The Importance of Job Descriptions

All employees like to know what is expected of them and how they will be
evaluated. Job descriptions can also be a great value to employers. Creating a job
description often results in a thought process that helps determine how critical the
job is, how this particular job relates to others and identify the characteristics
needed by a new employee filling the role.

A job description typically outlines the necessary skills, training and education
needed by a potential employee. It will spell out duties and responsibilities of the
job. Once a job description is prepared, it can serve a basis for interviewing
candidates, orienting a new employee and finally in the evaluation of job
performance. Using job descriptions is part of good management.

Components of a Job Description

A summary statement. These one or two sentences include a general statement of

duties and mentions who the employee would report to.
Functions of the position. Usually this section is the most lengthy. It details what the
job actually entails and can be quite specific. It should detail any supervisory
functions in addition to being as specific as possible describing tasks the employee
will face every day. This is also the best place to indicate whether the person will
deal with customers, the public or only internal employees. You can also use this
section to place priorities on the activities.
Attributes needed for the position. If the position involves the use of machinery (or
computers), spell out what type of machines or software the employee will use. Also
detail any technical or educational requirements that may be critical or desired. This
is also the place to provide some insights into the type of work environment you are
attempting to maintain. Is it pure business, or must the person be able to contribute
to an overall spirit of the organization?
Reporting. Provide details on the reporting and organizational structure. This will
help the employee better understand how their activities fit into the total
organization.
Evaluation criteria. The more specific you can get the better. Writing this section will
probably enable you to define what is most important for the organization as well as
the employee. Try to make sure the evaluation criteria of the position will promote
the type of activities to enhance the success of the business. Also provide details on
when evaluations will take place.

Compensation. Including a range instead of a specific figure will give you more
flexibility, but most people will feel they should be at the top of the range. It is
usually better to have a specific dollar amount, especially if you are giving the job
description to the employee. If your organization uses salary grades, use that.
Physical location and surroundings.
Summary
Using job descriptions will help an organization better understand the experience
and skill base needed to enhance the success of the company. They help in the
hiring, evaluation and potentially terminating of employees. All too often, there is a
misunderstanding of what a position entails and a well-prepared job description can
help both sides share a common understanding.

Source :
http://www.financialwisdom.com/pflsresourcecenter/HowardUniversity/SmallBusines
s/JobDescriptions.shtml

The Effect of Job Descriptions on Employee Performance

by Sam Ashe-Edmunds, Demand Media

Job descriptions affect your employees' performance in a variety of ways, and the
detailed, written descriptions guide both your managers and their subordinates in
their day-to-day work. If you dont currently provide job descriptions for each staff
member, discuss with your executive team members how job descriptions can
improve two-way communications and boost your organization's productivity.

Effective Recruiting
Hiring employees without a written job description can lead to reduced productivity
when the new hires are unprepared for their duties and require extra training to
fulfill their jobs. Even when you are thorough during the interview process, you
might be surprised to learn a new hire is missing a skill he needs for a particular
position. Just because someone worked in human resources, he doesn't necessarily
have experience in payroll, benefits planning or legal compliance. Detailed job
descriptions help both you and prospective employees know if they are qualified for
a job you are advertising and whether they can begin working effectively from day
one. A written job description can also help you during a lawsuit by an employee
who claims he was terminated for not doing work he wasn't told about when he was
recruited and hired.

Productivity

A key benefit of job descriptions is that they enhance employee productivity. In

some cases, lack of a job description causes employees to emphasize the wrong
aspects of their jobs. A written job description should not only include the tasks an
employee is expected to perform but also a ranking of importance of each duty. Job
descriptions prevent employees from misunderstanding which work is theirs,
reducing instances of work not being done because someone thought the duty was
not in her job description or work being duplicated because two employees
assumed they were responsible for a task. Employees who know not only what
theyre supposed to do but also what their peers responsibilities are become
stronger team members.

Morale and Retention

Employees who work without clear direction can become confused, frustrated and
demoralized. They can also feel managers are shifting work to them unfairly, further
contributing to decreased morale and high turnover. Review job descriptions with
each employee to make sure he understands what you want and if he agrees with
your assessment of his position. Ask for suggestions regarding how to improve the
job description.

Annual Reviews
A written job description serves as the basis for an employees annual review. If a
worker knows he will be retained, promoted or terminated based on how well he
meets the requirements of his job description, he will review it during the year to
make sure he meets his responsibilities. As he becomes familiar with a new job or as
the companys needs grow, he might meet with his supervisor to modify the job
description.

Organizational Planning
One of the benefits of written job descriptions is that they create stronger
organizations. An organization chart is a list of all the positions at a business and
shows who reports to whom and who does which work. Written job descriptions let
employees know what they will have to do to qualify for positions that offer
advancement. Before you create and announce an organization chart for your
company, ask department co-workers to get together and create their vision of a
chart for their department with written job descriptions for each employee. This can
help you spot a significant disconnect between you and your workers, or it can
generate helpful ideas that improve your efforts.
Source : http://work.chron.com/effect-job-descriptions-employee-performance23428.html

Motivation and Productivity in the Workplace

MOTIVATION AND PRODUCTIVITY IN THE WORKPLACE
BY CARLA VALENCIA
Introduction

Employee motivation has always been a central problem for leaders and managers.
Unmotivated employees are likely to spend little or no effort in their jobs, avoid the
workplace as much as possible, exit the organization if given the opportunity and
produce low quality work. On the other hand, employees who feel motivated to
work are likely to be persistent, creative and productive, turning out high quality
work that they willingly undertake. There has been a lot of research done on
motivation by many scholars, but the behavior of groups of people to try to find out
why it is that every employee of a company does not perform at their best has been
comparatively unresearched. Many things can be said to answer this question; the
reality is that every employee has different ways to become motivated. Employers
need to get to know their employees very well and use different tactics to motivate
each of them based on their personal wants and needs.

The dictionary Webster's defines motivation as something inside people that drives
them to action. This motivation varies in different people. We can also say that
motivation is the willingness to work at a certain level of effort. Motivation emerges,
in current theories, out of needs, values, goals, intentions, and expectation.
Because motivation comes from within, managers need to cultivate and direct the
motivation that their employees already have.

Motivation comes from within us such as thoughts, beliefs, ambitions, and goals.
The people who are most interested in motivation studies are managers of people
because they may provide insights into why people perform at work as they do, and
as a result provide managers with techniques to improve worker productivity.

Statement of the Problem

There is a need for further research on motivation, therefore my goal is to reveal

what it is that motivates all employees to perform at their best and achieve optimal
business results at all times. The inherent problem I have identified is that many
employers have attempted several different incentive programs to motivate their
employees, yet they have not worked for everyone in the company. This is a major

problem faced by employers these days, due to the fact that each employer's
company is founded on the strength of its employees' performance.

One of the traditional components of management along with planning, organizing,

and controlling, is motivating. Many managers do different things for example:
contests, ranking of people, plants, shifts, teams, and departments, performance
appraisals, performance, production, sales quotas and commission pay. All these
systems are implemented in the belief that they drive performance. Some
researchers think it does the opposite. Instead of trying to use extrinsic motivators
(something outside of the work itself such as promised rewards or incentives) to get
higher levels of performance from people, management will be better served by
studying the organization as a system. Employers demand results. Without results
the organization will not survive. Managing motivation is a requirement for
productivity.

Importance of the Project

This proposed research is needed to improve employees' performance at the

workplace, to retain employees and to help companies establish a good image. If a
company's employees do not acquire this motivation then the company could lose
large amounts of money, customers or even go out of business. On the other hand if
that company's employees are well trained and motivated by their employers it
could have great income potential, keep loyal customers and gain a lot of market
share.

This research would help many managers and leaders in our society to identify the
things that they need to do in order to successfully motivate their employees to
perform at their best. As a manager this knowledge will therefore help me to
understand what new strategies I could implement in order to motivate employees
to achieve optimal business results. It is evident that there is a need for this study
because of the many companies that are constantly spending money on various
ways to increase employee motivation.

The word motivation suggests energetic behavior directed toward some goal.
Instead of pushing solutions on people with the force of your argument, pull
solutions out of them. You may be the cause of your employee's lack of motivation.
Employee motivation is perhaps the ultimate management challenge. Although
motivation is an important determinator of individual performance, it is not the only
factor. Such variables as ability, experience, and environment also influence
performance.

Research Questions

Following is a list of questions that I will attempt to answer through my research:

IS MONEY ENOUGH TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES?
HOW EFFECTIVE ARE AWARDS SUCH AS "EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH"?
WHY DO EMPLOYERS NOT RECOGNIZE ALL THEIR EMPLOYEES AT THE SAME LEVEL?
WHAT SPECIFICALLY WILL MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES TO PERFORM AT THEIR PEAK?
WHO IN A COMPANY SHOULD BE INVOLVED IN GIVING EMPLOYEES RECOGNITION?
HOW CAN EMPLOYERS IMPLEMENT OR IMPROVE INCENTIVE SYSTEMS IN THE
WORKPLACE?
HOW DOES MOTIVATION IMPACT AN EMPLOYEE'S PRODUCTIVITY?
HOW DO EMPLOYEES RESPOND TO DIFFERENT INCENTIVES?
WHY CAN'T EVERY EMPLOYEE PERFORM AT HIS OR HER BEST?
DO EMPLOYEES LOSE ENTHUSIASM ABOUT THE COMPANY, AND THEREFORE
BECOME LESS MOTIVATED?
Literature Review

There has been a lot of research done on Motivation by many scholars. The
following are only a few of the research topics that have been done on Motivation:
Motivation theories, Ways to encourage employee motivation, Measures of
Motivation, Principles of motivation, Ways of making your firm more exciting, How to
motivate your people problem, The missing link in Strategic Performance, Salary is
not a motivator anymore, How to effectively reward employees, Turning Motivation
Theory into Practice, Measures of Motivation, Self Theories and Employee
Motivation, How do you motivate employees, and Worker Motivation: Unsolved
Problem or Untapped Resource?.

A multitude of studies have been done on motivation, but no one has ever done any
studies on a group of employees and managers to test what their motives are and
test to see which incentive program will suit the majority of employees. From the
literature review one can see that a need for further research is necessary. This will
help managers and leaders find out what it is that employees want from employers
to perform at their best.

Research done in both psychology and business literature over the past three
decades has recorded that motivation varies as a function of different factors in the
work environment, including evaluation expectation, actual performance feedback,
reward, autonomy, and the nature of the work itself. Moreover, both theory and
empirical research have suggested that human motivation toward work can be
categorized into two types: Intrinsic motivation, which comes from the intrinsic
value of the work for the individual, and Extrinsic motivation, which comes from the
desire to obtain some outcomes that are separate from the work itself.

When employees have high autonomy, receive feedback about their performance,
and have an important, identifiable piece of work to do which requires skill variety,
they may experience feelings of happiness and therefore intrinsic motivation to
keep performing well (Hackmam & Oldham, 1980).

Frederick Herzberg, distinguished professor of Management at the University of

Utah and Behavioral theorist conducted studies on worker motivation in the 1950's.
He developed the Motivation-Hygiene theory of worker satisfaction and
dissatisfaction. This incredible researcher concluded that hygiene factors such as
salary, fringe benefits, and working conditions can prevent dissatisfaction, but they
do not motivate the worker. He found that motivators such as achievement,
recognition, responsibility, and advancement increase satisfaction from work and
motivate people toward a greater effort and performance. Herzberg and other
behavioral theorists were influenced by the writings of Abraham Maslow, a
theoretical psychologist who analyzed what human beings seek in their lives and
developed the Needs-Hierarchy concept.

