Motivation of Employees on Management in Organizational Settings - Research Paper Example

?Motivation of Employees in relation to management in a organizational setting. Table of content …………………………………………………………………………….03 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...03 Understanding the work culture in call centers ………………………………………03 Function of the management………………………………………………………….04 Finding out the major problems issues………………………………………………..05 The importance of the motivation……………………………………………………..06 Motivational theories………………………………………………………………….06 Attrition in call centers………………………………………………………………...10 New management motivational tools………………………………………………….10 ROWE (Result only work environment) program…………………………………….11 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….12 References…………………………………………………………………………….13 Abstract: Motivation is the fuel to pump up the optimistic thought about the job. It is an inevitable fact which cannot be ignored by any organization. No matter what is the organizational structure of the company, but if the employees are not motivated then the output will fall drastically. However, this paper will focus on the motivational tools to reconstruct the organizational structure of the companies who are dealing with call centers. The management function is vital but all the functions in the Call centers are focused at par with employee satisfactions. This research work is a simple attempt to find out the ultimate motivational and operational loots to encourage the employees to work happily. Introduction: The aim of the paper is to investigate the proper way of practicing the management to achieve the best possible outcome for the call center employees. The recent business scenarios are very much focused on the positive outcomes. However, the present scenario in the business culture is changing and it is changing with the improvisation of the proper blend of traditional organizational behavioral approaches and the modern culture. The work cultures have changed and so the functions of the management must change accordingly to cope up the advanced employee satisfaction. The motivational tools must be explored beyond the traditional ways to satisfy the new age call center employees. Understanding the work culture in call centers: The work culture within a call center is far more different than any other organization. Most important part is the nature of the job. In most of the call centers employees are young and they look for many options to earn more money. However, the most important fact for the people who are in the operations of the call center is to keep the employees energy intact. These breaks are very much important to regain the energy and patience to take the calls again. The weekly party, on floor incentives and many more motivational tools are used to keep the employees minds within the jobs. The training plays a very important role in this scenario. Employees are constantly trained to perform accordingly. The employees in call centers deal with a huge database, and sometimes these database are very expensive and not to be disclosed or used or sold to other party. This can be taken as a serious crime. For an example, after the fraud case in Mphasis, the growth rate of the call centers was expected to go down to 30 percent (Jacques, 2006, p. 105). However, the scenario did changed but towards the positive side. Function of the management: Function of the management is one of the most vital factors to practice the best organizational behavior within the organization. However, the functions of the organizations depend on the organizational structures. But, in a general prospective it can be said that the functions of the management can be divided into some major subjects of action. And they are planning, organizing, staffing and controlling (Koontz & Weihrich, 2006, p. 6). These are very much general functions in nature and these functions depend on the structure of the management and also on the basis of the nature of the jobs within the organizations. The functions of the management are been tasted for many years. However, call centers are the new age organizations and they are far more different than the traditional organizations. Planning and controlling of the employees play the vital role for these organizations. Recruitment planning and the controlling of the young souls are very important for the smooth functioning of the organization. In this kind of organizations the floor managers, that is the middle level managers play an important role to control the employees on the floor. Instant decisions are required to pull up the sales on the floors. On spot incentives and other incentives must be announced by the floor managers and these managers are the people who can control the employees properly. Team work plays a vital role in these organizations. The team building is a vital objective of the team leaders and of the managers (Bergevin et al; 2010, p 266). Finding out the major problems issues: Call center employees are facing many health related issues. Most of the business process outsourcing (BPO) employees are working in the night shifts for a longer period and for the biological disorder they are facing many health problems like depression, high blood pressure, anxiety etc. in other hand it can be seen that these BPO jobs are moderately high paid jobs. But, due to the lack of job satisfaction and due to the health related issues these jobs are facing high attritions. However, to make a better working environment health and hygiene factors must be maintained. Call centers are the major part in most of the BPOs. And in the recent time most of the Call center based jobs are directed or outsourced to the Asian countries by the US companies. However, there are many call centers which are working in United Sates. And these call centers are working in a shift but most of the time in normal shifts. But taking thousands call in a day with a head phone on is not an easy job. It is very stereotype and monotonous sometimes for the employees. So, motivational activities must be practiced in a regular basis to bring the charm within the employees. Some other major problems are high attrition rate, lack of job satisfaction, health related issues and many more. The importance of the motivation: The work culture in most of the organization is different than the work culture in the Call Centers. In most of the