Personal skills
Task 1
Interpersonal Relationships
This is a strong, deep, or close association/acquaintance between two or more people that may range in duration from brief to enduring. Social psychologist research such things as romance, attraction, family relationships and nonverbal communication.
i) Transactional Analysis – is an integrative methodology to the hypothesis of brain research and psychotherapy. It is depicted as integrative on the grounds that it has components of psychoanalytic, humanist and cognitive methodologies.
The following are the major key changes or points when transactiona analysis is involved;
‘ The human mind acts from multiple points of view like a camcorder, vividly recording occasions. While that occasion may not so much have the capacity to be intentionally recovered by the holder, the occasion dependably exists in the cerebrum.
‘ Both the occasion and the emotions encountered throughout that occasion are put away in the mind. The occasion and the sentiments are bolted together, and not, one or the other one could be reviewed without the other.
‘ At the point when a distinct replays his or her encounters, he or she can replay them in such a vivid structure, to the point that the distinctive encounters again the same feelings he or she felt throughout the genuine experience.
‘ Individuals are able to exist in two states simultaneously. Individuals replaying certain events are able to experience the emotions associated with those events, but they are also able to objectively talk about the events at the same time.
ii) Analysis of different ego states
Parent ego – guardian speaks to a huge accumulation of recordings in the mind of outside occasions encountered or observed in give or take the initial five years of life. Since most of the outside occasions encountered by a tyke are activities of the guardian, the sense of self state was fittingly called Parent.
Examples of what parents normally say are;
‘ ‘always chew with your mouth closed.’
‘ ‘ do not talk to strangers..’
‘ ‘..when crossing the street look both sides of the road..’
It is worth noting that, while recording these occasions, the junior kid has no real way to channel the information; the occasions are recorded without inquiry and without dissection. One can consider that these occasions are forced on the tyke.
There are other information encountered by the tyke that are not recorded in the Parent. This is recorded in the Adult, which will be portrayed right away.
Child ego – as opposed to the Parent, the Child speaks to the recordings in the mind of inward occasions connected with outer occasions the tyke discerns. Expressed an alternate route, put away in the Child are the feelings or emotions which went with outer occasions. Like the Parent, recordings in the Child happen from labor the distance up to the period of give or take 5 years of age.
Adult ego – This is the start of the Adult in the little kid. Mature person information develops out of the tyke’s capability to see what is not quite the same as what he or she watched (Parent) or felt (Child). At the end of the day, the Adult permits the youngster to assess and accept Child and Parental information. Berne portrays the Adult as being primarily concerned with converting jolts into bits of data, and handling and documenting that data on the foundation of past experience. Stated an alternate way, adult as an information transforming workstation, which crushes out choices in the wake of processing the data from three sources the Parent, the Child, and the information which the grown-up has accumulated and is gathering.( .usataa.org,2014)
The Adult is the part of the personality that is capable of memory, information processing, and rational’as opposed to emotional ‘ thought and decision-making. It can be characterized as a computer, capable of processing information that is given to it, but subject to control by Child wishes or Parent prejudices’or both. Ideally, our Adult is used as a tool to figure out how our Child can get what s/he needs; however, it can also be used as a tool to figure out how to do what our Parent says ‘should’ be done.
iii) Analysis of Stroke (Negetive and Positive)
A stroke is a unit of distinguishment, when one man distinguishes someone else either verbally or non-verbally. Berne brought the thought of strokes into Transactional Analysis based upon the work of Rene Spitz, a scientist who did pioneering work in the region of tyke improvement. Spitz watched that babies denied of taking care of ‘ at the end of the day, not accepting any strokes ‘ were more inclined to enthusiastic and physical challenges. These babies fail to offer the snuggling, touching, and taking care of that most different newborn children accepted.
Berne took Spitz’s perceptions of these newborn children and created speculations about the needs of mature people for strokes. Berne proposed that grown-ups need physical contact much the same as babies, yet have figured out how to substitute different sorts of distinguishment rather than physical incitement. So while a baby needs snuggling, a mature person longs for a grin, a wink, a hand motion, or other manifestation of distinguishment. It was characterized the term distinguishment hunger as this prerequisite of mature people to get strokes.( ericberne.com.2014)
Then additionally contemplated that any stroke, be it positive or negative, is superior to no strokes whatsoever. Alternately, as compressed in TA today, any stroke is superior to no stroke at all, for instance, on the off chance that you are strolling before your house and you see your neighbor, you will probably grin and say "Howdy." Your neighbor will probably say "hi" back. This is a sample of a positive stroke. Your neighbor could likewise grimace at you and say nothing. This is an illustration of a negative stroke.