Of the many theories of work motivation, Herzberg's (1966) motivator-hygiene

theory has been one of the most influential in recent decades. Basically, the theory
divides motivating factors into two categories: Motivator factors, which have
something to do with the work itself, and Hygiene factors, which have something to
do with the surrounding context.

Motivator factors include such things as responsible work, independence in doing

the work, and satisfaction arising from the completion of challenging tasks. Hygiene
factors include pay, security, and general working conditions. According to Frederick
Herzberg, hygiene factor operate primarily as de-motivators if they are not
sufficient. He suggests that workers are most satisfied and most productive when
their jobs are rich in the motivator factor. When the work is interesting, he suggests
can be accomplished by the job enrichment.

Hackman and Oldham's (1976) model of job enrichment propose that jobs can be
made more motivating by increasing the following: skill variety (the number of
different skills required by the job), task identity (the degree to which the job
produces something meaningful), task significance (the importance of the work),
autonomy (the degree to which the individual has freedom in deciding how to
perform the job), and feedback (the degree to which the individual obtains ongoing.

Many of these same characteristics of the work, particularly independence and

competence, are referred as intrinsic motivators by social psychologists and
personality psychologists. Deci and his colleagues proposed that intrinsic motivation
occurs when individuals feel both self-determined and competent in their work (Deci
1975; Deci & Ryan 1985). According to this research, people will feel competent if
they obtain feedback that indicates progress in their work, or suggests way they can
increase their competence.

One psychological view suggests that very high levels of intrinsic motivation are
marked by such strong interest and involvement in the work, and by such a perfect
match of task complexity with skill level, that people experience some kind of
psychological "flow," a sense of merging with the activity they are doing
(Csikszentmihalyi 1975).

The major psychological view suggests that extrinsic motivation works in opposition
to intrinsic motivation (Deci 1975; Deci & Ryan 1985). Extrinsic motivation takes
place when individuals feel driven by something outside of the work itself such as
promised rewards or incentives. In general, these theorists suggest that, when
strong extrinsic motivators are put to work, intrinsic motivation will decline.

The author of this study Dr. Teresa M. Ambile adopted definitions of intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation that include a lot of the concepts proposed by previous
theorists. Individuals are intrinsically motivated when they seek enjoyment, interest,
satisfaction of curiosity, self-expression, or personal challenge in the work.
Individuals are extrinsically motivated when they engage in the work in order to
obtain some goal that is apart from work itself.

The psychologists J. Richard Hackman and G.R. Oldham developed the jobcharacteristics theory. This work showed that there are five components to
motivation:

SKILL VARIETY: YOU GET TO USE DIFFERENT SKILLS.

TASK IDENTITY: YOU IDENTIFY PERSONALLY WITH WHAT YOU DO.

TASK SIGNIFICANCE: YOU FEEL THAT WHAT YOU DO IS SIGNIFICANT OR IMPORTANT.
AUTONOMY: YOU HAVE SOME SELF-CONTROL AND RESPONSIBILITY.
FEEDBACK: THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ACTUAL RESULTS OF WHAT YOU DO.
These five components of motivation take one in an independent manner toward a
desired goal. The first three components add meaningfulness to the work, the fourth
adds to ownership of results, and the last one gives feedback about the results of
what is done.

There are also five ways in which jobs may be redesigned or enriched to enhance
employees' performance or satisfaction:

COMBINING TASKS: INFLUENCES SKILL VARIETY AND TASK IDENTITY.

FORMING NATURAL WORK UNITS: ENHANCES TASK IDENTITY AND TASK
SIGNIFICANCE.
ESTABLISHING CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS: INCREASES SKILL VARIETY, AUTONOMY, AND
FEEDBACK.
VERTICAL LOADING: WORKER HAS MORE AUTHORITY, RESPONSIBILITY, AND
CONTROL OVER THE WORK. INCREASES AUTONOMY, SKILL VARIETY, TASK IDENTITY,
AND TASK SIGNIFICANCE.
OPENING FEEDBACK CHANNELS: INCREASES FEEDBACK.
In the Harvard Business Review Frederick Herzberg said that a brief review of his
motivation-hygiene theory of job attitudes is required before theoretical and
practical suggestions can be offered. According to him, the theory was first
withdrawn from an examination of events in the lives of engineers and accountants.
At least 16 other investigations, using a wide variety of populations (including some
in the communist countries), have since been completed, making the original
research one of the most replicated studies in the field of job attitudes.

This researcher also said that the findings of these studies, along with corroboration
from many other investigations using different procedures, suggest that the factors
involved in producing job satisfaction (and motivation) are separate and distinct
from the factors that lead to job dissatisfaction. Since separate factors need to be
considered, depending on whether job satisfaction or job dissatisfaction is being
examined, it follows that these two feelings are not opposites of each other. The
opposite of job satisfaction is no job satisfaction; similarly, the opposite of job
dissatisfaction is no job dissatisfaction.

It was interesting to learn that we always think of satisfaction and dissatisfaction as

opposites. But it comes to understanding the behavior of people in their jobs; more
than play on words is involved. Herzberg said that two different kinds of human
beings are involved here. One set of needs is the built-in drive to avoid pain from
the environment and the all the learned drives that become conditioned to the basic
biological needs. For example, hunger, a basic biological drive makes its necessary
to earn money, and then money becomes a specific drive. The other set of needs
relates to that unique human characteristic, the ability to achieve and, through
achievement, experience psychological growth.

The factors involved in causing job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction were drawn
from samples of 1,685 employees, is shown on table 1 in the appendix from
previous studies done. The results indicate that motivators were the primary cause
of satisfaction, and hygiene factors the primary cause of unhappiness on the job.
The employees, studied in 12 different investigations, included lower level
supervisors, professional woman, agricultural administrators, men about to retire
from management positions, hospital maintenance personnel, manufacturing
supervisors, nurses, food handlers, military officers, engineers, scientists,
housekeepers, teachers, technicians, female assemblers, accountants, Finnish
foremen, and Hungarian engineers.

They were asked what job events had occurred in their work that had led to extreme
satisfaction or extreme dissatisfaction on their part. Their responses are broken
down in the table into percentages of total "positive" job events and of total
"negative" job events. The figures total more than 100% on both the "hygiene" and
"motivators" side because of ten at least two factors, can be attributed to a single
event; advancement, for instance, often accompanies assumption of responsibility.)

To show, a common response involving achievement that had a negative effect for
the employee was, "I was unhappy because I didn't do the job successfully." A
typical response in the small number of positive job events in the company policy
and administration grouping was, "I was happy because the company reorganized
the section sot that I didn't report any longer to the guy I didn't get along with." As
the lower part of the table shows, of all the factors contributing to job satisfaction,
81% were motivators. And of all the factors contributing to the employees'
dissatisfaction over their work, 69% involved hygiene elements.

The theory of Herzberg helped to focus interest on the importance of the intrinsic
aspects of the job and their ability to motivate workers. It also spawned the concept
of job enrichment. He also believed that people's satisfaction and motivation derive
from the intrinsic nature of the work. Frederick Herzberg suggested things to enrich
a job:

REMOVE SOME OF THE CONTROLS OVER EMPLOYEES AND INCREASE THEIR

PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN WORK.
PROVIDE EMPLOYEES WITH COMPLETE OR NATURAL UNITS OF WORK WHERE
POSSIBLE. FOR EXAMPLE INSTEAD OF HAVING THEM MAKE ONE COMPONENT OF A
UNIT, LET THEM PRODUCE THE WHOLE UNIT.
GIVE EMPLOYEES ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY AND FREEDOM IN THEIR WORK.
PROVIDE REPORTS ON PRODUCTION ON A REGULAR BASIS DIRECTLY TO THE
WORKERS INSTEAD OF TO THEIR SUPERVISORS.
ENCOURAGE WORKERS TO TAKE ON NEW AND MORE DIFFICULT TASKS.
ASSIGN HIGHLY SPECIALIZED TASKS SO THAT WORKERS CAN BECOME EXPERT IN A
PARTICULAR TASK OR OPERATION.
Another distinguished personage who was concerned about the motivation of
employees is the quality pioneer W. Edwards Deming who was a statistician and
mathematical physicist by trade. Dr. Deming believed that performance did not
come from the individual. Performance came from the system or for lack of a
system. He also stated that one effective solution is to engage employees in the
process of improving the system. People are born with intrinsic motivation, selfesteem, and dignity. One inherits joy in work, and joy in learning.

After advising Japan on census design in the late 1940s, he was invited in 1950 to
deliver lectures to Japanese managers on management theory. Deming's lectures
led to a wide-scale revolution in Japanese manufacturing systems, allowing Japan to
enjoy considerable gains in product quality and economic growth in the latter half of
the 20th century. Deming was not "discovered" in the United States until the airing
of a television documentary, "If Japan Can, Why Can't We?" in 1980.

Deming's management theory is centered on thinking of an organization, and the

vendors and customers of the organization, as a system. With what he called
"profound knowledge," this system may be managed to yield maximum value to all
involved. Profound knowledge itself is a system. Deming identified four interacting
parts to this system of knowledge:

APPRECIATION FOR A SYSTEM

KNOWLEDGE ABOUT VARIATION
THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
PSYCHOLOGY

The first part, which is appreciation for a system, has already been mentioned:
Recognition of relationships within and between organizations, and the potential of
these relationships to maximize value is crucial to realizing value. Smart systems
allow for synergy - wholes greater than the sum of their parts. Appreciation for a
system means that parts of an organization are always considered in relationship to
other parts, and the aim of the system.

An example of failure to appreciate a system would be setting up divisions or

departments within an organization to be in competition with each other. While such
an arrangement might be an incentive to a type of "performance," it prevents the
optimization of value that is possible when divisions or departments are thoughtfully
managed as a whole system, where divisions or departments work in concert for
maximum benefit for all. Dr. W. Edwards Deming emphasized that suppliers and
customers must be included in the consideration of any system, and systems must
include the future as well as the present. The generic aim Deming suggested for any
organization is that all involved or affected by the organization (including
organization personnel, customers, suppliers, and the broader society) are better off
than they would be if the organization did not exist -- that is, everyone gains.

The second part of Deming's system of profound knowledge, knowledge about

variation, is crucial for understanding various phenomena that occur in a system,
and making smart decisions in designing and managing a system. Deming
emphasized the importance of discerning (through proper statistical methods) what
variation is built into a repeating process and will predictably occur within certain
limits, and what variation represents extraneous phenomena, or the existence of
chaos. Knowledge about variation also allows managers to make better decisions
about what variation should be reduced, and what variation should be left alone, or
even increased.

The third part of Deming's system of profound knowledge was Theory of knowledge,
which concerns understanding how knowledge is created, and how there is no
substitute for knowledge in managing a system. Deming defined knowledge as
rational predictions (or theories) about relationships between phenomena that are
separate in time. A rational prediction is a prediction that conforms faithfully to
observations that have been made through the present. A theory must change
when new observations refute previous theory. Knowledge is built through cycles of
theory, experience, and then corroboration or revisions of theory. Good theory or
knowledge is essential for creating value in a system. Knowledge must be extracted
from experience, and sought from outside the system, to manage well. The
alternatives to management by knowledge - such as superstition, luck, hoping and
wishing, copying examples without understanding, following tradition for its own
sake - tend to take away value.

The last part of Deming's system of profound knowledge, psychology, comprises

knowledge about what humans do and why they do it. Psychology is extremely
relevant to organizations in that "human beings doing things" is what organizations
are. Even the non-human pieces of an organization (e.g., machines, buildings,
physical raw materials, procedures) were ultimately the result of human beings
doing things. He was especially concerned with effective uses of motivation, and
emphasized the motivating power of the joy, satisfaction, and pride that occurs
when one contributes to an effective system. He noted how many typical employee
reward programs are contrary to appreciation for a system, and hurt, rather than
help, morale. He also was concerned about organizational cultures based on fear,
which is destructive to both the system and to individuals.

