Policies for Workforce Motivation and Productivity - Essay Example

Human Resource Management POLICIES FOR WORKFORCE MOTIVATION AND PRODUCTIVITY Introduction Human resource (HR) policies help to define the approaches that are adopted in the organization both in developing employment practices and in implementing them; and constitute specific guidelines for managers, facilitating “empowerment, devolution and delegation” (Armstrong, 2006: 147). Human resource or employment policies help to establish corporate values, shape corporate culture and provide frameworks to promote consistent and equitable decisions on the management of employees. One of the important goals of human resource management in an organization is to promote employees’ motivation towards achieving increasing productivity. Employee motivation is inducement or incentive which may be self-generated or influenced by external forces, that fuels satisfaction and inherent urge towards improvement in performance. Productivity is defined as “the efficient as well as the effective use of resources to achieve outcomes” (Berman et al, 2005: 309). Productivity depends on the quality of human resources, and their levels of performance. In contemporary organizations, there is increasing emphasis on implementing high performance work practices, taking into consideration all aspects of organizational operations. The purpose of this paper is to examine employee motivation and its impact on organizational productivity; suggest HRM policies, based on relevant theories, that can be introduced in a company with a problem of low workforce motivation and poor workforce productivity, for improving both motivation and productivity. Discussion Employee Motivation and Productivity To underscore the importance of human resources management in motivation and subsequent productivity, theories have been formulated on the content and process motivational models by various theorists such as “Abraham Maslow, Frederick Herzberg, Douglas McGregor, Victor Vroom, Lyman Porter, and Edward Lawler” (Petrick & Furr, 1995: 10). Earlier, the “content” theories attempted to explain motivation at work in terms of the events, goals, needs and motivators, and “process” theories were concerned with behaviour at work resulting from employees’ choices; and how different kinds of events, conditions or outcomes motivate behaviour. Thus, the work of the theorists Maslow, Herzberg and others underlined managerial concern for employee satisfaction towards motivation and improvement in performance and productivity (Lashley, 2001: 192). Improving Workplace Motivation According to the needs-based theory of the process of motivation, it is initiated by the conscious or unconscious recognition of unsatisfied needs. These needs create wants which are the desire to achieve or obtain something. Subsequently, goals are established and a behaviour pathway is selected to satisfy these needs and wants. The influence of expectations also needs to be taken into account (Armstrong, 2006: 253). The HRM policy of encouraging intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in employees Intrinsic Motivation: This policy is implemented by providing opportunities for developing skills and abilities, ensuring that the work is challenging and interesting and promoting opportunities for progress. This is based on the fact that people can motivate themselves by seeking, finding, and carrying out work that satisfies their needs, or at least leads them to expect that their goals will be achieved. This is composed of self-generated factors that influence people to behave in a particular way or to work towards a particular goal. These factors include responsibility, which is feeling that the work is important and having control over one’s own resources; autonomy or the freedom to act; scope to use and develop skills and abilities; and interesting and challenging work and opportunities for advancement (Armstrong, 2006: 253). Extrinsic Motivation: people can be motivated by the management through methods such as rewards that incude increased pay, promotion, commendation, etc. “and punishments such as disciplinary action, withholding pay, or crticism” (Armstrong, 2006: 254). Extrinsic motivation encompasses all the actions taken by the management to motivate people. Extrinsic motivators can have an immediate, short-term and powerful effect. The intrinsic motivators which are concerned with the quality of working life are inherent in employees and not imposed from outside, have the potential for a deeper and longer term effect. The above policy is based on Douglas McGregor’s model of managerial leadership assumptions known as Theory X and Theory Y. According to Theory X, employees dislike work, will avoid responsibility whenever possible, and need to be persuaded to perform. On the other hand, Theory Y believes that employees “do not dislike work, can become committed to meet organizational objectives, without coercive pressures, and will learn not only to accept but also to seek responsibility” (Petrick & Furr, 1995: 11). In alignment with Theory X, HR professionals need to focus on incentives and penalties, together with close supervision and inspection to ensure productivity. In accordance with Theory Y, HRM should implement system improvements that require participation, delegation of responsibility, and appropriate resources for competent people to be productive. The HRM Policy of Management Involvement With Employees It is important for organizations to continuously improve their products and services, and increase the efficiency and scale of production in order to prosper in the twenty first century. The various factors that play a part in the demand for greater productivity are: “rapid change, rising expectations, tides of reform, effective training, new missions, and pressure to do more with less” (Berman et al, 2005: 309). Both efficiency and effectiveness in the use of resources are key to organizational progress. Efficiency allows companies to use less resources for greater productivity, and effectiveness is important for achieving improved service delivery. Management involvement is considered to be crucial for impacting employee attitude towards work and productivity. Initiatives to step up productivity invariably require managers to deal with inherent tensions. Resolution of tension require creative strategies on the part of human resource management. HRM can foster open organizations, performance improvement strategies and increase in employee motivation and workplace quality of life (Berman et al, 2005: 310). The above policy of management involvement with employees for promoting increased productivity by using various strategies, is based on the theory of Hawthorne Effect. This theory states that productivity is a direct result of management involvement with workers, and their motivation is a key factor in productivity (Petrick & Furr, 1995: 10). The HRM Policy of Empowerment This is the process of increasing employees’ responsibilities while holding them accountable for outcomes. The purpose of empowerment is to get employees to take responsibility for producing results