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Reliant Energy
Hygiene Factors
At Reliant Energy, many of the hygiene factors expressed in Herzberg's
Two-factor Theory do not exist. The physical working conditions are
excellent, as are most of the managers and the quality of supervision.
However, an allowance for more open communications would lead to less job
frustration. Employees cannot relate to or understand where and how they
fit into the organization without open communications with their
managers. This lack of interaction can lead to frustration and
dissatisfaction. Moreover, without a communication channel to explain
corporate financials and other non-specific details, it becomes difficult
for an employee to gauge the company's health, and the role of that
employee in making the company successful.
This can be an issue if an employee feels that he or she has no way of
realizing if his or her efforts are acceptable, or even if those efforts
are appreciated. It is important to know one's performance, and how one
can improve that performance. Therefore, it is crucial that managers
interact with employees and give them feedback about their performance
that is realistic without being abusive. These policies should be defined
at a corporate level to ensure that employees are receiving the
information that they need, and therefore decreasing overall
frustration. Even periodic reports such as quarterly reports or
task/goal achievements could be shared, which would provide to employees a
better picture of their organization and their environment.
One other communication problem is specific to the IT department. The IT
department is only concerned with pieces or sections of a greater problem,
and many times the individuals working on solutions do not see the final
resolution of that problem. A subset of a problem is assigned to an
employee to resolve; the entire problem may be beyond the scope of the
employee, or the complexity of the problem may span several departments.
For this reason, many managers simply assign subsets of issues to
technical employees, and once that is resolved, or once it is determined
that cross-platform intervention is needed, that problem is handed off to
different teams; problem tracking and resolution become processes that
only mangers are aware of. This leads to a great deal of frustration.
Through a more open communication channel, this problem could be
resolved. An open communication channel will allow employees to track
problem resolution and determine what the different parts of the fix
were.
Additionally, Reliant Energy relies heavily on contract labor for business
continuity, especially for business-critical positions or projects.
Providing employees with job security would definitely decrease the level
of dissatisfaction, as contractors can be terminated without cause or
reason at a moment's notice. Job security is a fundamental need, and the
minimization of this hygiene factor would be beneficial in reducing job
dissatisfaction.
Motivation Factors
Reliant Energy has clearly defined motivation factors. Many of these
exist as a natural byproduct of the type of environment and culture that
Reliant maintains, such as new and challenging tasks being available, or
specialized and specific tasks for those employees that are interested.
This allows for employee growth, and results in the employee facing new
and challenging tasks, leading to high job satisfaction. However, Reliant
managers could do a better job of employee recognition if something
particularly difficult is accomplished. This would lead to higher job
satisfaction. Additionally, Reliant Energy currently lacks a
comprehensive approach to promoting employees into positions of management
and responsibility. Ordinarily, these individuals are chosen from the
ranks of those that already have experience in such a particular job
function within the industry. Of course, some promotions do occur, but
they are few and very rare. The only response to excellence and
organizational ability in an employee currently is to lean on that
individual more, thus increasing the amount of work he or she has to do.
Chimes Spine & Rehabilitation Center
Hygiene Factors
Chimes Spine & Rehabilitation Center provides as a satisfying occupational
environment, in accordance with Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory.
Dissatisfaction, according to Herzberg, exists when the following hygiene
factors are not present: sufficient and consistent pay, status, job
security, good working conditions, a reasonable and comprehensible company
policy, healthy peer relations, and a reasonable level of supervision.
The level of dissatisfaction experienced by employees at the Chimes Spine
& Rehabilitation, in relation to such factors, is relatively low, given
that there is an absence of such factors.
Satisfaction is also derived from the awareness of the significance of a
specific job function, such as the knowledge that chaos would likely ensue
from an employee's physical absence from work. In many environments, role
significance is minimal, and employees are unable to determine whether or
not their presence or their work is of any consequence to the company's
ability to achieve its objectives. However, this is not the case at the
Chimes Spine & Rehabilitation Center. Job roles are clearly defined and
metrics exists to measure the performance and quality of work for any
employee. All job roles are critical to the effective performance of the
company. There is a lot involved in the daily tasks and an employee's
sense of responsibility is great. The employees are motivated to carry
out their jobs accurately and professionally by their desires to prove
themselves as capable, responsible workers. The organization provides its
employees with motivation and is structured in a beneficial organizational
manner as such.
Motivation Factors
The satisfaction of an employee, according to Herzberg's theory, comes
from motivators that are intrinsic to the organization. The Chimes Spine
& Rehabilitation Center's intrinsic motivators, which provide to the
employees a true and sufficient level of satisfaction of the job, are
expressed in a variety of ways. One of the key motivators is the sense of
responsibility imbued in each individual from the accomplishment of
tasks. Chimes Spine & Rehabilitation also has fostered an environment
that encourages the recognition of employees who performs well, which
operates as another motivation factor. These intrinsic motivators
encourage the employees of Chimes Spine & Rehabilitation Center to strive
for excellence and to execute their responsibilities with enthusiasm and
passion. For this reason, employees exert every effort to improve job
performance, which functions to guide the organization towards progress
and enrichment.
