Once new employees join DBF the next step is to make sure the new employees receive the necessary training to allow them to do the job. Employees are an expensive resource and a further investment of time and money should be made to get the most out of them.
The training programme at DBF Associates is usually one afternoon and two evenings a week. However, the timing and length of the training program can vary depending upon qualifications required by the trainee and the position of the trainee.
For example a secretary would require more training then an accountant because the accountants that are employed are usually fully qualified accountants unless they are students or if they are doing a training course there.
The training is given at DBF and at a nearby college or university, which also does the same course for the same qualification. The training programme involves the supervisor and the trainee. The qualification is to progress in a company or this can help get outside qualifications.
The purpose of the training programme is to make sure that all the employees are at the same level and have the same intellect regarding work. Each individual employee would be trained for the work, which they are expected to do. This would make DBF Associates a more competitive chartered accountant inn Manchester.
This would affect the performance of the business because the employees are less likely to make mistakes because they have been trained and the employees know what to do. This would also affect the business performance because in the training program all the employees would have got to know each other and this helps create a friendlier environment in the workplace.
There would be lower staff turnover because the employees will know what to do therefore will try their utmost to remain employees at DBF Associates. This would cut costs because training programmes are expensive and since no workers are leaving, there will not be need for new employees and train them.
You could just train the existing employees when a new program is introduced. You will also be successful at work because you know what you are doing.
Staff productivity will also increase due to ease of the job. There would be improved morale and motivation because all the employees will be well qualified in their line of work and there employees will know what to do.
The idea behind the initiative is that investing in people is one of the most effective ways of improving business performance. To gain recognition as and Investor In People companies must meet exact training standards. DBF Associates are a member of Investors In People. This must mean that they meet exact training standards.
Possible areas of conflict
A conflict at DBF Associates was when a new program was introduced at DBF. This was a problem because no one new how to use the program so all the employees had to be trained to use the new program. This cost the business time sand money.
The company only needed to the four accountants but instead they trained all the workers at DBF. This was another are of conflict because when they were being trained work was being piled up for them.
Another conflict at DBF Associates is when a new employee joins the business. Firstly, there is a conflict of who is going to train the new employee. Then whom the new employee is going to work alongside. Then whom the new recruit should turn to for help. This is a conflict because all the people at DBF will rather carry on with their regular duties without having a new employee who they have to train alongside them.
Employee motivation
It is a constant challenge for businesses to attempt to get the most out of their workers. There are a number of ways to get the most out of their workers: -
- Financial factors.
- Non-financial factors.
Financial factors
1. Employees share ownership, where shares are issued to employees they are likely to feel part of the company as they become part owners. If the company is doing well they can also gain financially by receiving dividends or by receiving capital gains on the subsequent sales of shares. If the employees have a share in the business they will have a share of the profits that the company makes. Therefore, they will be motivated to work.
2. Wages and salaries. It is not certain what effect increased wages or salaries will have on motivation. Employees will obviously be pleased to receive an increase in income but this does not necessarily mean they will work harder or display any increase in efficiency. It is argued that the increase in income is quickly forgotten and will only affect motivation in the very short term. At DBF associates this thought is also in workers minds because an increase in wage is seen as a short-term motivator.
The other point of view is that increasing engenders a feeling of loyalty to the company has a long-term motivational effect.
Non-financial factors
1. Staff representation. Some companies encourage employee representatives to participate in management decision-making usually by inviting them to sit on decision-making committees. This should have a positive motivational effect on the whole workforce who feels that they, or at least their representative, have a voice in the running of the company.
2. The same effect is achieved by consultation, where management seek the views of employees before decisions are made. This can be achieves by holding open meetings and inviting employees to voice their opinions. The form of consultation is completely irrelevant as long as the consultation takes place. This should have a positive motivational effect on the employees because they are involved in the businesses decision-making.
3. Teams. There is a general view that employees who work as part of a team are more likely to be efficient and productive for the following reasons.
- Employees are involved in decision-making.
- Most employees are reluctant to let their colleagues down.
- It avoids the feeling of isolation.
4. Quality circles. A quality circle is a term used to describe a group of employees drawn from different organisational departments who are brought together to solve some specific work based problem.
