Introduction
Work situations in organizations often approximate to chaotic situations due to the frequent propensity to manage fluctuations in the market and of material resources. There arise stable circumstances of great predictability as well as situations of little predictability within organizations. Employees tend to be routinely accustomed to daily patterns of execution of tasks and duties. In the event of a distortion leading to a crisis, often there needs to be a readiness and flexibility among employees to navigate through to prevent loss or sustain adequate profitability in the short run while not compromising long-term prospects.
Workers are the implementers of daily chores and tasks in organizations other than solid assets or machines. Unfortunately, theories advanced in organizational management often assume a mechanistic treatment of them as items. Individual workers ought to reserve adequate individuality, self identity and independence to attain necessary aggregation in work teams. Leadership hence has the task of incorporating the workers as humans other than mechanistic. Individual sensations, emotions and needs are to be cared for in the Maslowian-hierarchy outlook (Arnold, 1998).
The rising levels of awareness among employees of welfare standards attributable to the campaign and advocacy by non-governmental organizations coupled to stiffening legislation impose upon organizations the new codes. Work practices as instituting problem-solving teams, improved communication with workers, les rigid job assignments, job security, propensity to more incentive pay, training for multiple jobs and adoption of technology and statistical process controls.
In the civil service, elected legislatures, often traditionally a preserve of minimal public scrutiny is currently grappling with reforms to institute efficient service delivery, competence and productivity. The elite public often demands accountability, productivity and sustainability equally or even with increased keenness following the high levels of official corruption, insider deals and embezzlement of funds experienced in the recent past. Such demands inform and guide managerial practice leading to a propensity to improve on employee welfare (Blum, 1988).
The discipline of human resource development when looked from within and outside the organizations being in its various conceptualizations, usually concerns basic configuration of diverse personalities to constitute a functional mosaic of a workforce congruent with the managerial tasks. Since people work mainly for wages, appropriate compensation policies are requisite for the sustenance of appropriate working relations. Such policies must address as a priority, profit sharing, efficient disbursement of wages and various forms of incentive pay. Moreover, accurate employee selection, appropriate use of work teams, disclosure of relevant financial information and employment security.
Management in organizations often in private enterprises engaged in profit generation often faces the dilemma of agency particularly with regards to the remuneration or compensation of management. Various services such as insurance and welfare funds could be used to sustain and enhance the workers loyalty. Some Institutions or organizations in the modern management have been striving to extend privileges and motivational goodies to the various ranks of their employees, as discounted price rates, class considerations, club fee contributions to lessen personal burdens, relieve of time and obligations to achieve employee satisfaction and commitment.
Informal sector employment, which is mainly dominated by semi-skilled or unskilled artisans, has also on the other hand received little social protection, particularly in regards to infrastructure projects in most of the developing countries, this workers welfare is on a grossly skewed domain. The formal sector normally employs the elite workforces who are usually characterized by specifications such as specialized professional fields, knowledge of work ethics, high professional standards, professional body membership and community sensitivity (Juster, 1985).
Remuneration and Workers welfare
Workers remuneration schemes or schedules are important for sustaining intrinsic motivation for jobs or task accomplishment. Other benefits used appropriately and strategically for the various levels of hierarchy in organizations as bonuses, provident funds, gratuities and annual increments often achieve motivational basis for efficient performance and achievement of optimal performance.
Optimal welfare maintenance or contribution by business organizations to their employees often promotes respect, honor and understanding among the employees laterally and vertically through the hierarchies. In effect, it facilitates the growth of synergy, and hence task accomplishment within scheduled periods, leading to stable teams within departments and across sections of the organization. Eventual attainment of overall goals and objectives also reinforces individual satisfaction with the job as well as promote group cohesion (John, 1987).
Satisfaction with the job tends to eliminate unnecessary incompetence, laziness, ‘witch-hunt’, gossip and a plethora of tendencies that drain goodwill. In addition, supervision carried out moderately and consistently often eliminates distraction and enhances participation and job commitment. Modern social interaction enabled by the worldwide web and the rapidly developing information technology ought to be regulated depending on the circumstances and job descriptions. Access to Internet blogging and chat-room visits, well regulated in the workplace can save companies priceless loss of man-hour (Henri, 1997).
Labor market regulation by the International Labor Organization (ILO), government agencies and surveillance organizations of the third sector as human rights groups often impact on workforce welfare experience. Deregulationists often insist upon free markets ability to self regulate, yet in the post-modern contemporary scenario characterized with imperfect competition and political interference among a plethora of besetting managerial circumstances; excellence of the human resource practice sub-sector.
Remuneration at equal rates for both the sexes for equal work is dominant in the new wave of gender mainstreaming literature, moreover, in many colleges the students are exposed to gender equality awareness campaigns or workshops. Excellent management henceforth has no choice but to practice by the latest standards (Gleitman, 1995).
Work-life balance and self esteem
In advanced industrial economies, unlike the transition economies and developing countries, often the urge to work for longer, and gain more income push many workers to have little regard for their personal recuperation, creation and relaxation. Organizations need to invest in adequate recreational packages. Such practice limits stress, absenteeism and eliminates unnecessary productivity loss.
Organizations need to manage individuals and their identity, self esteem and image.
This is carried out by monitoring dimensions determining self esteem as self-awareness, significance, competence, likeability, aliveness and self determining sensibilities. These are addressed by adjusting the work social environment to reverberate with freedom, participation, openness, recognition, empowerment and humanity. Individuality ought to be promoted, on a behavioral basis other than rationalization to a rigid code of expectation. Individual workers need the chance to vent their uniqueness, through appropriate self affirmation. Moreover, when individuals live the ideal self, they are more involved proactively in all situations and promote their creativity. Self evaluation and judgment against self proscribed expectations lead to social growth.
