- Discuss with staff from time to time especially at the beginning of the appraisal period and during performance review meetings, what their work goals and targets are and how they should be accomplished.
- Provide feedback on what the staff has done well and where improvement could be made.
- Encourage staff to express their views on their performance.
- Assess the staff's performance throughout the appraisal period rather than focusing on periods where their performance was particularly good or bad.
- Discuss ways to empower staff.
- Consider training and/or development needs of staff and work out for them corresponding training and development plans to raise the capability of staff for performance improvement.
Organizations and Managers also have a responsibility to enhance the environment for their staff members. Per Herzberg’s Two-Factor and McClelland’s Theory staff should enjoy quality management by leaders who are not afraid of delegating decisions and sharing the accomplishments. Affording staff fair pay, organizational policies which they can aspire to, positive relationship with colleagues and a sense of job security, are the roles of the manager and the organization. Their employment should provide career advancement through promotion and personal growth, as well as a chance for an input in the behavior of others, appreciation, responsibility and achievement.
Motivation in many ways is the key to success of many organizations. It is one of the most difficult tasks that a manager faces because everyone is different. The methods that are used to motivate employees must be tailored to fit each one. With multi cultural staff and organizational globalization these cannot be applied in isolation. Staffs are motivated in differing manners by their perception of their culture.
Staff should be given the opportunity to learn in and from their role. Motivation by reinforcement allows the staff member to make mistakes and work backwards to rectify it. Equity for the organization/manager equals staff perception of their input against their output. This is perceived by reference to peers, systems and the individual. For motivational purposes this should be used to create motivation in the following ways:
1) Staff perceiving that their pay and/or conditions are generous will have a high quality/quantity output. Those who are under rewarded will lack effort to carry out task.
2) Staff perceiving their piece work reward is high will be motivate to produce a higher number of quality product outputs. Those under rewarded will produce a high yield of sub standard outputs.
Perception improvement should be utilized for the motivation under the expectancy theory. Organizations and management should instill an ethos of expected outcomes from attaining goals and organizational benefits. Policies and guidelines should show clear steps to the goals and the positive outcomes that they can achieve.
Managers should review their attitude towards their subordinates. Staff can be de-motivated if their manager and/or organization do not empower them. Managers cannot exhibit fear of losing power. They must show leadership in their motivation, training skills and trust. As an organization, people should be shown to be more important than the policies and regulations imposed. It should be seen to be open with information, inclusive in the decision making process, even if motivation by empowerment has failed in the past. Empowerment motivates and this contradicts the reinforcement theory as learning here creates power. Managers should take every opportunity to improve the quality of their staff’s skills and let them know that their judgments and inputs are important. The benefits to the organization include approval and adherence to the organizational goals, improved effort to attain them, and loyalty to the organization. Individuals believe the organization is interested in them and become committed to it in return. Being committed, they are less likely to have a negative perception of the organization and are less likely to quit. In their roles they are more likely to exceed the requirements of their jobs. Management should stand back from leading the team by identifying facilitators to act as a catalyst and support to the other members.
Manager should look to the needs of the individual both culturally and personally, they should provide them with the best possible job to match those needs, offer incentives which are individualized, identify attainable goals linked directly to their accomplishment. This should all be balanced in the light of the equity perceived by the individual. This, with an empowerment culture will create an environment where every member of the organizational structure has an input and the output of the organization will be innovative ensuring delivery of outputs to the highest standards. Equitable pay has a part to play in the implementation of this plan. However, organizations can motivate staff with commitment to their staff in the performance of their jobs. Staff deserves fair pay and they deserve to be motivated by managers who have the farsightedness to trust, delegate to and include their staff members in the decision making process. It can be seen, that motivation is the key even when fiscal incentives are not available.
References
Robins, S.P. (2001). Organizational behavior [University of Phoenix Custom Edition].
New Jersey: Pearson Custom Publishing.
