Making the Picking Unit a Better Place to Work Action Plan to Build Trust with Management

Abstract

This thesis explores how to build trust with management in the Picking Unit of the case company.The Picking unit has recorded underperformance for over a year in the weekly productivity data, increased absenteeism/sick leaves, and significantly lower employee satisfaction levels. This also became visible in the low scores of ‘The Great Place to Work’ survey, especially regarding management Credibility, Respect, and Fairness at work. Presently, pickers in the Picking unit are dissatisfied with their work, which in turn affects their performance and presence at work, as well as generally atmosphere in the Picking unit. This current situation created a business challenge for this study.

This thesis starts by defining the objective and outcome for the study. The next step is to explore existing knowledge regarding the concept of a Great Place to Work that is used as a measurement tool and the basis for the study. It is done to gain more knowledge as for how to approach the employee perspective to satisfaction at work. Equipped with this knowledge, the study revised the results of ‘The Great Place to Work’ survey by conducting a series of in-depth interviews with the pickers. As a result, the study identifies the problems with Trust to the management in the Picking unit. After that, the study explored the literature for the second time, now focusing on how organisations can establish a high level of trust, with paying special attention to best practice from the industry.

After the key challenges are identified from the data analysis, and best practice identified how to tackle these problems, the study develops an Action plan how to address these challenges in the Picking unit of the case company. Practical steps are suggested how to make the Picking unit a better place to work, approached from the perspective of building trust.

An Action plan to build trust with management proposes how the management can build Trust by using best practice and addressing the three main directions for efforts: Credibility, Respect and Fairness at work. The study also demonstrates that in order to have a better place to work, Trust absolutely needs to be present as the driving force for any positive change. In this study, building trust is demonstrated from both, the employee and the management perspective, but the study strives to open up the picture as it appears from the employees’ eyes. These perceptions are important, since it is the management side that has more chance to act and initiate change, as they are responsible in the work place. Therefore, it was important to equip the management with the knowledge of this perspective and suggest possible actions how to tackle it in the Picking unit of the case company. This study aimed to help the management to see what is important to the employees when building trust with the management, so that to make the Picking unit a better place to work