Strokes can be unconditional or conditional. An unconditional stroke is a stroke for being whereas a conditional stroke is a stroke for doing. For example:
‘ "I like you" – unconditional
‘ "I like you when you smile" – conditional
As negative strokes these might be:
"I don’t like you" – negative unconditional
"I don’t like you when you’re sarcastic" – negative conditional
iv) Analysis of life position
Life positions are basic beliefs about self and others, which are used to justify decisions and behaviour.
When we are conceived we are hopefully at peace, waiting to emerge into the world once we have grown sufficiently to be able to survive in the outside of the womb. If nothing untoward happens we will emerge contented and relaxed. In this case we are likely to perceive the world from the perspective of I am OK and You are OK.
However, perhaps our mother had some traumatic experiences, or the birth was difficult or even life threatening. This experience is likely to have an effect on the way we experience the world, even at the somatic level. In which case we might emerge sensing that life is scary and might, for example, go into "I am not OK and You are not OK either".
Let’s take it that the pregnancy went fine, and the birth was easy enough. What then? Well life experiences might reinforce our initial somatic level life position, or contradict it. If we were treated punitively, talked down to, and not held, we may begin to believe "I am not OK and You are OK". This might be the only sense we can make of our experiences.( businessballs.com,2014)
Let’s take another situation. Perhaps we were picked on and bullied as a child. We learnt that the way to get by was to bully others and that way we felt stronger and in control. Our behaviour then comes into the I am OK and You are not OK quadrant. Of course this may cover up our belief that we are really not OK, but nobody sees that. They just see our behaviour, and in fact we may have forgotten all about our negative feelings about ourselves as we have tried so hard to deny the pain of believing we are not OK.
These life positions are perceptions of the world. The reality is I just am and you just are, therefore how I view myself and others are just that "views" not fact. However, we tend to act as if they are a fact. Just like when somebody says "I can’t do this, I’m useless". Rather than "I don’t know how to do this. Will you show me?" The latter is staying with the fact that they do not yet know how to do it, whilst the former links being useless with not being able to do something. .( businessballs.com,2014)
Task 2
CONCERPT OF TEAM AND HOW TO BUILD AN EFFECTIVE TEAM
To whom it may concern,
As the new manager in the Marketing Department I managed to change the way my team used to perform in their designated areas. As per your request here are some of the ways I used to have an effective team
””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””’
”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””’
”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
Allow team members to have input into their jobs. When you can, give your employees flexibility on how they meet their work goals. Encourage employees to make suggestions about changes in what they do and how they do it, based on their direct and daily experience of what works, what doesn’t work, and what could work better. Of course, the only way to encourage
employee’s to make suggestions over the long run is to show them that you will act on some of their suggestions.
Make sure team members interact at meetings. ””””””””””””””””””””””
””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””’
””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””’
”””””””
”””””””
””””””””’
Task 3
Concerpt of conflict management
It is the process of limiting the negative aspects of conflict while increasing the positive aspects of conflict. The aim of conflict management is to enhance learning and group outcomes, including effectiveness or performance in organizational setting. One colloquial definition of conflict is that it occurs when two people try to occupy the same "space" at the same time. This space could range from a physical space, such as the last open seat on a crowded bus, to psychological space, in which each party believes that there are incompatibilities in what the various parties want.
It is easy to identify potential negative consequences of conflict. However, it is instructive to brainstorm potential positive effects of conflict, e.g.: conflict can cause problems to surface and be dealt with, clarify varying points of view, stimulate and energize individuals, motivate the search for creative alternatives, provide vivid feedback, create increased understanding of one’s conflict styles, test and extend the capacities of group members, and provide a mechanism for adjusting relationships in terms of current realities. Properly managed, conflict can help to maintain an organization of vigorous, resilient, and creative people. The goal of conflict management, then, is to increase the positive results, while reducing the negative ones.( csun.edu.2014)
Conflicts are considered to occur in cycles or episodes, each of which may be quite short, e.g., a few seconds or minutes. Each episode is influenced by the outcomes of previous episodes and also influences future episodes. The model of a conflict episode has six components or stages. For simplicity, the description below deals with only two individuals in conflict, although the model extension to multiple individuals is direct.
