Positive Effect to Productivity - Assignment Example

Human Resource Management Student Name Course Tutor Date Question 1 What makes an individual to work hard? Introduction Basing on the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, as an individuals work to meet the basic needs, he works harder to meet other higher needs. In other words, people are motivated to work hard by the unmet needs in their lives. When an individual meets the needs on the lower level, he is motivated by a chance of having the other needs in the hierarchy. For instance, a person who has no food will first work hard to get food before thinking of being prestigious. However, if that person gets enough food, he will not stop at that but will work harder to get a secure job and develop his self esteem. The five needs namely, physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self actualization guides human behavior. No human being can survive in absence of the physiological needs and therefore anyone without food, water or air will look for a way to get them. Their behavior will therefore be focused on trying to get the items. If the basic needs are not met then an individual develops a craving that drives that person in getting the needs. In addition, unmet basic needs dominate all motivation and hence the dreams of the starving people always revolve around food and water1. Once an individual meet the basic need, the driving force for that need fades away and another need arises. The individual will then be motivated to move to the next level after meeting the basic needs. An individual with a satisfied need will do very little to get more of that need. Instead, the unfulfilled need in a person will persuade that person to work harder to meet the need. A person in a certain company will work hard if first he is provided with ample lunch breaks and have a salary scheme that allows him to purchases life’s essentials. This will be the initial driving force and hence such things like safety and social needs will come later. Such a person cannot reach maximum efficiency and effectiveness if he happens to worry often because of the safety of the surroundings fearing of any potential threat. If the employee happens to see security guards, responsible management personnel and cameras around the work place, he will be comfortable and hence will have no problems with work. Moreover, the provisions of retirement benefits and relative job security will motivate the employee further. Once the two needs are taken care of, a third layer will begin to sprout. The employee will have the desire for affection, friends and sense of community. The employee therefore will be motivated to work harder if the manager generates a feeling of belonging, acceptance and community particularly by reinforcing social events, team dynamics as well as projects based on planning teams. Any one who does not receive love and acceptance is likely to be withdrawn and consequently develop a spirit of rejection. Such a person cannot under any circumstance be motivated to work2. An individual will feel better if personal achievements are recognized and are assigned an important project at work. He will work harder if a status is provided to make him feel appreciated and valued. This will facilitate the development of one’s self esteem and therefore a person will feel confident hence increasing job competence. Every one desires to be self-actualized so as to fulfill the potential in the inner being. A man has to be what he can really be and hence resisting growth at this point will lead to a feeling of restlessness and boredom. A person is motivated to work harder if he is offered meaningful as well as challenging work assignments which lead to creativity, progress and innovation basing on the long-term goals. An individual will put more effort if provided with an opportunity that gives a chance of reaching to the fullest career potential. People will be comfortable to work in an organization that offer various incentives so as to assist them meet each need in turn and hence move up the hierarchy. When an individual’s needs are fulfilled in a good order, such a person learns to function at his higher level of potential. A positive effect to productivity is generated as the individual meet the higher needs at work. Individuals who are frustrated at work happen to be not very productive thus their dissatisfaction pollutes the environment for others. Self actualized people aim higher, set achievable goals, work hard to fulfill them and will not rest until they attain what they want3. Question 2 What can a manager do to increase his employees’ productivity? The success of any business highly depends on many factors and increasing employees’ productivity is one of the important factors irrespective of the size of a company. There are various ways of improving the productivity of the employees such as offering promotion, considering profit sharing, giving adequate breaks and offering achievement awards among others. Besides this a manager need to increase real work time for the employees and reduce amount of time wasted. A smart department manager should know how the employees spend their time with computers and use the Internet resources. This is because in the modern world, many employees use the internet for personal reasons like sending or receiving emails, chatting and browsing irrelevant websites. With the SurveilStar monitoring software, a manager can get exact details concerning activities on an employee’s computer. With this, the manager can know whom the employee chatted with and what website was browsed. The manager can block any site that he does not want the employees to visit using SuveilStar4. This action will help the staff to realize the importance of concentrating on work hence reducing time wasted. Consequently more effective time will be utilized on work henceforth improving employee productivity. The manager should prevent any data leakage from the company since in the current commercial world; any data leakage may affect the company negatively. An accidental leakage of data may cause the company’s plan be meaningless and hence lead to redoing what had already been done. Recent studies shows that only a small number of employees carry with them a confidential company material upon leaving a job for a new one. With the SurveilStar, data leakage can be prevented hence improving employee productivity. A manager needs to look for better ways to assign various tasks to proper employees. Proper job fit is very important in any organization. A poor job fit would be for example a manager who chooses the best salesperson to head a particular department in the company and later realizes that he or she is less happy, unproductive or unsuccessful in that new position. Probably the qualities that make a good salesperson can not fit in another position. The manager needs to understand an individual’s core characteristics such as the ability to work with other people and this will help in choosing proper job fit. A smart manager will be aware that employees do more when they feel that they are part of the team5. Case studies and surveys have revealed that managers have to increase workers satisfaction and motivation so as to improve productivity. A manager needs to utilize techniques beyond pay incentives so as to achieve both employees and company’s goals along with increasing productivity. Attaining high quality in work performance highly depends on offering employees opportunities for achievement, personal growth, reward and recognition. Employees need to be involved in activities such as decision making and participating in specific assignments and projects. Delegating decision making help reduce wasted labor but this can best work if the manager provides the right information to the employees. Application of science in leadership may help increases employees productivity. A successful manager will apply an approach that balances the focus of interpersonal skills and looking for results. This means that the manager should strive at developing an organizational culture that is based on performance. This environment encourages continuous dialog with the employees and this helps a manager to have a breakthrough on the improvement of performance of the employees leading to a clear overview on the results of the organization. Immediate feedback concerning work done can give a manager a better chance of targeting work not done and therefore list work activities appropriately. A manager should set explicit performance standards so as to become knowledgeable concerning employee performance. The provision of accurate and fare informal feedback regarding the strengths of performance can significantly increase individual performance. A manager who gives feedback that is immediate, positive, voluntary and complete can influence the performance of the employees positively6. Conclusion A manager therefore, ought to provide an environment that help in achieving company goals as well as employees goals simultaneously. A manager ought to have the knowledge of assessing issues that matter to the employees to increase satisfaction. For instance, the employees need to know the manner in which they are judged in terms of their performance. A manager needs to change from an environment of rigid instructions to one that is self-regulating, supervisors bossing to involving workers in planning and decision making7. Bibliography Boeree, G. Personality theories.2006, Retrieved 12 September 2010 p1 Landy, F. & Conte, J. Work in the 21st century: an introduction to industrial and organizational psychology. New York, Wiley-Blackwell, 2007. P 342 Mills, A. et al. Organizational Behaviour in a Global Context. Canada ,University of Toronto Press, 2006, p 219 Schermerhorn, J. Exploring Management. New York, John Wiley and Sons, 2009. pp 296 Trinka, J. What's a Manager to Do? 2003, Retrieved 12 September 2010 p1 Read More