Chapter 6

EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT

“I rate enthusiasm even above professional skill.”

- Sir Edward Appleton

Introduction

Employees are the strength of an organization. They are the prime contributors to its success.

Motivation Teamwork Training and mentoring Recognition and rewards Feedback and performance

appraisal empowerment

EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION

HYGIENE THEORY : the company Its policies and its

administration The kind of supervision which

people receive while on the job Working conditions Interpersonal relations salary Status security

EMPLOYEE MOTIVATIONMOTIVATION : Achievement Recognition for achievement Interest in the task Responsibility for enlarged task Growth and advancement to

higher level tasks

TEAMWORK

MANAGEMENT’S ROLE IN ENABLING TEAMWORK

Responsibility Authority Wherewithal for accomplishing the

task Criteria of measurement of the work

output

TEAMWORK Results in a Win–Win Situation

Win-win situation demands that each employee respects the views of other employees and regards the self-esteem of all the colleagues in the team.

To summarize, the team can have the ff. benefits if they work for a win-win situation:

Achieve dramatic results, which individuals can’t

Make best use of skills of each member of the team

Make right decision Get more enjoyment and job

satisfaction

The problems of win-lose are summarized below:

Waste time Creates conflict Stops people listening Spoils happiness and health of team

members

Do Rewards Disrupt Teamwork?

Reward encourage people to practice teamwork. Awards should be given to motivate the team of people, who have contributed in a great measure.

in other words, the output of team

should be given more importance than the output of the individuals. This should not curtail the innovation of individuals.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONSIn every organization,

communication is a three way process for each employee, as given below:

to one, employee is working for- supervisors/managers

To the persons working for him-subordinates/junior employees.

To the persons one works with, the peers, counterparts, customers and suppliers (both internal and external)

Necessity for Communicating Upwards

- upward communication means communicating with seniors.

Communication with Juniors - every employee should communicate

with juniors. The junior employee will not have the same education, experience and expertise as that of the senior. Therefore, the senior has to communicate with the junior patiently and in detail.

Communication with Peers - communication with peers is equally

important. This has assumed significance since the organization have to establish customer-suppliers relationship to practice TQM.

TRAINING AND MENTORINGNecessity for Orientation Training - the employees in their formal

education learn many techniques covering wide range of topics, from basic principles to advance topics.

The orientation training should help the employees to understand the ff, in particular:

Objectives of the organization Requirements and expectations from

his team His role His authority The know-how and know-why of the

jobs to be undertaken on day to day basis

familiarity and skill in operating the tools or machinery connected with the job in hand.

Experienced Recruits Need More Orientation

- in the service sector, obsolescence settles in fast. Therefore, there is a continual change in the business. This means, that the employees have to acquire the skills needed for designing, manufacturing, delivering, and servicing the updated or new products or services.

There is a reluctant on the part of the management to send employees for training, due to some ff. reasons:

Excessive workload in the organization, which does not permit sending them for training

Non-availability of appropriate training courses

Fear of migration of employees after training

PDCA for Training

Though training contributes to the prosperity of an organization, it also costs money. Therefore, PDCA should be used for training of employees in every organization.

Plan for Training Provide Training Measure Training Effectiveness Improve Training Effectiveness

RECOGNITION AND REWARD

Recognition of Achievement is Important

it is important to recognize achievement of employees, customers and suppliers. Every employee or supplier has to meet the requirements to satisfy his customers. However, there would be a few teams, and few suppliers, which will excel in their contributions. Meeting customer requirements is not enough for recognition. Exceeding customer requirements or satisfying customer, whether internal or external can be considered to be an achievement.

Select a Few Best Performers

the attribute for selection of best performing employees in ETDC, Chennai are given below:

Commitment Creativity Flexibility Adaptability Determination responsibilty

Type of Awards

The organization should select the award appropriately. It could be appreciation in an annual meeting, certificates, mementos, and cash awards.No matter what is the type of award, the employees will definitely be motivated. However, the organization should be consistent in giving the awards.