The first stage represents each individual’s entering state, which is determined by such variables as his or her behavioral predispositions (personality, if you please), events and pressures from the social environment, recent experiences with significant others, and previous experiences, especially conflict episodes, with the other party. Typically, some stimulus (the second component) occurs that initiates or catalyzes an episode, although it need not be an explicit event.
The entering state and stimulus lead to frustration (the third stage of the model). Frustration may result from a wide variety of stimuli–for example, active interference with one group member’s actions by another, competition for recognition, the breaking of an agreement, or the giving of an overt or imagined insult (e.g., you do not agree with my ideas, you prevent me from getting the information, money, time I need…, you undermine my influence with someone else). In both this and the following stage, the inferences and attributions of each individual are primary determinants of behavior, and the resulting perceptions of the conflict situation often vary widely across individuals.
The process of conflict
Positive effects of conflicts
Some of the positive effects of conflict situations are:
‘ Diffusion of more serious conflicts. Games can be used to moderate the attitudes of people by providing a competitive situation which can liberate tension in the conflicting parties, as well as having some entertainment value. In organizations where members participate in decision making, disputes are usually minor and not acute as the closeness of members moderates belligerent and assertive behaviour into minor disagreements, which minimizes the likelihood of major fights.
‘ Stimulation of a search for new facts or resolutions. When two parties who respect each other face a conflict situation, the conflict resolution process may help in clarifying the facts and stimulating a search for mutually acceptable solutions.
‘ Increase in group cohesion and performance. When two or more parties are in conflict, the performance and cohesion of each party is likely to improve. In a conflict situation, an opponent’s position is evaluated negatively, and group allegiance is strongly reinforced, leading to increased group effort and cohesion.( .fao.org.2014)
‘ Assessment of power or ability. In a conflict situation, the relative ability or power of the parties involved can be identified and measured.
Negative effects of conflicts
Destructive effects of conflicts include:
‘ impediments to smooth working,
‘ diminishing output,
‘ obstructions in the decision making process, and
‘ formation of competing affiliations within the organization.
The overall result of such negative effects is to reduce employees’ commitment to organizational goals and organizational efficiency.
Elements of a conflict
Organizational conflicts usually involve three elements, which have to be appropriately matched through necessary organizational arrangements in order to resolve the conflict.
‘ Power is the capacities and means that people have at their disposal to get work done. Power includes budgetary discretion, personal influence, information, time, space, staff size and dependence on others. If used efficiently, power creates an atmosphere of cooperation, but can generate conflicts when misused, withheld or amassed. ( .fao.org.2014)
‘ Organizational demands are the people’s expectations regarding a person’s job performance. Usually such expectations are high, and making them rather unrealistic.
When these expectations are not fulfilled, people feel disheartened, angry, let down or cheated. Consequently, conflict situations can arise.
‘ Worth refers to a person’s self-esteem. People want to prove their worth in the organization. Superiors control employees’ pay, performance rating, performance and appraisal, etc. How much of these are received by a person reflects their worth. An individual may also feel loss of worth if some basic needs are not fulfilled. Generally, conflicts arise from mismatches between power, organizational demands and feelings of personal worth. ( .fao.org.2014)
Theory of conflict management
Conflict is defined as disagreement between individuals. It can vary from a mild disagreement to a win-or-lose, emotion-packed, confrontation. There are two theories of conflict management.
‘ The traditional theory is based on the assumption that conflicts are bad, are caused by trouble makers, and should be subdued.