rather than merely “following rules and regulations without producing tangible results” (Berman et al, 2005: 316). It includes various factors such as re-engineering and re-designing existing delivery processes to make them less error prone, more efficient, effective, and timely. Re-organization of the company’s operations to eliminate wastage of resources and personnel; and replacement of earlier methods of working with information technology are also reforms that empower the workforce. Replacement of old tasks with high technology equipment or new approaches would require staff training for new responsibilities. Any anxiety on the part of workers should be addressed by human resources personnel to help employees increase their skill sets, and when any jobs become obsolete the employees should be helped to find comparable jobs within the organization. Human resources management has to ensure that managers and employees are trained in empowerment processes in which what actually matters are “consequences” and “outcomes” rather than orders, or hierarchical command implementation systems. New standards of accountability on the part of the workforce are agreed upon with the employees’ union, by the HRM. Accountability will impact training, performance evaluation and pay, and HRM must give the detailed criteria by which employees will be held accountable. Employees’ compliance is necessary regarding proposed action, its consistence with the department’s mission, whether the plan is ethical and legal, is in the interest of all concerned in the organization, and is a reform for which they are willing to be held accountable. Employees may refuse empowerment if they fear arbitrary evaluation and performance appraisal standards (Berman et al, 2005: 316). The main objective in HRM’s initiatives of empowerment is to ensure that the needs of the employees should be in alignment with the needs of the organization, so that their motivation will result in beneficial outcomes. For this, the challenge of managing contending forces has to be successfully dealt with by the HRM (Berman et al, 2005: 320). The HRM policy of empowerment is based on Frederick Herzberg’s motivation-maintenance model that separated motivational factors such as the “work itself, achievement, possibility for growth, responsibility, advancement and recognition” from maintenance or hygiene factors such as “status, job security, interpersonal relations, salary and working conditions” (Petrick & Furr, 1995: 10). According to Herzberg, only the former positively motivated behaviour, while the latter could be demotivators if absent, but could never act as motivators. Herzberg applied his model to work situations, and promoted job enrichment by increasing the areas of responsibility of workers in order to increase motivation, rather than resort to pay increases. This is in alignment with empowerment of the workforce by HRM, supporting employee involvement and work redesign programmes. The HRM Policy of Commitment A research study conducted by Arthur (1994: 670), found that the human resource system of “commitment” when studied against a control system, was useful in testing specific combinations of policies and practices in predicting differences in performance and turnover across a business organization. The units with commitment systems had higher productivity, lower wastage levels, and lower employee turnover than those with control systems. In addition, the relationship between turnover and manufacturing productivity was moderated by the human resource system of commitment. This indicates the importance of fostering commitment among employees in an organization, by fulfilling first their basic needs, and further more complex needs, in the hierarchy. This policy of inducing commitment is based on the theory of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs fulfillment. Maslow stated that five innate, genetically determined needs existed in an ascending hierarchy: physiological, safety, belonging, esteem and self-actualization. Employee behaviour and motivation to perform work activities of a high standard, is based on whether the five fundamental needs of the individual have been fulfilled. This means that higher order needs such as esteem and self-actualization will influence motivation only if the lower order needs such as physiological, safety and belonging were satisfied to a large extent. For HRM, this would mean that additional empowerment or pressure for commitment would not motivate a hungry employee, since the employee would be motivated to fulfill the basic need first (Marchington & Wilkinson, 2005: 323). Conclusion This paper has highlighted employee motivation and its impact on organizational productivity; suggested various HRM policies, based on relevant theories, that can be introduced in a company with a problem of low workforce motivation and poor workforce productivity. The implementation of the policies will help to promote motivation and subsequent productivity. Today there is a shift towards human resource management strategies based on high performance work practices, which is wider in scope, and includes not only motivation of employees for improving productivity, but also an in-depth implementation of managerial practices in all aspects of the organization for total quality outcomes. It is important to align HRM policies for improving employee motivation with the organization’s goals such as turnover, productivity and corporate financial performance (Huselid, 1995: 635). Focus on high performance work practices, extends beyond the sphere of employee motivation to areas such as recruitment and selection, training, rewards, and other personnel management practices which are important for improving organizational performance. Employers who use high performance work practices gain a competitive advantage over the organization’s competitors, because they take into account the competencies and capabilities of human resources based on a multidimensional view on performance (Lashley, 2001: 192). Thus, it is recommended that future research should be based on high performance work practice, to generate further evidence for the implementation of human resource management best practice. References Armstrong, M. 2006. A handbook of human resource management practice. United Kingdom: Kogan Page Publications. Arthur, J.B. 1994. Effects of human resource systems on manufacturing performance and turnover. The Academy of Management Journal, 37 (3): 670-687. Berman, E.M., Bowman, J.S., West, J.P. & Van Wart, M. 2005. Human resource management in public service: paradoxes, processes and problems. The United Kingdom: Sage Publications. Huselid, M.A. 1995. The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal, 38 (3): 635-672. Lashley, C. 2001. Empowerment: HR strategies for service excellence. Great Britain: Butterworth-Heinemann. Marchington, M. & Wilkinson, A. 2005. Human resource management at work: people management and development. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Publications. Petrick, J.A. & Furr, D.S. 1995. Total quality in managing human resources. Florida: CRC Press. Read More