David McClelland who was another illustrious researcher on motivation and a

Harvard Psychologist. He studied the phenomenon of constructive activity beyond
survival requirements for over 20 years. He labeled this trait Need for Achievement.
He found that high achievers value extrinsic rewards such as money only as a
method of keeping score, and that the real reward, the satisfaction of achievement,
stimulated their performance. In order for organizations to succeed McClelland
advised that they invest in a man and not in just a plan.

THIS PHENOMENAL RESEARCHER IDENTIFIED THREE CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH

NEED-ACHIEVEMENT PERSONS:
PEOPLE WITH HIGH NEED OF ACHIEVEMENT FAVOR A WORKING SITUATION IN
WHICH THEY ARE ABLE TO ASSUME PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR SOLVING
PROBLEMS.
THEY HAVE A TENDENCY TO TAKE CALCULATED RISKS AND SET MODERATE
ACHIEVEMENT GOALS.
THEY ALSO MUST HAVE DEFINITE AND CONTINUING FEEDBACK ABOUT THEIR
PROGRESS. IF THEY DO NOT RECEIVE ANY KIND OF RECOGNITION FROM THEIR
WORK, THEY WOULD NOT KNOW HOW WELL THEY ARE DOING.
There are still unresolved questions about the need-achievement theory of
motivation, and not all research has been supportive. This theory is judged to be
high scientific validity and in its usefulness in application to the world of work.

Psychologist A. H. Maslow was a University professor and a frequent contributor to

professional journals organized human needs on five general levels in his book
called Motivation and Personality. In ascending order these are:

Physiological needs such as food, water, sex, and shelter.

Safety needs such as protection

Social needs such as belonging, and acceptance.
Ego needs such as achievement, status, and appreciation.
Self-actualization needs such as the need to realize one's potential.
The first three needs can be considered basic or deficit needs. When these basic
needs are satisfied, then the ego and self-actualization needs are pursued.
Organizations in the United

States industrial sector have done a better job of satisfying the basic needs of their
workers than they have in satisfying the ego or self-fulfillment needs.

According to Maslow, most of what we know of human motivation comes not from
psychologists but from psychotherapists treating patients. He explains that these
patients are a great source of error as well as of useful data, because they
constitute a poor sample of the population. The motivational life of neurotic
sufferers should be rejected as a paradigm for healthy motivation. Any theory of
motivation must deal with the highest capacities of the healthy and strong man.

This great psychologist says that it is important that we should not only study sick
people but healthy men as well. Dr. Maslow's theory has received little research
support and is judged to have low scientific validity and low usefulness in
application. The theory continues to be very popular among managers and
executives who have accepted a need for self-actualization as a motivating force to
be reckoned with on the job.

The most worrisome problem American business are facing today is the low
employee work productivity. In the past, America's industrial gains have been the
highest in the world, but lately our productivity growth has declined, particularly
when compared with some of our industrial competitors. The decline in employee
motivation and in commitment to high-quality work performance may well be one of
the major causes of this productivity slowdown. Productivity is defined as the
efficient and effective use of resources with minimum waste and effort to achieve
outcome. A decline in productivity is a cost that many companies cannot afford and
that the United States, with its high standard of living, cannot tolerate. Increasing
foreign competition already has caused many of our firm's serious problems and
failures.

Frederick W. Taylor brought to management studies what Adam Smith contributed to

the study of economics. Taylor's ideas about motivation were based on the

assumption that workers act to maximize their economic self interest. He observed
an "us vs. them" relationship between managers and employees. His observation of
this condition, plus the extent of some employees' poor performances, convinced
him that success was possible when employers and employees cooperated and
worked jointly toward a common goal of profits, would which benefit all. The key to
a motivated work force is to bring personal and organization goals in line.

Denise M. Rousseau who is a professor of Organizational behavior at Carnegie

Mellon University wrote an article on the Academy of Management Executive about
her current research on motivation. She believes that modern organizations cannot
succeed if the people they employ agree to contribute to their mission and survival.
This is called a psychological contract in which beliefs are based upon expressed
promises. Psychological contracts motivates employees to fulfill commitments made
to employers when employees are certain that employers will give in return and
carry out their end of the bargain. Professor Rousseau said, "Agreement between
worker and employer on what each owes the other is critical to the employment
relationship's success. Managers who feel poorly treated by the employer are less
likely to make extensive commitments to their workers or to signal that the
employer is trustworthy."

Recent studies show that Scholars have identified six key features of the
psychological contract said Professor Rousseau. She describes these features as
follow:

1. Voluntary Choice: Psychological contracts motivate people to fulfill their

commitments because they are based on the exchange of promises in which the
individuals has freely participated. Commitments made voluntarily tend to be kept.
An employee who agrees to work for a firm for at least a year is likely to be
internally conflicted if offered a job elsewhere a few months after being hired. That
particular employee is more likely to decline the offer than a co-worker who had
made no such commitment to the employer. Explicit voluntary commitments ("I
agree to stay a minimum of a year") have more powerful effects on behavior than
implicit ones ("to stay a while").

2. Belief in Mutual Agreement: An individual's psychological contract reflects his or

her own understanding of the commitments made with another. Individuals act on
that subjective understanding as if it is mutual, regardless of whether that is the
case in reality. For example, consider a new employee who is told that her job
requires two or three days of travel a week. The employee might interpret that to
mean that she will be traveling mo more than three days a week, although the
manager who hired her really meant that there would be two or three days of travel

per week on average. More experienced recruits are better at probing for mutual
understanding than rookies are.

3. Incompleteness: Psychological contracts tend to be incomplete and need to be

fleshed out over time. Neither employee nor employer can initially spell out all the
details of a long-term employment relationship. It is also impractical to recall all the
details that should be shared with one another. These contracts tend to become
more elaborate over the course of the employment relationship.

4. Multiple Contract Makers: How workers interpret their psychological contracts

with employers is shaped by many sources of information. These sources may
include top management, human resource representatives, and in particular, a
worker's immediate boss. The boss consistently sends strong signals regarding the
terms of an individual's psychological contract. If their immediate boss leaves, many
employees will view the departure as a violation of their psychological contract with
the firm. When their boss leaves, many employees fee they are losing the shared
understanding about their psychological contract. Co-workers can also provide
information which people use to determine what they owe employers and vice
versa. Finally, human resource practices such as training and performance appraisal
processes can signal promised benefits and required contributions. And as you
might suspect, when information sources convey different messages, it erodes the
mutuality of the psychological contract.

5. Managing Losses When Contracts Fail: If employees and employers rely on

psychological contracts to guide their actions, then the failure of the other party to
fulfill anticipated commitments results in "losses." Such losses are the basic reason
why psychological contract violation generates strong negative reactions, including
anger, outrage, termination, and withdrawal of support. In essence, employees and
employers must focus on both fulfilling commitments of their psychological
contracts as well as on managing losses when existing commitments are difficult to
keep. For instance, an employer might offer someone a challenging project when a
promised promotion fails to materialize. Likewise, an employee who misses a critical
meeting might make special efforts that her performance is unimpaired.

6. The contract as Model of the Employment Relationship: A psychological contract

creates an enduring mental model of the employment relationship. This mental
model provides a stable understanding of what to expect in the future and guides
efficient action without much need for practice. Think about the way the
conventional QWERTY keyboard helps those of us who type in English to compose a
document without looking at the keyboard. Having a psychological contract as a
mental model helps employer and employee function despite having incomplete
information about the other party's intentions or expectations. Subsequent

information also tends to be interpreted in light of the pre-existing psychological

contract. For the most part, this is functional since new performance demands can
be incorporated into existing understandings of one's work role.

There have also been studies done on performance appraisals to have the potential
to disrupt performance and employee motivation. A study done at a large Electric
plant showed that employees who received a negative appraisal experienced a
decline in job performance. On the other hand, employees who received a good or
outstanding appraisal showed no change in their performance. Overall the
performance appraisal process was found to have no positive effect on the
organization. Instead of building the relationship between the employee and the
supervisor, the appraisal works to reinforce the boss/subordinate relationship. When
the appraisal is tied to pay this works to further undermine the relationship by
confusing performance with pay. This process encourages sucking up behavior and
discourages honest, open dialog between supervisor and subordinate. A one-year
study was conducted in which the work planning and review process (WP&R) was
compared with the traditional performance appraisal process.

Organizations need to look beyond reward at what really drives people to succeed,
and provide examples of how reward and recognition can be harnessed as an
effective motivational tool. Reward and recognition make people feel good, look
good, and do good things. To reward our employees in a way that will have
maximum impact we have to create something tailored that will honor and delight
them personally. That will do far more in the longer term than a gold watch or a little
extra in their pay packet ever would. We need to ask people how would they like to
be rewarded.

Clear determination of an individual's motivation depends on the individual's

expressed levels of interest, enjoyment. There are thousands of companies selling
Motivational Products, Programs, and services to organizations, motivational
speakers, posters, signs, and slogans. Do they all work for everyone in the
company? Despite all precautions, there will be incompetent and/or lazy people who
will get through the screen. We need to prepare ourselves for this possibility.
Establishing a system for eliminating them from the workforce if that is possible
within our organization. If there is not a system for purging these workers, they may
linger and infect or disrupt the organization.

Methodology

Methods of Data Gathering

There are several methodological approaches available to gathering data. In order

for me to find reliable and valid data I chose to obtain it from different business
owners, executive managers and employees from different organizations in the city.
This is a very diverse group and it is going to allow me to test my hypotheses which
consist of gathering information on a group of employees and managers to discover
what influences their motivation.

The methodology I chose is divided into the following categories:

Surveys will allow participants to respond to many of my research questions. The

surveys will be distributed to different employees in many areas of work.
Questionnaires will be very important to the study on motivation and will be kept
confidential. The purpose of using questionnaires is to obtain information about the
characteristics, attitudes and beliefs of a group of employees to determine what it is
that will make them happy at work and motivate them to perform at their best. The
questions will be open-ended as opposed to simple yes-or-no questions.
This methodology is appropriate for the research I am doing on employee
motivation. It will help me test the hypotheses of my research as well as answer
some of my research questions. This proposed methodology is very simple to
understand.

Data Analysis ProceduresThe data I will be gathering from these managers and
employees will help me test my hypotheses on a diverse group of people. I will be
calculating the Mean, Standard deviation and T test. The purpose of collecting this
data was to help companies improve their operations. From this data we can point
out to managers or business owners areas in which their companies were
particularly weak and together with the managers plan strategies for improvement.

Two written surveys and questionnaires were given to 20 managers and 20

employees each from different organizations in the city. The questionnaires are
shown in the appendix along with the IRB document. The data gathered was
transformed to quantitative data using an ordinal scale conversion. The converted
data is shown in the appendix. Managers were queried about motivation techniques
money, promotion, training, criticism and recognition. Success of motivation
techniques and employee performance were also evaluated. Employees were
queried about work tenure, motivating factorsmoney, promotion, discipline, training
and recognition. They were also asked about the best motivation technique money,
esprit de corps, training, and recognition. Other questions addressed reward for
better performance and if they felt motivated. The responses are shown in the
appendix.

We will use Excel for analyzing the data. The mean and standard deviation are
calculated for each variable and percentages for the responses. A t test is
conducted for the two sample groups, managers and employees assuming equal
variances. Success of motivation techniques, manager vs. employee perception of
performance, perception of motivation, and performance are the variables that are
analyzed using t tests. Balnaves and Caputi (2001) discuss quantitative research
methods using Excel. Punch (2003) examines the basics of survey research.

