The Importance of Non-Monetary Factors on Employees Work Performance - Coursework Example

Title Author Institution Affiliation The Importance of Non-monetary Factors on Employees’ Work Performance Introduction Discretionary Work Effort is of paramount importance for any business that wants to remain successful and maintain its competitive advantage (Ehnert, Harry & ‎ Zink, 2013). This is because these extra efforts from employees contribute a great deal towards a company’s efficiency and success. Many researchers have argued that very little has been done by organizations to enhance discretionary work efforts. Poor management practices and outdated organizational structures that demoralize work ethics have most times resulted to decreased level of work efforts (Miner, 2015). The impeding question remains why some people willingly work hard whereas others do not and what can be done to enable employees release discretionary work efforts (Pinder, 2014). Seeking for answers to these two questions will definitely assist managers to understand how they can nurture appropriate working environment that motivates employees to go that extra mile. One approach to enhancing voluntary efforts would be to understand how workplace environment characteristics affect the level of discretionary work efforts Ehnert, Harry & ‎ Zink, 2013). The work environment can be described as the structures of the occupation and business that create stimuli to which workers respond to either negatively or positively and can cause employee to develop dissatisfaction or satisfaction of the job. Understanding characteristics of a suitable work environment will boost manager’s capability to make use of this valued resource (Healey & ‎Marchese, 2012). This paper will discuss the importance of non- monetary factors on employees’ work performance and DWE. Discretionary Work Effort Discretionary Work Effort (DWE, is the work effort that is applied by an employee beyond what is expected by the managers or the organization (Garber, 2012). DWE is a very essential concept because it affects an individual performance in a business as well as the efficiency of the business (Healey & ‎Marchese, 2012). In order to maximize the organizational performance, businesses will have to inspire their employees to work at their highest level and this requires extra efforts in the workplace. Therefore organizations need to understand the factors that encourage discretionary work effort (Healey & ‎Marchese, 2012; Woods, 2012). There is a wide collection of factors other than monetary that connect with discretionary work effort and these include job characteristics, co-worker relations and organizational factors among others. Ways of Encouraging Discretionary Work Efforts Offering Challenging Work Challenging work is one of the non-monetary factors that give an employee an opportunity to increase discretionary work effort (Woods, 2012). This work offers an individual a challenge to handle new errands as well as use his skills and extend them by learning new things. It enhances worker development and growth of skills through the challenge (Armstrong, 2011). The employee seeks for meaning, variety and independence and this increases job satisfaction because it allows employees to achieve other personal needs such as self-actualization (Healey & ‎Marchese, 2012). This factor will influence DWE, because when workers are achieving job satisfaction in their workplace, they will tend to give themselves more. The workers will voluntarily work extra workers in order to achieve the goals of their company and this will eventually increase the company’s productivity and efficiency. Workers will also not want to leave an organization where they feel secure and satisfied and therefore rates of employee turnover will be minimized in such an organization and therefore the business’s performance will be increased. Managers should endeavor to use this perk on their workers if they want to see increased work performance and discretionary work efforts (Schloss, 2014).Empowerment and autonomy allows employees the authority and liberty to perform their duties the best way possible in their own ability. However, the management should see to it that the employees perform in a way that is beneficial to the organization by setting clear boundaries that need to be observed. Providing Team-oriented Leadership This is a leader behavior that promotes team building and working together and exhibits concern and support for all employees (Pinder, 2014). These positive leader behaviors go along way in promoting a sense of fairness to each employee, unity, group identity and mutual respect, accountability towards attaining the company goals as well as build trust and confidence in the leader. Managers in this case value personal contributions and support each member of the team (Woods, 2012). They also give positive feedbacks within the expected time and encourage openness to the group ideas. This portrays a good work model to be emulated by the employees and this boosts the workers morale even to perform better. When employees perceive that the management is mindful of their well being, they develop a sense of belonging in the company and will work towards its success (Armstrong, 2011). In addition, the relationship between the manager and the workers is enhanced to a greater level. The outcome of this then becomes increased overall performance of individuals and the team alike. Inspired employees respond through extra efforts and increased commitment to the organization (Garber, 2012). Managers should avoid developing an autocratic leadership specifically while handling future to be leaders. Micro-management is an abomination to the modern generation of leaders. An organization with autocratic leaders will not be able to retain workers because those managers kill the workers motivation (Pinder, 2014). The psychological contract between the managers and their employees is very crucial because it determines the emotional attachment that workers form with their company. Various issues can affect a health working relationship between employees and employers and the most challenging is how employers deal with their employees (Healey & ‎Marchese, 2012). This shapes the way people are prepared to give at the workplace and their expectations from the employers. If anything negative