organizations new employees are very much enthusiastic about their jobs and even after joining the job they get more encourages and interest to work accordingly. But, in the call centers most of the time as the time of joining the new recruits show a great enthusiasm but after few months they get bored and lethargic about their jobs (Carlaw et al; 2002, p 3). Motivation plays a vital role to bring back the energy within these bored employees. The motivation works as a great tool in the call center industry. For high productivity and to bring up the moral responsibilities of the employees the motivation plays the vital role. Reward system is must to practice the proper motivational approach within these contact centers. There are many other motivational tools are there for the new comers and they are free home pick up and drop, high salary, on-spot incentives, bonus, medical benefits, quarterly party and many more. Without these tools it is very hard to maintain the smooth operations of the call centers. Motivational theories: The organizational theories of F.W. Taylor, E.G. Mayo, A. Maslow, F. McGregor and F Herzberg have a great importance in the recent business organizations. The motivational factors are changing. Money is not the only factor for motivating employees; there are some factors like job satisfaction, recognition and hygiene are very important. For the people who are working in the call centers need to be motivated constantly and for doing this, these organizational and motivational theories are very important to understand the basics. The basic principles of the theories are given bellow. The Scientific Management theory of the F.W. Taylor: According to Taylor the scientific management can be very efficient to increase the productivity of the employees. There are basically four major principles are there according to Taylor and they are explained below (Jones, 2009, p 48) 1. Principle one: The workers performance must be studied carefully, all the informal information related to the knowledge the workers possess should be gathered. In this principle the time and motion study was very much important. 2. Principle two: Once the new methods are generated with the followings of the principle one, then they must by codified for better performance and the written rules should be maintained for the better outcome. According to Taylor the new advanced methods should always be recorded. 3. Principle three: The selection of the skilled worker should be practiced. The selection procedure should be conducted carefully to identify the workers who possess the skills and abilities that are required for better out come. 4. Principle four: Establishment of the acceptable level of performance for a work should be done. In this last principle Taylor explained that the incentives or rewards process should be followed for increasing the efficiencies of the workers. Workers should be motivated with the incentives. Nowadays most of the public and private sector follow the Taylor’s theory for the better results from the fellow employees. Most of the sales organizations use incentive schemes for pull up the sales figure. Call centers must apply the incentive schemes to motivate the employees instantly. The theory of E.G. Mayo: Mayo tried to focus on the employee satisfaction. According to Mayo the employee satisfaction is a very vital determinant of the productivity and performance (Hoque, 2006, p 20). According to the Mayo the psychodynamics drove the behaviors of the worker and the labor conflicts were basically a form of group psychopathology (Grint, 2000, p 313). The principle of the human relation became a great initiative in today’s life. However, the theory is been modified and improvised by many philosophers. And, the basic principle about the theory is been practiced in many organizations including in the organizations like call centers. The theory of needs hierarchy by Maslow: The basic concept of the needs is explained in this theory. And many dozens of needs are classified into five main categories. The psychological needs are the base of the theory. The food, air, water, shelter are the basic needs for any human. Next on the hierarchy the safety is very much important for most of the human beings and also most of the employees after the get their basic needs. The need for secure and suitable environment is very important in any circumstances. Most of the organizations provide health insurance to the employees and the main reason behind it to provide safety to the employees to keep them happy and free to work accordingly towards the development of the successful environment. There are many other needs are associated in the theory. However, the needs of the self esteem comes very critical in the human behavior while everyone is satisfied with the other needs bellow the self esteem needs. The need of love and affection are very much important. The motivational factors vary person to person. The self esteems can be achieved by the personal achievements. The top level of the Maslow’s model is the self-actualization. Self actualization is the need in the higher level (Hill, 2008, p 320). People who have the desire to make something new are considered as the needy people for self-actualization. The need hierarchy theory is applicable to most of the people but the motivational factors related to the needs depend on the person to person. People are motivated by different needs at the different levels and most of the organizations should realize the importance of the motivational factors and the needs. In this case the management must understand the needs of the employees in the call centers in the different levels and manage them accordingly. Herzberg’s two Factor theories: The motivational factors are the unitary concept in the corporate organizations. However, the Herzberg’s Two Factor theory has focused on two main factors and they are Motivators and the Hygiene factors. The two factor theory basically distinguishes between the motivators and the hygiene factors. The main motivators are the sense of achievement, recognition, enjoyment of jobs, promotions, growth opportunity, advancement etc. These are the motivators for most of the employees in private and public sectors. The growth and recognitions are very prominent motivators in the organizations. In the other hand the Hygiene factors are company policies, working environments, supervision, job satisfaction