These are useful; as the ultimate solution takes into account different viewpoints and on a motivational level the employees feel that they are having an impact on the business.
Motivational Theories
The development of motivational theories has been integral to the development of management theory as management and leadership are often viewed as the ability to motivate others to perform and carry out the tasks to their maximum ability.
Whilst motivational theory is useful to both the mainstream and the human resource manager it is worth remembering that no two individuals are exactly the same and while the theories are useful in the job design and dealing with employees they cannot provide the answer to every problem relating to motivation.
The motivational theories are: -
- Frederick Taylor- scientific management.
- Douglas McGregor- theory X and theory Y.
- Abraham Maslow- hierarchy of needs.
- Frederick Herzberg- two factor theory.
Elton Mayo- Hawthorne studies.
The following theories and theorists have had an influence on how businesses manage their employees.
Frederick Taylor - scientific management-
The main principles of scientific management are: -
- The development of the true science of work through establishing time/study techniques.
- The scientific selection and progressive development of the worker. Training can develop the worker. Training is the major way of developing a worker because if a worker is not working to his standards then that worker needs to be trained so that he can perform as expected and develop his skills. He can be trained so that he can receive higher wages, bonuses e.t.c.
- The constant co-operation of management and workers with close supervision.
- Setting high targets to set employees.
- Relating wages to productivity.
While Taylor looked at the most efficient way of doing work the underlying assumption about employees was that they are motivated by high material reward. This relates to DBF because the employees are motivated by high material reward, such as company cars, bonuses, performance related pay, share schemes, wages and perks. These relate to Taylor because this matches his motivational theory because Taylor relates wages to productivity, DBF also relate wages to productivity, not performance related pay, but bonuses for extra work done.
Douglas McGregor theory x and theory y
McGregor’s work on motivation is based on the idea that effective leadership depended upon a manager’s assumption about the nature of people. There are two basic assumptions, theory x and theory y which account for the way a manager can deliberately influence the behaviour of an employee.
Theory x views as inherently disliking work, needing to be coerce, directed and punished. Theory will avoid work wherever possible and are generally unambitious. For this reason managers will not think that it will pay to train the employees because the employees are likely to be trained and then still avoid work wherever possible.
Theory y is a philosophy that involves coaxing people through reward, praise and attention. It assumes that people will work naturally, will exercise self discipline and self control, and will have the potential for further development. For this reason the managers feel that it will pay to train their employees. DBF associates are theory y managers because they reward, praise and give attention to their employees.
The implications to the manager of theory x are that high control and supervision are necessary and that the employee primarily only works for money. They may work harder if incentives are offered. Theory y dictates that the work is designed in such a way to encourage people to develop but does not remove the need for supervision and managerial control.
The employees at DBF can be developed with training, this makes employees at DBF an asset to the business which means that they may be able to help the business (DBF) to reach a certain level by increasing the businesses market share. DBF associates are theory y managers because they want to train employees and they are prepared to promote employees because they think employees are ready to be promoted.
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Maslow A (1908– 1970): an American psychologist whose work on human needs has had great impact upon management theorists. Best known for his work on the hierarchy of needs.
There are five stages on the hierarchy of needs, three of those stages have been achieved by most of the staff at DBF associates, and this leaves the top two which lead to full personal development.
Maslow proposes a theory of motivation based on the idea that individuals are constantly trying to satisfy needs. If employees are well trained for the job that they do they will be satisfying self-actualisation needs and esteem needs. His theory takes into account both psychological and physiological needs. He sees needs in terms of a hierarchy where certain needs become operative only when other needs have been satisfied.
Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
Herzberg believes that work itself can be a motivator. His theory is based on the idea that work has traditionally been designed in such a way that it has not been stimulating, as a result some external pressure had to be applied to employees to encourage them to work. Employees could be trained so they know their job inside out and then the employees could get a wage increase, which will please the employees in the short term. This pressure took on the form of coercion, by using various threats, or enticement or by offering rewards. His view is that when a job is designed to provide an opportunity for personal growth a powerful new motivating force is introduced.
