Employees Motivation
Introduction
Every institution whether private or state-owned requires highly motivated employees if they are to achieve the organizational goals. Many business entities rarely concentrate on the intricacies of what employee motivation entails. Organizations that have employee motivation programs in place understands that for the organization to achieve its goals, all employees must feel valued by their employer which motivates them to execute their duties at maximum capacity. Employee motivation is not an occasional event but should be a regular activity undertaken throughout the year. Sadly, organizations put a lot of effort into motivating their customers to buy from them but neglect their employees. Research indicates that only 13% of organizations, both public and private-owned motivate their employees. Edison Enterprises has recently started issuing a recall on product 2381because of its malfunction in higher heat conditions. This issue has caused an influx of enquiries of concern and remedy at the call centre. Amanda Lorenzo, the company’s customer service supervisor is making attempts to handle the situation. However, the workload has overwhelmed the team which has brought up some issues that I need to address as the executive officer of the company. This report will focus on the course of action that I will take to remedy the situation.
The Issue Requiring my Attention
Due to the product recall issue, several other problems have emerged that needs to be addressed to ensure the organization remains on track in its endeavour of achieving its goals. As the customer service supervisor, Lorenzo is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the call centre is operating smoothly and to solve issues that require her attention while consulting with other top management officers such as Philip Ramadi, Director of marketing, whom she’s answerable to. As the pressure continues to build due to increased callers making enquiries, Lorenzo helps to take calls as well which she does at least three hours per day as an initiative to remedy the situation. This affects her other responsibilities and she finds herself falling behind schedule. Other actions that she takes to salvage the worsening situation include instructing Winston and Paulson to avoid distracting the call takers which obviously hurt their feelings. There’s less interaction in the office between employees due to the unfriendly environment created by Lorenzo.
The actions displayed by Lorenzo indicates characteristics of the unmotivated employee. Being a supervisor, she transfers her dissatisfaction to her fellow workers which creates a work environment that is not open, very distrustful and that discourages initiatives and ideas. This will require to be addressed. Another issue that will need to be addressed is the fact that Lorenzo receives no compensation for overtime hours worked despite her counterpart wage earners employees who are duly compensated for overtime hours. This issue relates to that of Wheaton, who assists Lorenzo to reply to customer emails but is not compensated for the extra work. His extra work engagement is bringing up concerns with his wife due to working for extra hours but is not duly compensated. This is another issue that will require my attention.
Action Plan that will Alleviate Problems and Tensions
According to Maslow’s theory of motivation, all people seek to fulfil five kinds of needs which include physiological needs, need for safety, the need to belong, need for esteem and finally the need for self-actualization. These needs are arranged in a hierarchical manner such that the most basic needs are at the bottom and have to be met first before proceeding to the others. the lowest unmet needs in the hierarchy are the motivator prime motivator of behavior. Using the knowledge from this theory it’s clear that Lorenzo’s behavior emanates from unmet needs (Mawere et al., 2016). At the bottom of the hierarchy is physiological needs which may include factors such as food, shelter and satisfactory salary. Lorenzo feels that she is poorly remunerated. She has even taken Saturday evening bartending job to substitute her income. To address this issue, the company will include allowances for extra worked hours without discrimination based on the terms of employment. In addition, a plan will be rolled out to evaluate the employee’s salary. This plan will consider the employees who deserve salary increment, bonuses or other compensations as a way of motivating them to work hard.
Lorenzo’s behavior of reprimanding other employees creates a negative working environment that discourages innovativeness and creation of ideas. According to Maslow’s theory, her action indicates that she has a need that is not fulfilled which is love and belonging which causes her to reprimand other employees for merely interacting freely with others in the office (Noltemeyer et al., 2012). Given that she recently underwent a divorce that is already causing her to strain financially, Lorenzo is in no state to deliver optimally at the workplace. To motive her as her superior, I will invite her and allow her to express her deep feelings. This can be her frustrations, her inadequacy and disappointments. Although I am in no passion to compensate for the lost love with her divorced partner, I can comfort her and let her know that I care about her welfare as her superior. This will make her feel that her need to belong is achieved and therefore friction with her junior employees will reduce.
Conclusion
Organizational goals cannot be achieved in an environment where the employees experience job dissatisfaction. Applying employee motivation tactics is one of the strategies. motivated employees feel appreciated by their employers which changes their perception about their work environment. Regardless of the existing circumstances in the workplace, motivated employees will always cope up knowing that their employers have their best interest at heart. Rewards, incentives, personally appreciating employees by word of mouth and encouraging employees to pursue their professional goals are some of the ways employees can be motivated. Maslow’s theory notes that once the low-ranking needs are met, a person can pursue other needs that are in the hierarchy which implies corporate organizations must ensure that these needs are met so that employees can work in unison towards achieving the goals of the organization.
References
Mawere, M., Mubaya, T. R., van Reisen, M., & van Stam, G. (2016). Chapter Three Maslow’s Theory of Human Motivation and its Deep Roots in Individualism: Interrogating Maslow’s Applicability in Africa. Theory, Knowledge, Development and Politics: What Role for the Academy in the Sustainability of Africa, 55.
Noltemeyer, A., Bush, K., Patton, J., & Bergen, D. (2012). The relationship between deficiency needs and growth needs An empirical investigation of Maslow’s theory. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(9), 1862-1867.