Achieving Organisation Needs - Essay Example

Achieving Organisational Strategic Needs and Satisfaction of Individual Employee Needs The most flourishing Organisations make the most effectual use of their employees. Employees are the most valuable assets a firm owns and increasingly employees are being considered as ‘Members of the management team’. Business organizations gradually are undergoing a change in idea; Employees needs and issues are being addressed as business issues now. An improved confidence in the employees is necessary for managers to manage. Relentlessly more competitive organizations with better employee employer relationships are being built. To preserve these invaluable assets (Human Resource) which are the building blocks of an organization management has to take supreme care for the needs, wants and satisfaction of the same. Motivated and satisfied employees work more willingly and foster better relationships inside and outside the organization. However, excessive coddling of the employees may lead to diversion of the main objective, towards the achievement of which the whole organization is working. A steadiness between individual goals and organizational goals is required so as to achieve both the goals, without hampering each other. Managers must understand the needs of their employees, especially the ones which motivate them to the achievement of the main objective. To understand these needs in depth Abraham Maslow developed a model in which he outlined the needs and differentiated them on basis of the importance. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs The most basic needs to sustain life for any person are Physiological Requirements, which includes; air, water, nourishment and sleep. Higher needs are not felt until the basic ones are fulfilled. The fulfilment of basic needs diverts the attention towards Safety Needs, which may include; living in a safe area, Med claim, Job Security and Financial hold back. A sustainable and secured life now craves for Social Needs, which are related to interaction with the outside world, and may include; Want for friends, need for belongingness and give and take of love. As soon as a sense of belongingness develops with in an individual, he wants to feel important now. Esteem Needs is the next need to hanker after which includes; self respect, achievement, attention, recognition and reputation. Though, later a refinement was done and the need for knowledge and aesthetics was inserted between social and self actualization needs. The quest of reaching one’s complete potential now arises and we head towards the Self-Actualisation Needs, this is one need which can never be fully satisfied. People at this stage crave to posses the following; Truth, justice, wisdom and meaning. Maslow stated that only a small portion of population reaches to the self-actualisation needs. After a well defined structure of needs, it is the management who has to work towards the fulfilment of the same. Management can motivate employees according to the level of satisfaction needed. Some examples of how management can work towards the fulfilment of needs are as follows: Physiological Needs: Lunch breaks, Fair remuneration, proper working conditions etc. Safety Needs: Safe working Environment, Job security, Retirement Plan etc. Social Needs: Organising social events, providing projects which require team work etc. Esteem Needs: Achievement recognition, Job titles etc. Self-Actualisation: Challenging and opportunistic work, so that employees can reach to their full career potential. Like Maslow’s many other management practitioners have developed theories on Need and Employee Motivation. To name a few we have; McClelland’s Theory which classifies needs as Achievement, Affiliation and Power. Clayton Alderfer proposed the ERG Theory where ERG stands for 3 level of needs; Existence, Relatedness and Growth. While Herzberg kept forward the Motivation-Hygiene theory, in which he mentioned Satisfiers as motivators and the dissatisfiers as hygiene factors. The following table reveals tasks which lead to satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Leading to Dissatisfaction Leading to Satisfaction Company Policy Achievement Supervision Recognition Relationship with boss Work Working conditions Responsibility Salary Advancement Relationship with peers Growth Herzberg’s Motivation Theory The Needs theories mentioned above, marks up the importance of Employee motivation and satisfaction to Achieve Organisational goals. Satisfied employees perform well and contribute to the overall organisational development. Managers of any organisation should we proficient enough to blend individual needs or goals to organisations strategic needs, satisfied employees work together challengingly towards the achievement of organisations strategic needs. Raymond Stone is no wrong in saying that “there exists a mutual relationship between achieving organisations strategic needs and the satisfaction of individual employees need” because the two of them are interdependent and interrelated. Managers cannot do justice to either of them by ignoring any one of the two. In one of his Harvard Business Review Donald Sull, emphasized that a company comprises of hardware, like; information systems, corporate priorities, hydraulics, incentives, etc. and software, like; the right culture, people, and leadership for execution. According to him, the liveliest organizations share a crux of values; achievement-that recognizes and rewards employees for continually locating and achieving ambitious goals; ownership - to owe responsibility for results; teamwork - to encourage coordination; creativity - to challenge the knack; and integrity - to offset the lure to play crooks that can arise when employees wish to hit high performance targets. Time and again importance of individual goals with regards Organisational goals has been emphasized by management practitioners and has been worked upon too. Organisational and individual needs share a legal relationship with regards to the commitment that each of the both have against each other. In business terms employment is a contract between the employer and the employee. Here the employer has the right to direct the actions of the employee and prescribe him as to how the work is to be done, while an employer sets up an organisation with the general intention of profit and pays remuneration to the employees for the work done. The relationship that the two share with each other is dependent upon three factors: Interests, Control, and Motivation It depends on the capability of the employer as to how to blend these factors keeping the balance in mind to ensure harmonious and prolific relations. If the interests of the individual employees are matched to the organizations interest it leads to healthy and profitable completion on targets and goals. For example, achieving the new production target can be thought of as an opportunistic and challenging task for the employees, which leads to the realisation of self actualisation needs. Control is the only tool which bridges the gap between desired and actual outcomes, so an effective control is required amongst and inside the employer and employee. Motivation is the most important and the most difficult for the employers or the managers. According to Dubin Motivation is “something that moves a person to action, and continues him in the course of action already initiated” (Dubin, 1958). Most importantly managers should help out there employees to define their personal goals, then interpreting the relationship with organizational goals. However, sometimes an individual is not able to perform; here proper training and guidance will help towards the development of abilities and skills. Amongst the many tools to combine the interests of organization and employee, one is, using charts in highly visible spots. The required attention is developed within the employees and avoids crisis like situation. Similarly games and contests are a great way to keep employee socially active and simultaneously inducing healthy environment in the organization. The understanding of various Human Resource Management Theories and concepts and the further interdependent and interrelated behaviour of the Organizational and Individual needs, gives us a better view as to how both of them share a mutual relationship and go hand in hand. Managers or the employers play the most important role here who can with a correct sense of direction lead to fulfilment of the both, without hampering either of them. Raymond Stone was absolutely correct in saying that there exists a relationship between the two of them. References: 1. “Strategic Human Resource Management”, Steven J Mayer, http://www.innovativehumandynamics.com/Strategic.pdf 2. “Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management”, David J. Teece; Gary Pisano; Amy Shuen, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 18, No. 7. (Aug., 1997), pp. 509-533. http://faculty.fuqua.duke.edu/~charlesw/s591/Bocconi-Duke/Papers/C10/TeecePisanoShuenSMJ.pdf 3. “Understanding employee motivation”, James R. Lindner, June 1998, Vol. 36, No.3. http://www.joe.org/joe/1998june/rb3.php 4. “Organizational Behaviour: Essentials”, Mcshane, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2006 http://books.google.co.in/books?id=6ESKEjpmGHYC&dq=employee+needs+journals&source=gbs_navlinks_s 5. “Organizational Behaviour: The Essentials” , Debra L. Nelson, James C. Quick West Publ., 1996 http://books.google.co.in/books?id=-W97gCQelUMC&dq=employee%20needs%20journals&source=gbs_slider_thumb Read More