Bella’s: A Case Study in Organizational Behavior

H-230

Custodio, Marianne

Duazo, Princess

Fungo, Alvin

Galario, Marian Nhitz

Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior

2021
1. Given your understanding of job satisfaction and employee engagement, discuss/ describe
why each is important in organizational setting? (Note: in addition to your text and class
discussions, additional resources that might be useful are listed following the questions.)

In the fields of human resource management and organizational behavior, job

satisfaction is one of the most studied phenomena. It refers to how an employee feels and
thinks about their job and how they feel in the organization. It indicates the degree of positive
and negative attitudes the employees have about their work. According to John De Nobile, a
researcher, he defined job satisfaction as “the extent to which an employee has favorable or
positive feelings about their work or the work environment”. It is the person’s level of
satisfaction with their job, this feeling is primarily based on the person’s perception of
satisfaction. It can be influenced by the person’s ability to fulfill the required duties, an
organization’s level of communication, and management’s treatment to the personnel. There
are various degree of job satisfaction. Effective job satisfaction refers to a person's overall
emotional reaction to their work. Employees' cognitive work satisfaction refers to how happy
they are with certain part of their employment, such as hours, income, or benefit. Overall, job
satisfaction is significant in the workplace because it affects absenteeism. There is a negative
correlation between job satisfaction and absenteeism mainly because satisfied employees are
less likely to skip work. Second, job satisfaction is important because it influences the
employee’s decisions to stay or leave the company, which is referred to as turnover.
Employee engagement is defined as a person's level of involvement and connection
with their work. Employees that are engaged have a good attitude toward the company and
its principles. It happens when employees are dedicated to assisting their employers in
achieving the company’s objectives and goals. It is of great importance because employees
that are engaged are motivated to come to work everyday and do everything that they can to
help the company flourish. They are also more inclined to invest in the work they do,
resulting in higher-quality output. On the other hand, a disengaged employee can range form
someone who does the absolute minimum at work to someone who is actively harming the
company’s work productivity and reputation.
2. Discuss/offer insights regarding the results of the employee survey. As you study the results,
what stands out? What conclusions can you draw?

