Introduction
The overall good performance and high productivity of any organization is paramount with regard to keeping the company in business. The element that propels and ensures success of the company is the workforce involved. Keeping the personnel motivated and highly productive is the major challenge and objective that has to be met first. A good management strategy has to be employed which must include a comprehensive understanding of human behavior and general motivation. This paper evaluates and analyses the concept of increasing job satisfaction among the workforce with regard to ensuring the productivity is high through strategies of goal setting, performance evaluation and work place rewards. The paper will also highlight the challengesencountered during the motivation process. The organization in question here is a steel mill company (CMC) based Texas, the commercial metals company. The task to motivate the workforce comes in the form of job redesign and work place rewards assessment.
CMC company profile
CMC is a steel company in Texas. The company specializes in metal products which involves recycling, manufacturing and fabricating. The products are then shipped to different locations for sale depending on customer requirements. CMC has a formal industrial structure and contains different departments. The various departments are the administration and the rest are divided into the several maintenance departments. This paper takes a detailed view regarding job redesign and work place reward in one of the maintenance departments. The mechanical maintenance as the case study.
The department chosen for the redesign and workplace rewards assessment is the mechanical maintenance department. Maintenance entails keeping the machines in good performing condition by regularly checking and repairing them when they break down. This is a very sensitive department and the workforce has to be highly motivated if the machines have to remain operational. The head of department, the assistants and the supervisors need to have a good working plan to keep all operations on the go. The major responsibilities of the maintenance technicians involve:
Repair and maintenance
Regular checks and inspection
Advising the management on effective technology and machines
Training new technicians and students on attachment
Overview
The ultimate performance of the workforce is dependent upon the level and type of motivation that they have. Motivation takes two dimension. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation(Frey & Osterloh, 2002). It is the work of the head of department and the supervisors to keep the workforce motivated whether by fostering intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation or both.
Intrinsic motivation and self-management
CMChas a policy that highly promotes the motivation and self-management of the workforce. A self-management program by the workers constitutes directly to high productivity and performance. Self-management is a strategy that brings about democracy in any organizational set up. The strategy promotes intrinsic motivation among the workers since they feel that they are in control of what they do in the organization. The workforce is able to come up with their own policies that govern them in regards to supervision, unions, scheduling and order. Since CMC is an engineering company, ethics and values of engineering referred to gemba are highly upheld. The technicians are not directly supervised. This allows them to work freely and interact with each other and also workers from other department whenever they have the time. Direct supervision is known to affect productivity and motivation. Supervisors are known to harass and coerce workers in the process. Thiserodes the dignity, esteem, job satisfaction and pride of the personnel leading to low productivity(Ms Ana Maria Davila Gomez, 2012).
The company also allows workers to form unions that promote their welfare. Therefore, anytime there is a problem they are able to solve it together and create consensus among themselves. It is also through the unions that the workers are able to save money or access loans and financing for their activities outside and inside the company. The company involves the technicians in formation and designs of shifts and schedules .The workers are able to determine among themselves when and how they are going to work. This arrangement enhances flexibility of working. The team feels that the company respects their desires and working preferences.
Extrinsic motivation and rewards
Motivating workers in organizations mostly turns out to be challenging for most managers and supervisors with regard to what it is and how it is to be achieved. To the organization also faces the same challenge because mostly finances and indirect budget allocations are involved. For the supervisors, the process involves always going to the ground regularly and collect information from the workforce regarding their status and working conditions. The supervisor has to find out what the workforce needs and how it can be met without exploiting the employer and the employee. The manager or head of department has to be skilled and experienced on organizational behavior and trends(Robbins, Odendaal, & Roodt, 2003).Theories of motivation in psychology advocate for continued and sustained use of extrinsic motivation method.
The managers in the department strive to use the motivational theories to maximize productivity and increase job satisfaction among the workers. The incentive theory of motivation is highly employed .This theory targets the expectations of workers. According to the theory, people and working people are motivated to work well by expectations of certain rewards. The incentive theory find success based on the expectancy theory for which the workforce is always expecting to be recognized for the work well done(Miner, 2005).
With regard to motivation and rewards, the department of maintenance at CMC employs the following motivation techniques to increase job satisfaction and enhance productivity.
Salary increment
A raise in salary is the most effective incentive ever used by organizations. The incentive proves to the employee that they are not only therefore for the company to benefit but also for themselves.
Bonus plans and profit sharing
On a particular production period, the steel produced may be above expectation of the company or generally be impressive. The department of mechanical maintenance may find it necessary to reward the technicians for keeping the production machines in good working conditions. Therefore, some of the proceeds realized from the excess profit is disbursed to the technicians as a bonus for their hard work. Based on the expectation theory, then technicians will work even harder to impress the employer and again be rewarded with bonus. The technique brings job satisfaction to the workforce as they feel appreciated.
