Atlas Company is a performance-driven organization. New employees are given performance standards that must be met on a monthly basis. If an employee falls below the standards, they are placed on a performance improvement plan (PIP). If improvement is not seen within 30 days, additional measures of progressive discipline are applied to the point of termination at the 90-day mark. The new hire involuntary and voluntary turnover rate is at 50% per year.

Most employees are on edge because of the aggressive performance standards, causing high levels of stress and conflict. Employees stay because of the generous and lucrative incentive package that is available. The incentives are individually-based, and cause both conflict between employees, and also between employees and department leadership. Conflicts are mostly verbal, but coworkers have at times nearly become physically confrontational. When disagreements occur, they quickly escalate - especially when an employee feels the other employee undermined their ability to make the incentive for the month.

Most managers bark out orders to employees and do not spend any time getting to know them. They are promoted internally, and derive great power from their positions. Most are technically proficient in the positions they oversee, but they seriously lack leadership abilities. No formal training is offered to managers and their approach is often learned from those who mentored them. Most employees feel under-valued and unmotivated based on the lack of connection with their manager.

You have recently been hired into the company as a new manager. You are viewed as an outsider. It is evident the other managers do not respect you because you did not "earn" your title from within the company. When you talk in meetings, some managers have actually crumpled up paper and thrown it, while others have turned away. One manager even mocks your comments and gets a good chuckle out of the larger group.

On top of all of this, you "inherited" the poorest-performing group of employees. Each of them has one foot out the door and plan to either leave voluntarily or involuntarily. They are accustomed to the top-down management approach of "barking". It is evident that their connection to the company and to each other is non-existent. They play on social media most of the day and are not present and engaged in their work.

This is not what you signed up for, but you know that you must endure as you need the job to support your family.

Directions:

What are the specific work issues that are present it this case study? Which work issues would you prioritize to work on first? Second? Third? Please explain your rationale. What specific steps would you take to resolve these top three work issues? What assessments might prove beneficial in this process? How would you measure your overall effectiveness in addressing these work issues? What was your major learning from this assignment and how can you apply it to be more effective as a future employee or manager?