Principles of Management - week # 11

Chaper 13 - Motivating Job Performance -----------------------------------------

On this chapter we have discussed the following issues:

- Motivational theories - How goal setting motivates performance - How managers can improve the motivation of routine-task personnel - How job enrichment can be used to enhance the motivating potential of jobs - Extrinsic and Intrinsic rewards - Participative management

Some personal thoughts....

I never stopped to think about the things that motivated me at work, until I read this chapter. Working in tourism was a goal of mine, which slowly and consistantly faded away after experiencing the ungratefullness of this profession. However, my work was still accomplished properly and I can say with full confidence that I was hight motivated at work. So what kind of things boosted my motivation ? Read on the following paper I wrote about this issue ... -------------------------------------------------- Motivating Job Performance

Motivation at work is a key to success. Without motivation – a job will not be performed properly, an employee will not use his abilities to their fullest, and employer will not be satisfied. Motivation, employee and employer are all tied together. If the motivation link is missing – the employer and the employee will not be able to maintain a healthy, profitable and fulfilling relationship, and this might lead to the end of coopeation between the two. The conclusion is that motivation has a very important role in business, and both employer and employee need to put their best efforts into it. I have worked in the tourism field for nearly eight years. In Israel, the tourism field is a somewhat ungrateful business. You work long hours, get an average salary that does not reflect the amount of work and dedication put into it, and sometime despite all your efforts – your clients provide a negative feedback because of something that had nothing to do with your performance. This can be very frustrating and many people end up leaving this field. However – there were many ways to increase and encourage motivation when working in tourism. My last employer , an Incoming tourism company, had some great ways to encourage motivation: Firstly – there was an annual bonus to those who were productive and put their outmost into their work. There were other privileges like free hotel accommodation all over the country, semi-annual rewards like theatre shows and fancy dinner parties. These were all extrinsic rewards that all employees found beneficial. And then there were intrinsic rewards like a sense of self-fulfilment, a sense of accomplishement. Whenever I had a large file – like a Bar Mitzvah family private tour that needed a detailed and careful planning and a complex operation process – the feeling I had when completing such a file was really motivating. Not to mention thank-you letters (I keep a whole file of them until today) – personal gifts and positive feedbacks from content travel agents abroad – who got great reviews from their satisfied clients. The company I worked for used to conduct monthly meetings on which all employees – no matter in what position – used to take part. Participative management encouraged us to take part in decision making, future planning and made us all felt like our work mattered. I remember I felt involved in things that made a difference and it made metake my work very seriously. Benefits such as 401K was provided to each employee after six months of work in the company. Once an employee proved to be a hard-working motivated one – he / she got the benefit of 401k. Another way of encouraging motivation at the company I worked for was goal setting. On our monthly meeting we used to discuss override commissions which are commissions granted to the company from hotels - if we managed to sell an X number of rooms per year at a specific hotel. The hotel would than provide us with an additional commission of the total profit made from these sales. Our management used to set goals such as : “by the date of …. Sell an X number of rooms at Y & Z hotel chains”. Employees who managed to do that – got nice prizes like complimentary breakfasts or dinners at the hotel restaurants, or entry tickets to the hotel’s pool & spa. Another goal setting way was to set a sales quota that the tour operators had to cover by the end of each month. High sales would grant the tour operator with a larger annual bonus. The last motivating tool was job design. The company created job positions for people who deserved a promotion. Just before I relocated to the States, I was about to become the manager of our individual-tourism department, a role that was created especially for me by our management. Then – political situation in Israel has caused a long delay in the expansion of the company and my relocation to the states ended my work in the company. However – knowing that such a role was designed for me – really motivated me to work hard and put my outmost into my work until the very last day I worked in the company. The bottom line is that motivation is a something that needs to be developed and nourished. Both sides, employer and employee should embrace it in order to make it work. And the results are very beneficial.

Principles of Management - Week # 10

Chapter 12 - Communicating in the Internet age

On this chapter we have discussed : - The Major links in the communication process - The concept of Media richness and media selection - Communications strategies - The grapevine and nonverbal communication - Barriers to communication - Modern communications - Tips for improving communication skills. Some personal thoughts.... Never realized that communication is a PROCESS. It's a whole chain that is built of links: sender, encoding,medium, decoding, receiver and a feedback.

"The communication chain is only as strong as its weakest link " (Kreitner).

How true is that ??!!

While reading this chapter, I was thinking to myself that Kreitner is so right ! if one of the links on the communication chain does not exist or does not work properly - the communication will be weak and will not survive. Lack of communication in the workplace can definitely have

disastrous results.

From my personal experience of dealing with managers who's communication skills were poor - it just did not work out. Management cannot survive with poor communication. I don't think we've ever stopped to thing just HOW BIG is the importance of our communication skills as future managers, as current employees, and in general - as human beings.

Principles of Management - week # 9

Chapter 11 - Human Resource management --------------------------------------------

On this chapter we have discussed the following issues: - What does Human Resource management involve - Human Capital - The seven steps in the employee selection procedure - How can managers be more effective interviewers - Performance appraisals and their importance - Training programs - what is good training ? - Affirmative action - Equal employment opportunities - Dealing with sexual harrassment and alcohol and drug abuse at work.

Some personal thoughts......

I don't think people pay enough attention to the importance of human resources. After reading this chapter, I realized how important are the choices made by human resources personnelle. Say a manager interviews people for a certain position - and he does not follow a clear interviewing plan - like the seven steps we discussed on this chapter - he/she can easily choose all the wrong people for the job, while other people who are more suitable to do the job - are sent on their way with negative answers... A bit scary isn't it ?