Interpretation of findings

For managers, the data showed that the primary motivation technique was
perceived as money (50%) followed by training (22%) and recognition (22%);
criticism accounted for only 6%. With respect to successful motivation, there
responses indicated money (65%) followed by recognition (29%); training was only
6%. The success of motivation techniques had a mean between excellent and good
and a standard deviation of around one with an equally spaced scale between 5 and
1. Employee performance was between good and moderate with a standard
deviation of 0.7 with a scale from five to one. Performance of employees was
perceived as a problem with a mean of 4.9 and a standard deviation of 0.3 with an
equally spaced scale from five to one with five being definite and one being
definitely not. Another question involved handling poor performance.
Encouragement was the most frequent response (53%) followed by termination
(24%) and criticism (12%).

For employees, work tenure had a mean of 2.3 years with a standard deviation of
1.5 years. The question whether better performance led to promotion had a
response of more than likely. The mean was 3.85 and the standard deviation was
1.35 for an equally spaced scale with definitely being five, more than likely being
four and definitely not being one. The motivating factors are identified as discipline
(43%), recognition (24%) followed by money (19%), promotion (10%) and criticism
(5%). To the question if employees felt motivated, the response had a mean of 3.65
with a standard deviation of 1.66 for an equally spaced scale with definitely being
one, more than likely being four and definitely not being one. Whether motivation
affects effort drew a response with a mean of 3.75 and a standard deviation of 1.3
for an equally spaced scale with definitely being five, more than likely being four
and definitely not being one. To the question whether motivation affects
performance, the response had a mean of 3.7 and a standard deviation of 1.09 for
an equally spaced scale with definitely being five, more than likely being four and
definitely not being one. The best motivation technique was identified as esprit de
corps being at the top (32%) followed by recognition (27%) and training and money,
each at 18%.

A t test was conducted on the success of motivation techniques. Null Hypothesis:

There is no difference in the recognition of the value of motivation techniques
between managers and employees.Alternate Hypothesis: There is a difference in the
recognition of the value of motivation techniques between managers and
employees.The p value for the two-tailed test is 0.079 which is greater than 0.05. So
we retain the null hypothesis that there is no difference in the perception of
motivation techniques between managers and employees.

A t test was conducted on the perception of motivation. Null Hypothesis: There is no

difference in the perception of motivation between managers and
employees.Alternate Hypothesis: There is a difference in the perception of
motivation between managers and employees.The p value for the two-tailed test is
0.06 which is greater than 0.05. So we retain the null hypothesis that there is no
difference in the perception of motivation between managers and employees.

A t test was conducted on the perception of performance.Null Hypothesis: There is

no difference in the perception of performance between managers and
employees.Alternate Hypothesis: There is a difference in the perception of
performance between managers and employees.The p value for the two-tailed test
is 0.99 which is greater than 0.05. So we retain the null hypothesis that there is no
difference in the perception of performance between managers and employees.

A t test was conducted on whether performance is a problem.Null Hypothesis: There

is no problem with performance as perceived by managers and employees.Alternate
Hypothesis: There is a problem with performance as perceived by managers and
employees. The p value for the two-tailed test is 0.004, which is less than 0.05. So
we reject the null hypothesis that there is no difference in the perception of
performance as a problem between managers and employees.

Results

The results show that both managers and employees agree on the importance of
motivation on employee performance. However, there is a difference in the
perception of performance as a problem between managers and employees. Also,
employees placed a premium on esprit de corps or firm culture and congeniality and
recognition; money was lower on the scale. Managers, on the other hand, placed a
greater emphasis on monetary factors with training and recognition following well
behind. This study, though constrained by small sample size, shows a marked
difference between employees and managers as to what constitutes successful
motivation. Both groups agree that motivation is significant in influencing

performance. Further studies can focus on the differences between manufacturing

firms, service firms and retailers.

Conclusions

Motivation is based on growth needs. It is an internal engine, and its benefits show
up over a long period of time. Because the ultimate reward in motivation is personal
growth. The only way to motivate an employee is to give him challenging work for
which he can assume responsibility. Human motivation is so complex and so
important, successful management development for the next century must include
theoretical and practical education about the types of motivation, their sources,
their effects on performance, and their susceptibility to various influences.
Employees are the company best assets. If employees are not as motivated, it will
have a tremendous effect on productivity. The organizations overall efficiency will
decline by unmotivated employees. Managers may even need to hire additional
employees to complete tasks that could be done by the existing force.

I believe that emotions are also involved in motivation. An employee who is easily
emotional about situations may lack the stability to perform optimally. Motivation is
also influenced but morale and attitude. Based on previous research done, under
regular conditions, employees tend to work at only about two-thirds of their
capacity. Motivation may also be influenced by the managers management style. If
a manager is not liked, employees may function minimally.

Proper motivation of employees is directly associated with productivity and with

maintenance factors. Workers who are content with their jobs, who feel challenged,
who have the opportunity to fulfill their goals will exhibit less destructive behavior
on the job. They will be absent less frequently, they will be less inclined to change
jobs, and, most importantly, they will produce at a higher level.

To be a successful manager one must be a people mover, who motivates employees

to increased productivity. Get to know your people well! Remember that people do
things for their reasons. Try to understand where the person is coming from. We all
have different motives. If employers do not recognize soon what are their
employees motives they will be destined to lose some of their best people.
Motivation is the most critical factor in productivity. Motivation is the key.

Source : https://www.westminstercollege.edu/myriad/?
parent=2514&detail=4475&content=4798

8 Reasons You Have Unmotivated Employees & How To

Inspire Them
According to a Gallup research poll, only 30% of the U.S. workforce is engaged in
their work. The vast majority of U.S. workers (70%) are not reaching their full
potential. A study of 64 organizations revealed highly engaged employees achieve
two times the annual income of organizations whose employees are mostly
disengaged. Analyzing how and why your employees are motivated will increase
your productivity & profits. Employees come from diverse family cultures, assorted
education levels, and possess unique motivations.

If you want to entice your employees, incentives will only work when the individual
places a high value on the allurement. Inspirations must be important and
obtainable, or they will waste your time and money.

Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsically motivated people want to fulfill basic needs; food, shelter, financial
comfort, feelings of pride, joy, increased self-esteem, personal satisfaction. They
want to prove to themselves they have self worth and are the person they aspire to
be. As Forbes remarks, rewards that are strictly monetary will stifle the creativity of
a project and an employees unique approach. In fact, HR trends indicate, higher
financial rewards lead to lower performance. Studies have shown that paying an
employee too much can have adverse effects on their work performance.

Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsically motivated individuals want to please others so they may receive
positive responses, praise, acceptance & recognition. They like a tangible outcome
as a result of their performance such as; a certificate, public announcement, a
scholarship, grades, & level systems. Telling an extrinsically motivated person they
have to do something because you said so is ineffective and a waste of time. You
must motivate on a cerebral level, and drive employees towards THEIR desired
outcome.

Why Your Routine Workers Are Unmotivated & What To Do:

1. No Incentives:

Factory workers etc., benefit from the carrot and the stick method of reward. Each
day and or week a quota is met, a minimum error rate was achieved, a time
schedule was abided, provide a flex; hour pass, day pass, lunch pass, personal
appointment pass. Compliance will increase if you implement a level system with 20
flex passes turned back in equals a free pizza dinner, bagel & donut breakfast, 40
flex passes turned back in equals a free baseball game day, 200 flex passes equals
two days as a supervisor, a new responsibility assigned

2. No Stability:
Offer a stable, secure future. Establish employee criteria that guarantees 6 months,
one year, and three years employment. Your commitment and belief in them will
increase their interconnectivity and motivation for you.

3. Boring Work:
Break the monotony. Create 2-3 skill rotations. Each hour employees with skill A
move to skill B, skill B workers move to skill C. Diversity to their day and their skill
base will engage your work force and increase your organizations production levels.
This extra training and effort will reward you with increased compliance;
attendance, less workers compensation claims, and better attitudes.

4. Not A Happy Place:

Reward productivity results with employee empowerment. Let your workers choose
the hat day, music, dinner (under your budget). Provide fun games such as; match a
baby picture with the employee, hidden object (wheres Waldo) Create a game,
lounge room so your employees can have fun connecting with each other. HR trends
indicate, the more you deepen their alliance to each other, the less likely they will
skip out on work or leave.

Why Your Educated Workers Are Unmotivated & What To Do:

5. Stagnant Creativity:
White collar professionals want autonomy, mastery of a skill important to them, and
a sense of purpose what they are doing matters to the world. Contrive a program in
which your staff creates one creative objective every other month that improves
their work mission or connects their work with the outside world. At the end of the
month have your employees do a 5 minute presentation on how they accomplished
this skill and identify why it matters to the big picture. Use a white board to show off

the objectives of the month. Offer your employees with 10 creative submissions a
new responsibility that leads them to their next career goal.

6. No Trust:
Inspire through trust. Modern HR management realizes if you treat your employees
with respect they will be motivated to conquer more. Strategic HR trends includes
employees in senior management meetings, and helps individuals recognize their
career potential. Feeling heard, validated, and as a piece to the solution, will
convert extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation.

7. Lack Of Company Mission

Employees need clear direction. You must convey your organizations objective as a
whole, and communicate how each employees job assignment contributes to the
business aim internally and externally. Establish a public purpose. Give your
employees the opportunity to volunteer their skills & efforts towards a public
purpose.

8. No Opportunity:
Career advancement opportunity may be the most important motivator. Ongoing
skill and education opportunity will validate your staffs employment status is
worthwhile. As an employer and or supervisor, remain informed of vacant positions
and their required skills, so you can facilitate your teams advancement. Richard
Branson eloquently states; Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them
well enough so they dont want to.
Source : https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20141103140453-2446341108-reasons-you-have-unmotivated-employees-how-to-inspire-them?_mSplash=1

The effects of an unmotivated employee

Periodically, I dust off the classic western, The Magnificent Seven, and indulge in
some escapism. The lead character, Chris, caused me to think about employee
motivation recently. His team has different technical abilities, hang ups and
preferences. Chris engages them in a dangerous mission that pays very little. He
creates the conditions that motivate each individual and the whole team succeeds.

In business, the effects from unmotivated employees are easy to identify. The
persons performance is the obvious one, but quickly we can follow that with the
negative impacts on their colleagues and the lowering of team Results.

How can leaders motivate employees?

So, what do able leaders do to manage demotivated employees? Firstly, they
remember that they cant motivate anyone to do anything. Instead, they create the
conditions for people to motivate themselves.

Maybe one leader motivates people to perform minimum compliance or look for
jobs elsewhere, back biting and even to indulge in sabotage. Able leaders create the
conditions for people to do things better, faster and more cheaply. To volunteer that
suggestion at the team meeting, to help a customer beyond their contracted hours,
to give up lunch to mentor the new team member.

Secondly, they remember that its their role to deal with it actively. They remember
to plan when turning around an unmotivated employee. Its not just something to
'wing.'
Know your employees
I mean really know them. This is beyond what car he or she drives, their hair colour
and the like. Its more about what are their underused skills, parts of her role they
enjoy, hobbies, etc. In short, take an active interest in them as people.

Now think of someone in your team. How would they react to a local newspaper
featuring them as a great employee? If youre not 99.9% certain that your thoughts
are right, then take an action to deepen your relationships with them.

