Comparing Strategies: Performance Management in Action - Essay Example

?Task 2: Essay Employee motivation is an ‘organizational behavioural dimension’ that is well researched and analysed world over. Most companies recognize the need to step up the motivation levels of their employees, in order to derive the best out of their workforce. The methodology adopted may vary from company to company but the aim of the exercise is the same, i.e., to improve satisfaction levels and work performance. While developing a successful improvement process, one must consider that every company has a unique combination of resources which should be taken into account (Boldea and Dragoi, 2011). From the viewpoint of the employee, personal and social aspects of life are governed by their work identity, identity work and strategies for identity work (Adams and Crafford, 2012). Importantly, studies have shown that ‘psychological empowerment’, consisting of competence, meaning, impact and self-determination, predicts employee engagement in a statistically significant way (Stander, Rothmann, 2010). In this essay, we will focus on the approaches used by Ginsters and Nampak to enhance employee motivation, performance and engagement amongst their respective workforces. Ginsters, until 2004, ranked very low on the employer standings and struggled to maintain a balanced workforce of skilled workers from diverse backgrounds. The staff morale was poor and there was a feeling of mistrust amongst the various departments within the organization. Naturally, satisfaction levels dipped and so did the fitness levels of the Ginsters employees! . The managing director of Ginsters, Mark Duddridge, realised that something had to be done to engage its employees in a more active lifestyle and therefore, committed to the investment in an ‘Active Workplace’ scheme for the benefit of Ginsters’ employees. The case of Nampak was quite similar in the early phase of the new millennium, with very low employee morale and a highly non-cooperative, imbalanced work environment. In an employee satisfaction survey, a whopping 80 percent of Nampak employees mentioned that they would never recommend Nampak as a place to work. Apart from this, there were approximately 25 customer complaints per site, every month! Having executed various cost-cutting measures between 2001 and 2007, the then Operations Director, Eric Collins, realized the need to make a dramatic shift from the traditional mindset of “investing in machines and processes; not in people”. He understood that the company had to urgently change its corporate culture and add value through its people (Smedley, 2011). This prompted the introduction of a new management program at Nampak! The approach of Ginsters was to utilize the concept of ‘health’ and ‘leisure activities’ as a creative means to enhance the social, cultural, environmental and economic quality of life of its employees (as individuals) and their families / communities. Ginsters’ ‘Active Workplace Scheme’ involved a whole range of sporting activities open to the workforce, including golf, kayaking, canoeing, surfing, skating, skiing, archery and deep sea fishing (Hudson K., 2010). This scheme was an extension to the company’s Training Academy, which developed employees’ language skills, learning skills and interests. Ginsters adopted a rather gentle, non-threatening and non-competitive approach to encourage its employees to participate in these activities. In order to encourage employee participation further, Ginsters funded the entire sessions for its employees in the first year. In fact, Ginsters continues to fund 50 percent of the programme even today and findings show that employee participation has not diminished in any way. Initially it was the employees who participated in the scheme; now employees even bring along their families for day trips! The company further stressed on their care for the health of its employees by offering free fruit in the canteen as well as diet and exercise plans for all. In addition, weekly activities were introduced such as badminton, spinning, kettle-bells and football. In this way, ‘Leisure activities’ for employees was an effective strategy at Ginsters. Nampak, on the other hand, developed a new performance management system, including training programmes that were designed to improve managerial skills and employee communication. Nampak also successfully introduced a ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Programme’ for the benefit of the community. Until 2007, Nampak did not have ‘people management’ procedures in place. Cathie Wright-Smith joined the organisation as the Head of Human Resources and took up the challenge of setting up an ‘engaged culture’ at Nampak. She observed that the managers were rather cynical and status-conscious and did not allow their sub-ordinates to independently take decisions at their own levels. The first major initiative taken up by Collins was an approach to gather feedback from the customers, to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation. Next, he introduced a session called “Challenge Collins” where he would listen to employees’ grievances, face-to-face. That is when he understood the tremendous dissatisfaction and frustration of the employees at Nampak! The approach that Cathie Wright-Smith employed was to do away with the word “engagement” and instead, focus on obtaining inputs on ‘how to make Nampak a better place to work’ from the people at each level of the organisation. Through this exercise, three major areas of improvement surfaced, namely, communication, training and development and performance feedback. The employees wanted personal development to be enhanced through the implementation of a ‘performance management system’. Managers were the first to be trained and emphasis was laid on the