Management. Educational aid
.pdfthe affairs of the organization, carrying out the necessary actions, without waiting for the corresponding stimulating effect.
SPECIFIC SITUATIONS
Situation 1. You are the head of a department. One of your subordinates, M. Rykov, constantly proposes incredible projects that are clearly impossible to implement at the moment and in this organization. His colleagues in the department treat him with irony and consider him a great “dreamer.”
What are your suggestions as the head of the department, should this subordinate be motivated?
Situation 2. You are the head of a structural unit. An employee came to you asking to let him go from work for the day. You are asking about the goal. It turns out that he wants to use this day to look for another job. His departure will deprive your site of the necessary and qualified specialist.
What should you do in this situation?
Situation 3. You have been appointed head of the HR department. You, together with two assistants, have developed an adaptation program for young employees (this year 15 young employees came, in total the company employs 90 people). The main thing in it is to retain employees; they are partially paid for rented housing in the amount of 5 thousand rubles. This led to the fact that the rest of the company's employees, who were not young employees, were unhappy with this and began to demand payment for housing.
Analyze the current situation. What should the manager and head of the HR department do?
Situation 4. You are the head of the “Aromat” company. Team of 24 people. You distribute products of perfume companies. Salary depends
61
on the percentage of plan completion. If the monthly plan for finding a customer and selling products is fulfilled, then the salary is 15 thousand rubles. In your organization, young employees who recently came to work with you very often quit. They haven't worked for more than three months. 80% of the team changes within a year.
What are your actions in a specific situation? How to slow down staff turnover?
Situation 5. During a period of crisis for your organization, the manager asked you to give 1/3 of your salary to the development of the company, otherwise it will go bankrupt. The organization employs 18 people. Once difficult times pass, all investments will be returned to employees [15].
Analyze the current situation from the perspective of the manager and the team.
Situation 6. You work on a probationary period in the “Svetik” LLC. The manager gives you his job, citing the fact that you will have more experience. This leads to you working 12 hours every day, after the end of the probationary period nothing has changed in your work.
What will you do in a specific situation? Is it possible to avoid such a situation at the initial stage of your work in an organization?
Situation 7. You have been appointed director of the “Pilot” company. At the moment, your company does not have the opportunity to reward an employee with money. But the employee deserved to be encouraged. He brought the company a good order, which helped avoid mass layoffs of employees.
How should you act as a leader? Give several options for solving the situation.
Situation 8. You are the director of the “Birka” company. There are 12 people under your command. After a successful year of work, three
62
employees came to you; those who were considered the foundation of the company asked to double their salaries, justifying it by the fact that they brought the lion’s share of the company’s profit.
What should you do in this situation?
Situation 9. You run the “Okno” company. You have excellent specialists on your team, but they are going to quit because you cannot increase employee salaries, as promised, by 10–15% at the end of the calendar year. In this situation, there is no way to increase wages; orders have decreased. You also have to deprive employees of their bonus (annual) due to lack of funds in the organization.
How to retain employees in a company?
Situation 10. Based on the results of work for the year, the “West” company allocated 300 thousand rubles for material incentives for the team of adjusters. There are 6 people in the brigade, the foreman distributed the funds equally (50 thousand rubles for each), which caused great dissatisfaction among the workers and a conflict situation in the brigade.
How would you divide this amount, and what other incentive methods would you use, taking into account the composition of the team?
The following is a description of the team members:
a)the youngest employee, 22 years old. Single, enjoys swimming. He hasn't decided on a career yet. He chose his profession by chance. He tries to simply complete the work he receives, lacks initiative, and the assessment of the work is average. Spends free time in the pool;
b)young worker, 27 years old. He works with great desire. Family, small child. The motives for a successful career and achieving goals are very strong. He is proactive, fully devotes himself to his work, and his work evaluation is high. He has a great desire to learn, improve his skills and become the head of a company. Plays tennis;
c)worker, 36 years old. Works by calling (working dynasty). Family,
two small children. The motives for a successful career and achieving
63
goals are strong. Spends most of his time at work. The work is highly rated. His goal is to become a leader, and in the near future — a foreman. Enjoys tourism;
d) worker, 47 years old. Family, two student children. Works consistently well, the work is highly rated. He treats moral incentives calmly, just like his career. The advantage is given to financial incentives, as it pays for the education of children and the treatment of parents. Spends his free time at the dacha;
е) foreman, 50 years old. He is vain, dissatisfied with his career, and considers the position of foreman not commensurate with his abilities. Actively participates in the social life of the enterprise. It takes a lot of time, so the results are average. Divorced, no children, not experiencing any particular financial difficulties. Enjoys traveling;
f) older worker (one year before retirement). Extensive professional experience, knowledge, skills, decreasing physical activity. Indispensable for counseling in difficult situations, but physically he cannot always cope with their solution. Children, grandchildren, retired wife. The main task of the employee is to calmly work until retirement. Performance indicators are average. Is a mentor to the youngest employee. He is interested in literature.
