The main factors that I feel are influencing staff motivation are the lack of communication and acknowledgement between the staff and management, staff need to be trained in the area they are working in as there seems to be a general feeling of ‘lack of knowledge’ in their area of work and finally improvement of staff facilities. From this list we are able to adopt Frederick Hertzberg’s Dissatisfaction events or Hygiene Factors, which enable us to pinpoint the main factors that need to be addressed in order to improve staff motivation and in turn their performance. The points are as follows:
- Salary
- Company policy
- Supervision
- Status
- Security
- Working conditions
From this list Hertzburg was able to conclude that in order to increase job satisfaction and motivation at work, the organisation should be enhanced and restructured to include:
- Removal of control
- Increased accountability
- Natural; work units
- Direct feedback
- Job rotation
- Special assignments
- Empowering people
This theory proposes that effective organisations would be those that recognised that all types of work had technical and social components both of which needed to be understood and managed in order to benefit the organisation
In order to improve motivation throughout the company it is important to address the ‘factors of motivation’ (see Appendix. Pg 1) which merely summarise the points that need to be looked into. Much of what employees perceive about the company they work for will relate to how they in turn are managed.
In order to improve staff performance, there are several items which could be looked into. Firstly, staff training could be given on a regular basis. This would improve staff knowledge on work matters and in turn would reduce the amount of complaints given against the company. Secondly, the ‘We are all ok’ theory could be adopted. This would ensure that throughout the company certain standards are kept. Being OK with each other means:
- Delivering trust
- Developing trust
- Knowing your employees
- Remembering that little things matter
- Good things build on each other
- Bad things destroy
- Keeping promises you give
- Honouring commitments
- Defining expectations clearly
By following these simple ‘rules’ not only satisfies individual needs but also organisational needs by enabling individuals to become involved and achieve responsibly and therefore improve staff motivation and staff performance.
Motivational feedback would also be beneficial to staff performance. The Hawthorne Studies highlighted to fact that
‘A manager who shows care interest and concern is likely to be more effective than a manager who is hierarchical and authoritarian’
These studies showed that even were working conditions were not satisfactory, employees felt more motivated to work if their manager cared about them, rather than excellent working conditions and no feedback from managers. Showing that productivity and work was far more efficient when employees had caring managers rather than authoritarian managers. When managers give constructive feedback to their employees, they then know what is expected of them and therefore feels they have a role which fits with their potential and ability, and is then a far happier worker.
When putting these suggestions into practice it may be the case that managers are unwilling to put in the extra work to ensure that their employees are happy. I feel if this is the case it is important to keep enhancing the point that these simple changes will provide a less chaotic atmosphere and also in turn produce less work for them as they are then relying on the employees to deal with customers rather than having to deal with them themselves.
The cost of improving staff facilities may also be a problem but again it is important to remember that it is the small things, such as a nice room to go during your break, can improve the attitude of staff members.
At the moment it is extremely obvious that there is a lack of communication and trust between the higher management staff and the other employees. This is something that must be looked into and improved in order for any of the proposed changes to be applied to the work force.
It is clear to see, from the report that some members of staff may not be accepting to change and so it is suggested that the proposed changes are slowly integrated into the company.
In order to improve the company’s service delivery status I suggest that GLO-TRAV adopts the ‘Just in time’ theory. By using this method it would enable the company to order what is needed and no more. It would also cut back on the storage room required and in turn saving even more money which can then go towards improving the quality of their service therefore customers will be more inclined to use their services again. The Japanese theory of ‘Total Quality Management’ could also be used as this runs on the focus of delivering customer value and continuous improvement of the systems and its processes. They use the words ‘Gemba Kaizen’. ‘Gemba’ is where the action takes place and so areas where developing, producing and selling products occur and ‘Kaizen’ means the continuous improvement. By using this theory, it would enable GLO-TRAV to improve the quality of their service and therefore not only will their employees be happier but so will their customers and so gaining ‘Total Quality Management’.
In the case study of GLO-TRAV, the missions and goals need to be reconsidered in order to reflect on the actual state of the company and how they propose to improve it, rather than them just stating what they feel they are doing. The first goal that need revising is ‘to provide services which are the leaders in terms of quality and delivery’, I feel that it needs to tone itself down a fraction and merely state that they will aim to provide a service that will give both quality and delivery to the best of their ability. The second is ‘to value our major resource- our people- and to provide a working environment that attracts, retains and develops committed employees’, I feel that this is a very important goal to have and needs to be upheld and done. The third that I feel needs to be said bluntly is that of trying to aim to provide complete customer satisfaction by offering a quality service for the amount of money that the consumer will be paying.
I feel that these goals are attainable as long as the management are prepared to put in the time and money that is required, but from the case study seen it is fair to say that these goals have been far from upheld.
On balance I feel that by using the theories and suggestions in this report, GLO-TRAV should ideally be able to increase communication throughout the company and improve their standards of trading, resulting in an increase of loyal customers and an increase in financial income.
