Critical Thinking Report: Problem Solving

Issues in a work environment can range from simple to complex problems that may affect the business in quite a negative way. Problems are the daily part of life but solutions are not that easy to get. Many people feel like problems are one-sided and that they are just small issues that can be resolved easily and faster. However, this is not the case. As the problem-solving process is quite long and requires maximum dedication towards defining the problem to analyzing it, generating a possible solution to analyzing these solutions so as to come up with the best solution and ultimately planning on the next course of action.  Therefore, understanding the various issues that result to a problem will be of the essence in helping to identify and correct these issues before they totally affect the business operation.

First, it is important to understand the problem in the workplace and this is what is commonly referred to as problem definition. It is after defining the problem that one is able to know solve the actual problem (Sprankle, & Hubbard, 2009). Failing to meet the expected performance repeatedly by an employee is a major problem in the workplace. This is because the failure of one person to achieve a target may result to pressure to other team members as well. More so, at times it can result in the rendering of other team members’ work useless since they are not acquiring all the support that they need from all team players.

After identifying the problem and understanding the problem, one is able to know go deep into researching what might be the cause of this particular problem. Since the inception of a new system update in the organization, some of the employees have not been able to meet their targets frequently. Currently, the company is receiving losses due to low productivity from employees as there is no longer teamwork in the company. after listening to the workers and also after reading the various emails sent to the human resource manager explaining the reasons as to why these employees failed to meet their targets over the past months, one thing is quite clear, that most of the workers are finding it difficult to cope with the new systems and thus they end up working so slow and are at times forced to manually do the work. This might be the cause of the problem, low productivity by the employees.

There are a number of possible solutions that can be implemented in solving this problem (Sprankle, & Hubbard, 2009). It is important for the company to ensure that the target is mutually agreed upon since forcing a target into the employee may result in them having a poor attitude to the same. The company should offer training sessions and should assign a support staff to help the employees to have a smooth transition from the old system to the new system (Ahmed, 2016). This will ensure that they gain the skills required for the new system. The company should also invest in giving performance bonuses to their employees following their hard work into achieving their targets.

The company has to analyze these solutions so as to be able to come up with the best solution. For instance, some of these solutions require the company to have finances so as to fund the operations. Therefore in coming up with the best solution, the company ought to weigh the benefits that they will acquire investing in these solutions and the loss of not attempting to implement these solutions. The next course of action will involve prior preparation before a system update as this will enhance the company to save up for the future training and continuous support to ensure that all employees meet their targets (Ahmed, 2016). These problem-solving steps are very important in solving this problem and when implemented they can bring great results.

 

References

Sprankle, M., & Hubbard, J. (2009). Problem solving and programming concepts. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Ahmed. A. (2016). Software Project Management: A Process-Driven Approach. CRC Press.