Herzberg uses the term hygiene to describe the factors at work such as physical working conditions, supervisory policies, wages and fringe benefits. He argues that an investment in these factors will prevent unrest among employees but will not motivate. Satisfaction from hygiene factors is short term, consequently a wage will rise will please the employees in the short term.
The principal effect of money, he believes, is to create dissatisfaction when pay is perceived as inequitable, and the principal effect of a pay increase is to remove dissatisfaction not create satisfaction.
The result is that management have to review these factors to prevent dissatisfaction that he sees as a thankless task as even a fully effective hygiene policy will not motivate employees to sustain a higher then usual level of efficiency.
Factors leading to satisfaction
- Achievement.
- Encouraging workers to feel a sense of pride in their work, seeking achievable goals, delegating responsibility and rewarding enterprise, giving encouragement and praise.
- Recognition.
- Granting status, making all tasks, including the mundane, important in the eyes of everyone in the organisation.
- Participation.
- Consulting where possible, keeping a flow of information.
- Growth.
- Providing opportunities for individual initiative, giving opportunities for self development in the present job
Factors which can lead to dissatisfaction
Physical conditions.
- Holidays.
- Hours of work.
- Overtime.
- Car parks.
- Heating and lighting.
Security.
- Unfair supervisors.
- Unfair promotion policies.
Economic factors.
- Pay rises.
- Increments.
- Fringe benefits.
Elton Mayo-Hawthorne studies
Mayo E (1880– 1949): Elton Mayo was a follower of F W Taylor whose experiments led him to conclude that scientific management could not explain key aspects of people's behaviour at work. Many of his findings derived from his direction of research studies at a factory at Hawthorne, USA, from which stemmed the phrase the Hawthorne effect. He gave rise to what became known as the Human Relations School of management thinking.
Hawthorne effect: the beneficial impact on staff work rate and morale of an active, personal interest being shown by management. The term derives from Mayo's researches into workplace behaviour at a factory at Hawthorne, USA between 1927 and 1932.
Mayo was a follower of F W Taylor's methods and was attempting to measure the impact on productivity of improving the lighting conditions within the factory. He followed Taylor's scientific principles by testing the changes against a control, a section of the factory with unchanged lighting. Although productivity rose where the lighting was improved, Mayo was surprised to find a similar benefit where no physical changes had taken place.
This led him to conduct a series of further experiments, which cast serious doubts on Taylor's assumptions about the absolute importance of money in motivation. The phrase 'the Hawthorne effect' remains in use worldwide as an example of the importance of human relations in business.
Appraisals
Most businesses have some sort of appraisal scheme to formally assess the performance of an employee. Most schemes involve establishing clear objectives then evaluating employee performance against the employee’s objectives. Usually the performance appraisal involves the employee and the employees line manager.
The performance appraisal scheme is important for many different reasons: -
- It should improve the performance of the employee through feedback which the employee was given at his previous performance appraisal.
- It should look at the employees training needs.
- It should identify the people who have a potential to be promoted.
- It should provide the business with useful information about their employees. This can be used to plan human resources provisions.
DBF associates have a performance appraisal in which employees are appraised on whether or not they meet their objectives. The performance appraisal helps to motivate the staff to become more efficient and productive.
Values of appraisals are: -
- Provides opportunity to review progress which is good for communication.
- Identifies training needs.
- Potential control mechanism.
These three values depend on how the appraisals are introduced, how they are perceived and how they are used.
Appraisal of staff is necessary for the following reasons: -
- To select the people who are suitable for promotion.
- To check the efficiency of recruitment, selection and training practices.
- To improve the way in which people are doing their job.
- To make individuals aware of the objectives of the business.
- It improves communication.
Problems of appraisals forms are: -
- People become resentful if they feel their work is being criticised. This can result in less efficiency rather than greater efficiency as working relationships deteriorate.
- Badly designed forms can require subjective judgements on a person’s ability.
- The existence of an appraisal form and a set time for an appraisal interview can tempt, managers to leave the task of appraisal to the time designated.
- Some jobs are more difficult to appraise than others. The more complex the greater the difficulty in judging the efficiency with which is done and the greater the difficulty of finding somebody capable of analysing problems and offering constructive support.
