Professional Development Support in the Organization - Essay Example

Job Redesign and Workplace Reward Introduction Organizations often face the challenge of attracting high-quality workers and retaining them. Productive personnel is an essential asset to any firm since they enable it to leverage from the skills and knowledge to create a competitive advantage in the market as well as attract more other productive employees. Firms are in a constant process of exploiting various techniques to ensure their employees are always satisfied with their jobs and the operations of the organization to enable them harness compete favorably in the market by leveraging from their ideas and skills. It is prudent to note that companies go an extra mile to include value added packages for their employees to entice them to stay with the organization as long as they are productive and their skills are advantageous to the business (Lauby, 2005). Better job re-designed coupled with an efficient and well-designed reward system is critical in determining the success of the organization. There has been a trend in the corporate world by which organizations are transforming their business structures by ensuring their employees are more utilized by the firm while at the same time they become more productive by absorbing them from hourly workers into full-time salaried workers with more responsibilities and privileges. This is a motivation technique that seeks to incorporate the workers into the firm through extra duties aimed at making them feel more liable and responsible to the success of the organization. On the other hand, the business are reviewing their reward systems to include additional incentives and other packages that are aimed at motivating the workers to be more dedicated and productive in the organization (Hodgetts and Hegar, 2008). Significant amounts of resources have been directed to study both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for the organization’s management to understand the relevant changes that they need to execute to ensure there is improved performance in their organizations while at the same time ensuring the workers are motivated and retained to enhance productivity. The work culture of the modern world is always a concern; firms are aiming at cutting down on their operational costs and as a result, most firms are opting for casual hourly workers at the expense of salaried employees. Research, however, indicates that hourly employees have a high sense of extrinsic motivation but less intrinsic motivation because they obliged to perform or because of the rewards and incentives they are to receive at the end. For this reason, an overhaul of this culture will most probably improve the motivation of the employees, thus inspiring them to improve and enhance productivity levels in organizations (Lauby, 2005). Job Redesign Approaches The nursing discipline is care based whereby the nurses offer caring services to their clients who are suffering from health complications. Thus, the sector banks a lot on the quality of services that workers offer, the level of satisfaction of customers will solely depend on the kind of experience that they received. Therefore, the employees are a major proponent of determining the productivity of the firm since if they fail to offer quality of services due to lack of motivation the business will lack clients thus be less productive but on the other hand if they provide distinguished services to the customers they will attract more clientele hence enhancing the profitability of the organization. Currently, the job position of nursing is an hourly job whereby the personnel works for a particular number of hours from which their pay will be determined (Knights, Willmott and Collinson, 2005). The responsibility that is bestowed upon them is minimal since all they have to do is ensure the clients are serviced within their shift time, and that’s it. Nursing is a holistic discipline in which the employees are supposed to offer more than what their job description dictates. The nurses are expected to create an interpersonal relationship with the clients to ensure they provide the best they would to create an enabling environment for patients to recover (Bolweg, 2006). Thus, to enhance productivity, the jobs of nurses ought to be redesigned to make them salaried based rather than being hourly jobs. This can help improve the level of workers’ motivation since the intrinsic motivation of salaried employees tends to be higher than those hired on hourly basis, thus transforming them from being just objects to being part of the system. For this reason, they will become self-motivated to work towards the course of the organization and in so doing, the level of determination among the employees will increase significantly, thus improving the quality of services rendered. Conversely, the rewards that come with salary contracts are more since workers are considered in the reward system of the organization in terms of medical schemes and retirement benefits. These are the very vital elements that further motivate the workers because they know beforehand the enterprise cares for their well-being and, hence they will too go an extra mile to provide the best services to ensure the objectives of the business are achieved (Armstrong, 2007). Adding responsibilities to the workers is yet another technique of redesigning the nursing job. Extra responsibilities to the employees reminds them they are critical o he performance of the organization and thus they need to be in control of their job. They