happens that influences a healthy working relationship leaving the employee dissatisfied, then this may release a negative impact on discretionary effort (Garber, 2012). This will eventually affect the company’s ability to perform effectively. Autonomy and empowerment should therefore be practiced in a specific framework (Schloss, 2014).Having a clear structure that clearly states what managers expect from an employee and what employees expect from them helps to give directions on the relationship. Enhancing Co-worker Support Co- worker support is very crucial in a business because it influences the way workers and understands the work environment (Woods, 2012). Building a supportive group environment communicates a sense of being cared for as well as being treasured and this makes employees to feel accepted (Pinder, 2014). This creates a feeling of belonging and promotes workers commitment to accomplish the group objectives. A strong co- worker support improves employees’ job satisfaction and reduces turnover rates within the organization (Garber, 2012). As a result, the employees are motivated and this increases the discretionary work efforts. The extent to which groups value the contributions of their team members determines how well that group will be able to achieve group cohesiveness which is very important in promoting effectiveness in an organization (Armstrong, 2011). Working in abusive environments will demotivate employees and cause others to even leave the company. Demotivated employees are less productive and this affects the organization’s performance (Healey & ‎Marchese, 2012). Flexible Work Arrangements Flexible work arrangements can be described as a company’s readiness to adopt flexibility in how it observes the rules and procedures that concern how an employee meets job requirements (Garber, 2012). This shows the organization’s preparedness to provide the employee with the necessary help so that he may perform his job well. It also demonstrates that the organization values employee’s contribution and is concerned about their well being (Healey & ‎Marchese, 2012). For instance, if an employee is sick or has a sick family member and wants to take them to for treatment, arrangements could be made by the employer to allow the affected employee to attend to his sick family member and get back to work at his own convenient time(Pinder, 2014). Providing a work- life balance in an organization promotes employees commitment and enhances high performance among the workers. This perk helps in improving job satisfaction and eventually increases DWE and reduces employee turnover rates (Armstrong, 2011). Recognizing and Rewarding Good Performance The level and rate at which an organization identifies and appreciates good performance is an important factor in helping to encourage discretionary work efforts (Woods, 2012). There is need for employees to feel that their efforts and performance are valued by their employers and this result to even greater commitment. Recognizing and appreciating good performance and individual efforts is a sure way of increasing workers motivation (Armstrong, 2011). Through recognition and reward, employees feel that their contribution are valued by the organizations and this promotes desire to work harder than before. Scholars argue that recognizing and rewarding people provides imaginary income, in other words job satisfaction that motivates them to apply extraordinary efforts (Healey & ‎Marchese, 2012). The workers will willingly give extra hours and attention to work. Increased expectation of valued results from good performance also contributes a lot in decreasing employee turnover intentions. Even though discretionary effort may be out of an individuals will, it is necessary for companies to reward the behavior (Pinder, 2014). It is even more rewarding to give incentives that are consistent with the specific effort drivers. Every effort driver should be considered in a way that causes him to become more motivated (Armstrong, 2010). For instance, if the organization is aware of a particular thing that interests the employee who is the effort driver, then it should reward that employee in relation to that. The way those incentives are handed out should also depend on an individual since there are individuals who are comfortable being recognized while others are not (Woods, 2012). In conclusion, this paper has discussed Discretionary Work Effort (DWE), as well as the importance of non- monetary factors on employees’ work performance and DWE. Any business that wants to maintain its efficiency and competitive advantage will not underemphasize discretionary efforts from its works (Armstrong, 2011).They are numerous factors that determine the level of extra efforts offered by an employee and managers should do their best to encourage their employees to go that extra mile for the benefit of the organization. There are effective non monetary factors that help to enhance discretionary work effort and they include offering challenging work to the employees, providing team-oriented leadership, enhancing co-worker support, flexible work arrangements and recognizing and rewarding good performance. Conclusion These five perks could prove important tools for managers who want to encourage increased discretionary work efforts. It is evident that employee motivation influences increased work performance. Creating a favorable working environment that generates job satisfaction and motivation will indeed increase levels of commitment and sacrifice. Although there are many challenges involved in the process of creating a discretionary effort- friendly workplace, it is worth the effort. This is because employees have a greater capability of contributing to their company than the managers. Organizations should endeavor to create work environments that encourage discretionary effort to flourish. Everybody would desire to be part of such an organization. References Armstrong M. (2011).Armstrong's Handbook of Strategic Human Resource Management. Kogan Publishers. Armstrong M. (2010). Armstrong's Essential Human Resource Management Practice: A Guide to .Kogan Page Publishers. Ehnert I., Harry W& ‎ Zink K. (2013).Sustainability and Human Resource Management development.New Springer Science & Business Media. Garber P. ( 2012). 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