Human Resource Knowledge

Motivating employees

In this article we are discussing about some aspects of motivating the employees other than pay and perks. Interesting work patterns and breaking their monotony of stereotype work can also act as motivating factors.

An employee should be moved from one work to another at a regular interval. This type of job rotation reduces monotony and boredom. If a worker is given liberty to work in his own way without affecting quality and productivity, he will work with interest. Job design should be changed, if it is found necessary to simplify the operations or processes. Unnecessary interference by a supervisor, while a worker is performing his job, should be avoided as far as possible.

Suggestions from employees for improvement of quality should be encouraged and prizes should be awarded for good suggestions. Certain progressive companies run suggestion schemes very successfully.

Quality campaigns should be initiated and continuously promoted. Moreover progress against predetermined standards should be examined regularly to find out variances if any. Quality work should be appreciated and incentives in form of prizes, early promotions, higher wage rates etc should be given for quality work.

Reasonable wage rates linked with productivity and quality should be implemented to encourage the workers to work sincerely and carefully.

Provision for adequate training to workers should be made for improvement of quality and productivity. Workers should be made known about the use of parts, components, products etc. which that are making or are going to make. If they know the use and importance of the result of their hard labor, they will work with great care.

Promotion policy should be framed I such a way, which can provide an incentive to honest, sincere and hardworking employees in terms of comparatively early promotions at regular intervals. The officers or heads should be co-operative and capable of motivating their subordinates. Each head should work in such a way so that the workers under each head feel that the head is their own man and also that he is one important member of the team. The boss should take care of his subordinates. Such a practice makes the relations between heads and their subordinates cordial and workers work sincerely with full confidence in their superiors.

After working the employees get exhausted physically and mentally and so they require rest. Now the span of working period after which rest period is to be allowed depends upon the type of work. If there is more mental and physical work to the workers than long rest time is required Heavy work should be mechanized as far as reduce the strain on body and brain. In large factories, where the material handling is large, conveyor, belts are used.

Drawings, designs, operations, methods of production etc should be simple, well-defined and technically practicable as far as possible. Process sheets should be easy to understand the working of a process. Specifications should not be stringent than required for the function of the product. The production process required for the quality must be imparted to the workers by proper training. If the stringent specifications are followed, number of rejected products will be more. Workers get disappointed when they come to know that products are rejected even when they put their best efforts.

To minimize the rejection, tolerances (with the upper and lower limit) should be prescribed, instead of following the specification. Variations in dimension, weight etc should be permitted up to a certain limit (upper or lower), which do not affect the quality.

Employees should be provided with the better quality of tools and equipments so that better quality products are produced. Proper maintenance and timely repair of the tools are also important to ensure continuity in production.

Better working conditions generate healthy relations between the workers and the employers thereby resulting in industrial peace which means increased in productivity and better quality work.

We have highlighted above various measures to be taken in actual manufacturing to produce goods of specified quality by training processes, job rotation, functionally required specifications which keep the workmen motivated which may result in increased productivity. Therefore we consider this as part of operations management.

Labels: Management

posted by Paresh @ 11:33 AM