The factors that show how organization staff can turn off, Failure to recognize and reward performance

1. INTRODUCTION

Workers in any organization need something to keep them working. Most of the time, the salary of the employee is enough to keep him or her working for an organization. An employee must be motivated to work for a company or organization. If no motivation is present in an employee, then that employee’s quality of work or all work in general will deteriorate. People differ on a personality dimension called locus of control.

 This variable refers to individual's beliefs about the location of the factors that control their behavior. At one end of the continuum are high internals who believe that opportunity to control their own behavior rests within themselves. At the other end of the continuum there are high externals who believe that external forces determine their behavior. General motivational strategies include all personality type( Stephen P, Robbins,1984).

Definition of key terms

Motivation, refer to internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in people to be continually interested and committed to a job, role or subject, or to make an effort to attain a goal

Motivation is the word derived from the word ’motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish the goals. In the work goal context the psychological factors stimulating the people’s behavior can be desire for money, success, recognition, job-satisfaction team work (Wwww.en. Wikipedia.org/wiki/motivation)

Motivation is an inner drive to behave or act in a certain manner. These inner conditions such as wishes, desires and goals, activate to move in a particular direction in behavior (www.dictionary.reference.com/motivation).

Organization, is a group of people working together in some type of concentrated or coordinated efforts to achieves objectives( Andrew W. Ghillyer 2009)

TYPES OF MOTIVATION

Generally, motivation is conceptualized as either intrinsic or extrinsic

Intrinsic motivation occurs when people are internally motivated to do something because it either brings them pleasure, they think it is important, or they feel that what they are learning is significant. It has been shown that intrinsic motivation for education

 Extrinsic motivation comes into play when a student is compelled to do something or act a certain way because of factors external to him or her (like money or good grades). extrinsic motivation though money could be used as an indicator of success for various motives (http;//wwww.leadership-central.com/types-of-motivation.html#azzzyGZIIdB).

                                                                                             

Boost employee’s self-confidence in their work skills You can’t be responsible for people’s self-confidence but you CAN boost your employees’ confidence about their work skills. When an employee is reassured that they have the skills required to succeed at a task, the quality and quantity of effort invested into the task increases significantly. You can do this by reminding the employee of a past success, or by giving them ongoing and timely feedback on their accomplishments and strengths.

 Create a positive work environment A positive work environment is founded on trust, open communication, team spirit, recognition, appreciation, and positivity. But physical surroundings also have an impact. To optimize employee performance, the physical environment of the workplace should be clean, bright, attractive and cheerful. It should have as much natural light as possible, and each staff member should be allowed to personalize their workspace with plants, pictures etc.

Create value for work One of the secrets to getting employees to value their work is to give them more responsibility and more autonomy.  Example Google’s 20 per cent rule in which employees are told to take 20 per cent of the work week to pursue their own projects, or the more extrem (Results Only Work Environment) are becoming increasingly popular structural alternatives that can yield incredible results from employees.

This model may not work for every industry but it does challenge traditional methods and leave the future open for new possibilities. We feel more intrinsic motivation when we’re responsible for our actions. By giving an individual or a team permission to plan and self-organize, they develop feelings of mutual obligation with a strong sense of worth in the work they do.

 Match employees’ work with their skills and interests, Another way to intrinsically motivate employees is to match employees with their skills and interests. Getting to know your employees on an individual basis gives you great insight into each person’s strengths, weaknesses and interests. Dispatching tasks to the best possible person for the job becomes a cinch when you know exactly who would do it best. When work is suited to a person, they are likely to excel.

When people feel confident about their skills, they are more inclined to master them. Having a workforce where you enable employees to master new skills helps them add to their expertise, which is a benefit for the company on the whole. 

 Highly value each individual’s role or contribution, no matter how unimportant it may seem to the bigger picture. Knowing how one’s role contributes to the organization’s overall success is a key longer-term motivator and morale builder. As the manager, you should regularly reinforce “role importance” with each employee on your team.

 Accurately match the employee’s skill set with the right job. There is little chance an employee will get motivated for very long, or have the preference to perform at higher levels if they are not placed in the right job. You can utilize hiring and skills assessment tools to make more accurate fit-for-job decisions.

 Consistently reward and affirm employees for performance that fulfills your expectations. Don’t wait until something’s perfect before you mention it. People respond positively to a manager that gives well-deserved praise, expresses appreciation, or gives consistent encouragement – it tells them that their efforts were noticed and appreciated.