Promotion and added responsibility
It is the desire of every employee regardless of the organization they are working for to crave for a promotion. The company always recognizes the efforts of the workforce as individual units and promotes them accordingly. The promotion is based on experience, performance and loyalty. When other employees realize that promotion is a policy in the company, they feel motivated and work towards it.
Praise and recognition
This form of motivation is common to most organization where the manager or supervisor directly comments and appraises a worker or group for performing exceptionally well. “All managers should make recognition and personal a routine since it does not present any direct monetary cost the manger or the organization”(Miner, 2005).Recognition is very effective mostly to the junior employees and contributes positively to their job satisfaction and their improved productivity.
Team building activities
Activities such as trips, parties and paid improvement programs are used at CMC to promote job satisfaction and improve productivity. Every organization that puts the affairs of the workforce as a priority ends up with a happy and motivated team. The team building activities are vital in bringing the personnel from different departments together. The exercise takes people who work together away from the working environment where they interact, socialize and know each other better than the predetermined working familiarity. Paid improvement programs lead to job specialization by the workforce which promotes jobs satisfaction and improves productivity in the company.
Performance evaluation
The issue of giving incentives as a form of motivation and improvement of job satisfaction and productivity elicits the question; how is the performance of an individual or group evaluated? Performance evaluation is based on preset goals that have been carefully formulated in manner that if they are met, then the company will make the desired profits. At CMC, all operations ranging from sourcing of raw material to production and final selling of the finished products are conducted in accordance to the company goals.CMC being a manufacturing company, sets goals that conform to the manufacturing standards and production. The goals also follow the SMART rule which entails being specific in nature so that the products are unique in the market, the goals are also measurable, also they are attainable since meeting them is what will bring profit to the company, they are realistic to avoid being ambiguous with regard to product development and production, they are also time bound meaning that everything is done within certain time frames.
The goals of CMC are
Goal effectiveness
CMC management strives to ensure that the safety of all the employees is almost at a guarantee and that the working conditions are favorable for human beings. To promote job satisfaction and increase productivity, the workforce need to know that they are safe in their working environments (Waldemar Karwowski, 2010).safety and conduciveness is also a government regulation and CMC conforms to all the set rules. The workers are provided with all the safety gear and equipment such as safety boots, helmets, overalls, gloves and dark goggles due the constant metal flares emitted.
The products that are manufactured at CMC include steel and pipes. The company uses the goal “To manufacture products that meet and exceed the customer expectations” as a landmark that determines the quality of their products. This is done by having a reliable and experienced production team and quality assurance personnel. They work together with the maintenance department to ensure that the machines are able to produce steel that meets the standards. When the clients receive more than they expected, they become loyal clients and this boosts the business environment of the company and increases profits(CMC, n.d.).
The goal “To grow and expand to new markets and locations” has enabled the company to have prospects of expanding and currently the company has branches in places like Arizona and Carolina.
Challenges
The managers and supervisors in the mechanical department have always done their best to keep the workforce motivated. However, there have challenges in completely implementing the motivational strategies .The gap has led to the goals being fairly met as opposed to the high turnover expected. The challenges come inform of the frequency and degree of motivation in the company by the managers and supervisors. Team building activities like trips and excursion are not being conducted effectively and regularly which leads to decreased motivation overtime. Salary increment also does not follow the government regulations among other factors. The need that arises due to the challenges calls for job redesign and workplace rewards assessment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, motivation is a paramount element of any organization. When the workforce is motivated, the result is seen as a product of increased productivity and job satisfaction by the employees. Therefore, all managers and supervisors must always directly or indirectly find ways of motivating the workforce. The managers and supervisors should ensure that they are well trained in human behavior and group dynamics to prepare them in keeping the organization in business.
References
CMC, c. m. (n.d.). commercial metals. Retrieved from https://www.CMC.com/en/americas/CMCsteeltexas/pages/aboutus.aspx
Frey, B. S., & Osterloh, M. (2002). Successful Management by Motivation : Balancing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Incentives. Berlin: Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Miner, J. B. (2005). Essential theories of motivation and leadership. New York: Sharpe, c.
Ms Ana Maria Davila Gomez, P. D. (2012). Human Dignity and Managerial Responsibility: Diversity, Rights, and Sustainability. Farnham: Gower Publishing, Ltd.
Nembhard, D. A. (2007). Workforce Cross Training. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Robbins, S. P., Odendaal, A., & Roodt, G. (2003). Organisational behaviour : global and Southern African perspectives. Cape Town: Pearson Education South Africa.
Rothstein, M. G., & Burke, R. J. (2010). Self-management and leadership development. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham.
Waldemar Karwowski, G. S. (2010). Advances in Human Factors, Ergonomics, and Safety in Manufacturing and Service Industries. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