Make sure you use some of your energy to notice how your people are. This may be
slight changes in their behaviour or performance. Its all too easy to see but not
notice. Great leaders notice and then check out what they sense. Gurus have
written much about remembering to use your gut-feel as well as tools such as
flowcharts and algorithms on the way to action. This is true of motivating
employees. You may have inherited your team and so need to consciously rise
above your prejudices and biases.
Planning ahead for difficult conversations
Deciding to act is one thing: acting well is another. Many managers have floundered
on the sea of good intentions. Its important therefore to think about whom you
have decided to speak to, how they might react and how you will handle it. Road
test your approach by honing what you intend to say until you know it is crisp, clear,
constructive and likely to create meaningful dialogue with that person.

Running a mental movie to see yourself having the conversation, hear yourself and
your employees responses and feeling what you will be like can be very powerful. If
this visualisation is good enough for world champion sports people, then its good
enough for leaders.

My preference is to practise aloud with a confidant colleague. HR people ought to be

ideal for this. You tell them how they should behave, and then you actually have the
conversation with them. The Benefits of getting as near as possible to the actual
situation are enormous.
Having the difficult conversation
This could range from: Ive a sense that you are a little jaded just now. Would I be
right in that feeling? to a more formal meeting with the unmotivated employee.

However you decide to have your conversation, remember to get to root causes
before charting agreed actions toward success. Nervous managers grab a symptom,
jump to actions like training before returning to work convinced that they have
ticked the box.

Better managers ask more questions: What specifically? or What do you want
right now? are examples or: On a scale of one to ten how happy are you at work
just now? The scaling question option means you can explore further with for
example: What leads you to a six?, What would make it a seven for you? etc.

As you can tell, the effective manager needs to stay in a resourceful state so that he
or she can think. That means remaining assertive. Employees become unmotivated
for many reasons. Often whats a big thing for them is a minor thing to others. Just
some examples are lack of confidence with technology, change, feeling of being
put down at a recent meeting, being ignored after doing a great job.

Lastly, keep your sense of proportion by knowing that the employee spends just one
third of their time at work. Factors outside the workplace can lead to the
unmotivated employee. Remember though, that it's always a good thing to deal
with it positively. If it's a work reason; great because you can get to the bottom of it
and solve it together. If it's outside work, you can make work the best sanctuary for
them, maybe signposting them to specialist help and finally demonstrate that you
care about them.
Support and challenge the employees
Eddie Davies NAF (novel, applicable, feasible) test provides possible things that you
can do to create the conditions for employees to motivate themselves. Whatever

you think of should pass the NAF test. Novel - is it new? Applicable - will it actually
lead to motivation? Feasible - can you put the idea into practice?

The effective leader uses support and challenge with team members. One without
the other is ineffective. Dealing with peoples motivation is not about being a
counsellor or tyrant. The most inspirational leaders offer high support and high
challenge to become a role model leader.
Create conditions for high performance
As a leader you, like Yul Brynner who played Chris in The Magnificent Seven, have
the responsibility to use people to best effect and that means knowing them, having
strong relationships and attending to demotivation issues as soon as they arise.

Your role is to create the conditions where people motivate themselves. The most
effective leaders create conditions for high performance through high support and
high challenge.
Be an Oscar-winning leader.
Source : http://www.changeboard.com/content/3564/how-to-deal-with-demotivatedemployees-/

Negative Impact of Organizational Change

on Employees
by Hannah Wickford, Demand Media
Organizational change can happen for several reasons, including financial concerns, a merger or
acquisition, expanding markets, accommodating growth or a simple shift in business model.
Whatever the reason, change is almost always difficult for employees and it can wreak havoc
with your bottom line. Before announcing changes to your employees, put yourself in their shoes
to help you to understand how they might react so that you can mitigate risks to your company
and unnecessary stress on them.

Mental Stress
A Danish study of over 92,000 employees across more than 1,500 companies concluded that
organization change, particularly when the changes are broad in reach and several changes occur
simultaneously, results in increased stress-related prescriptions by employees. There may be
many causes for increased stress levels, including perceived injustices or unfairness, lack of
timely communication by management or fear of future changes.

Loss of Loyalty
Many companies look to salaries and benefits as the first places to cut back when looking to
make changes that involve cost-saving. When this happens, it is inevitable that some employees
will leave the company to seek employment elsewhere. The employees that remain, whether they
stay voluntarily or because they could not find employment elsewhere, are often resentful.
Motivation decreases, taking job performance along with it. Employees lose their company
loyalty and may even become angry enough to purposefully sabotage the company.

Increased Time Away From Work

When organizational changes are announced, particularly when there is downsizing involved,
employees generally divide into one of two groups: those who will attempt to control their fate
and those who want to get out before the changes occur. The group taking control will usually
dig in, increase their productivity, hit their deadlines and do everything they can to shine in front
of their managers hoping they will sail through the changes with their job intact. The remaining
employees cope with the changes by avoiding them. You may see these employees taking longer
lunch hours, coming in later and leaving earlier or simply not coming into the office at all.
Whether they are looking for new jobs or simply avoiding the office, expect to see an increase in
employee sick days while you carry out the organizational changes.

Life Changes
Some organizational changes require major restructuring, resulting in sweeping life changes for a
number of employees. Typical changes that negatively impact a portion of the employees are
salary cuts, loss of benefits, downgrading in job position, job loss or relocation to another city,
state or country. All of these can be devastating changes to employees, particularly those who are
supporting families. The best way to handle these changes while keeping the morale up of the
remaining or unaffected employees is by communicating with all of the employees every step of
the way and treating the affected employees with fairness and compassion.
Source : http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-impact-organizational-changeemployees-25171.html

Uncertainty About Jobs Has a Ripple Effect

THE immediate impact of the recession widespread buyouts and layoffs may be fading,
but the fear of losing a job hangs over workplaces like a cloud of worry.
Perceived job insecurity, as it is called, may be here to stay, and the latest studies show it has
even more wide-ranging and serious effects on workers and companies than was once thought.

Most people know and research has demonstrated that just about nothing is worse than
uncertainty, and the dread of being unemployed can actually be worse than the reality of being
laid off, said Tinne Vander Elst, a postdoctoral researcher organizational and personnel
psychology at the University of Leuven in Belgium.
When people know they will lose their job, they deal with it and their well-being increases, she
said. The really difficult situation is when people are in an insecure position, because they feel
powerless.
And there are a lot of people in that position. A Gallup poll found that in August 2013 almost
one-third of workers feared being laid off, compared with about half that number in August 2008.
But what are the concrete effects of all that worry?
Research indicates that job insecurity reduces both physical and mental health, increases
burnout, reduces job satisfaction and decreases work performance, said Dr. Vander Elst.
Although some have theorized that a little insecurity isnt a bad thing because people might work
harder to keep their jobs, she said studies showed that any amount of job insecurity isnt good.
If youre anxious or depressed, it is difficult to be productive or creative, she said.
Or safe. A study released in November, co-written by Tahira M. Probst, a professor of
psychology at Washington State University, found that threats or the perceived threats of layoffs
caused workers to pay less attention to safety and subsequently experience more injuries and
accidents at work.
And just as troubling, she said, employees are also more reluctant to report injuries when they
are fearful of losing their jobs. So job insecurity is also related to accident underreporting.
Continue reading the main story
When people are anxious about losing their jobs, they might seem likely to seek support from
company wellness programs and counseling. But theyre more reluctant to do so, said Wendy R.
Boswell, a professor of management at Texas A & M University.
Her study, I Cannot Afford to Have a Life: Employee Adaptation to Feelings of Job Insecurity,
is scheduled to be published in the winter edition of the journal Personnel Psychology. Professor
Boswell and her colleagues surveyed 655 employees at a large energy company. Their research
found that employees who were more worried about losing their jobs or having their benefits or
hours cut were also less likely to use any support programs than those who felt more secure.
This also included asking for flex time or leave.
The findings were surprising, she said, because the company had relatively few layoffs, and none
in the division where the workers were surveyed. And the company prided itself on being very
supportive of balancing work and family.

It appears that when a worker fears job loss, Professor Boswell said, the last thing you want
your supervisor to think is that youre not putting in 150 percent. You want to seem
indispensable.
Another finding, she said, is that the more you are worried about your job, the more you let work
permeate your home life.
You want people to know, Im a good worker bee, she said. But that can backfire. Allowing
work to cross over more and more into personal life leads to increasing burnout and work-family
conflict.
Mary, a registered dietitian who asked her real name not be used because she was worried about
being let go from her job, knows well the toll of workplace uncertainty. She has been employed
at her current job for two years, but has no contract and receives no benefits.
Any wrong look sets me thinking Im going to be fired, she said. Its really stressful. I have
stomachaches, headaches, and I dont sleep as well as I used to.
Kathy Knudson, a San Francisco career counselor and therapist, sees a lot of people like Mary.
The first thing to do, she said, is to make sure there is a real and imminent danger of losing your
job.
You need to look at what the odds are its going to happen and how to protect yourself, she
said. And even though its not easy, she added, everyone has to start thinking more like an
independent contractor.
There is no job security its an oxymoron, Ms. Knudson said. Job security is maintaining
cutting-edge skills and establishing a far-reaching network.
While many think of job insecurity as a relatively new phenomenon, some experts say that isnt
true.
Theres a myth that in the 1950s, everyone was very loyal to companies and companies were
very loyal to people, said Ann Huff Stevens, a professor of economics at the University of
California, Davis. But we always had a contingent work force that could be laid off at any time.
They were called women.
Professor Stevens cited a 1969 survey that asked people ages 58 to 62 how long they had their
longest-held job. Twenty-two years was the average.
In 2004, the same question to the same age group elicited an answer of 21.8 years.
Professor Stevens has not looked at the data during and after the recent economic crisis, but she
said workplace insecurity might be hitting higher paid, white-collar workers more than in the
past.

But isnt the newest generation of workers, those in their 20s and 30s, prepared to hop from job
to job over their lifetime?
Not necessarily. Data collected from 1997 to 2011 of nearly 4,000 employees in 40 organizations
does not back up the general belief that more recent entrants into the work force accept the new
psychological contract, Professor Probst said. Rather, it appears to be a significant stressor.
From all accounts, job insecurity is a bad thing and seems to be here to stay, but that doesnt
mean we ignore it. Understanding how it affects people and productivity can influence
government and corporate policy.
Some Scandinavian and other European countries, for example, have introduced the concept of
flexicurity, said Paul Glavin, an assistant professor of sociology at McMaster University in
Ontario. Companies have flexible rules for hiring and firing, and the government provides strong
financial safety nets and active job training for the unemployed.
On the company level, managers need to learn to communicate honestly, frequently and
realistically, Dr. Vander Elst said, and the communication needs to address the real worries of the
workers.
In other words, if there are changes, how will this affect my job? she said. They also need to
say what is known and what is not known. When employees dont trust management, rumors will
start, and then it is very hard to convince people they are not true.
Firms should do this because it is better for workers, Professor Glavin said, but it also is better
for the bottom line.
From a business perspective, he said. Insecure workers are not happy workers and not
productive workers.
Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/17/your-money/uncertainty-aboutjobs-has-a-ripple-effect.html?_r=0

4 Reasons You Need to Set Business Goal

Here are four reasons why you should be setting goals for your organization:

1. Measure Success
Good organizations should always be trying to improve, grow, and become more profitable.
Setting goals provides the clearest way to measure the success of the company. When you are
looking at your company from a three- or five-year perspective, you are looking beyond the
tactical side of your business and instead taking a much more macro view, which allows you to
see the company from a competitive, business vertical or economic perspective.

2. Leadership Team Cohesion

Setting goals ensures that everyone understands what the prize is and what they are working
towards. When your leadership team clearly understands what you are trying to accomplish it
provides greater rationale for the decisions you might make regarding hiring, acquisitions,
incentives, sales programs, or any other financially-driven decision. This will eliminate a lot of
the uncertainty that goes with not understanding the goals of the company.