are their bosses who should make sure everything under their jurisdiction is in line with the organization’s expectations (Hiam, 2009). It will be a motivating force since they will always be determined to ensure their scope of work is done to the satisfaction of the clients. They will, thus need to create an interpersonal relationship with the patients to serve them best and help them recover more quickly. It is from this perspective that the holistic nature of nursing services will be demonstrated as the nurses will be more willing to provide more than the scope of their duties, to ensure the patients receive the best services (Hiam, 2009). In addition, a reliable communication channel should be established between the supervisors and the junior nurses to create an environment that enhances teamwork (Hodgetts and Hegar, 2008). Nursing is a job that is done out of passion and personal sacrifice thus supervision serves to eradicate the holistic nature that the discipline is supposed to be. Therefore, the position should be designed in a manner that ensures coordination with supervisors to create a teamwork mentality that will motivate members in pursuing their individual goals. That notwithstanding, the management should establish a program to recognize the efforts of nurses who have shown exceptional performance through rewards or incentives to motivate their efforts to achieve more. Furthermore, the institution should aid nurses in that position to advance their knowledge in that field through vocational training to ensure the level of services offered improves at the same time enhancing the careers of the employees (Knights, Willmott and Collinson, 2005). Position’s Major Components, Tasks, and Responsibility Values Nursing is a care based discipline in which the well-being of the clients depends on the kind of services that the practitioners offer. Therefore, a number of values are designed to ensure commitment of workers to their service, especially in this job position. The fundamental values of this job have been elaborated and include the following. Loyalty Nurses have a moral obligation to abide and bear their faith to the nursing code of conduct and professional ethos. It is the duty of each worker under this discipline to pledge his/her allegiance to the work ethics to ensure the lives of clients are safeguarded from rogue practice. Their service should be guided by the nursing practitioners’ principles together with individual nursing philosophies in order to offer holistic care services to the clients, which are value based and humane in nature (Armstrong, 2007). Duty Nurses working in this position have the obligation to fulfill their duties as outlined in the job description. However, that does not mean that the workers in that job position are only limited to the duties prescribed in the report. Nursing is a value based service that is humanly and thus professional ethics dictates that in the event where a nurse can be able to provide value added services he/she ought to perform them as long as they are aimed at improving the condition of the client (Hodgetts and Hegar, 2008). Respect In any working environment, respect for one another is the principle element that ensures a perfect working relationship among the parties involved. The health sector does not grade nurses to determine who is better than the other. Once a nurse has successfully completed the relevant training program he/she is thus qualified to practice. Thus despite the rank in the organizational structure that one holds respect for one another is a fundamental element that will ensure service delivery is enhanced to improve productivity (Knights, Willmott and Collinson, 2005). Selfless service The process of offering care to patients so involves thus the person who takes up the role must be willing to sacrifice his/her time and resources to deliver the best possible care to ensure a conducive environment is provided that will initiate healing process in the patients. It is a value that is inclined in nursing in general as a discipline since with selfish deeds the nursing profession will not achieve its core mandate (Bolweg, 2006). Integrity The position requires the incumbent to do what is morally correct based on the professional ethics on which nursing practice is founded as well as personal judgment of what is right. Conversely, the –actions of the employee while discharging duty should be consistent with legal regulations that govern nursing practice given the fact that their service involves lives of people that ought to be safeguarded. Tasks and Responsibilities The job will be redesigned by adding extra responsibilities to the workers to enhance their commitment and motivating towards organizational goals. The workers will be tasked to offer care services to a variety of patients who will be visiting the facility. The clients will have varied problems thus they will require specialized care to meet their individual needs. It is thus the duty of the employees to provide all round care to ensure the conditions of the clients stabilizes (Hodgetts and Hegar, 2008). As they will be attending various clients, the workers are supposed to be observing them and recording the behavior of patients and how they are progressing over time. Since the facility specializes in offering long term care, record keeping is thus a crucial exercise to monitor how clients are faring on to determine the kind of medical intervention that will be administered to them. Managing patients is not a personalized job to any particular employee. It