EXERCISES
Exercise 1. Determine the validity of each of the factors of motivating labor organization for various groups of Russian workers (in percentage terms: absolutely true — 100% and then in descending order) and compare these indicators with similar indicators for those employed in Western countries.
Fifteen motivating factors in work organization:
1.Any actions of the company’s personnel, including management, must always be meaningful.
2.Most people experience joy from work by being responsible for it,
satisfying their need for personal involvement in the results of activities
64
and working with people. Targeted recognition of an employee’s performance by colleagues or outsiders is of great importance.
3.In their workplace, everyone wants to show what they are capable of and what they mean to others. In this regard, he strives to take part in shaping decisions on issues of his competence and provide consulting services to other employees.
4.Everyone strives to express himself in the results of his work, noticed by everyone. Therefore, the criteria for completing tasks must always be high so that the dignity of the employee does not suffer, and the results are specific and personal.
5.Almost everyone has their own point of view on how to improve their work. He must have the desire to implement his plans without fear of sanctions and relying on the interested support of management.
6.It is important for a person to feel that he is indispensable to the team. The manager must make this clear to the entire team, but within reasonable limits.
7.Every person strives for success. Success is goals achieved. The employee will invest maximum energy in achieving those that he set for himself or in the development of which he took an active part.
8.Success without recognition leads to disappointment. Recognition and encouragement should be both material and moral.
9.By the way, with what speed and in what form employees receive information, they assess their real importance in the eyes of management. If access to information is difficult, employees will feel humiliated.
10.Decisions regarding changes in the work of employees cannot be made without their knowledge, even if the changes are positive.
11.Everyone needs information about the quality of their work. An ordinary worker needs it more than a manager. Information must be prompt, large-scale and timely.
12.Every job benefits from the greatest possible degree of self-
control.
65
13.Most people strive to acquire knowledge in the process of work. Therefore, increased requirements, which provide a chance for further development, are accepted much more readily than lower ones.
14.Employees react sharply if their efforts and outstanding results only lead to additional workload. Especially if it doesn't balance out monetarily. This is how initiative dies.
15.Work should allow the employee to be his own master all the way from costs to results [13, p. 54–55].
Exercise 2. Managers have always been well aware that people can be intentionally influenced to successfully accomplish organizational goals. The very first technique used was the carrot and stick method. Describe situations in which the carrot and stick approach can be effectively used today.
Exercise 3 (using the Internet). Find the website of one of the companies you know on the Internet and tell us what motivation methods are used by its managers and executives. What are their advantages, are they effective in aligning the interests of the company and staff? Give examples of successful and unsuccessful human motivation. Try to analyze the reasons for success or failure.
CASES
Case 1. “Cultivating loyalty”
Employees of the Pyatigorsk company “Bosfor”, which produces PVC windows and doors, began to work for competitors in parallel — transferring part of the orders to them. After conducting internal diagnostics, “Bosphor” came to the conclusion that a poor motivation system was to blame. But the situation has not yet been corrected.
66
“Bosfor” has been selling plastic windows and doors for nine years and is one of the four largest players in this market in the Stavropol Territory.
Three years ago, the demand for construction and finishing materials sharply increased in the region: the resort base began to actively develop, and numerous cottage villages were being built. Thanks to this, since 2002, the company's sales have grown by 30% annually. Naturally, the potential of the region forced all major players in the market of plastic windows and doors to become more active and attracted new ones. For example, two years ago the Okna Plus company appeared in Pyatigorsk, which also established its own assembly production and has every chance of becoming a serious competitor. In order not to lose ground, “Bosphor” needs a united team. This is where difficulties arose.
The company works with German KBE profiles. Components are purchased in Germany and at a German-owned plant in Voskresensk, and the products are assembled in the Pyatigorsk workshop of “Bosphor”. Finished windows and doors are sold through dealers and our own retail division. There are no complaints about many departments of the company — sales, installation work. The only problematic link was and remains the measurers. “Suspicions that some of them are leaking orders to competitors arose a long time ago,” says Marina Chernousova, head of the sales department of the “Bosphor” company. “But this year, when our own security service began to operate, we received confirmation. We have become aware of cases where our surveyors came to potential clients and recommended the services of another company that would complete the project “faster and cheaper.” In August alone, we received at least a dozen orders.” The company cannot calculate how many orders were lost because of this. But if previously the number of refusals to continue cooperation with “Bosphor” after communicating with a surveyor did not exceed 3–4% per year, then over the past six months it has grown to 10%.