and work rules. According to Herzberg the hygiene factors do not work as the powerful motivators but they do prevent people from getting dissatisfied with their jobs (Lingard and Rowlinson, 2005, p 299). Management must keep in mind that call center employees are doing a work which is very much trying and for that they need to be provided with all the possible facilities within the office and the hygiene factor is a major issue to be taken care of. Attrition in call centers: Attrition is one of the biggest problems in the call centers. It is very hard to retain the employees in this section of organizations. There are many reasons behind the high attrition rate in the cal centers few of the reasons are monotonous job, high rate of health related issues and work shift problems. The turnover rate of the employees in the US call centers can reach to almost 40 percent (Jacques, 2006, p. 105) and that is a costly affair for the companies. Each and every call centers spend huge amount of money on the recruitment and training process. After the expensive training process if the company can’t retain their employees than that is a great loss for the companies. This is the reason the motivation plays a great role in the call centers as it helps the managers to retain their team members and to cut down the recurring cost due to the high attrition. New management motivational tools: Call centers are the new age organization and that is the reason the motivational tools related to this organization must be at par with the demands of the employees. The moral is very much important in this case. It has been seen that is the productivity is low where the morale is low and the great moral can lead to the great outcome like increase job satisfaction, lower the attrition rate, increase the productivity etc (Carlaw et al; 2002, p 5). There are some new age motivational tools like daily incentives, weekly incentives, employee or caller of the month scheme, weekly party, yearly reward system, recognition through awards ceremony etc. The ROWE (Result only work environment) program: The New ROWE (Result only work environment) program is the example of the new thought to change the organizational culture to increase the level of job satisfaction and the productivity among the employees (Reeves, 2010, p 269). The ROWE (Result only work environment) program is one of the most diversified cultural approach in the business environment. This is a program which allows the employees to accordingly their daily schedule. In one hand it can be said that the working hour is 24 hours and in other hand it also can be said that an employee can work when he or she feels. This new business cultural approach would give great advantages to the employees to balance their corporate and family lives. According to the program there are no work schedules in the traditional manner, employees are not to judge how long they work or how long they will be with their colleagues within the office rather it is the productive work they do no matter within short or longer time. This tactical approach has been proven as one of the most effective way of motivating the employees. This particular approach has also been affective to maintain the low turnover ratio within the organization. The ROWE program is definitely one of the wise decisions taken by the management of the organization. But as usual there would be some flaws which could bring a great negative effect to the organization. For an example there are many departments in the organization which are not allowed to take this program as they need to be in the office and their work schedules can’t be changes to the 24 hour mode. Now, these few groups might feel neglected and that could be negative motivation for them. So basically the ROWE program cannot be implemented to all the people in the organization. However, it can be a great initiative as a pilot motivational project for a small group of employees. Conclusion: From this descriptive paper it is very clear that without a proper motivational planning the controlling of the call centers is no way possible. There are many motivational tool which are used to retain the existing employees within the call centers. The rewards system is one of the most important tools to be followed wisely by the mangers to encourage the young caller s to be more productive. However, due to the young team members and for many other reason it is very hard to lowering down the attrition rate in the call centers. But, programs like ROWE can help the call centers to retain and encourage the employees to work from home for some weeks. Still, the great motivational tool is the incentives as most of the young people want to earn more money to enjoy their lives. Motivating call center employees have become a great subject in the field of human resource in the call centers as well as in the business management collages. The question is “would there be any end of searching the best motivational tool for the employees in the call centers in the near future?” well, the answer would be to justify. References Bergevin, Kinder, Siegel, Simpson (2010) “Call Centers for Dummies”. Ontario: For Dummies. Carlaw M, Carlaw P, Deming V K and Friedmann K. (2002). “Managing and motivating contact center employees: tools and techniques for inspiring outstanding performance from your frontline staff”. Ney York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Grint Keith (2000). “Work and society: a reader”. New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell. Hill. (2008).”Principles Of Management”. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill. Hoque Zahirul. (2006). “Methodological issues in accounting research: theories, methods and issues”. London: Spiramus Press Ltd. Jacques V (2006) “International outsourcing strategy and competitiveness: Study on Current Outsourcing Trends : IT, Business Processes, Contact Centers...”. Paris: Editions Publibook. Jones (2009). “Contemporary Management 5E”. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill. Koontz H & Weihrich H. (2006) “Essentials Of Management”. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill. Lingard H and Rowlinson Stephen M. (2005). “Occupational health and safety in construction project management”. New York: Taylor & Francis. Reeves M E, (2010). “Women in Business: Theory, Case Studies, and Legal Challenges”. New York: Taylor & Francis. Read More