Results Only Work Environment - Case Study Example

Results Only Work Environment (ROWE) Work environments are changing everywhere because of the huge changes happening in the life styles of the people and the demands of employees. Moreover, work culture in the past and that at present are entirely different because of the developments of science and technology and subsequent changes in the management theories and organizational functions. Current employees are more particular about keeping a balance between work and life and they are not ready to spend lengthy working hours under demanding conditions. Modern organizations are trying to develop a work culture or work environment strictly in accordance with the changing demands of the employees because of the awareness that only satisfied employees will deliver the goods. Results Only Work Environment (ROWE) is a modern human resource management strategy in the corporate world in which employees are paid for the results; not for the hours they worked. This paper analyses the feasibility of ROWE in the manufacturing department of an imaginary modern organization XYZ Inc. Results Only Work Environment (ROWE) ROWE is one of the most modern concepts in human resource management. The core of this strategy is to pay the workers for their outputs rather than the number of hours they were present in the organization. It should be noted that there are cases in which an employee worked less may produce more results than other employees. For an organization, the output of the employee is more important than the number of working hours he worked in the organization. In other words, there is no point in an employee spending more hours passively in an organization. Traditional belief is such that: Time + Physical presence = results (Ressler and Thompson, p.13). However, the above belief is totally wrong as per the concepts of ROWE. The abilities and skill levels of different employees are different. Some employees work smarter whereas other work passively. For example, suppose fabricator A is producing 50 dispensers in 8 hours in a fabrication unit whereas fabricator B is producing only 40 dispensers in 10 hours. The organization may force to pay more to fabricator B because of the more hours he spent in the organization. Even though fabricator A worked two hours lesser than fabricator B, he produced more goods in that period. For the organization, A is more useful than B because of his greater productivity. However, while allotting benefits based on number of hours worked, B will get more wages than A which is unethical and illogical as per the concepts of ROWE. With ROWE: Teamwork, morale and engagement soar, which leads to less workers feeling overworked, stressed out or guilty; People are where they need to be, when they need to be – there is no need for schedules and There is no judgment on how people spend their time, so people at all levels stop wasting the company’s time and money (What is ROWE?, 2012). Man is a social animal and he always like socialization with others. However, majority of the workplaces do not offer him the opportunity for socialization. As a result of that many of the workers have lost passion for work. In fact they are working mechanically in organizations in order to find their livelihood. For example, a football crazy employee may curse his destiny if he fails to watch a football match between Brazil and Argentina because of his professional commitments. On the other hand, if the organization is flexible enough to allow him to take break during the match hours and continue his work later, he will be more satisfied with the treatment he received. Modern concept about work is; work smarter rather than work harder. The major objective of ROWE is to force the employees to work smarter so both the employer and the employees will get benefit out of it. “In an information and service economy, it doesn’t make sense to use time as a measurement for a job well done” (Ressler and Thompson, p.15-16). It is difficult for an employee, especially an employee in the manufacturing department to keep same level of enthusiasm throughout a day. He may start his works with more energy and as time goes on he may experience fatigue. In other words, the goods produced by an employee in the initial working hours could be more than that produced during the end hours. If an organization asks its employees to work overtime, it is not necessary that the employees may deliver same output during overtime hours as they did during the normal working hours. As a result of that the organization may not get the desired results as it expected. Ressler and Thompson pointed out that “When people tried to live lives under the new set of demands with old set of assumptions, they get burned out or frustrated” (Ressler and Thompson, p.16). Changes in work culture or working environment should be implemented only after educating the employees with respect to the necessities and benefits of it. It should be noted that employees have some traditional concepts about the work culture. They will be resistive to any changes which may adversely affect their interests. Suppose XYZ Inc. sets some standards, say 50 units of certain goods as the intended output of each of its employees per shift. If the employees, who completed 50 units allow to leave the workplace, they will work hard to complete these units well before the end of the day so that they can take an early break. Even lazy employees may work hard in such cases to get the benefit of getting an early break. In the absence of any such standards, employees may work passively and it is not necessary that all of them complete 50 units within a shift. It should be noted that both organization and its employees will face the discomforts of overtime in the case of failure of the employees to meet the targets within the specified time period. “A ROWE can have a positive impact on quality of life (and drive business results) for every one”(Ressler and Thompson, p.180). Work life balancing is one of the major areas of concern in human resource management. Many employees often complain that the lengthy working hours prevent them from finding enough time for personal works. If the organization allows the employee to complete the prescribed works and take break, employees may get more time for their personal work. Moreover, relief from the boring environment of the workplace will help them to keep their physical as well as mental health intact. An organization like XYZ should remember that only satisfied employees or the employees with sound physical and mental health may deliver the goods. Conclusions Traditional work environments are not suitable to the fast paced organizations like XYZ Inc. Instead of asking the employees to work 8 or 10 hours daily, it is better to allow the employees to leave XYZ after the completion of the targets for a particular day. XYZ Employees will get more time in such cases to spend with their friends, family and relatives so that their physical and mental health would be in sound conditions all the time. Instead of paying for the number of passive hours, it is better to pay for the active hours spent by the employees in XYZ Inc. Such a work culture will encourage even lazy employees to work hard so that they will get an early break. Creativity of the workers will be increased a lot when they get enough leisure time. It should be noted that revolutionary ideas may develop only in a peaceful mind. It is important for XYZ to help its employees to maintain a peaceful mind so that fresh and new ideas may come out form their minds for the benefit of the organization. In short, ROWE is an effective HRM strategy which can be implemented in XYZ successfully. Works Cited Ressler C and Thompson J. “Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It”. Portfolio-Penguin, 2008, “What is ROWE?”. 2012. Web. 25 January 2012. Read More