‘ Contemporary theory recognizes that conflicts between human beings are unavoidable. They emerge as a natural result of change and can be beneficial to the organization, if managed efficiently. Current theory considers innovation as a mechanism for bringing together various ideas and viewpoints into a new and different fusion. An atmosphere of tension, and hence conflict, is thus essential in any organization committed to developing or working with new ideas.( .fao.org.2014)
Ways to resolve conflict
When two groups or individuals face a conflict situation, they can react in four ways. They can:
‘ Fight, which is not a beneficial, sound or gratifying approach to dealing with a conflict situation, as it involves ‘tactics, strategies, offensive and defensive positions, losing and winning grounds, and exposure of weak points.’ Fighting as a way of resolving a conflict can only be useful in courtroom situations, where winning and losing becomes a by-product of the judicial process.
‘ Negotiate, towards a settlement with the other party. Negotiations take place within the prevailing situation and do not involve problem solving or designing. Third-party roles are very important in bringing the conflicting parties together on some common ground for negotiations.
‘ Problem solve, which involves identifying and removing the cause of the conflict so as to make the situation normal again. However, this may not be easy. It is also possible that the situation may not become normal even after removing the identified cause, because of its influence on the situation.
‘ Design, which is an attempt towards creativity in making the conflict situation normal. It considers conflicts as situations rather than problems. Designing is not confined to what is already there, but attempts to reach what might be created given a proper understanding of the views and situations of the conflicting parties. The proposed idea should be appropriate and acceptable to the parties in conflict. A third party participates actively in the design process rather than being just a an umpire. .( .fao.org.2014)
Depending upon the degree of each intention involved, there can be five types of conflict handling behaviour (Thomas and Kilman, 1976). They are:
‘ Competition is a win-or-lose style of handling conflicts. It is asserting one’s one viewpoint at the potential expense of another. Competing or forcing has high concern for personal goals and low concern for relationships. It is appropriate in dealing with conflicts which have no disagreements. It is also useful when unpopular but necessary decisions are to be made.
‘ Collaboration aims at finding some solution that can satisfy the conflicting parties. It is based on a willingness to accept as valid the interests of the other party whilst protecting one’s own interests. Disagreement is addressed openly and alternatives are discussed to arrive at the best solution. This method therefore involves high cooperation and low confrontation. Collaboration is applicable when both parties desire to solve the problem and are willing to work together toward a mutually acceptable solution. Collaboration is the best method of handling conflicts, as it strives to satisfy the needs of both parties. It is integrative and has high concern for personal goals as well as relationship.
‘ Compromise is a common way of dealing with conflicts, particularly when the conflicting parties have relatively equal power and mutually independent goals. It is based on the belief that a middle route should be found to resolve the conflict situation, with concern for personal goals as well as relationships. In the process of compromise, there are gains and losses for each conflicting party.
‘ Avoidance is based on the belief that conflict is evil, unwanted or boorish. It should be delayed or ignored. Avoidance strategy has low cooperation and low confrontation. It is useful either when conflicts are insignificant or when the other party is unyielding because of rigid attitudes. By avoiding direct confrontation, parties in conflict get time to cool down.
‘ Accommodation involves high cooperation and low confrontation. It plays down differences and stresses commonalities. Accommodating can be a good strategy when one party accepts that it is wrong and has a lot to lose and little to gain. Consequently, they are willing to accommodate the wishes of the other party.
Summary
Conflicts are inevitable in any organization. A modest level of conflict can be useful in generating better ideas and methods, inspiring concern and ingenuity, and stimulating the emergence of long-suppressed problems.( .fao.org.2014)
A conflict situation can be induced by supporting individualistic thinking or favouring individual competition. Individualistic thinking can be initiated in the group by including some group members who can freely express their views, which can encourage and prod others to do the same. Competition between individuals can be enhanced by acknowledging and rewarding the better performers. Conflict situations can also be introduced by making some organizational changes, such as transferring some group members, redefining roles, and helping the emergence of new leadership. A manager can also create a conflict situation by delivering shocks, such as by reducing some existing perks of the members of the organization. After stimulating the conflict situation, a manager should:
‘ identify the likely source of the conflict situation,
‘ calibrate the productiveness of the situation, and
‘ neutralize the unproductive conflict situation.
Basic problems in inter-group behaviour are conflict of goals and communication failures, A basic tactic in resolving conflicts, therefore, is to find goals upon which scientists or groups can agree, and to ensure proper communication and interaction. Some conflicts arise because of simple misconceptions, which can be overcome by improved communication.( .fao.org.2014)
Task 4
Motivation Theories
Motivation is the force that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is what causes us to take action, whether to grab a snack to reduce hunger or enroll in college to earn a degree. The forces that lie beneath motivation can be biological, social, emotional or cognitive in nature.