Enable Happiness All Around

The recognition and award program should help the organization amongst all the employees. It should not lead to bitterness amongst employees and should not demotivate them. Hence, before venturing into the recognition program, the management has to give considerable thought and then only finalize the strategy for recognition and awards.

FEEDBACK AND PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

Feedback Essential Both for Employees and Managementit is more humane to be curious to know about the result of an action. Actions, are taken not only by management, but also by junior employees in the organization. therefore, both the management and the employees should look forward to getting a feedback on the action taken, the employees from he management and vice versa, in the interest of improving quality continuously.

Management Should Seek FeedbackOne of the responsibility of the management is to seek feedback. The management should therefore adopt stable strategies to get the right feedback from the employees as well as customers.Management By Walking Around (MBWA) – concept advocated by Tom Peters to get the feedback. It should be practiced in the right manner for getting the desired results.

Feedback to the EmployeesEvery employee in the organization should receive a feedback on the quality of his output. Quality does not only mean the conformance of the product or service to the requirements, but also the timeliness, behavioral requirements and all attributes of TQM.

Giving Appropriate FeedbackWhen a feedback is given, it should be the most appropriate. The feedback should never be exaggerated or under played; it should be correct feedback.

Timely FeedbackFeedback should never be accumulated forever. The feedback , as and when required, should be given at the appropriate time . The feedback session could be short and brief so that it will be taken seriously.

Vatch Effect of FeedbackEach feedback session is a corrective action of the system, to use the terminology of ISO 9001. therefore, the effect of feedback has to be monitored, studied and analyze. If the feedback is given in an appropriate manner and if it is right then definitely the employee will be motivated to correct himself.

Continuous Feedback

Like continuous improvement, feedback should also be given continuously. the feedback will be never ending for any of the supervisory persons, since the system will try to drift away from the set goals often and the management will be required to correct the system through the feedback mechanism.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISALPerformance appraisal used for he development of the employees.

Reports should be used by the management , for various purposes as:

Promotion Granting of additional increments Training the employees Reallocation of duties

EMPOWERMENT Empowerment and ownership are

synonymous. Empowerment of employees is one the

latest management techniques deployed to result in continuous improvement in the organization.

Empowerment means involvement of all the employees for improvement of processes on continual basis.

Empowerment is just the opposite of strict hierarchical “do what I say” approach in the organization

Empowerment means transfer of responsibility of satisfying customer to employees. It means that the employees own the process of satisfying the customers.

Empowerment is not without bounds

Empowerment of employees is not without bounds or limitations. It should be structured and planned to achieve the corporate goals in the TQM way.the employees are aligned with the business direction as brought out in the vision and mission statements of the CEO. They to be made to understand their performance boundaries and expected performance results.

Empower teams, not individualsA team of employees will be empowered

not the individuals. Even when an individual is empowered, It is done so in his capacity as the coordinator of the team. It is not personal to individual.

The team has to achieve the objectives set forth by the management.

The team has to identify the best course of action every context

The team has to take decisions on its own within its own boundaries.

The team function in a democratic manner to achieve success.

STEPS INVOLVED IN EMPOWERING

The ff. steps are involved in the operation of self-managed teams:

Agree on what they will produce or carry out

Decide how to organize the team Decide on the responsibility within the

team Decide on flow of work Audit the process Decide on improvement and restart

Fundamental Requirements of Management for Successful

EmpowermentTop management should take the following actions to practice empowerment

1. Accept that teamwork is more beneficial and hierarchical management

2. Invest time and money on the team building and training before empowerment

3. Formulate a clear-cut, unambiguous vision and mission statement and the system for quality

4. Be prepared to spend more time at the initial stages and later o n to listen to the problems of the team members.

5. Prepare to wait patiently for the success of empowered team

6. Prepare to equip the teams with facts and trust them

7. Provide support and tools wherever required for problem solving

8. Reward worthy teams9. Provide communications infrastructure

and Information Technology infrastructure for the teams to carry on the tasks, without difficulty