What's Your Motivation? by opensource.com

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Do You Know What’s Expected of You at Work?

Posted on 2013/02/252013/02/26 by Jason Hensel

A new study from Florida State University shows that less than 20 percent of employees feel certain they know what is expected of them at work. The majority of respondents reported different levels of accountability, anywhere from “some” to “complete” ambiguity.

Assessing more than 750 blue- and white-collar workers in a variety of jobs, the researchers asked first how many employees don’t know what they’re accountable for, and second, what work was like for those who knew what was expected of them compared to those who didn’t. There were considerable differences between those who knew and those who didn’t.

For example, employees uncertain of work expectations reported:

60 percent higher levels of mistrust with leadership as it relates to communication.
50 percent higher levels of overall work frustration.
45 percent less control regarding the best way to complete their work.
40 percent higher levels of work overload.
35 percent fewer work accomplishments to the organization.
33 percent less social and resource support from one’s immediate supervisor.
33 percent greater likelihood of searching for a new job within the next year.
25 percent more job neglect (slacking off, slowing down).

“When employees aren’t sure what’s expected of them, the results simply just cannot be positive, especially when the complexity of work and the pace of change is taken into consideration,” said research associate Allison Batterton.

The reason workers don’t understand what’s expected of them is because of management’s failure to be forthcoming and proactive with communication, most employees say.

“It seems the more that communication is needed, the less likely it is provided — no wonder so many employees feel completely lost at work these days,” said Wayne Hochwarter, the Jim Moran Professor of Business Administration in Florida State University’s College of Business.

The researchers offered four tips to deal with accountability issues:

Set up a formal communication system using the most current and user-friendly technology, and make sure all employees are able to use it effectively.
Make employee accountability part of both the supervisor’s and employee’s performance evaluation.
Develop informal accountability networks (i.e., buddy system) that allow employees real-time access to information needed to effectively focus attention on tasks considered most important for that particular day (or hour).
Make accountability proactive rather than reactive.

“Most employees want to do a good job and contribute to their organization,” Hochwarter said. “Perhaps it’s overly simplistic, but this can only take place when employees know what’s expected. Sadly, many do not, and the situation appears to be getting worse rather than better.”

Do you know what’s expected of you at work?

(Story materials from Florida State University/Barbara Ash. Image via Flickr: DailyM/Creative Commons.)

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Five Ways to Have Happy Employees

Posted on 2013/01/152013/01/15 by Jason Hensel

Fast Company recently published an article by Lydia Dishman titled “The Secrets of America’s Happiest Companies.” Dishman covers a lot of ground about the ways different companies keep employees happy. For those that like bullet lists, though, she broke it down to five good best practices.

Variety: Happy employees experience different roles within the company, which can create a feeling of improvement.
Meaning: Employees want to feel like they’re making a difference in the world, or at least for their company.
Praise: Employees like regular praise and public acknowledgement for a great job.
Individual: A people-first policy will go a long way in keeping employees happy. No more widget makers. They want recognition as humans.
Integration: The term “work-life balance” is no longer applicable in the 21st century. Focus on how to reasonably integrate work and life within an employee’s daily activities.

Check out the full article for more about how to keep employees happy, and let me know in the comments what makes you happy at work.

(Image via Flickr: Dice.com / Creative Commons)

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Why Employee Empowerment is Important in the Workplace

Posted on 2012/11/26 by Jason Hensel

I’ve always said I’m at my most productive and innovative at work when I’m given autonomy. That feeling of empowerment and trust from management motivates me to help the company succeed because it’s all on my shoulders.

Now there is some research from the University of Illinois that shows autonomy plays a major role in increasing “employee commitment to continuous improvement initiatives.”

“Continuous improvement initiatives are typically bundled with employee empowerment techniques,” said Gopesh Anand, a business professor at Illinois. “We always hear, ‘If you empower employees, they will take care of the improvements.’ But what happens repeatedly is that this employee empowerment is management-driven, and it does not work.”

“It’s a paradox–employee empowerment being forced upon employees by management,” said Dilip Chhajed, a business professor at Illinois and director of the technology management program in the College of Business. “What usually ends up happening is that employees feel they are being forced into doing something that they may not even see as being very useful.”

The research offers three points on how to enhance employee commitment to improvement at work.

The day-to-day work environment needs to be perceived by employees as autonomous.
As continuous improvement involves making changes to the very practices that frontline employees use in their day-to-day work, trust in leadership is critical.
A higher degree of trust in leadership further leads to proactive behaviors by frontline employees, encouraging them to use the autonomy in their day-to-day jobs to seek out and make systematic improvements to work practices.

“Many times, employees end up working on continuous improvement projects simply because the CEO is telling them to participate in the initiative,” Anand said. “But they aren’t really sold on this idea of making an effort to improve their workplace and work practices.”

