The following appeared in a memorandum from the human resources department of HomeStyle, a house remodeling business:“This year, despite HomeStyle’s move to new office space, we have seen a decline in both company morale and productivity, and a correspond

The proposal of implementing a new employee performance feedback software as a solution to declining company morale and productivity is superficial and does not solve the root cause of the problem. The memorandum advocates the new software package by listing its functions and showing reference from comparable companies, but misses important aspects of company morale and productivity to substantiate its argumentation.

First of all, with the roll-out of a new feedback software the human resources department does not really solve the root cause of the problem. Apparently there has been a decline in both company morale and productivity for a long time which could not be solved with the move to a new office space. The decline might be caused by fundamental issues like management culture or salary structure which cannot be solved by such superficial solutions like new office place or feedback software. Since the memorandum does not tell about a root cause analysis and the software as the solution to this root cause, it probably misses important fundamental aspects.

Second, an automated performance feedback software might lead to additional decrease in employees' productivity. Even if the software can decrease administrative costs by automizing some processes, it might backfire because some employees might prefer personal feedback instead of standardized templates. The standardized feedback may even lead to a lower value perception by the employees' which might lead to additional decrease in company morale. The human resources department fails to consider this aspect in its memorandum which may lead to failure of the implemented software.

To solve the declining company morale and productivity, the human resources department must first start with a root cause analysis and understand the underlying reasons. Only this way the right solution can be proposed for such a complex problem like this.

In summary, the human resources department clearly misses the root cause of the declining company morale and productivity. Superficial solutions like new office space and feedback software, which do not solve the fundamental issue, are bound to fail.