Bad reward. The first thought was: immediately expel the offenders. But then the “Bosphor” management decided to figure out why this was happening and give the guilty a chance to improve. Those who were at fault explained: we work a lot, but get little. The fact is that the tasks of a
67
surveyor include not only technical work (measurement itself, calculation, etc.) and drawing up a detailed report. He should make a short presentation: tell what the advantage of the profiles offered by “Bosphor” is, which option is suitable in a particular case, how serious alterations will be required to install new doors or windows. If the client agrees, he is then dealt with by a sales manager who draws up a contract and receives a certain percentage. Measurers are paid a fixed salary of 12–15 thousand rub. per month with an average load of at least 150 measurements per month. “This is good money for our region, — says Marina Chernousova. — In addition, if an employee was heavily loaded and carried out complex projects, he was entitled to a bonus of 1.5–2 thousand rub. per month or a gift from the company: new blinds, help in installing windows or repairing a car. I made the decision on rewards personally, since I had all the information about how much work everyone had done in a month.”
During the high season, which begins in May and ends in November, employees received bonuses and gifts almost every month. But for some, this turned out to be less profitable than transferring the client to another company and receiving their percentage for it. It turned out that some of the company’s dealers were also in cahoots with the measurers: often unscrupulous measurers gave orders to them, and they set prices lower than “Bosphor” (the company admits that their prices are not the lowest on the market, since they include significant overhead costs, which small semi-legal artels are not burdened with). “Unfortunately, it was not possible to come to an amicable agreement with the dealers, and we cannot put pressure on them: they are threatening to go to another manufacturer,” explains Marina Chernousova. “For us, this is a loss of money and a gap that our retail network, which sells only 40% of the products we produce, will not close. There are no funds to expand our own retail.”
Reward for violators. Thinking about who to fight first — an external or internal enemy, the company nevertheless decided to concentrate on its own staff: if the employee does not have the desire to steal an order, then the problem of relationships with partners will
68
disappear by itself. The company rejected the creation of a control service: it is expensive and the mechanism of its operation is not entirely clear. “Bosphor” decided to rely on developing effective employee motivation, which would make it unprofitable to work for a competitor. The first stage of creating a motivational scheme was to abandon the subjective assessment of labor results and introduce clear standards. The main criteria were travel distance (to get to a client, sometimes you have to travel 40– 100 km), the number of orders per day and their level of complexity. But, as Marina Chernousova admits, no clear scale was created: almost every order had some specificity. As a result, instead of standards, they got approximate descriptions, with the help of which the problem could not be solved.
The next step was ruble stimulation. For each visit to a client, the measurer, regardless of the result, began to pay an additional 15 rubles. If the meeting ended with the signing of an agreement, the fee doubled. In a successful scenario, it came out to about 2 thousand rub. per month. At some point, “Bosphor” decided that it was wrong to develop solutions at the top, and asked the measurers themselves to come up with evaluation criteria and incentive methods. But nothing came of this venture. The employees asked to increase their salaries to a thousand dollars, but at the same time they could not clearly explain how much work they were willing to do for this money. While there was an exchange of opinions, several orders again went to competitors. Therefore, at the end of August, two employees had to be fired. On the one hand, this became an example for others. On the other hand, the company does not want to go down this path: finding a qualified replacement is not so easy, and there is no time to train inexperienced newcomers.
Continuing the search. Having exhausted the stock of ideas, “Bosphor” turned to the practices of other players: all sellers of plastic windows and doors face similar problems to one degree or another. As it turned out, large companies try to ensure that the measurer is interested in signing the contract. For example, he goes to the client with a laptop on which software is installed that allows him to accurately calculate the cost
69
of the project, concludes a contract and, along with the sales manager, receives 1–3% of the order amount. At the same time, no more than two or three on-site visits are made per day. However, this experience did not suit
“Bosphor”. “We don’t have the opportunity to buy laptops for all the measurers: it’s too expensive,” says Marina Chernousova. So far, the leakage of orders has not significantly affected the business: sales continue to grow. But “Bosphor”management is very concerned that the company’s image is suffering. The consumer does not have the best impression of the company if its representative advises to contact someone else. How can we prevent employees from looking for opportunities to earn money on the side? The company believes that the answer to this question should be sought in the motivation system. There is an alternative idea: control and punitive measures. The creation of a security service, an internal investigation and the dismissal of persistent violators are the first steps in this direction.
Questions for the case:
1.Which way should the “Bosphor” go?
2.What protection systems against thieving personnel can be recommended to the company [2]?
Case 2. “Motivating meat processing plant workers”
When Peter Romanov became the director and main co-owner of the privatized enterprise “Podmoskovny” Meat Processing Plant three years ago, it was in a good financial position. The plant sold its products to all nearby areas and regions, and the volume of these sales grew by 20% per year. People bought the plant's products for their quality. However, Romanov soon noticed that the plant workers did not pay enough attention to the level of performance of their work. They made major mistakes: they confused, for example, packaging and stickers for different product samples, added the wrong additives to the original products, and poorly mixed the composition of sausages. There have been cases where workers
70
