Job Redesign and Workplace Rewards Assessment - Essay Example

Job Redesign and Work Place Rewards Assessment Introduction Employee motivation and productivity have always been a major issue formanagers and leaders in any organisation. If the employees are unmotivated, they are likely to spend little or no time making themselves productive in the work place. However, if employees are motivated, they tend to be persistent, creative and productive resulting to high quality work that they willingly attend to. A lot of research has been carried out to find out what activities employees or the management may undertake to keep people motivated and highly satisfied with their work (Gatchel & Schultz, 2012).Hospitals, including long term care facilities have continuously searched for ways to improve the quality of care not just for the patients but the employees as well. This in turn will harness their great productivity and new ideas, always keeping them motivated. As such the employers or the top management should strive to know their employees well and also use all the possible tactics to keep them motivated based on their personal needs and wants. Motivation is a feeling or emotion that drives people to action. Current state of the work place environment as a long term care hospital nurse As a long term care nurse, one is expected to tend to the physical and the emotional needs of the chronically ill patients, the elderly or those recovering from critical injuries and extensive surgeries. The nurse assists such patients to develop their independence and reduce the impact of their injuries. This kind of work is taxing both physically and emotionally. This is the kind of work that requires the nurses to be always motivated as the opposite can easily lead to people quitting their jobs or consider getting in to other areas of work within the nursing environment (Brown, 1992). Many hospitals have failed to recognize this fact and this has been a major cause of nurses abandoning the practice. Motivation varies as a function of different factors in the work place. These factors include evaluation expectation, feedback on performance, autonomy, reward and the overall nature of the work itself. Motivation towards work can be divided in to two categories, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation derives from the intrinsic value of the work for the individual while extrinsic motivation is from the desire to obtain some outcomes separate from the work itself. Working in a long term care hospital as a nurse requires that you follow laid down rules and regulations that at times lead to low motivation (Brown, 1992). There are procedures that need to be followed every day. Some hospitals also do not allow care givers to get very personal with the patients. By doing so, the nurse or the care giver is not able to relate well with the patient and therefore may forego some important factors that need to be addressed due to laid down rules and procedures. As such, nurses working in such facilities and environment should be granted autonomy and should be left to self manage in order to cultivate a sense of intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation to keep performance and levels of productivity high is only experienced when employees enjoy high autonomy, when receive feedback about their performance and when they have an important and identifiable piece of work to perform that requires skills (Armstrong, 2002). This automatically will make employees experience happiness which in turn develops intrinsic motivation. Nurses should be allowed to be self managers as this will give them a sense of heightened importance. This is because they feel that they are trusted by the organisation and given the full responsibility to make crucial decisions regarding their area of work. Once they feel that they need to fulfil bigger responsibilities, without constant supervision and commands, they will improve their performance and work towards improving the conditions of the patients as well as the conditions of the hospital (Brown, 1992). More responsibilities and self management will lead to intrinsic motivation which leads to better performance. Currently, most nurses in long term care facilities do not enjoy the privilege of sense of choice since there are strict laid down procedures and rules that they are expected to adhere to. Company-wide rewards Behavioural theorists and psychologists have conducted research on worker motivation. An example of this research is the motivation hygiene theory of worker satisfaction and dissatisfaction conducted in the 1950’s by Frederick Herzberg. Herzberg found out that several factors including salary, fringe benefits as well as the conditions at the work place can prevent dissatisfaction but may fail to motivate workers. He further says that motivators such as recognition, achievement, increased responsibility and advancement heighten satisfaction from work and motivate people to perform better. Herzberg’s theory of motivation hygiene was guided by Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy on need, which analyses what human beings desire most in their lives (Gatchel & Schultz, 2012). Motivation hygiene theory has in recent years been very influential and it divides motivational factors in to two categories. These two categories are motivator factors which touch on the work itself and hygiene factors which are influenced by the surrounding environment. Motivator factors can be responsible work, independence when performing duties and the satisfaction that stems from completing challenging tasks. Hygiene factors on the other hand include such things as pay, security and the general working conditions. Hygiene factors if not sufficient act as de-motivators. Employees are most satisfied and most productive when their work has enough motivator factors. Job enrichment leads to interesting work place environment. These motivators are of paramount importance not just in the nursing field but in any organisation that values retention and satisfaction of the employees (Burns et al, 2012). Employee reward and recognition programs are activities that an organisation adopts to motivate the employees to change work habits and key behaviours for a better overall performance of the company. These include: Reward and recognition As much as these two can be used interchangeably, reward and recognition should be considered separately. Reward systems are programs set up by a company to reward performance and motivate employees at individual and group level. These are separate from the salary but could be monetary in nature or have a cost to the company. Employee recognition programs are often put together with reward programs but retain a different purpose altogether (Armstrong, 2002). Recognition programs are not monetary in nature and include such activities as praising a person, or the employee of the month label but does not necessarily has to be of monetary value. This kind of recognition is of paramount importance to the long term care givers since recognizing the hard work they are doing is among the best motivational tactics for this job. When the nurses work effort and ethics are recognized, they are develop a sense of belonging and feel valued, and as such work towards becoming even better at their jobs. This is eventually reflected by the overall better performance of the hospital. Bonuses There are a couple of bonus plans that organisations may use to keep the employees satisfied. This may involve giving employees a certain amount of the company profit regardless of the individual’s performance, or a bonus to the entire team of workers or to the entire company depending on the