There are 3 types of motivation theories which are;
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
The hierarchy of needs, developed by Abraham Maslow in the 1940s, was arguably the most famous need theory ‘ famous probably because it was so straightforward and ‘intuitively appealing’ to those interested in work behavior.
Maslow, who labeled human beings as ‘wanting’ animals, asserted that people have an ‘innate’ desire to satisfy a predictable five-step hierarchy of needs. These needs have been categorized in an order of importance, with the most basic needs at the foundation of the hierarchy. The three sets of needs at the bottom of the hierarchy can be grouped as ‘deficiency needs’, which must be satisfied in order for a person to be comfortable, while the top two sets can be named ‘growth needs’, which focus on the growth and development of an individual.
Having looked at the basic concepts of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, we are going to examine each one of the five needs very closely.
Physiological Needs: these needs refer to the desire to fulfill physical satisfactions such as water, sleep, food, air and sex. These needs are considered the most important needs because without them, human beings cannot survive. No other needs would be of any importance if physiological needs have not been satisfied.
Safety Needs: Maslow’s theory states that human beings strive to meet these needs once the physiological needs are satisfied. It is about individual safety – being away from evils and threats. It is also believed that most modern employees are able to fulfill these needs through earning an income or depending on unemployment benefits. Maslow asserts that individuals who have ‘prolonged deprivation of physiological and safety needs’ may become ‘seriously maladjusted’ people.
Love/Belongingness Needs: Once the physiological and safety needs are satisfied, human beings tend to focus on the needs for love and affection. People endeavor to obtain a sense of belonging with others. This category of needs is a very powerful motivator of human behavior.
Esteem Needs: A person who wishes to be a highly valued individual in the society always desires for high self-esteem. These self-esteem needs derive from self-respect, which in turn comes from being accepted and respected by the society. It is essential for those who are considered the people to help achieve an organization’s targeted objectives to be able to fulfill this category of needs. Once again, according to Maslow, esteem needs to be met for an individual to move to higher-level needs.
Self actualization Needs: The fifth and final category at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are the needs for self actualization. This means ‘realizing our full potential and becoming all that we can be’. In other words, it involves to the need to become more and more what we are, and to become everything that we are capable of becoming, which makes self-actualization an open-ended category.
Achieving all of the above characteristics is almost an impossible task. After all, it is still debatable whether an organization should have more or fewer self-actualized managers. On the one hand, this type of managers will play an important role in breaking barriers to creativity and providing new initiatives as to where the organization should be heading. On the other hand, too many ‘unconventional nonconformists
Alderfer’s ERG Theory
For Alderfer’s ERG Theory, The Existence category is similar to Maslow’s Physiological and Safety needs, while Maslow’s Love and Self Esteem needs are placed in the Relatedness needs category. Finally, the Growth category is similar to the self-actualization and self-esteem needs of Maslow’s theory.
The ERG Theory, in contrast to the Hierarchy needs theory, emphasizes that more than one kind of need may motivate a person at the same time. Also, an even more important difference between the two theories is that the ERG includes two main components: The Satisfaction-Progression Component and The Frustration-Regression Component.
The satisfaction-progression component explains that after an individual has satisfied one category of needs, he then moves on to the next level. This concept agrees with that of hierarchy of needs’ theory. The Frustration-Regression Component, on the other hand, argues that if an employee is not able to satisfy a higher level of needs, he becomes ‘frustrated’ and eventually ‘regresses’ to the previously satisfied level.
Herzberg’s Dual-Structure Theory
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Frederick Herzberg developed what would be a very famous theory known as the Dual-Structure Theory. Originally called the ‘Two-Factor’ Theory, it went on to play a very important role in influencing managers’ decisions on employee motivation.
