Business Management
Businesses in the present world are very dynamic. The dynamism of businesses in the present times extends to their management. This is arguably attributable to the fact that management of businesses must seek to attain and maintain the correct balance between various competing interests. The nature of these interests is such that the management teams of various business organizations cannot afford to simply ignore them. This is because ignoring any of the interests may adversely affect the organization in which ways it may not be able to recover. The best way for organizations to navigate this terrain is by seeking to accommodate all the interests that are of critical importance to the organization. They must seek to strike the right balance among the various competing interests so as to ensure the business continues to thrive. Among the key competing interest in any business organization is the need to attain and maintain top performance while at the same time meeting the goals of their employees. In other words, businesses must continually seek to attain and maintain top performance while at the same time ensuring that they take into account what their employees want. More often than not, there will be a conflict between the two. It is difficult for an organization to attain top performance while at the same time responding to all the needs of the employees. Similarly, it is difficult for a business organization to meet all the needs of its employees while at the same time maintaining top performance. It is however, important to emphasize that the operative word is difficult. Difficulty does not connote impossibility. Thus, it is possible for businesses to attain top performance while at the same time meeting the needs of their employees. This submission will thus proceed to highlight what top performance in business management entails vis a vis what the employees of a business organization want.
Various organizations have different parameters for assessing and determining top performance. This is no exception when it comes to business management. Top performance entails a observing a number of benchmarks. Key among these benchmarks is the need to ensure that there is high productivity in the business. A business that has high productivity is one where the efforts of the employees are fully utilized in helping the business to attain its goals. If it is a business that has set performance targets for its employees, high productivity demands that the employees are able to continuously meet and even exceed such targets. This high productivity in turn translates to increased overall performance in the business. In essence, one of the requirements for top performance in a business is that the employees must be highly productive.
Secondly, top performance demands that all the key stakeholders of the business organization ensure that they are fully committed to the goals and aspirations of the organization. It is particularly important that all the internal stakeholders of the organization ensure that they fully identify with and are committed to the goals of the business. This commitment must then be reflected in all their undertakings in activities that involve the organization. It is equally important to ensure that all the stakeholders are involved in the formulation of the goals of the business. Involvement will enable all concerned parties to ‘own’ the goals of the business. Where it is not possible to involve all the stakeholders of the organization in the formulation of its goals, then the management of the business organization must ensure that the goals are clearly communicated to those stakeholders who were not involved in their formulation. Commitment to the goals of the business in turn greatly contributes to the business attaining top performance. This is because attaining and maintaining top performance is a function of the steps taken towards the achievement of the business’ goals.
Top performance also demands that the business must be efficient and effective. It must seek to minimize or even eliminate any wastage in the business. It must seek to ensure that all its activities are done in a timely manner and that it sticks to set response times. Indeed, such a business must seek to ensure that it adopts and religiously follows international best practices as far enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in the business is concerned. The importance of efficiency and effectiveness must be inculcated in all the members of the business organization. It goes without say that inefficiency and ineffectiveness go a long way in diminishing an organization’s chances of attaining and maintain top performance.
The succeeding sections of this submission will highlight what employees want in a business organization. First and foremost, employees want a good working environment. They want a working environment in which it is actually enjoyable to play their role in the business. They want an environment where they have all the tools that they require so as to be able to effectively discharge their duties. They want an environment where they can openly and without any fear of victimization, share their concerns with the management. Some of these employee wants such as availing the requisite tools for them to effectively discharge their duties may involve huge capital outlays to be incurred by the business. However, incurring such expenditure is justified in the long run. This is because the employees will be more productive and motivated to discharge their duty and in the process, they will greatly contribute to the business achieving and maintain top performance.
Employees also want matters that touch on their welfare to be taken into account by the business. In other words, they do just want to be regarded as machines whose primary duty is to continuously churn out more profits for the business. They want the management of the business to take into account matters which though not directly related to their work, can have a significant impact in their output at work. Indeed, scholars have argued that the world moved from the industrial age and that it is now the knowledge era. They further posit that while in the industrial age employees were classified under liabilities as their wages ate into a business’ profits, in the knowledge era, employees should be classified as assets. This is because they are the single most important resource of the business without which it may be impossible for the business to run. Thus, employees must not be treated as robots. Rather, the management must make sure that it continually seeks to address any concerns that employees may have.
Employees also want fair compensation. Granted, almost everyone desires to have more money but this is not the thrust of the argument in this paragraph. The gist of the argument in this paragraph is that employees expect to be compensated in a manner that is commensurate to performance of the organization. While there exits various labour and employment laws governing such issues as compensation, employees want business organizations that go beyond the labour laws. For instance, if a business performs exceptionally well in a given year, the employees of such a business expect that the business may find ways of rewarding them as they also participated to that success. For instance, some employees may expect to receive bonuses. Similarly, if a business grows its profits over the years, the employees will also expect that this will be reflected in the business’s compensation structure. In other words, employees expect that as the profit of the business grows, their compensation will not remain static but that it would also grow. Some businesses may wish to avoid increasing the compensation of their employees despite registering increasing profits. This submission contends that by so doing, such businesses greatly jeopardize their chances of attaining top performance. This is because failure to enhance employees’ compensation packages in line with the business’ performance will more often than not have the effect of making the employees feel disgruntled. This will show in their work as they will be less productive. Reduced productivity greatly compromises a business’ performance.
In conclusion, this submission contends that attaining top performance in a business organization does not just entail the money question. Attaining top performance entails a number of issues which the business must seek to ensure that it adheres to. However, in the process of doing so, the business must also take into account the needs of the employees and strike a balance between these and the top performance parameters that it had identified.
Works Cited
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