Maintain strong communications with people. Poor communications is one of the three most common weaknesses for every organization. Keeping people informed is key to them having a sense of belonging and individual importance and excellent employee communications are key to employee motivation as well as achieving consistent levels of high performance. Failing to keep people adequately informed about the company’s goals, progress or results will produce a general sense of unnecessary alarm, and increase rumors.

Provide sufficient training or resources for high performance to occur. Studies point out that organizations which invest disproportionately higher in employee training have lower turnover and perform better than the general market. Almost any organization today, no matter its size, can afford online training options, mentoring and individualized coaching

The following are the factors that show how organization staff can turn off,  Failure to recognize and reward performance: 

When employees never get any rewards or recognition for their work, they quickly start to feel that no one cares. And if no one cares, why should they bother putting in the extra effort. Managers are often quick to dole out the criticism or correction when needed, but slow to dish out the praise. It’s important for the company to have formal and informal programs that allow managers to recognize and reward great performance. And it’s vital for managers to make it a practice to regularly acknowledge and thank employees for their hard work and efforts. We know that regular and appropriate recognition lead to higher employee motivation and engagement.

Failure to deal with performance problems: Because it can be hard or unpleasant to deal with performance problems, managers an organization often tend to turn a blind eye to the problems. But failing to address performance issues and work with the employees in question improve their performance is huge motivation killer for all your other employees. The message that they take away is that it’s ok to be a sub-par worker. And they often resent the extra work or burden this causes them as they try to cover for the poor performer or deal with the consequences of their low performance. It’s important to deal with performance problems as they arise. Provide low performers with feedback, coaching and development to help bring their performance back up to standard. And if that fails, take measures to move them out of their role. If you don’t, your staff performers will lose motivation, start to turn off, or worse yet, leave your department or organization for greener pastures.

Unfair treatment: When employees perceive corporate policies or individual treatment as unfair or two-faced, not only that they will less incline to perform tasks optimally, they distance themselves from the organization. In the worst cases, they reject it and leave it altogether. Trust is difficult to gain and easy to lose. It’s important for the company to have clear, fair and transparent policies that are communicated in a way that make people feel safe to bring up concerns if they don’t agree with a particular regulation. Also, fairness and honesty should be virtues to live by in the treatment of all employees. Fairness entails equal respect and opportunity for all. .

Inconsistent goal Without clear task descriptions, performance goals and feedback, it’s very difficult for people to feel committed to their work. Living with the uncertainty that goals could change at any moment, they’re not inclined to give their best effort. Setting short and long-term goals can help prevent this. Everyone should know exactly what they’re expected to do this week, this month, and to some degree, this year. Employees are more likely to feel their work has value and meaning when they can align their objectives with the company’s overall business goals.

Unnecessary policies and arbitrary barriers, company policies and administration can be the highest cause for job dissatisfaction. Again, the company needs to have clear, fair and transparent policies. These policies should be implemented because they are necessary and beneficial. This may entail having to revise policies and eliminate all unnecessary, arbitrary rules. Essentially, policies and procedures should be instilled to simplify organizational work processes, not make them more complicated and time consuming.

Fostering a competitive work climate: A little healthy competition can be a great way to get employees motivated. However, when individuals or teams start turning against each other, the sum is no longer greater than its parts. People may have different tasks, but those tasks should be working to achieve one ultimate goal. Team-building definitely increases collaboration and cooperation between team members, but it has to do the same for the teams that make up the organization as a whole. Perhaps, instead of fostering competition, you should consider other motivational techniques that could achieve similar results with less risk.

Conclusion, Unmotivated staffs, who are suffering from low morale, can have a huge negative effect in the organization. The lack of motivation breeds a lack of productivity. On the other hand, well-motivated employees are efficient and much more productive, and there is a great sense of team spirit and solidarity. It is for this reason that all businesses should make the boosting of staff morale a high priority on their list of business objectives.

REFFERENCES

Andrew W. Ghillyer (2009) Management; A real world approach McGraw  Hill Co LTD

Stephen P, Robbins(1984), Essentials of organizational behavior.

Wwww.en. Wikipedia.org/wiki/motivation

www.dictionary.reference.com/motivation

http;//wwww.leadership-central.com/types-of-motivation.html#azzzyGZIIdB

Written by 

NJAU STEPHANO

PAULO PETER

ALLY   KARAFUU

MARIAM  SAID

Posted by AUSI CHIWAMBO (TEOFILO KISANJI UNIVERSITY)