requires extensive consultation since each patient comes with a different problem that needs to be attended differently. Employees have the duty to consult with physicians and other health consultants in the facility to ensure all the operations that they perform are inconsistent and in accordance with nursing practices (Bolweg, 2006). To ensure more accountability, the workers in this position will be responsible for supervising practical nurses and nurse assistants who will be aiding them in their operations. Supervision involves guiding them on how to provide services by offering practical instruction for patient care services while evaluating their progress in practice. The assistants are supposed to work with their education thus any mistake committed by those assistants will be attributed to the senior nurses as they responsible for their actions. That notwithstanding they will also be responsible for offering treatment and other medication to the client with instruction from health consultants in the facility (Knights, Willmott and Collinson, 2005). Recommendations The organization should restructure the contract of hourly workers by incorporating them as salary employees to enhance their commitment to the firm’s objectives. Otherwise, it should implement a premium hourly rate for employees working odd hours to improve service delivery. Nursing is not a job that is uniformly conducted given the fact that various clients have varied medical needs that require different levels of attention. It is prudent to base the reward system on the different roles that the workers have performed to motivate them to work in adverse conditions. For instance a nurse who works in the emergency department is likely to get into contact with victims of trauma who require significant level medical care to stabilize their condition unlike those that work in the department for the elderly who require primary care. Recognizing role distinction in the reward system will serve to encourage workers offering services in specialized offices to be determined by their job since they will be paid handsomely (Hodgetts and Hegar, 2008). In order to provide holistic services, some workers have engaged in research to come up with techniques of dealing with issues that seem to be problematic in nursing practice. They are determined in enhancing nursing discipline through the formulation of better methods of addressing problems in the control. The organization needs to recognize such efforts to encourage and motivate the spirit of research that is aimed at enhancing service delivery in nursing (Bolweg, 2006). The organization should structure its operations in a manner whereby the workers own their schedule and their careers, in general. The way in which duties are assigned should be left to employees solely to decide which shift they are comfortable with to enhance productivity. It will ensure each worker is allocated to a duty where he/she is comfortable, and thus they will be expected to be productive in their work since their work duties best fit them. It will be an added responsibility as they will not blame anyone for any shortfall that may occur in their operations, thus they will always be determined to provide the best results. To adequately evaluate this initiative, it will be prudent for a cost-benefit analysis to be conducted to weigh whether which among the cost of implementation and benefit from the initiative surpass the other. This will ensure informed decisions are made concerning the initiative and whether it is fit to be rolled out or not. That notwithstanding, since it is an action that is primarily designed to provide service to humanity, the profit aspect will have to be foregone as the whole idea was not business oriented but rather to alleviate the ill-health complication and improve the health care standards of the society (Wegman and National Research Council, 2004). Ultimately, nurses should be incorporated in policy formulation and decision-making so that they can air their views on matters affecting them. Inclusivity will ensure their full participation towards achieving the organization’s objectives. Furthermore, the organization should demonstrate professional development support for its workers through funding research programs and other advanced training that employees may opt to pursue to enhance their skills in the field to bet problems in nursing better. It will also be a method of synchronizing the organization’s personnel with changes in the nursing environment thus ensuring they are up to date with new unfolding in the discipline (Wilson, 2003). References Armstrong, M. (2007). A handbook of employee reward management and practice. Philadelphia: Kogan Page. Bolweg, J. F. (2006). Job design and industrial democracy: The case of Norway. Leiden: Nijhoff Social Sciences Division. Hiam, A. (2009). Streetwise Motivating and rewarding employees: New and better ways to inspire your people. Holbrook, Ma: Adams Media Corporation. Hodgetts, R. M., & Hegar, K. W. (2008). Modern human relations at work. Mason, OH: Thomson/Southwestern. Knights, D., Willmott, H., & Collinson, D. (2005). Job redesign: Critical perspectives on the labour process. Aldershot, Hants, England: Gower. Lauby, S. J. (2005). Motivating employees. Alexandria, Va: ASTD Press. Wegman, D. H., McGee, J., & National Research Council (É.-U.). (2004). Health and safety needs of older workers. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press. Wilson, T. B. (2003). Innovative reward systems for the changing workplace. New York: McGraw-Hill. Read More