After 20th century, organizations have exhibited a revolution in the workplace environment and the way of doing work. Until that time, emphasis was on individual responsibilities, duties and accountability. With increasing complexity of business operations, organizations have started embracing teamwork and have adopted multitudes of ways to keep the workforce motivated. Now a days, more emphasis is on keeping the employees satisfied and happy so that they can optimally utilize their skills to enhance the productivity.
This report discusses different ways of employees' motivation and charts out a detailed motivation plan for the company under consideration. Despite the fact that WooWoo ( the widget produced by the manufacturing company) is less expensive and more easily available, there have been noticed some defects in delivery. The motivation plan , considering all these aspects, aims to increase the productivity level and job satisfaction leading to the enhanced work quality and higher productivity.
The Motivation Plan for Manufacturing Company
The Participative Leadership : It is practically difficult to think of motivation without a leader who motivates. A participative leader involves the members in decisions thereby making them feel 'a part of the organization'. Open communication and participation, the essence of this leadership style, also play an important role in employees' motivation.
As the company is reeling under higher cost and delayed delivery issues, motivated leaders can boost up employees' morale thereby increasing the productivity. However, the level of participation depends on employees' interest , their ranks and skills; the management needs to consider these aspects before adopting to this leadership style.
Flexibility and Recognition to Employees : Research studies have identified the positive relation between workplace flexibility and job satisfaction. By offering flexible work schedules, the company can help the employees make a balance between personal life and work. It is more likely to enhance their happiness and job satisfaction thereof . The management can offer flexible schedules on different grounds including health, age, type of job, and track record of the employee. Linking flexible schedule to the employees' performance will moivate them to work better.
Training Sessions and Peer Discussions : As the production involves technical operations, organizing training sessions time to time will help employees adopt the best practices related to the production of WooWoo. It will also help in knowledge transfer leading to improved quality of the work. Reviews by peers and seniors will help the employees gauge their shortcomings and overcome them.
Connecting Rewards and Business Strategies : The company can link the business strategy( customers' satisfaction) with appraisals and promotions of employees. Getting feedback from the clients regarding the work quality and giving the credit of positive feedback to deserving employees will motivate them and enhance their job satisfaction. It will also make the promotion program transparent thereby encouraging employees to work harder.
Teamwork : Different studies including renowned Herzberg theory have established a positive association between teamwork, motivation, recognition, and personal growth. Communicative teamwork can lead to the knowledge transfer thereby improving the work quality and job satisfaction. Thus, the company should aim to emphasize upon teamwork rather than assigning individual tasks. It will channelize the process and help in speedy delivery of the products.
The organization can form different teams including members of different departments. For instance, members from all the 4 departments can be grouped while launching the widget to a new range of customers. The new group will be better able chart out a plan to increase sales and sort out delivery issues.
Two Methods of Employees' Motivation
Effective methods to motivate all employees of the company will be:
1. Lucrative Salary and Surprised Appraisals
2. Supportive Leaders
Lucrative Salary and Surprised Appraisals: Statistics say that the rate of employees' turnover is higher in smaller companies because working in a renowned organization means a better professional growth with time. To compensate for it, the management can offer lucrative packages and roll out surprised appraisals to deserving employees. It will motivate other employees as well and push them for quality work. In addition, sharing and discussing appraisals-related decisions with employees will make the system more transparent leading to increased job satisfaction and motivation. For instance, if an employee has not been appraised the manager can discuss the reasons with him/her. It will address the grievances automatically and help the employee to perform better in future.
Supportive and Participative Leaders: As the employees' strength is comparatively smaller, leaders can well supervise their performances and support them in case of any issues. In addition, the management can opt for the open- door policy. This method is suitable for smaller companies where communication across departments is easily possible because of smaller size of the workforce.
Different motivational theories, as proposed by Herzberg, Vroom, Maslow and Adam, have accounted for different factors of motivation including self-actualization, personal growth, fulfillment of needs, recognition and status. Practically speaking, a communicative and encouraging leader can address the genuine concerns of employees and boost up their morale. He/she can provide the platform for growth as per their skills, qualification and interests. If employees get the platform to prove them, other things including growth, fulfillment of needs and status may naturally follow.
The Action-Centric Leadership model, as has been proposed by reflecting the works of Herzberg and Maslow, states that a good leader keeps a fine balance between the organization, the team and the individuals. This implies the importance of a motivated leader for team functioning.
Three Ways to Motivate Minimum Wage Service Workers
As per the experts, managing and motivating the minimum wage workers is comparatively more daunting as this workforce is characterized by inexperience, low salary and low job satisfaction. Thus, common motivators like participation and decision making may not be feasible with them as they may not have the skills to take crucial decisions. In such cases, the following ways can work the best to motivate this workforce:
Creating a Positive Work Ambience: It means linking work with enjoyment. The management can organize short trips for employees. It is will help in inter-departmental interaction thereby facilitating the teamwork. This method is helpful in increasing sales also because customers get better services and like to connect with the happy staff.
Career Advancement Opportunities: Providing good opportunities to these workers is one of the best ways to keep them motivated. As most of these workers come lower in hierarchy, appropriate training and transparent promotions to hard working employees will boost up their morale leading to positive outcomes in terms of work quality.
Appropriate Rewards and Bonuses: The management can rewards these employees with different items including shirts, badges etc. Different work-related contests can also be held time to time to inspire them towards achieving organizational goals.
These factors to motivate minimum wage service workers closely resemble hygiene's as discussed by the Herzberg. As per the theory, hygiene's include salary, supervision, security, compensation , and status etc. At the level of minimum wage service workers , these factors play a very important role. The motivators, as talked by him, are high level factors including development, self growth and recognition which are not very much relevant for these workers.
The Relevance of Individual Worker in Present Day Organizational Context
In the contemporary world, the importance of human resource has increased immensely compared to other factors of production. One basic reason cited for it is - it is the workforce who controls all other factors and put them to the optimum use. This directly implies the importance of individuals in present day organizational context.
Committed individuals are the main contributors in an organization and play a big role in achieving short-term and long-term organizational goals. Especially in the dynamic business environment, the importance of dedicated, committed and decisive employees has increased to a great extent.
As the notion of teamwork is gaining strength; the need of interactive employees who can get along well with team members has augmented substantially. Working in a team requires focusing more on group concerns rather than individual favors. This is the reason HR managers grope for team skills while short listing the candidates for a specific position.
Simply put, commitment, dedication, team handling, sharing, decision making, and problem solving are some of the required attributes in present day organizational context irrespective of the individual's age and rank. Organizations are working in a complex, dynamic and changing business environment and it has necessitated the need to emphasize on the individuals working in the company. Productive and efficient individuals are assets for an organizations and no company can achieve goals without the support of its workforce.
Individual to Teamwork Chart
Conclusion
The report has succinctly depicted the importance of teamwork and an effective leadership style for employees' motivation. The detailed motivation plan will serve as a guiding factor for the management to boost up the employees. However, HRM is an evolving stream and the organization needs to adopt changes time to time as per the ongoing trends.
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