Answer to Question #160874 in Management for Jeff

Question

What remedial or corrective action can a human resource manager take to improve team performance or morale?

Answer 1

There are many ways a human resource manager can effect corrective action to improve team performance. One such way is through the 8D model of corrective action. The model involves a series of steps to be carried out by the human resource manager: establishing a plan to solve the root problem for poor performance and identifying resources needed, involving the team in the planning and organizing process, defining the problem by identifying quantifiable factors of the problem to determine extent of deviance, establishing and executing a temporary containment plan to boost team performance, identifying root causes for poor performance by use of quality tools, choosing systemic solutions for the root cause, implementing the identified solutions and validating if they improved team performance, taking preventive action against the problem by modifying practices and operation systems and finally recognizing and rewarding team effort in solving the problem. When identifying the root cause of the problem, the manager should be flexible and facilitative, the primary focus should be on how to correct the mistake rather than to fix blame.