Management Notes Online
Alan L. Joplin, Publisher
A critical outcome in management is the attraction
of the necessary numbers and types of employees to
the organization. Retention of employees and favorable
attendance patterns represent forms of employee commitment
to the organization, and they facilitate the performance
of job tasks without interruption. Employees agree
to join, and continue to work for an organization as
long as their needs are adequately satisfied. Organizations
view employee job satisfaction as an important outcome
for several reasons:
1. It may be easy to recruit if applicants perceive
a high likelihood that
2. Better satisfied employees may be more willing
to remain with the organization, and they may even
have more favorable attendance patterns.
Other outcomes may also be important to the organization.
One example is that of employees' mental and physical
well-being. Such factors as stress and accidents experienced
by employees on the job are receiving increased attention.
Undertaking a program to improve employee performance
must be effective in doing so, but may not have much
of an effect on satisfaction one way or another.
These activities must be designed for, and targeted
toward, the specific outcomes the organization wants
to influence. Falling between activities and outcomes
are individuals and the jobs they perform. Individuals
have varying abilities to do such things as performing
tasks effectively and attending work regularly. They
also have varying degrees of motivation.
Ability and motivation do not exist in a vacuum. Rather,
they exist within the context of the job the employee
is performing. Accompanying requirements are certain
rewards offered by the job, such as pay, benefits,
co-workers, challenge, amount of responsibility, and
opportunity for promotion. Each reward has the potential
both to influence motivation and satisfy employee needs.
Human resource activities reflect management's personnel
policies, programs and procedures. They are designed
to influence both directly and indirectly the match
between individuals and jobs.
Jobs must be analyzed to identify the ability requirements
and the rewards associated with the job, and how these
rewards can be used to motivate the employee. Results
should be used as a way to develop a plan for improvement
of performance areas. Such a plan can be useful in
guiding the employee to higher levels of future performance.
Focusing on outcomes logically suggest that their
characteristics be systematically assessed. Results
of the assessment will indicate how effective the employee
has been in the past. Human resource planning attempts
to raise and answer the critical questions such as
which training might be necessary, how to recruit necessary
staff, and what rewards work, to only mention a few.
SatisfactionHealth
Employee Attendance
The major opportunity to control absenteeism comes through
the employee's motivation to attend. Managers often
try to influence motivation through direct policies
and practices regarding attendance. Most common are
policies against voluntary absenteeism, frequently
combined with penalties for offenders. More promising
results come from organizations that have effectively
experimented with the use of positive rewards for good
attendance. Although not always successful, such policies
often reduce absenteeism and increase retention.
Another approach is no-fault absenteeism, which recognizes
between voluntary and involuntary absenteeism. No-fault
absenteeism makes no attempt to determine whether the
absenteeism was voluntary or involuntary.
Advantages are:
1. Improved attendance.
The specific components of programs to change unsafe
conditions vary from situation to situation, but there
are four basic elements that should be a part of most
programs. These four elements are:
1. Defining Unsafe Conditions: Obviously, it is necessary
to define what constitutes unsafe conditions before
they can be changed. Doing so is primarily a matter
of establishing safety standards. Many of these standards
have been defined by the OSHA Act.
2. Identifying Unsafe Conditions: Periodic inspection
must be made to determine which conditions do not meet
safety standards. The inspection system is a crucial
element, for evidence clearly shows that the more thorough
and systematic the inspection, the better the safety
performance of the organization.
3. Taking Corrective Action: After identifying unsafe
conditions, corrective action must be planned and
implemented. In some instances this action will be
straight forward. At other times, however, corrective
actions may be increasingly complex, particularly
if they involve extended periods of time and large
financial resources such as the purchase of new machinery
or equipment.
4. Establishing Adequate Controls: Corrective action
may not necessarily be effective in reducing accidents.
Some corrective actions may fail because they were
based on initially inadequate or inappropriate standards.
The need for inspection and record keeping is clear,
this time as mechanisms for program control.
DEALING WITH HEALTH AND STRESS FACTORS
Health programs in organizations are designed to improve
employees' physical well-being. By doing so, it is
hoped that there will be positive impact on the human
resource outcomes. In addition, reduction in health
care cost will occur. This is becoming increasingly
important in many organizations. No single model of
a health program exist, and most have multiple components.
Relatively little is known about the effectiveness
of health programs in influencing the human resource
outcome and reducing cost.
EMPLOYEE STRESS
Given the complex causes and effects of stress, as well
as wide differences among employees in their reaction
to it, how can the organization reduce stress levels
for its employees? One approach is to minimize the
occurrence of stressors in the organization. At a
more general level, this approach would suggest that
all human resource policies and programs be designed
and evaluated partially from the standpoint of how
well they serve to reduce stressor levels.
Employee assistance programs were established to deal
with problems of employee alcoholism but, other problem
areas have been incorporated since then, i.e., drug
abuse, emotional counseling, family and marital counseling,
financial and legal counseling, and career counseling.
Before management can develop policies and practices
to increase employee satisfaction, or maintain existing
levels if they are found to be acceptable, information
must be obtained from the work force. An accurate assessment
of employee satisfaction ordinarily requires a more
formal procedure. Satisfaction surveys are often conducted
to get systematic information from employees. Satisfaction
surveys can provide information on how employees feel
about their jobs and the organization.
Employee expectations may be raised simply because employees
are asked to participate in the survey process. Failure
to follow-up on the survey with appropriate managerial
action may result in lower employee satisfaction than
existed before. Survey feedback will likely have
a positive impact on employee attitudes.
Some employees who received feedback were most likely
to:
1. Believe management was doing something.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Management Notes is published six times a year
a year by Voices of the Tribe. Editorial offices
are located at 933 Washington - Davenport, Iowa 52804/USA.
The Purpose of this publication is to provide readers
with down-to-earth management information, ideas and
techniques they can put into action to motivate employees
and spur productivity.
Original file name: v1n1 - converted on Sunday, 8 June 1997, 22:28
August & September 1996
their needs will be fulfilled.
Many factors influence whether employees attend work
on any particular day. The most immediate causes are
the employee's ability to attend, and motivation to
attend. A model of employee attendance should always
enclude:
Attendance IncentivesFamily Situation
Motivation to AttendTransportation
Ability to Attend
2. Placing responsibility for attendance squarely on the employee.
3. Reduced supervisor time in determining if the excuse was legitimate
Some organizations are taking a second look at traditional
paid sick leave policies. Recommendations to reduce
the use of sick leave typically involves some positive
rewards if sick days are accumulated rather than taken.
Attendance is contingent on many factors. Some of
these are outside the control of the individual and
hence are essentially outside of management's ability
to influence. Positive rewards for good attendance,
perhaps combined with negative sanctions for absenteeism,
can lead to improved attendance.
PROVIDING FOR EMPLOYEE SAFETY
Another approach to stress management would be to work
directly with employees, emphasizing how they can better
cope with stress. Organizations are increasingly providing
such coping mechanisms in the form of employee assistance
programs. The overall objective of these programs
is to provide treatment to "troubled employees"
so that they will be able to function normally and
remain as productive members of the organization.
KEEPING THEM SATISFIED
2. Be Satisfied with the procedures.
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