Question

Management has a history of poor communication with employees. They act with little input and offer little rationale for decisions. A senior manager wants to conduct an employee attitude survey, believing it will help improve morale. What would be the most important thing you would advise?

A. Don't do it unless management commits to responding to results
B. Ask for employee feedback; this will demonstrate interest in employee opinions.
C. Ask an outside consultant to create a survey that will have more credibility than one created internally
D. Focus on safer workplace issues, such as facility operations and amenities.

Answer 1

The key advice to a senior manager wanting to conduct an employee attitude survey is to ensure management commits to acting upon the results. Without this commitment, such a survey could worsen morale. Additional steps include guaranteeing confidentiality and considering using interviews or an external consultant.

Step-by-step explanation:

The most important advice I would provide is A. Don't do it unless management commits to responding to results. If an employee attitude survey is conducted and results in findings that are ignored, employee morale could worsen, reinforcing the perception that management does not value their input. Prior to deployment, it is crucial to establish a commitment from management that they will take the survey results seriously and act upon them. Moreover, ensuring confidentiality and trust in the process is essential to encouraging honest and useful feedback from employees. To enhance credibility and potentially get richer data, combining the survey with interviews and possibly engaging an external consultant to administer the survey can also be considered. Importantly, steps should be taken to improve the overall relationship between management and employees, as the manager's approach and their ability to influence job satisfaction are both pivotal to a productive work environment.