3. Knowledge Is Power
When your goals have been defined, you can develop a deeper understanding of the effects of
tactical decisions and how they play against the strategic goals. For example, when you have a
budget that considers revenue to expenses, you will better understand the implications of a major
purchase or winning a large new client. I have long believed that information is power and the
more you know, the better decisions you can make.

4. Reassess Goals Mid-Year

When you set goals early and continually monitor your business against those goals, you can
change course mid-year or when necessary. For example, say you have set your growth revenue
goal at 20 percent from the previous year, but midway through the second quarter you find that
your financial projections are not tracking like you had expected. You can modify your revenue
and expense targets to reflect how your business is trending. If you hadn't set the goals, this type
of information is not as apparent and decisive action is more difficult.
It is incredibly important to remember that setting business goals will not ensure success for any
organization. However, there's also a lot to be said for not flying by the seat of your pants. Taking
the time to look at your organization from a broader perspective will give you greater confidence
in what lies ahead and how your organization will be able to optimize it. We can't predict the
future, but we can certainly plan for it.
Source : http://www.inc.com/michael-olguin/4-reasons-you-need-to-setbusiness-goals.html

Six Ways to Make More Productive and Effective

Employees
Posted by Dario Priolo on Fri, Aug 05, 2011

It is easy to complain about how our employees don't live up to our

expectations. Yet how often do we ask ourselves if we are enabling our
employees to be effective and productive? Probably not often enough.
Effectiveness and productivity are important because while an effective
employee can execute his job duties, if his job description isn't tightly

aligned to our expectations, we may not consider him to be a productive

employee. In the same way, a productive employee may crank out work and
get things done quickly, but if his work isn't being used then you may not
consider him an effective employee.
The word effective is defined as "producing a desired result, or ready for
service or action." If our employees produce work that is aligned with
expectations and strategy, and they do it in a timely and efficient manner,
then we've hit a gold mine.

Americas Most Productive Companies make employee effectiveness a

priority for their organizations. Running lean is not the only thing a company
must do in order to run well. Goals must be achieved at the employee level
so that results are observed at the organizational level. From electronics
manufacturers Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and SanDisk to health care
plan provider Amerigroup Corporation, in the Most Productive Companies,
strategic objectives and goals are clearly defined at all levels of the company
and performance measures are closely aligned with strategy.

Making employees both productive and effective is easier said than done,
but there are six ways to marry the two.
1. Create a clearly defined strategy that is easily communicated and
understood.

A strategy must originate from upper management, and then cascade into a
properly designed organization. Encourage this process by investing in
information and tools to help front-line managers better understand their
people, so that they can form and maintain cohesive, stellar teams.
2. Design your departments in such a way that the positions within each
department can easily execute the strategy.

Clearly define the attributes of people who fit the culture. Then use that
standard to support your hiring decisions. Proactively identify and develop
effective front-line managers. View requests to add headcount with healthy
skepticism and only after exhausting good alternatives. Ensure employees
have the right "fit" for their jobs as well as proper experience, skills, and
equipment to perform at full capacity.

3. Ensure that each job not only has a job description, but distinct and
measurable goals.

For example, make sure that three people are never doing the work of two.
Americas Most Productive Companies closely monitor and benchmark
individual contribution. They assess and reassess priorities to determine
what work is most important and what activities can be streamlined because
they don't add sufficient value. Clearly align roles and responsibilities with
the goals of the organization so that your employees can help execute the
strategy. Clear goals help employees focus on the outcomes that matter
most to the organization.
4. Create a system that can monitor how each employee contributes to the
overarching strategy.

One-on-one meetings and open communication will encourage employees to

stay focused and accomplish their goals. Performance-driven cultures
where actions and results speak louder than words are often most
effective. Executives should be in constant contact with front-line managers
so that the people under them are always on track and focused. It is always
helpful when the department manager sets goals and benchmarks for each
employee, but then allows the employee to formulate the strategy for
accomplishing the assigned goals.
5. Allow employees to take ownership of their duties and goals.

When you allow employees to take ownership, you provide with them with a
valuable opportunity to learn how to manage their own success. Open
communication and team work are essential. When the team knows how
they fit into the overall purpose and they also know how their peers
contribute to the purpose, then they are more connected and committed to
the company's success. Failure should not be discouraged because risk
taking helps drive leaps in innovation. When employees are encouraged to
try new things without the fear of being reprimanded for failing, they are
more likely to push themselves and exceed expectations.
6. Be flexible and open-minded to necessary adaptations and alterations.

Just as clarity of purpose drives productivity, so does flexibility drive

efficiency. Americas Most Productive Companies are more flexible than their

peers in handling circumstances such as special projects, peak demand

periods, and unplanned employee absences. Full-time employees are crosstrained to cover for one another in times of short-term need. The Most
Productive Companies cultivate good sources of contract and temporary
labor and have good practices to ensure they deliver what is expected.
Innovation results from incremental improvements to, and the fine tuning of,
existing strategies and processes.

When these six best practices are executed in a company from the top down,
you will create a culture that attracts and sustains people who will make the
company more efficient, and subsequently more productive.
Source : http://info.profilesinternational.com/profiles-employee-assessmentblog/bid/59820/Six-Ways-to-Make-More-Productive-and-Effective-Employees

How To Handle An Insecure Employee

Do you have an insecure employee that takes up a lot of your time by constantly checking in with you?
They do perform, but it takes a lot of your energy to keep them on track. You need to spend significant
effort to train them so they feel comfortable in performing their responsibilities. How can you best support
this type of employee?
First, lets brainstorm around reasons employees may feel insecure in the workplace:

Fearful they will lose their jobs if an employee feels they could potentially lose their position
because of their performance or the companys performance, its important to provide clear and
constant communication to minimize their anxiety.
Not fully trained around their responsibilities if the employee bumps into their lack of knowledge,
they will naturally feel insecure until they are properly trained. This is not a chronic insecurity
issue, but rather a training requirement.

Your management style you are not clear or your interaction with them is upsetting them.
Some employees seem to handle any type of boss and still perform. Most employees react
negatively to a manager who isnt clear and is disrespectful towards them.

Miscommunication in the company when this happens it misdirects employees performance

levels. Employees know already that something is not right and start checking in more frequently
for direction.

They are fearful of making a mistake here you need to discern whether their reaction is their
own internal processing, or are they reacting to you because you are anxious about their
performance. If your concern is based on specific performance or behavior issues, then in
managing this employee, you need to coach or counsel them on performance expectations.

Insecurity is based on fear. How do you help the employee transition from constant checking in with you
to increasing their confidence muscles? You dont need to be their therapist to understand why they act
the way they do. Instead, you can set expectations around their behaviors. Insecure employees have
trained themselves to be insecure.

Most employees are motivated by their desire to do a good job. Insecure people want to do a good job
but they are anxious that they wont do it right, and are caught up in the cycle of not believing in
themselves. In managing employees, you have to create a toolbox of solutions to maximize each
persons performance and meet your deliverables. Why not add some of these ideas to managing the
insecure employee.
3 Basic Steps
Acknowledge the behavior
Bring the issue out and discuss with the employee. Otherwise, you will just be frustrated with the
employee and this only creates more anxiety for them.
I know its hard to do. I had such an employee and their anxiety blocked their ability to take in
information. This employee was anxious about learning and looked to me to do the work for them. Since I
knew how to do it, they came to me instead of creating solutions of their own. I was becoming frustrated
until I realized that this was their issuenot mine. They eventually learned how to do the work and
performed at very high levels, but it took a lot of my energy to move them past their anxiety.

I evaluated my training with the employeewas I clear around the steps to perform the job? Did I
provide the employee with enough knowledge for them to execute their responsibilities? If I was
affirmative in these questions, then I knew I needed to start pushing back by providing space for the
employee to stretch. Thats when the open conversation comes into play.
When managing employees, your greatest gift to them and you is open communication. Set the
expectation that the employee is required to bring to the table solutions along with their questions. They
know the next time they stop by your desk, they are required to bring the question and how they would
solve it. If the solution is not perfect, acknowledge them for taking the risk and providing a potential
solution. The goal here is to help them develop their own problem solving skills.
Focus On Their Strengths
Highlight the employees strengths and show them how they can use those abilities to problem solve. Be
gentle and diligent in reframing their concerns. Redirect their concerns towards learning how to solve.
Problem solving is the most important skill an employee can bring to your team. Unless you want to do all
of the work, placing your focus on problem-solving skills is beneficial to you and the employee.

I believe that you gain the most in managing employees by talking to their strengths. Insecure employees
dont see their strengths, only their perceived weaknesses. You can help them by asking them to
collaborate with you in uncovering all of their strengths. This is a powerful exercise for both of you. The
employee starts to own their strengths and you develop a management style that builds on the
employees strengths. Managing employees by their strengths will enhance your enjoyment in managing
teams.

Acknowledge The Right Behaviors

Now that you know its important to focus on the employees strengths, this is the time to incorporate

another skill set for you.daily acknowledgements. It may seem like a lot of work to be aware and
consistently acknowledge their performance. Well, you are already depleting your energy by maintaining
their insecurities, so why not invest some time upfront to help them take responsibility for their own
problem solving abilities.

Its about finding the right solutions that work for both you and the employee. Your role is to set
expectations, provide training and support the employee in maximizing their performance levels. The
employees job is to learn how to meet those expectationswhich include problem solving.

The insecure employee doesnt have their own ready-made internal acknowledgement system, so set the
expectation by emulating the behavior and acknowledge their strengths.

Source : http://www.managingemployees.net/2008/09/06/how-to-handle-aninsecure-employee/

The Importance of Setting Business Goals

Setting business goals provides your business with a structured framework. It is a skill that
assists the company to understand whether the firm is successful or not. A business is likely to
meet failure without clearly constructed business goals. Well-defined business goals provide a
detailed guideline to everyone involved with the company.
Setting realistic and achievable goals helps a business in the following ways:
Motivates the Workforce
Setting goals helps the new entrants to understand what is expected from them. Firm goals help
to maintain a consistent level of motivation to encourage the work-force. They help the
employees to improve their performance for achieving the goals.
Attracts New Clients
Specific goals can attract potential vendors and partners. Such business goals will assure the
clients they will benefit from working with the company. The same goal-setting method plays a
key role in cementing the client-company relationship.
Helps Stakeholders
The investors, shareholders and lenders form an intrinsic part of the company. Such external
forces invest in a particular company only after understanding the
short-term and long-term business goals of the company. Setting goals helps these stakeholders
to take better decisions about the company.
Aids Performance Evaluation

Setting business goals helps in evaluating the performance of employees. The performance of the
employees can be evaluated by calculating their contribution in the overall realisation of the
company's goals.
Goal setting helps the employees to create benchmarks and targets to be achieved during their
tenure in the company. It provides them with a direction, and they can put in the required efforts
to achieve their individual goals.
Meet Financial Targets
Sales form an intrinsic part of any business set-up and business goals. Well-structured business
goals help the company to gauge the efforts that need to be put in to meet the sales targets. Other
details, such as the profit margin. can also be accurately estimated with proper business goals.
Goal setting involves five pre-requisites that determine their effectiveness:

Specific - Goals should be specific and not use vague terms. They should be clearly
understood and interpreted. The mode of action that needs to be approached should be
evident from the goals.
Measurable - Goals should always be measurable. You should be able to track and
measure the performance in achieving these goals.

Attainable - The goals should be within the reach of your company and should be
achievable. They should also be realistic. It makes sense to start off with smaller targets
and then work on improving them

Relevant - The objectives and goals should be relevant to the functioning and nature of
work carried out by the company. You cannot have goals that do not complement the
nature of your business.

