Employee focus is an essential part of total quality management. Its numerous benefits include increased workplace commitment, stronger and more sustainable motivation, greater performance, and a healthier organizational climate (Rawson, Duncan & Jones 2013). The following paper explores the initiatives observed within a local organization that support the idea of employee focus in order to determine their benefits.
The organization in question has introduced numerous initiatives on several levels of operation. These initiatives can be broken down into several distinct categories. The first category is related to human resource management, specifically to the organization’s hiring practices. First, the process of hiring new employees consists of numerous thorough interviews as well as participation in some of the corporate activities.
In addition, the company readily allocates additional resources in order to provide the training necessary for employment. Such a thorough approach contributes to the high-performance work since it ensures the suitability of the new entrants for their positions and, therefore, decreases employee turnover. Importantly, the early introduction to the organization’s culture also decreases the likelihood of early leave as it provides the candidates with an opportunity to evaluate the corporate values and align them with their personal beliefs and ethical standards (Lee, Park & Lee 2013).
From the perspective of Maslow’s motivation theory, the said initiatives fall within the psychological needs category as they ensure the psychological and emotional comfort stemming from the feeling of self-esteem (Gardner & Pierce 2013). To some degree, they also eliminate possible discomfort experienced as a result of perceived misalignment with the corporate culture.
The second type of initiative is based on the approach to employee training. The organization ensures the desired level of employee proficiency by allowing middle- and low-level managers to determine the needs of the teams entrusted to them and customize training sessions for each identified or potential issue. For instance, the performance of a joint team can be hindered by misalignment of goals and visions within each of the initial teams (Arrowsmith & Parker 2013).
For such an occasion, the managers can request a team-building activity intended to minimize such occurrence and prevent unnecessary setbacks. Aside from the improvements in performance, such an approach can contribute to employee engagement due to the improved self-esteem facilitated by an employee-centered perspective.
Third, the company is constantly seeking new ways of adding elements that would increase employee satisfaction. The most evident example is the introduction of numerous incentives that serve as rewards for workplace success. While the traditional view holds that monetary reward is the most feasible way of boosting employee motivation, a growing number of studies point to the fact that their role is secondary to that of intangible rewards such as bonus programs and meaningful incentive plans (Bell & Zemke 2013).
The latest example is a small-scale personalized initiative where employees could award their coworkers a small monetary incentive on the company’s behalf as a reward for helping each other in a difficult situation. In addition to the tangible aspect of the action, such an approach strengthens the emotional bonds within the company, persuades the stakeholders to engage in productive teamwork, and, most importantly, facilitates a sense of a friendly and mutually supportive workplace environment. This effect can also be classified as addressing psychological needs according to Maslow’s motivation theory (Shafritz, Ott & Jang 2015).
The combined effect of the described initiatives includes increased employee engagement at an emotional and psychological level and a stronger desire to cooperate within the teams. It is also expected to decrease employee turnover and reduce expenses associated with hiring practices. Finally, it contributes to the organizational performance and facilitates commitment to quality improvement across the organization, through a combination of tangible and intangible rewards.
Reference List
Arrowsmith, J & Parker, J 2013, ‘The meaning of employee engagement for the values and roles of the HRM function’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 24, no. 14, pp. 2692-2712.
Bell, CR & Zemke, R 2013, Managing knock your socks off service, 3rd edn, American Management Association, New York, NY.
Gardner, DG & Pierce, JL 2013, ‘Focus of attention at work and organization-based self-esteem’, Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 110-132.
Lee, EM, Park, SY & Lee, HJ 2013, ‘Employee perception of CSR activities: its antecedents and consequences’, Journal of Business Research, vol. 66, no. 10, pp. 1716-1724.
Rawson, A, Duncan, E & Jones, C 2013, ‘The truth about customer experience’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 91, no. 9, pp. 90-98.
Shafritz, JM, Ott, JS & Jang, YS 2015, Classics of organization theory, 8th edn, Cengage Learning, New York, NY.