company’s performance (Burns et al, 2012). Other organisations give individual incentives or teams in order to perform above a certain set target. Some offer bonuses to the people who are recently recruited or those who make referrals for new employees. The types of bonus include: Current profit sharing- this can be defined as the strategy of creating a pool of money meant to be disbursed to the employees by taking a certain percentage of the company’s profits. The amount disbursed to the employees is usually equivalent to a percentage of the employee’s salary which issued at the end of a financial year. The motive behind this reward program is to reward workers for the contributions they have made towards the company’s acquired profit. Criticism levelled against this reward is that since it is rewarded to all works, it may dilute individual contribution. Some employees may also eventually see this program as an entitlement program especially when the connection between an employee’s actions and his or her reward becomes murky (Gatchel & Schultz, 2012). Holiday bonus- this is given to employees when they go for their yearly holidays. This is meant to remind them that they are still a part of the company and that their work is valued. This keeps employees happy and therefore derives motivation in them to perform for the organisation. Non cash bonus- a well laid out non cash bonus program leads to high morale of workers and instils pride in them. Workers who have done a commendable job should receive awards in front of the other workers which maybe in form of a certificate or trophy cleverly designed and appropriate for the occasion. This will motivate other people to do a better job so that they can also be recognized and their work appreciated. This is pivotal to employee motivation as well as retention of the employees. Satisfaction and praise are crucial to all levels of employees in any calibre of organisation including long term care hospitals (Gatchel & Schultz, 2012). Setting up goals and their effectiveness Goals provide an organisation with a blue print determining a course of action that helps prepare for future changes. Goals can be referred to as a future state that an organisation aims to achieve. For every goal set, there should be an objective which is a short term target with identifiable and quantifiable results. These are crucial in forecasting the future. Every organisation should have set goals that are written as part of their strategy. These goals describe the plans the organisation needs to accomplish for its overall success. The goals may also be set for internal measurement such as expanding the staff or boosting the morale of the employees. Organisations should strive to have goals that are specific to the organisation, attainable therefore realistic, measurable, relevant and timely (Lusthaus et al, 2002). Goals are meant to serve four basic purposes in any organisation that include provision of direction and guidance, facilitate planning, inspire and motivate workers and finally assist the organisation to evaluate and control performance. These are the guidelines that every organisation uses when developing their goals. Some of the organisation’s goals include retention of employees, long term motivation of the employees as well as improving the conditions of the hospital to provide more room for more patients as well as better healthcare facilities. Goals are set up to inform the employees where the organisation is headed and how it plans to get there. If the employees are required to make difficult decisions, they only have to refer to the organisations goals for guidance. Goals as well promote planning to determine how they will be achieved. Employees also set goals so as to satisfy a need and as such, goals can be motivational increasing performance. Goal setting in an organisation is determined by an individual’s needs and values. Most goal setting models indicate that individuals posses needs and values that influence their desires. A need is the absence of something useful or desirable. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, all individuals have the same basic needs. Individual values however differ. Values are a group of attitudes about a concept that comprises of moral quality of like or dislike or of what is acceptable and what is not. Employees compare the current environment with the desired conditions to determine if they are satisfied or not. In the event that an employee is dissatisfied with the current condition, goal setting becomes important in achieving what he or she desires (Lusthaus et al, 2002). Most organisations follow a model when setting up goals. First, determining personal values and the desired conditions, then the organisation assesses the current conditions, and then embarks on setting up goals which are participative goals, assigned goals and do your best goals. Then the organisation determines goal attributes such as specificity, difficulty, acceptance and commitment to these goals. Finally the organisation determines behaviour in terms of performance and satisfaction. This is the process that many organisations follow to determine what is best for the employees since they have different values (Burns et al, 2012). Conclusion Goal setting is a very common motivational approach and scholars posit that it is linked to profit and performance. Setting up goals serves as an advantage to any organisation but it is a difficult task to accomplish. The management may at times underestimate the process of setting up goals and may at times be attracted to the benefits without having a clear picture of the limitations (Mericle & Kim, 2004). Consequently, training processes on goal setting are important. Evaluation of goals is also necessary to determine whether the set goals are acceptable and useful in the long run. Job redesign and work place rewards can therefore be identified as among the most important features every organisation should strive to take part in for better productivity of the organisation since employees are happy and satisfied therefore elevating their productivity levels. Both types of motivation, extrinsic and intrinsic have received broad evaluation and studies and their understanding has led to massive changes in how organisations run their activities. Hourly employees may have powerful extrinsic motivators but lack intrinsic motivation which can be viewed as a result of work culture (Mericle & Kim, 2004). As such, changing the work culture is also pivotal to improving motivation in the work place. Motivation occurs when workers perform out of their own will and not because they are being made to do so. It is therefore necessary for employees and the top management to understand how motivation can be best achieved for both the employees’ sake and the company. Reference list Gatchel, R. J., & Schultz, I. Z. (2012). Handbook of occupational health and wellness. New York: Springer. Brown, M. (1992). Nursing management: Issues and ideas. Gaithersburg, Md: Aspen Publishers. Lusthaus, C., Inter-American Development Bank. & International Development Research Centre (Canada). (2002). Organizational assessment: A framework for improving performance. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre. Armstrong, M. (2002). Employee reward. London: Chartered Inst. of Personnel and Development. Mericle, K. S., & Kim, T. (2004). Gain sharing and goal sharing: Aligning pay and strategic goals. Westport, Conn: Praeger. Burns, L. R., Bradley, E. H., Weiner, B. J., Shortell, S. M., & Kaluzny, A. D. (2012). Shortell and Kaluznys health care management: Organization, design, and behaviour. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning. Read More