Timely - Goals should have a fixed time-frame for your goals. This prevents any sort of
lethargy and provides an internal deadline to the entire organization. Time bound goals
will also keep you motivated.

Business goals are crucial to the success of any company, and they must be clearly constructed
before a business opens its doors.
Source : http://www.wahm.com/articles/the-importance-of-setting-businessgoals.html

Setting Smart Management Goals

You can find all kinds of goals in all kinds of organizations. Some goals are short-term and
specific (starting next month, we will increase production by two units per employee per
hour),and others are long-term and nebulous (within the next five years, we will become a
learning organization). Some goals are easily understood by employees (line employees will

have no more than 20 rejects per month),but others can be difficult to fathom and subject to
much interpretation (all employees need to show entrepreneurial spirit). Still others can be
accomplished relatively easily (reception staff will always answer the phone by the third
ring),but others are virtually impossible to attain (all employees will master the five languages
that our customers speak before the end of the fiscal year).
How do you know what kind of goals to set? The whole point of setting goals, after all, is to
achieve them. It does you no good to go to the trouble of calling meetings, hacking through the
needs of your organization, and burning up precious time, only to end up with goals that aren't
acted on or completed. Unfortunately, this scenario describes what far too many managers do
with their time.
The best goals are smart goals well, actually SMART goals is more like it. SMART is a handy
acronym for the five characteristics of well-designed goals.

Specific: Goals must be clear and unambiguous; vagaries and platitudes have no place in
goal setting. When goals are specific, they tell employees exactly what is expected, when,
and how much. Because the goals are specific, you can easily measure your employees'
progress toward their completion.
Measurable:What good is a goal that you can't measure? If your goals are not
measurable, you never know whether your employees are making progress toward their
successful completion. Not only that, but it's tough for your employees to stay motivated
to complete their goals when they have no milestones to indicate their progress.

Attainable: Goals must be realistic and attainable by average employees. The best goals
require employees to stretch a bit to achieve them, but they aren't extreme. That is, the
goals are neither out of reach nor below standard performance. Goals that are set too high
or too low become meaningless, and employees naturally come to ignore them.

Relevant: Goals must be an important tool in the grand scheme of reaching your
company's vision and mission. You may have heard that 80 percent of worker
productivity comes from only 20 percent of their activities. You can guess where the
other 80 percent of work activity ends up! This relationship comes from Italian economist
Vilfredo Pareto's 80/20 rule. This rule, which states that 80 percent of the wealth of most
countries is held by only 20 of the population, has been applied to many other fields since
its discovery. Relevant goals address the 20 percent of worker activities that has such a
great impact on performance and brings your organization closer to its vision. (Source:
Blanchard, Schewe, Nelson, & Hiam, Exploring the World of Business.)

Time-bound: Goals must have starting points, ending points, and fixed durations.
Commitment to deadlines helps employees to focus their efforts on completion of the
goal on or before the due date. Goals without deadlines or schedules for completion tend
to be overtaken by the day-to-day crises that invariably arise in an organization.

SMART goals make for smart organizations. In our experience, many supervisors and managers
neglect to work with their employees to set goals together. And in the ones that do, goals are
often unclear, ambiguous, unrealistic, unrelated to the organization's vision, unmeasurable, and

demotivating. By developing SMART goals with your employees, you can avoid these traps
while ensuring the progress of your organization and its employees.
Source : http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/setting-smartmanagement-goals.html

WHY DO WE NEED AN APPRAISAL

Being appraised is not something we look forward to with unalloyed glee. As we feel that we
work hard and give of our best criticism is a sensitive issue. Yet much can be gained from wellconducted appraisals. They can be good for us, good for the people we work with and good for
our employer. Constructive criticism helps us not only to improve our performance in the job we
do now but also to make decisions about the skills we need to develop in order to achieve our
ambitions for our future career.

Not for settling scores

Appraisals are not the time for secretly held grievances to be suddenly poured out on the
unsuspecting recipient. There is the apocryphal story of the employee who asked why he hadnt
had a rise or a promotion only to be told in a broad Lancastrian accent Nobody likes ya! As
Jane Harris, a human resources professional, puts it: Previously unknown grouses should not be
brought to appraisals. These should be dealt with at the time they occur and not held in abeyance.
Appraisals are a time for taking stock of achievements and setting the agenda for future action.
Storing up grievances for an explosive appraisal meeting should definitely be avoided.

Most employers use appraisals

We cannot know how we are viewed by our work colleagues, our manager, those we supervise,
our customers, clients or suppliers. But it is useful periodically to focus on our performance and
discuss this issue in confidence. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development (CIPD), 87% of employers use some form of individual annual appraisals, 27% do
them twice a year and 10% more often than that. Some use them when projects come to an end.
Employers see appraisals as a key part of a performance management system designed to
ensure that employees are in tune with developments in the business. It also ensures that
individuals and teams are managed to achieve high levels of organisational performance. Many
believe that appraisals encourage people to link their performance to the objectives of the
organisation and respond to increased competition within their industry. Some link them to
performance related pay but these are in the minority. Another CIPD survey discovered that 43%
of employers link appraisals to reward.

360 degrees
While most appraisals are confidential between an employee and their manager some use what
are called 360-degree appraisals. This involves getting the views of several people whose work
relates to the employee in question. 360-degree appraisals can be customers and suppliers as well
as close working colleagues. Administratively, this is more difficult requiring the collection of
many different views but it does highlight problems that occur, especially if key people are
unhappy with particular behaviours.

Assessing achievements
From an employees perspective, however, it is good to take the time to consider whether or not
we are achieving the goals that have been set, preferably through discussion with our managers,
and to discuss new goals that need to be addressed during the coming period of time. These may
arise due to changing circumstances, alterations in how the business is run, staff changes that
bring different responsibilities and a host of other possibilities.

Looking back
Managers, like those they manage, often dislike appraising their staff. Appraisals work best if the
appraiser has received training in how to conduct them and there is a document which allows
both appraiser and appraisee to set down what are the key issues for each. Often staff members
are required to complete a form before their appraisal and subsequently agree the content with
their appraiser. They may be asked to assess for themselves their level of achievement over the
preceding period and indicate what they have learned or skills they developed.

Setting goals
Looking forward, some typical documents ask staff members to consider what their objectives
are for the coming period and to make proposals for what they might achieve. What support
might they require and what additional resources will be necessary? A useful tool when setting
objectives is the SMART acronym. They should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic
and Timebound. In organisations, where rapid change is taking place, some argue that setting
long term goals is counterproductive and that staff who plough on trying to reach previously
defined goals that suddenly become outdated can harm an organisations progress. It is essential
to be alert to change. Detractors to SMART use the acronym DUMB - defective, outdated,
misdirected and bureaucratic. In many organisations and situations, though, time sensitive goal
setting is a way to progress.

Training
A third important aspect of appraisals is the consideration of a persons training and development
requirements. New situations arise, organisations change direction, technology moves on and we
cannot rely on the skills we already have to see us through. Inevitably there is a need for training,
and identifying that need is a valuable part of this discussion. Naturally the means of meeting it

has to be available within an overall training budget and the time required to complete it must
not detract from the effort needed for the person concerned to complete their work.

The case against

Critics of the use of personal appraisals say that performance appraisals negatively affect
relationships between managers and their staff, creating fear and robbing people of their right to
pride in their work which has the effect of decreasing motivation. Some say that it is
fundamentally wrong to discuss past achievements and future goals in the same session. You
cannot look at the past and the future at the same time, they say.
The history of appraisals goes back to the third century in China. It is a tool that has stood the
test of time and has increased in popularity in recent years. Used sensitively it can be extremely
valuable to employees and teams.
Source : http://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/careersadvice/1349/why-do-we-need-an-appraisal/

Reasons why Employees get Demotivated

By: Makoy
Published: March 2, 2012

An unmotivated employee is an unproductive employee. It is the kind of employee that you

either last need or not really need at all in your company, department, or simply your workplace.
An unmotivated employee is an unhappy employee and most likely, he or she will rub it off to
other employees by sharing to them his or her experience or negative feelings, be it personal or
work related. Either way, it is not good to the business or workplace environment.
Lack of motivation leads to poor production thus you must make it a point to keep your
employees motivation if possible at all times. The first step in making the right moves in
motivating your employees is to first understand and realize the source of their lack of
motivation. In dealing with problems, it is very important to know the root cause of it. That can
be said in motivating your employees. If you know why they lack motivation, rest assured that
you can come up with the best solutions and keep the problem from coming back. Here are some
of the most common sources of lack of motivation of employees:
1.) Not being paid of their worth or low salary. Having a good pay is one of the most powerful
motivating factors for employees. Have you ever observed that people would never mind the
hassle and pressure that a certain job brings as long as the pay is great? The reason why people
work is because of money, to earn an income, support their families and loved ones, and of

course, to live a good life. Most people would opt a bad or demanding job that has a good pay
over the job that they want or less demanding but with lesser pay. If you don't give your
employees their due, especially if you either give them an amount that is lesser than they or their
job's worth or delaying their salaries, they will lose interest in the job and will lose their
motivation. In return, since they didn't get their due, they'll be less productive and unknowingly,
will be less productive or will produce in accordance to the pay and hassle that you've given
them.
2.) Not having a friendly work environment. Office politics is very common. Some employees
tend to step over some employees for their own vested interests and personal gains leaving a lot
of employees unhappy or angry. In order to keep this from happening, observe how things are
going in your business or workplace and assure every employee that they are being treated well.
Do this by showing them that you care and you are equal to everybody. The key in having a
friendly work environment is to build relationships inside the workplace. Make it a point that
your employees are not just workers, they must be your friends. Befriend them by organizing
team building events such as going to the beach or simply having a barbecue weekend at your
place or any of your employees place. If your employees are comfortable with each other, they'll
be more productive and in the long run, will be so beneficial for your business.
3.) Personal issues. If your employees have something that they're going through in their lives,
they will be unmotivated and will lack focus. There are a lot of personal issues that they can
experience such as health issues of their loved ones, relationship problems, and worse of all,
death of their family members or those who are dear to them. Personal issues hit everybody from
time to time, there is nothing you can do about it. However, from keeping it from affecting your
employee, make them feel that they are cared by providing all the support that you can give,
especially emotional support. Exert an extra effort and extend a helping hand to your employee.
It can make them feel better and will boost their motivation.
Source : http://www.insidebusiness360.com/index.php/reasons-whyemployees-get-demotivated-2431/

Three Factors That Explain Why Employees

Become Unmotivated to Do Their Jobs
by Michael Batton Kaput, Demand Media
According to a 2009 CareerBuilder.com survey, 40 percent of workers in the United States said
they had trouble staying motivated at work. A variety of factors explain why employees become
unmotivated to do their jobs, but sometimes managers misidentify exactly what causes their
workers to lose their drive.

Recognition

According a June 2009 article in Entrepreneur Magazine, money motivates, but not for long. A
much more sustainable form of motivation is recognition for work well-done. Even if your firm
has instituted raises in the past year, you might still find yourself with unmotivated employees.
Turn a close eye to your firm's recognition of high-performing and consistently reliable
employees. That could be the reason your workers aren't getting as much done as they could be.

Room for Growth

Another key factor that motivates employees is having room for advancement, as well as
personal and professional growth. When employees are stuck in dead-end jobs, no matter how
many perks come with it, employers may see a seriously unmotivated work force, according to
Entrepreneur Magazine. While you can't promote everyone, you can give all workers
opportunities for advancement and education if they work hard for it. Not only can motivation
increase, but it can lead to better leaders and more educated workers at your firm.

