Source: Small Business
Management If an employee's job satisfies his or her
needs, the employee responds more favorably to the job. This may happen, for example, when
an employee is given the responsibility for managing the office on his or her own, and is
recognized for doing it well. Or it may occur when a sales representative is assigned full
responsibility for developing new business as well as maintaining existing customers in a
territory and is recognized for the accomplishment. Such employees tend to take their
responsibilities seriously, act positively for the firm, and are absent from work only
rarely.
The key point is that when a job satisfies needs, the employee may bring greater
commitment to the job. Some needs common to all individuals are basics like food, shelter,
and security for the future. Normally a fair wage level and a feeling of security that the
job will continue, tend to satisfy these needs. Such needs, however, can be satisfied in
most jobs today, and they do not alone evoke heavy commitment by employees to your firm.
Other needs must also be satisfied. Most of these are related to:
a. The firm's personnel practices such as complaint handling or vacation scheduling
b. Working conditions
c. Supervisory practices such as discipline, or the way instructions are given, and
d. Total compensation, including benefits practices.
If what the firm provides in any of these aspects is seen by the employees as much
poorer than what other firms in the area provide, dissatisfactions will result. On the
other hand, improvements above an acceptable level generally do not bring about greater
employee commitment in the long run.
For example, total disregard for employee complaints (personnel practices) can lead to
serious problems for the firm. When employee complaints are handled well, serious problems
tend to be precluded from developing but there is no major gain in deep employee
commitment to the job.
What then does bring about a serious commitment to the job and firm?
There are five factors that generally cause a deep commitment to job performance for
most employees. These are:
1. The work itself - to what extent does the employee see the work as meaningful
and worthwhile?
2. Achievement - how much opportunity is there for the employee to accomplish
tasks that are seen as a reasonable challenge?
3. Responsibility - to what extent does the employee have assignment and the
authority necessary to take care of a significant function of the organization?
4. Recognition - to what extent is the employee aware of how highly other people
value the contributions made by the employee?
5. Advancement - how much opportunity is there for the employee to assume
greater responsibilities in the firm?
These five factors tend to satisfy certain critical needs of individuals:
- One need is the feeling of being accepted as part of the firm's work-team.
- Another need is for feeling important - that the employee's strengths, capabilities and
contributions are known and valued highly.
- A third need is for the chance to continue to grow and become a more fully functioning
person.
If the kinds of needs just described are met by paying attention to the five factors
previously listed, an owner/manager will have taken significant steps toward gaining the
full commitment of employees to job performance. To do this, several practical strategies
can be used, such as:
- Establishing confidence and trust with your employees through open communication and the
development of sensitivity to employee needs
- Allowing employees participation in decision-making which directly affects them
- Helping employees to set their own work methods and work goals, as much as possible
- Praising and rewarding good work as clearly and promptly as inadequate performance is
mentioned
- Restructuring jobs to be challenging and interesting by giving increased
responsibilities and independence to those who want it, and who can handle it
Good Delegation
One practical way to work on these strategies is to practice good delegation.
Simply defined, delegation is the granting of authority and independence to another
person to complete a project. It must be understood that with the authority to do a job,
comes the responsibility to get it done.
A manager who practices good delegation automatically also makes use of the strategies
which bring greater commitment on their part.
A second benefit of good delegation - one not related to the personnel functions - lies
in the opportunity it gives you to spend more of your time on important work which you
cannot delegate.
For all these reasons, delegating work and responsibility can be very beneficial to you
and for your company. But to be effective, delegation must be used with some caution.
Before delegating a project, you, as the manager, must first answer two questions:
1. To whom should projects be delegated?
2. What kind and how much work and responsibility can be delegated to this person?
It is important to understand that delegation involves projects which include
significant decision making. If your employee is not given the responsibility to make
decisions, it is not delegation. The assigning of routine and repetitive work does not
bring the benefits which delegation can bring and therefore is not part of the strategy
for achieving a climate that brings greater commitment by employees.
Work assignment, even though the employee is asked to perform a specific task as
assigned, also has the potential to add to the positive climate - when it is fair and
takes employee preferences into consideration This, obviously, is difficult to do all the
time, but if employees are given as much of a voice in deciding who should receive
non-regular work assignments, good ones as well as undesirable ones, then these
assignments are likely to have a beneficial impact on morale.
Delegating work to an employee who is not ready to accept the responsibility can have
two negative effects:
- The job will not get done or not be completed on time.
- The failures that result from ineffective delegation will have an understandably bad
effect on the affected employee.
When delegating, it is good to always remember that effective delegation of work is not
giving up all your authority. The delegate should have a fair amount of freedom, but the
manager must retain some control. This will insure that the project is satisfactorily
completed.