According to the study, Bella’s number had declined in the past year. The salon
experienced numerous challenges which include its profit that went down while the number
of absenteeism went high. Due to these problems, Kris couldn’t suppress her worries because
she saw and felt that the salon’s employees quite had a feeling of dissatisfaction with their
jobs or could also with the company itself.  In accordance, Kris Jenkins, the current general
manager of Bella’s, decided to conduct an employee survey questionnaire. The motive of the
employee survey is for her to identify and measure the level of job satisfaction as well as the
employee engagement of Bella’s employees. She came up with the idea of this employee
survey instrument because it was the same survey she used in her previous job. She thinks
that it will help her to identify the key problems of Bella’s decline. She also thought that the
survey will be somehow effective in improving outcomes as she is also involved in
implementing changes from her preceding job. 
Owing to the survey that had been conducted, Kris knew the result and found out that
it was an aggregate outcome; there are some positives and others are quite troubling for her.
The employee survey instrument was divided in two (2) categories; the Job Satisfaction and
Employee Engagement. The survey scale was 1 as indicated that they strongly disagree and 7
which strongly agree. The first job title in the employee survey’s results was from the salon
managers. Based on the data gathered concerning their job satisfaction, they are satisfied with
the job they do likewise to the relationship they had with their co-workers and most of them
rank it as 5. Unfortunately, they strongly disagree about their satisfaction with the owner as
they rank it as 1 in the scale.  The rest of the statements under the job satisfaction of salon
managers were ranked in the scale of 2-3. On the other hand, in the employee engagement
under salon managers, the highest rank they gave was scale 5 which indicates that their co-
workers are doing quality work. Inversely, they strongly disagree that someone at their work
regularly talks about their progress. The rest of the questions under the salon managers'
employee engagement were ranked in between the scale of 2-4 but the most was the scale of
2 which resulted in six (6) statements out of 13.  As per the result, among the statements in
job satisfaction of salon managers, their satisfaction with the work they do as well as their
 relationship with co-workers stands out. And for the employee engagement of salon
managers, the one stands out is their co-workers are doing quality work. Moving on to the
hair stylists, their satisfaction with the work they do is the one which stands out as they rate it
6 and the other statements rated in between 1-5 scale. With regards to the employee
engagement of the hair stylists, 3 statements stand out; they know what is expected of them
at work, they have the materials as well as equipment they need, and they have opportunity
every day to do their best at work because they rate it 6 among other statements which rated
between 1-5. Lastly, the spa service employees’ job satisfaction, among the statements the
one that stands out is they are satisfied with the work they do likewise their relationships with
their co-workers as they rated it in scale of 5 and the other statements was rate between scales
of 1-3. In accordance with employee engagement under the spa service employees, the
statements that stand out were they know what is expected for them at work and their co-
workers are doing quality work as they rated it in scale of 6, the rest are in scale of 1-5. 
In conclusion based on the gathered data, the employees of Bella’s have different job
satisfaction and employee engagement. Shown in the survey’s result, salon managers, hair
stylists, and spa service employees are somehow similar with the job satisfaction as they rate
at most that they are satisfied with the work they do. There are some parts which results are
balanced as it was ranging in scale of 2-5 which can be agreed and/or disagreed.
Nevertheless, as they are somehow satisfied with their work, they strongly agree that they are
satisfied with the owner as they rate it at least; scale of 1. This was possibly one reason of
Kris’ worries because how will the employees work pleased and effectively if they are not
satisfied with the business owner itself. Based on the result, we can say that the company
lacks a strong employee and employer relationship. In this case, if employees and employers
do not have a mutual connection with each other, the entire company will not benefit as it
may affect their feelings, productivity, and loyalty towards their workplace. Hence, there will
also be a probability that they couldn’t achieve or attain the company’s objectives. 

3. Offer general suggestions/ recommendations to Kris Jenkins regarding how to improve the
job satisfaction and employee engagement of Bella’s workforce. Be sure to distinguish
among jobs when making these suggestions and recommendations.
 After reading the case, we have learned that the last management before Kris Jenkins
arrived had mishandled its employees in a number of ways which has led them to lose the
passion they once had while working in the company and as time goes on, the job satisfaction
of the employees diminishes over time. Due to the former acting general manager of the
company, Lynne Gibson, leaving her position in order to pursue her master’s degree in
Education and in turn, passing the burden of management to the owner who lacked in
managerial experience, the company has lost some profit and suffered, although not very
drastic, an increasing turnover rate.
After these realizations, I would recommend giving the employees incentives and
awarding those who perform well would give the employees motivation in order to perform
work better than last time. An example would be rewarding an employee such as a massage
therapist to a 3-day all paid for vacation or giving a beautician an all-day spa treatment for
free and giving employees promotional opportunities to give them motivation to work harder
and to be recognized in the company. With these recommendations, the employees’ job
satisfaction would have a higher chance of improving and employee engagement would
become better. The incentives and awards would give them the motivation needed to perform
within the best they can and it would also help in reducing the turnover rate and would give
the company a better image than they had in the past after losing a general manager.

4. Evaluate Kris Jenkins’ decision to accept the general manager’s position. Given the
information available, did she make the right decision? Why or why not?

She made a great decision. Despite what she already heard and knew in a small
amount of time, Kris had a focused mindset and goal, to measure the level of job satisfaction
that meets with the engagement of her employees to their customers. She's optimistic, able to
make such changes to improve its outcomes and making the salon in tip top share, having the
best performance output while making profit to match. Also, despite hearing negative
comments, rather than getting discouraged she made it as a motivation to enhance her
leadership skills because this will show if she grows as a leader.