees. This will help the employees in maintaining their work life balance
properly. Further Fiona is the managing director of the company and therefore she should not use
favouritism in her decisions and her decisions need to be free from any biases. She should try to
teach others of equality through her own activities.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that it is very important to carry put
organizational engagement activities in the organization such that employees can feel good about
their work and such that they develop a sense of commitment towards their work. Employees
who lack such engagement do not feel so good about their jobs and therefore their performance
is negatively affected and they feel demotivated. Some of the major reasons for their
demotivation can be inequitable treatment of all the employees and others. The paper therefore
discusses about various motivational factors and employee engagement factors that needs to be
considered all the organization in order to improve the employee engagement in the organization.

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References
Aguenza, B.B. and Som, A.P.M., 2018. Motivational factors of employee retention and
engagement in organizations. IJAME.
Albrecht, S.L., Bakker, A.B., Gruman, J.A., Macey, W.H. and Saks, A.M., 2015. Employee
engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated
approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), pp.7-35.
Carasco-Saul, M., Kim, W. and Kim, T., 2015. Leadership and employee engagement: Proposing
research agendas through a review of literature. Human Resource Development Review, 14(1),
pp.38-63.
Dabke, D., 2016. Impact of leader’s emotional intelligence and transformational behavior on
perceived leadership effectiveness: A multiple source view. Business Perspectives and
Research, 4(1), pp.27-40.
Huang, J.L., Ryan, A.M. and Mujtaba, B.G., 2015. Vicarious experience of justice: when unfair
treatment of one’s colleague matters. Personnel Review, 44(6), pp.826-846.
Karanges, E., Johnston, K., Beatson, A. and Lings, I., 2015. The influence of internal
communication on employee engagement: A pilot study. Public Relations Review, 41(1), pp.129-
131.
Kumar, V. and Pansari, A., 2015. Measuring the benefits of employee engagement. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 56(4), p.67.

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Lăzăroiu, G., 2015. Employee motivation and job performance. Linguistic and Philosophical
Investigations, (14), pp.97-102.
Musringudin, M., Akbar, M. and Karnati, N., 2017. The effect of organizational justice, job
satisfaction, and organizational commitment on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) of the
principles. IJER-INDONESIAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL REVIEW, 4(2), pp.155-165.
Osabiya, B.J., 2015. The effect of employees motivation on organizational performance. Journal
of public administration and policy research, 7(4), pp.62-75.
Singh, R., 2016. The impact of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators on employee engagement in
information organizations. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 57(2),
pp.197-206.