quality of conversation with their reports. This was modelled on the concept that “senior management is the perception of the general direction of the organisation and the people in charge” (Viorel, Aurel, Cristian and Stefania, 2009). This training served to acknowledge the respectability and responsibility associated with their positions as managers. In turn, the managers began to influence and motivate their teams, using the new skills gathered during the training. This created a demand for training and a sense of importance associated with it. In this manner, employee engagement grew, motivation amongst employees increased, which led to better performance. Nampak’s motivational strategy was to effectively develop the skills of its people. Ginsters’ strategy focused on team activities such as the setting up of football matches, which helped immensely in unifying the workforce. It expelled language barriers and deeply enhanced employee relations and co-operation. In contrast, Nampak focused more on individual growth and development, than group or team – activities. Nampak’s noteworthy achievements were that half the workforce was trained to NVQ Level 2 in a variety of subjects, with modern assessment centres and many lucrative schemes were introduced such as a senior leadership programme, fast – track programme, undergraduate and graduate schemes, leadership conferences, excellence awards, etc. (Smedley, 2011). Spurred by the remarkable success of the Active Workplace scheme, Ginsters expanded this project to non-sporty activities such as mentoring its employees on relatively difficult topics, i.e., drinks, drugs and domestic violence and abuse. Even today, employees feel a sense of trust, safety and reassurance, to share their experiences with the Citizen’s Advice Bureau during work time. Ginsters went on to win the Local Government Award and the Municipal Journal Award for its unique employee - beneficial scheme. Ginsters’ unique scheme has become so popular since it is purely in the interest of employee health and welfare. Also, it can easily be implemented in almost any organization. This approach has significantly cut down on recruitment advertising costs at Ginsters and the employee retention rate has gone up significantly. The confidence level and morale of the staff have been boosted immensely and their performance has been enhanced to a great extent. Ginsters, as the company who introduced this marvellous scheme, has benefitted in its own right by winning many more contracts from satisfied customers. The greatest victory for Ginsters lies in the fact that the workforce is engaged in work which brings them satisfaction and a sense of pride to work for this organisation. Most importantly, employee communication, sociability and relations have improved leaps and bounds and the workforce represents a united bunch of productive, happy people. Nampak, too, has recently brought about novel schemes such as the CSR programme, which connects each site with local education. This is an interesting and educative initiative wherein students visit Nampak’s factories and in turn, Nampak spreads awareness in schools on the concepts of recycling. This has not only added to the employee’s involvement, but of his / her family as well, who feel so very proud to be associated with this company! As testimony to the success of these measures, the 2010 Employee Satisfaction Survey shows a staggering 80 percent of employees would recommend Nampak as a place to work to family and friends and 90 percent of employees are happy with their jobs! Additionally, Nampak’s Gallup Satisfaction Rating has risen significantly, overhead costs have notably reduced and the employee satisfaction and synergy have grown leaps and bounds! Nampak involved its employees in the change process through sheer commitment of time and focus, under the strong leadership of Collins. This has brought Nampak to an enviable position to re-tender its contracts with its key clients. In my opinion, the approach followed by Nampak is sure to have a long term impact for the company and its employees. I believe activities such as training and development, leadership and educational programmes would be useful to any employee, whether in the present workforce or in the future. Indeed, it is heartening to gather that the turnover rates have plummeted, but it is rather narrow-minded to disregard the possibility of a shift in the workforce over time. Besides, education is a constant process which must be encouraged at every level of the workforce. I believe Ginsters’ approach focused more on the ‘leisure’ aspect of employee motivation, which in my view is subjective (from person to person) and in the long run, may not even be the best-fit model for each person in the organisation. The same cannot be said of ‘training’, ‘communication’ and ‘managerial skills’, as they are highly essential attributes in today’s ever-competitive world! Leadership is a self-propelling virtue that inspires leadership values in others too! The leadership does not concern only the individual but also resides at the individual, dyadic, group and organizational levels (Adriana, 2012). Needless to say, every employee likes to feel useful to his organization and responsible for the work he / she is doing. Performance evaluation measures the contribution that employees make to the goals of the organization (Marin, 2009). Rewards and recognition for outstanding contributions and performance management certainly serve to motivate the workforce tremendously. Motivation and job satisfaction are regarded as key determinants of organisational success, both of which are influenced by aspects of corporate culture (Roosa and Eeden, 2008). Hence, in my opinion, Nampak’s approach is more long – standing and practical for the company and its employees. In conclusion, I would recommend Nampak’s approach for increasing employee motivation, enhancing employee performance and engagement across the workforce. References: Task 2 1. Boldea, M and Dragoi, I (2011) Managing Human Talent. Workforce Diversity vs. Individual Differences. Challenges of the Workforce Motivation and Retention, Studia universitatis vasile goldis arad, seria stiinte economice, Vol. 1 Pg.: 146-152. 