My experience with human resources and bad interviewers...

I used to work for a travel agency in Israel, that nominated a very unqualified person to do the department manager role. This person lacked the professional experience, the knowledge, any managing skills and basically all the qualities she needed to have in order to manage our department successfully. I remember she hired two new employees, one of which did not speak English (an essential thing when you work at the Incoming tourism department ) , the other was just unexperienced and training her was a great burden during peak season. Bringing new people into our department was done in order to take off some of the work load in peak season - but it did the exact opposite... We had to train two new employees from scratch. The person who did not speak English quit a week later. The other person stayed around for a while but for a long time was working as an assistant and not as an independent tour operator. The whole thing was totally inefficient. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's something about the TJMAX .......

I love that store. in fact I like all of them, each branch with its own merchandise, sales etc' . I visit them frequently thinking I know where to look for the best bargains in each store... but what did I really know about TJMAX? I was very impressed to read the article about the TJX stores, hiring people who were unemployed and living on welfare. I think it's a great program, effective for both employer and employees. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is good training ?

When I started working as a tour operator, I was enrolled in the Authorized clerks program at the Israeli tourism school in Tel Aviv. I was training for my first job while actually already working ... My employer then - Peltours - paid half of my tuition in exchange to my commitment to work there for additional two years from the day I finish school. But the best training was actually working in the office... I learned alot from my mistake - the "school of hard knocks"... When I quit and started working for Unitours (that place with that horrible manager) I was thrown into deep water, because at Peltours I mainly worked as an assistant, and was less independent. This was the fastest and best way to learn the job. Tourism is a very dynamic field and there's no one-solution to every problem. You have to know how to improvise and you have to work fast. I learned to do that - I guess I had it in my blood, otherwise I wouldn't survive all the pressure. When I was fired and started working at Eshet Incoming (my last employer in Israel ) - I was well trained, completely independent, full of confidence and able to enjoy my work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here's closing case # 6 - it discusses training methods and approach of Paychex.

Closing case # 6 – Training pays off at Paychex.

Summary: The case brings up the story of Paychex, a company that develops and supports the concept of “human capital” by training employees the old fashioned way, and reaping rewards for it. This case discusses the reasons for Paychex success, even in the internet-oriented world of today. Questions:

1. Is the concept of “human capital” evident in this case? Explain. By definition, the term human capital encircles all present and future workforce participants and emphasizes the need to develop their fullest potential for the benefit of the global economy. Human Capital involves a “thinking big” approach, and this concept is evident in this closing case because Paychex approach is based on the belief that if you train people properly to do their job – they will do a better job, therefore – no matter what you train people for – the global economy will benefit from that, and this is what “thinking big” is all about. Paychex success is in continual training and employee development – in other words “human capital” is the key to its success.

2. Would Jeffery Pfeffer likely call Paychex a people-centered company? why or why not? Pfeffer will likely call Paychex a people centered company but with some hesitation. Paychex provides comprehensive training and compensation linked to performance, it shares key information with trainers and trainees. It also empowers employees through decentralization and self-managed teams, all of which are characteristics of a people centered company. But Paychex does not offer other things that are included in Pfeffer’s seven people-centered practices, so it’s possible that he will define Paychex NOT as a classic people-centered company but as one with some exceptional qualities.

3. Why not just put the entire university of of Paychex curriculum online to eliminate all the travel and classroom time? The University of Paychex is based on a traditional old fashioned training method. It uses instructors, close mentoring, and personal contact, and this allows the company to get a better handle of the learning style of each individual. Paychex training methods allow trainees to learn their work on an “almost live” system, what makes the learning experience enjoyable and educational. The face-to-face sessions are a paramount to the overall success of Paychex. In addition the company operates in a highly regulated government business which means that every time the laws or regulations change – so must Paychex, what makes it inefficient to have a whole curriculum online as it will be time consuming and costly to constantly update it.

4. What are the keys to success for the University of Paychex? Paychex success is concealed in the personal contact that it offers its students. This approach allows the trainers to make sure all trainees understand the material studied, and in case the student need personal tutoring – the trainers are available to provide that. The trainers also follow up with managers to see if their teaching methods worked, thus allowing them to take corrective actions and improve training results.

5. How could Paychex improve the training program? I think that Paychex can improve the training program by adding to it some kind of a residency period after training has been completed, and before the trainees goes back to his workplace. Residents can be monitored carefully and guidance can be provided during that time in order to improve function.

Summation: I believe in the concept of “human capital” discussed in this case. I think that people are the key to a business’s success. Without well trained, carefully chosen, and motivated employees - a business is doomed to fail. I think motivating employees, training them and providing them with good feedbacks when they deserve it – is essential in order to develop loyalty and productivity. This case brings a classic example of a company that its whole existence is based on the concept of Human Capital. I think it is a positive and right thing, and I completely understand why it is so successful.

Paychex website: The company offers a vast and detailed description of all the services it offers. It makes it easier for clients to search for the needed assistance and it creates a sense of trust in the way it presents itself (“this is us, this is what we offer” – no hidden small letter exceptions, no misleading info). It also allows clients to maintain their accounts online in a friendly- easy to do - manner. It also allows employees to do all kinds of functions online. The whole website transmits a “people-centered” message, thus achieving the company’s goal and believes: to be a people centered company and support the concept of Human Capital.