Herzberg and his associates started by asking around 200 accountants and engineers in Pittsburg to recall times they felt satisfied and motivated by their jobs and times they felt dissatisfied and unmotivated. He then went on to ask them to describe the reasons behind those good and bad feelings. Surprisingly, Herzberg found that ‘entirely different’ factors were related to the employees’ feelings about their jobs. For instance, those who stated they were not satisfied because their jobs were ‘low-paid’ would not necessarily identify ‘high pay’ as a cause of satisfaction and motivation. Those people instead claimed that factors such as recognition or achievement were some of the main causes of job satisfaction and motivation.
These findings led Herzberg to conclude that the traditional view on job satisfaction and dissatisfaction, motivation and un-motivation was ‘incorrect’. The theorist insisted that ‘the opposite of job satisfaction is not job dissatisfaction but, rather no job satisfaction; and similarly, the opposite of job dissatisfaction is not job satisfaction, but no dissatisfaction.’These two different dimensions led to him naming his theory the ‘Dual-Structure’ theory.
In addition, Herzberg claimed that the primary factors that cause satisfaction and motivation are called Motivation factors, such as achievement and recognition. The presence of these factors results in job satisfaction and motivation, while their absence leads to feelings of ‘no satisfaction’ rather than dissatisfaction. The other set of factors is called Hygiene factors, which refer to things such as job security, pay and working conditions. Without these factors, people will be dissatisfied; and if they are present, there will be feelings of ‘no dissatisfaction’, rather than satisfaction.
Ways an employee can be motivated
1) Communicate with employees
It may sound like a very basic point, but employee communication is overlooked in too many organisations. Staff members need to know that they are valued, understood and perhaps most importantly, listened to. If an employee has a concern or some other issue that may prevent them from working productively, they need to know that communication channels are open.
Taking the time to converse with employees can make them feel more comfortable in their jobs, more settled and better-motivated to work hard for the organisation. It can also help reinforce positive behaviour – so employers should always be looking for opportunities to provide positive feedback.( theguardian.com.2014)
2) Reward strong performance
If employees perform well, they need to be rewarded. This can be in terms of extrinsic rewards – such as additional pay, benefits or opportunities for promotion – or intrinsic – through simple gratitude and recognition for a job well done. Employers need to gauge which type of reward is appropriate in each individual situation, based upon overall aims and the expectations of staff members.
If a key employee has put in a significant amount of extra work on a project, it may not be sufficient to simply thank them for their efforts – they may expect some pecuniary reward for the additional effort they have made. But equally, businesses need to ensure they do not over-stretch their budgets and create unrealistic expectations where pay and benefits are concerned.( theguardian.com.2014)
3) Involve employees in decision making
Major business decisions will always be made in the boardroom by the executive team, but this does not mean employees should be excluded from this process. Hundreds of different decisions are made every day within companies – from the ground level right up to the top of the enterprise. And giving staff members the autonomy to make them – where appropriate – can boost morale and help increase job satisfaction.
Involving employees in decision making processes can also help identify potential managerial talent, which could help grow the organisation in the future – as well as keep hold of talented individuals. Delegating work of this nature can also free up time for people higher up the company to concentrate on value-adding tasks.( theguardian.com.2014)
In a similar vein, employees should feel that they can make suggestions and present new ideas which could improve the way the organisation works. An open forum for innovation not only makes employees feel they are more involved in the company, but a great new idea may unlock addition additional value for the enterprise.
4) Offer training and development
Employees want to feel as if they are constantly developing in the workplace – learning new skills and gaining experience which will stand them in good stead in the future. Each individual worker will have ambitions of their own, and as such it is important that employers support their professional development.
Otherwise employees may feel that they are stagnating in their current role, increasing the likelihood that they will leave the organisation. Staff attrition inevitably adds to business costs, not only in terms of lost productivity but also recruitment and training expenditure for the replacement worker.( theguardian.com.2014)
5) Define the employees’ role
Employees should have the opportunity to move up the ranks and better themselves within the company they work for – otherwise they are likely to go and work elsewhere. But at whatever level they are working at a particular time, they should have a well-defined job description, and understand the role they are working in. This provides a context for everything they do, and ensures they feel a sense of purpose while at work.
Staff members need to understand how the job they do contributes to the overall goals of the organisation, and where they fit into the bigger picture. This requires the executive team to provide regular updates on company performance, the industry, new products or services and other developments.( theguardian.com.2014)
...(download the rest of the essay above)