2. Adams, B and Crafford, A (2012) Identity at work: Exploring strategies for Identity Work, South African Journal of Industrial Psychology, Vol. 38. 3. Stander, M and Rothmann, S (2010) Psychological empowerment, job insecurity and employee engagement, South African Journal of Industrial Psychology, Vol. 36. 4. Smedley, T (2010) ‘A Lot of Bottle’, People Management, Issue: April 2011 Pg. 38-40. 5. Hudson, K, (2010) ‘Play together, stay together’, Leisure Management, Issue : 1 (2010), Pg. 52 – 54. 6. Viorel, L, Aurel, M, Cristian, M and Stefania, P (2009) Employees Motivation Theories Developed at an International Level, Annals of the University of Oradea : Economic Science, Issue: 1 Pages: 324-328. 7. Adriana, T (2012) How to Improve Employee Motivation and Group Performance Through Leadership Conceptual Model, Annals of the University of Oradea : Economic Science,Vol. 1, Issue: 1, Pg.: 1092-1097. 8. Martin, I (2009) About Performance and Evaluation of Employee Performance, Economia : Seria Management, Vol. 12, Issue: 2, Pg. 260-272. 9. Roos, W and Eeden, R (2008) The Relationship Between Employee Motivation, Job Satisfaction and Corporate Culture, South African Journal of Industrial Psychology, Vol. 34, Issue I, Pg. 54 -63. Task 3: Personal Reflection In today’s highly competitive working world, employers seize every opportunity to scoop out the best talent from the available resource pool. Niche skills and domain knowledge are certainly some of the major criteria for candidate selection in every company. ‘Talent management’ has now become an essential priority for modern organizations and organizational success is deemed to be directly related to the inherent talent pool (Beheshtifar, Nasab and Moghadam, 2012). Apart from technical soundness, there are a range of soft, subtle skills and abilities that attract the modern employer and enable better integration in the workplace. Organizations are keen to acquire those limited resources and use them as best as possible by the application of appropriate strategies (Horvathova, 2009). As part of my personal reflection, I have always been hard working, dedicated, dependable and trustworthy. I possess the technical knowledge and skill set in my field of operation. I am quick to accept responsibility of the task assigned to me and always try to ensure the best quality of work in a timely manner. I believe I possess leadership skills to take the initiative when required. I am a good team player and enjoy exchanging ideas with my peers. I possess a cheerful disposition and a friendly, co-operative personality, which keeps me motivated and often inspires my co-workers. I enjoy training programmes and actively participate in ‘team modules’ which help me hone my ‘team skills’. I am an enthusiastic person with a strong sense of work ethics. I thrive in a diverse work environment and am pretty flexible and adaptable by nature. I am polite, soft spoken and believe I am an effective communicator (written and oral). These are some of my characteristic strengths that I consider vital to my potential employers. I believe my weaknesses lie in the areas of punctuality to work and in problem – solving skills. Though I do make an effort to be punctual, I usually find myself late by a couple of minutes. I would like to develop the skill of timeliness and punctuality. I believe it is an innate quality which cannot really be developed by my employers. Of course, strict rules and regulations as part of the company might deter a slack attitude but true punctuality is a matter of self – discipline. I would like to work on this aspect of myself. With respect to problem – solving skills, I believe I need to develop a sense of ‘critical thinking’ in order to thoroughly understand relationships between pertinent facts and draw appropriate conclusions. In my view, this dimension can definitely be sharpened with the help of my future employer/s through aptitude tests, training programmes, workshops and conferences. I am also confident that I will develop these skills as my work experience increases. I also feel I would need to further develop my ability to ‘multi-task’. In the fast - paced modern working environment, this is a vital and much-required skill. With operations getting more and more complex and with a constant emphasis on early delivery to the customer, I believe it is a niche skill that would help me stand out amongst my peers. Lastly, I would be eager to develop a never-say-die attitude and to be receptive to constructive criticism and advice from my managers. With more companies resorting to the decentralization of decision making and broader employee participation, it becomes imperative to adopt the right spirit (Carter, 2009) It is my conviction that my future employers would tap my skills, encourage their development and prod me on to become a ‘more complete’, multi-faceted and skilled employee!! References: Task 3 1. Beheshtifar, M, Nasa, H and Moghadam, M (2012) Effective Talent Management: A Vital Strategy to Organizational Success, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Vol. 2, Pg. 227 – 234. 2. Horvathova, P (2009) The Talent Management and its Usage at Human Resources Management in Enterprises, Perspectives of Innovations, Economics and Business, Vol. 3, Pg. 76 – 79. 3. Carter, J.D.T. (2009) Managers Empowering Employees, American Journal of Economics and Business Administration, Vol. 2, Pg.41-46. Read More