“Workers need to have a sense of control over their work environment,” said Luis Delfin, a graduate student who co-wrote the research. “They need to be able to decide how and what to do in their day-to-day work. And that’s actually what motivates them to improve. Their buy-in becomes even stronger when leadership provides them the support to do this.”

However, employees shouldn’t think of improvements as extra work.

“Employees can’t think of it as, ‘This is something being brought down upon us by upper management,’ ” Anand said. “If they do, it becomes extra work that they’re not compensated for.”

“The big one for employees is, ‘What’s in it for me?’ ” Chhajed said. “Management is trying to make things more efficient, so what does that mean for my job, my work hours? That’s why employees need to trust that management is looking out for their best interests. If they don’t have that trust, then even autonomy is not going to help as much. Trust is huge, because you don’t want the perception that management is coercing employees to do this.”

Also, management shouldn’t be the main instigator of change.

“There should be some top-down direction in terms of where the initiative should go and what are we in business for,” Anand said. “But there needs to be balance between the top-down goals and the bottom-up improvements.

“It’s like building a bridge from both sides,” Delfin said. “Upper management usually has the vision, but at the same time they’re not the experts on how things get done on the ground. So you need to have frontline employees who have some freedom because you are trying to get all of this to meet in the middle. That means that the leaders in management need to act more like coaches, and less like dictators. You need a cooperative environment where leaders are guiding and coaching, and employees are participating.”

Are you given a lot of autonomy at your job? Or does management dictate your every move and decision?

(Story materials from the University of Illinois. Image via Flickr: Ryan / Creative Commons.)

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Why Engagement Matters

Posted on 2011/11/012011/11/02 by Jason Hensel

National Novel Writing Month is in November. I tried it once. I didn’t succeed. Writing more than 1,666 words a day is hard, especially if you have an editing and writing job. After a day’s work, I just want to come home and do anything but write or read for a few hours. Then by the time I want to write, it’s time for The Daily Show. Can’t miss that! Then it’s The Colbert Report. Have to watch that, too! Oh, look, it’s 11 p.m. What’s on Facebook? A few hours later, it’s time for bed. National Novel Writing Month, I hardly knew you.

There’s another national writing project that happens each month, though. It’s National Blog Posting Month. Writing a blog post a day seems totally doable, primarily because there’s no word count requirement or need for a complete story. If I want to write about banshees one day and then write about the dangers of electricity the next, as Bobby Brown would say, that’s my prerogative. It just takes engagement on my end.

Engagement, however, is difficult. A recent Gallup poll found that 71 percent of U.S. workers were “‘not engaged’ or ‘actively disengaged’ in their work, meaning they are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and are less likely to be productive.”

And who are these less engaged workers that are bringing down production? They’re primarily college educated, men, and between the ages of 30 and 64. Oh dear, I’m in my prime disengagement period.

A perceived lack of progress or the fear of layoffs are two of the main reasons employees are less engaged in their work. Leaders, though, can mitigate the lack of engagement, according to Gallup:

Every manager can play a role in engaging workers by clarifying expectations, getting employees what they need to do their work, giving workers recognition when they do good work, encouraging employee development, helping workers connect to the broader purpose of the organization, and frequently measuring and discussing progress. The managers and departments within organizations that do these things are more likely to produce high-quality work and help their organizations grow and improve the wellbeing of their workforce.

Now while I believe a lot of workplace issues are due to mismanagement and poor communication from leaders, they shouldn’t solely take the blame. Employees should communicate with their employers about what’s bothering them. They should have honest conversations, without fear of retribution, about an organization’s direction and their role in that direction. Unfortunately, there’s usually a huge highway between employers and employees.

The Gallup poll says that employees younger than 30 or older than 65 are more engaged. That raises the question: Are these age groups just happily employed due to economic conditions?

Increasing engaged workers could spur job growth, according to the Gallup report. But maybe people don’t care about things such as job growth, seats at the table, and money anymore. Maybe 30- to 64-year-old, non-engaged worker concerns are about other things, such as time, family, and spiritual matters. Maybe to them, work is just work, so why be engaged in it? Get in, get enough money, and get out as soon as you can in time to enjoy the rest of your life. If that is your plan, then maybe being more engaged will get you there sooner. Or maybe not. Maybe you’re more engaged in throwing a Frisbee with friends every afternoon.

What I’m saying is choose your focus. Figure out what you ultimately want in life and do it. Maybe it’s working hard every day. Maybe it’s writing a daily blog post. Whatever it is, figure it out for yourself and be engaged in it, because there’s nothing worse in this world than a life half lived.

(Photo via Flickr: drinksmachine / Creative Commons)

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