Leadership and supervision
There exist several inconspicuous malfunctions within organizations coupled with external factors that also interfere with workers productivity. Such factors often get compounded with individual employee incompetence and personal inadequacies. Moreover, during a crisis, organizations bear the brunt of such compound effects. Institutionalization of statistical process controls, six sigma schemes for the generation of timely data that help establish non-financial anomalies impinging upon productivity.
Whenever performance of employees is difficult to accurately measure or determine the complementarities theory entail appropriate gearing mechanisms that ensure elimination of free-rider problems.
Different managerial practices should be rationally implemented that conform to cultural complementarities. Learning and retraining of employees ought to reflect a commitment to statutory as well as excellent standard benchmarks. Adequate manpower planning is appropriate per department addressing turnover rates, workloads and social as well as humanistic factors such as the Voices of pressure groups from feminist.
An enhanced working morale comprises of three mechanisms which includes the ability of employees iidentifying themselves with the organization or business or mastering of the organizations’ objectives, goals and processes. It also entails enhancement of workers positive moods, and openness of the workers to each other and to the management of the organization. An individual might be said to have mastered the objectives of their business or organization when they are seen to be working efficiently and effectively without prior supervision, instructions and rewarded. Identification with the workplace is shown by internalization of the workplace goals or objectives as well as by motives of a worker to demonstrate membership in the organization and also by sheer expression of feelings of belonging to the workplace. Cooperation within an organization is fostered by a system of trusting associations among workers.
Various labor organizations and professional organizations often bargain on behalf of the members for equitable remuneration, rest and holiday provisions often based on federal labor laws, crisis situations also call for extrajudicial remedies particularly among popular social welfare workforce as teachers, nurses and doctors.
Individual employees should be evaluated on their commitment to the objectives of the firm or business organization and the specific department. Inevitably people have different abilities, talents, special interests which could contribute to their productivity if well utilized in the workplace. Moreover, the need for diversity of characters has contributed to workers productivity in various firms and organizations. Employee commitment evaluated against the departmental objectives yields a basis for formulation of appropriate training and development needs and for strengthening commitment to regulations.
At the departmental levels, managers ought to provide staff with adequate guidance and supervision as well as performance feedback. Conduct appraisals and timely intervention to correct poor performance or misconduct and the development of training and retraining schedules, and identification of precise objectives to be attained by the workers.
Intra-organizational mechanisms often contribute solutions to conflicting parties within the organizations when rationally mediated with leadership, the often source of conflict is remuneration, promotions, work environment and conditions. Moreover, appropriate mechanisms ensure adequate team building opportunities. Facilitation of the work station with appropriate tools, protective gadgets, equipment and materials ensure work efficiency as well as eliminate chances of unnecessary injury. This reduces harm and promotes individual engagement with work, particularly when involving expenditure of physical effort.
Job satisfaction as well as productivity of workers have high correlations as studies show, and often are associated with high performances reflected on the balance sheet items.
Employment security
During volatile economic times, many employees develop an anxiety of the threat of job loss which leads to instability. Appropriate and timely communication is hence required as part of organization culture, in the long-run. In addition, organizations ought to reward commensurate reward packages in case of eventual employee dismissal or retrenchment as it assures remaining employees of adequate security.
Self-directed work teams achieve greater productivity at work due to the enrichment resultant of individual significance and heightened synergy garnered by cooperation. Restructuring of work according to the whole process and laying linkages and sequences that enable individual teams to achieve set results and quality benchmarks often lead to immediate satisfaction by the results. The satisfaction usually reinforces a feeling of security out of accomplishment.
Statistical process controls laid well within organizations avail timely information for managerial action, product quality ascertainment, employee evaluation and overall communication efficiency. The result is the ability of employees self regulate within an efficient information system. This eliminates unnecessary biases, suspicions and discontentment.
Succession procedures and hierarchy system of organizations
At all levels in organizations, internal job mobility, promotion and placement ought to do within well established and open policy framework. Promotions which are done on competence, seniority and experience basis lead to popular acceptance and satisfaction among lateral rank colleagues. In event that hierarchical structures are perceived as faulty, there can result detrimental panic and discontentment.
Conclusion
A productive workforce is the backbone of any excellent management efforts in all organizations, workers’ intellectual and physical output highly depends upon their emotions and feelings about themselves and the organizations. Various traditional management theories as bureaucracy, systems approach theory often require adequate interpretation before implementation or practice due to their ability to swing employee orientations.
Happiness often arrives after self evaluation and the realization that one has achieved satisfactory progress through otherwise challenging circumstances. Recognition of challenge is hence part of happiness scenarios. The management hence ought to adequately highlight the challenge environment, reward expectations to elicit appropriate outcome of emotions and sensations (Francis, 1983).
References
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- Blum, Milton L. (1988), Industrial Psychology and Its Social Fundamentals, New York: Harper and Brothers.
- Gleitman, Henry (1995), Psychology. New York: W. W. Norton.
- Juster, R. Thomas (1985), Preferences for Work and Leisure, University of Michigan Publication.
- Francis T and Paul F. (1983) Goods and Well-Being, Univ. of Michigan: Institute for Social Research.
- Henri T. (1997), Experiments in Inter-group Discrimination, Scientific American Journal 988, 98–108.
- John C. and Turner (1987), Discovering the Social Grouping: A Self-Categorization Theory. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.