Work Environment
A company's work environment influences employees in a variety of ways. Laid-back offices to
high stress offices affect employees, and which one you have depends on your business.
However, Entrepreneur Magazine points out that an underlying cause of a lack of motivation in
the office is when managers don't address problems quickly and efficiently. Often, this can be
because managers want to be liked and are afraid of conflict, often leading to not addressing
negative employee behavior. Managers who don't lead decisively and act quickly are a main
cause of unmotivated employees, not a lack of casual dress day or employee barbecues.

Myths About Unmotivated Employees

Many myths abound about employee motivation that might distract managers from the real
problems. Two of the main ones are that some people are inherently unmotivated and,
conversely, that smart people don't need to be motivated. These claims are not true, and believing
in them can lead to an unmotivated work force. Instead, managers need to pay careful attention
to what motivates each employee. A smart employee may under-perform if they don't feel
challenged in their current position. "Unmotivated" employees may simply have no interest in a
raise, but be intensely productive when performing meaningful work. Finding what motivates
each person in your team is key to motivating your work force.
Source : http://smallbusiness.chron.com/three-factors-explainemployees-become-unmotivated-jobs-32780.html

Why Your Employees Are Losing Motivation

4/10/2006

Business literature is packed with advice about worker motivationbut sometimes managers are
the problem, not the inspiration. Here are seven practices to fire up the troops. From Harvard
Management Update.
by David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind, and Michael Irwin Meltzer
Most companies have it all wrong. They don't have to motivate their employees. They have to
stop demotivating them.
The great majority of employees are quite enthusiastic when they start a new job. But in about 85
percent of companies, our research finds, employees' morale sharply declines after their first six
monthsand continues to deteriorate for years afterward. That finding is based on surveys of
about 1.2 million employees at 52 primarily Fortune 1000 companies from 2001 through 2004,
conducted by Sirota Survey Intelligence (Purchase, New York).
The fault lies squarely at the feet of managementboth the policies and procedures companies
employ in managing their workforces and in the relationships that individual managers establish
with their direct reports.
Our research shows how individual managers' behaviors and styles are contributing to the
problem (see sidebar "How Management Demotivates")and what they can do to turn this
around.
Three key goals of people at work
To maintain the enthusiasm employees bring to their jobs initially, management must understand
the three sets of goals that the great majority of workers seek from their workand then satisfy
those goals:

Equity: To be respected and to be treated fairly in areas such as pay, benefits, and job
security.
Achievement: To be proud of one's job, accomplishments, and employer.

Camaraderie: To have good, productive relationships with fellow employees.

To maintain an enthusiastic workforce, management must meet all three goals. Indeed,
employees who work for companies where just one of these factors is missing are three times
less enthusiastic than workers at companies where all elements are present.
One goal cannot be substituted for another. Improved recognition cannot replace better pay,
money cannot substitute for taking pride in a job well done, and pride alone will not pay the
mortgage.
What individual managers can do
Satisfying the three goals depends both on organizational policies and on the everyday practices
of individual managers. If the company has a solid approach to talent management, a bad
manager can undermine it in his unit. On the flip side, smart and empathetic managers can
overcome a great deal of corporate mismanagement while creating enthusiasm and commitment

within their units. While individual managers can't control all leadership decisions, they can still
have a profound influence on employee motivation.
The most important thing is to provide employees with a sense of security, one in which they do
not fear that their jobs will be in jeopardy if their performance is not perfect and one in which
layoffs are considered an extreme last resort, not just another option for dealing with hard times.
But security is just the beginning. When handled properly, each of the following eight practices
will play a key role in supporting your employees' goals for achievement, equity, and
camaraderie, and will enable them to retain the enthusiasm they brought to their roles in the first
place.
Achievement related
1. Instill an inspiring purpose. A critical condition for employee enthusiasm is a clear, credible,
and inspiring organizational purpose: in effect, a "reason for being" that translates for workers
into a "reason for being there" that goes above and beyond money.
Every manager should be able to expressly state a strong purpose for his unit. What follows is
one purpose statement we especially admire. It was developed by a three-person benefits group
in a midsize firm.
Benefits are about people. It's not whether you have the forms filled in or whether the checks are
written. It's whether the people are cared for when they're sick, helped when they're in trouble.
This statement is particularly impressive because it was composed in a small company devoid of
high-powered executive attention and professional wordsmiths. It was created in the type of
department normally known for its fixation on bureaucratic rules and procedures. It is a
statement truly from the heart, with the focus in the right place: on the endspeoplerather
than the meanscompleting forms.
To maintain an enthusiastic
Stating a mission is a powerful tool. But equally important is the
workforce, management must manager's ability to explain and communicate to subordinates the
meet all three goals.
reason behind the mission. Can the manager of stockroom workers
do better than telling her staff that their mission is to keep the room stocked? Can she
communicate the importance of the job, the people who are relying on the stockroom being
properly maintained, both inside and outside the company? The importance for even goods that
might be considered prosaic to be where they need to be when they need to be there? That
manager will go a long way toward providing a sense of purpose.
2. Provide recognition. Managers should be certain that all employee contributions, both large
and small, are recognized. The motto of many managers seems to be, "Why would I need to
thank someone for doing something he's paid to do?" Workers repeatedly tell us, and with great
feeling, how much they appreciate a compliment. They also report how distressed they are when
managers don't take the time to thank them for a job well done yet are quick to criticize them for
making mistakes.

Receiving recognition for achievements is one of the most fundamental human needs. Rather
than making employees complacent, recognition reinforces their accomplishments, helping
ensure there will be more of them.
A pat on the back, simply saying "good going," a dinner for two, a note about their good work to
senior executives, some schedule flexibility, a paid day off, or even a flower on a desk with a
thank-you note are a few of the hundreds of ways managers can show their appreciation for good
work. It works wonders if this is sincere, sensitively done, and undergirded by fair and
competitive payand not considered a substitute for it.
3. Be an expediter for your employees. Incorporating a command-and-control style is a surefire path to demotivation. Instead, redefine your primary role as serving as your employees'
expediter: It is your job to facilitate getting their jobs done. Your reports are, in this sense, your
"customers." Your role as an expediter involves a range of activities, including serving as a
linchpin to other business units and managerial levels to represent their best interests and ensure
your people get what they need to succeed.
How do you know, beyond what's obvious, what is most important to your employees for getting
their jobs done? Ask them! "Lunch and schmooze" sessions with employees are particularly
helpful for doing this. And if, for whatever reason, you can't immediately address a particular
need or request, be open about it and then let your workers know how you're progressing at
resolving their problems. This is a great way to build trust.
4. Coach your employees for improvement. A major reason so many managers do not assist
subordinates in improving their performance is, simply, that they don't know how to do this
without irritating or discouraging them. A few basic principles will improve this substantially.
First and foremost, employees whose overall performance is satisfactory should be made aware
of that. It is easier for employees to accept, and welcome, feedback for improvement if they
know management is basically pleased with what they do and is helping them do it even better.
Space limitations prevent a full treatment of the subject of giving meaningful feedback, of which
recognition is a central part, but these key points should be the basis of any feedback plan:

Performance feedback is not the same as an annual appraisal. Give actual performance
feedback as close in time to the occurrence as possible. Use the formal annual appraisal
to summarize the year, not surprise the worker with past wrongs.
Recognize that workers want to know when they have done poorly. Don't succumb to the
fear of giving appropriate criticism; your workers need to know when they are not
performing well. At the same time, don't forget to give positive feedback. It is, after all,
your goal to create a team that warrants praise.
Comments concerning desired improvements should be specific, factual, unemotional,
and directed at performance rather than at employees personally. Avoid making overall
evaluative remarks (such as, "That work was shoddy") or comments about employees'
personalities or motives (such as, "You've been careless"). Instead, provide specific,
concrete details about what you feel needs to be improved and how.

Keep the feedback relevant to the employee's role. Don't let your comments wander to
anything not directly tied to the tasks at hand.

Listen to employees for their views of problems. Employees' experience and observations
often are helpful in determining how performance issues can be best dealt with, including
how you can be most helpful.

Remember the reason you're giving feedbackyou want to improve performance, not
prove your superiority. So keep it real, and focus on what is actually doable without
demanding the impossible.

Follow up and reinforce. Praise improvement or engage in course correctionwhile

praising the effortas quickly as possible.

Don't offer feedback about something you know nothing about. Get someone who knows
the situation to look at it.

Equity related
5. Communicate fully. One of the most counterproductive rules in business is to distribute
information on the basis of "need to know." It is usually a way of severely, unnecessarily, and
destructively restricting the flow of information in an organization.
A command-and-control style Workers' frustration with an absence of adequate communication is
is a sure-fire path to
one of the most negative findings we see expressed on employee
demotivation.
attitude surveys. What employees need to do their jobs and what
makes them feel respected and included dictate that very few restrictions be placed by managers
on the flow of information. Hold nothing back of interest to employees except those very few
items that are absolutely confidential.
Good communication requires managers to be attuned to what employees want and need to
know; the best way to do this is to ask them! Most managers must discipline themselves to
communicate regularly. Often it's not a natural instinct. Schedule regular employee meetings that
have no purpose other than two-way communication. Meetings among management should
conclude with a specific plan for communicating the results of the meetings to employees. And
tell it like it is. Many employees are quite skeptical about management's motives and can quickly
see through "spin." Get continual feedback on how well you and the company are
communicating. One of the biggest communication problems is the assumption that a message
has been understood. Follow-up often finds that messages are unclear or misunderstood.
Companies and managers that communicate in the ways we describe reap large gains in
employee morale. Full and open communication not only helps employees do their jobs but also
is a powerful sign of respect.
6. Face up to poor performance. Identify and deal decisively with the 5 percent of your
employees who don't want to work. Most people want to work and be proud of what they do (the
achievement need). But there are employees who are, in effect, "allergic" to workthey'll do just
about anything to avoid it. They are unmotivated, and a disciplinary approachincluding

dismissalis about the only way they can be managed. It will raise the morale and performance
of other team members to see an obstacle to their performance removed.
Camaraderie related
7. Promote teamwork. Most work requires a team effort in order to be done effectively.
Research shows repeatedly that the quality of a group's efforts in areas such as problem solving
is usually superior to that of individuals working on their own. In addition, most workers get a
motivation boost from working in teams.
Whenever possible, managers should organize employees into self-managed teams, with the
teams having authority over matters such as quality control, scheduling, and many work
methods. Such teams require less management and normally result in a healthy reduction in
management layers and costs.
Creating teams has as much to do with camaraderie as core competences. A manager needs to
carefully assess who works best with whom. At the same time, it is important to create the
opportunity for cross-learning and diversity of ideas, methods, and approaches. Be clear with the
new team about its role, how it will operate, and your expectations for its output.
Related to all three factors
8. Listen and involve. Employees are a rich source of information about how to do a job and
how to do it better. This principle has been demonstrated time and again with all kinds of
employeesfrom hourly workers doing the most routine tasks to high-ranking professionals.
Managers who operate with a participative style reap enormous rewards in efficiency and work
quality.
Participative managers continually announce their interest in employees' ideas. They do not wait
for these suggestions to materialize through formal upward communication or suggestion
programs. They find opportunities to have direct conversations with individuals and groups about
what can be done to improve effectiveness. They create an atmosphere where "the past is not
good enough" and recognize employees for their innovativeness.
Participative managers, once they have defined task boundaries, give employees freedom to
operate and make changes on their own commensurate with their knowledge and experience.
Indeed, there may be no single motivational tactic more powerful than freeing competent people
to do their jobs as they see fit.
Reprinted with permission from "Stop Demotivating Your Employees!" Harvard
Management Update, Vol. 11, No. 1, January 2006.

Source : http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/5289.html