Many of the specific roles in the Chimes Spine & Rehabilitation Center
require extensive responsibility. The majority of work involves vast
amounts of accounting processes. In addition, lawsuits are also a serious
issue in medical environments, since many insurance companies are
constantly on the lookout for illegal or misrepresented claims. Employees
are entrusted with work that requires precision and attention to detail;
there is little oversight from management. This helps the employees
realize the importance of the quality of their work, and indicates the
trust and responsibility that management has allocated to them. Although
any mistakes can prove to be grievously detrimental to the finances of the
company, the boost in employee morale and their subsequent passion for
excellence and accuracy serves to mitigate this risk. This process
increases job satisfaction though increasing the amount of responsibility
an employee possesses in ensuring a job is done accurately.
Recognition of excellent work performance is crucial to an employee's
sense of satisfaction in a job. All employees enjoy recognition for
impressive attention to detail and skillful approaches to become aware of
organizational flaws or weaknesses. Co-workers are encouraged to
recognize each other for exceptional performance, and this culture of
appreciation permeates the entire organization. The Chimes Center is an
environment that strategically utilizes the tool of employee recognition
and appreciation in an effort to produce a motivating organizational
arrangement. Supervisors often indicate their appreciation of employee
concern for the general health and success of the business; even more
importantly, the supervisors value and welcome employee concerns for the
patients that are treated at the Chimes Center. This kind of recognition
indicates to the staff that their efforts are making a difference; this,
in turn, motivates the workers to do even better.
Defense Corporation
Hygiene Factors
The most obvious manifestation of the satisfaction of hygiene needs at
Defense Corp. is the company's financial compensation package. Defense
Corp. deals with satisfying this need with a combination of salary and
profit sharing in the form of stock options. In this sense, Defense Corp.
is more then adequate in need satisfaction. This company exceeds industry
standards with a profit sharing package of 15% of an employee's base
salary in within the third year of employment. In addition, Defense Corp.
offers a health, dental, and eye insurance package. Finally, paid
vacation, spot bonuses, and 0% interest corporate loans all contribute to
satisfying a person's hygiene needs.
Defense Corp ensures positive employee relations and a productive
environment through a variety of means. A new hire by Defense Corp. will
be introduced to every staff member personally with the assistance or the
Human Resource Manager. In addition, a new hire will be assigned a mentor
to assist in the adjustment process to the company and the area. Defense
Corp. also organizes many social functions, including company picnics,
group movie outings, bowling and softball leagues, and a variety of other
initiatives designed to provide the basic hygienic need of healthy peer
relations.
Defense Corp continues to assume industry leadership in the elimination of
most hygiene factors that stem from poor supervision or intrusive company
policy. Industry indicators all point to high levels of professional
pride in the employee base and genuine concern for company well-being. An
indicator of this healthy culture is Defense Corp's, ASTO operation's
quarterly "all hands" meeting is. Beginning with simple, hard statistics,
the last meeting reported many encouraging signs. The operation's
turnover rate continued to fall well below the national average and
industry standard, indicating the success of employee retention.
Additionally, absenteeism fell for the 3rd straight quarter. The
communication of this information provided a basis for the appreciation of
company policies and the quality of immediate management.
Motivation Factors
Defense Corp. provides a wide variety of programs and initiatives designed
to address Herzberg's motivation factors. The company has several
initiatives designed to address the many factors as specified by Herzberg,
including the recognition of achievement, opportunity for growth, and
provisioning interesting and challenging work for its employees. Defense
Corp. maintains a policy of management recruitment from within its own
organization. Of the many new managers, most have been promoted from
within the company.
Responsibility is liberally assigned to employees that exhibit the ability
to execute directives and achieve objectives. There are managers that
control over $50 million worth of contract work that encompass over 150
employees and 30 subcontractors. The managers for the teams are highly
trained and competent individuals that, in turn, provide opportunities for
all of their employees. Employee empowerment is considered to be a
critical success factor, and all managers are encouraged to provide
opportunities for responsibility to team members. In this manner, Defense
Corp has developed a collective interest in the achievement of total
quality management. Employees are expected to treat everything in their
daily activities to critical analysis, as though they were themselves
managing a team of people.
Conclusion
In an era of increasing competition, the significance of effectively
utilizing all available resources, including human resources, is critical
for any company. The motivation of employees is one of the fundamental
issues that companies must address in the current marketplace, as it is
one of the variables that affect employee productivity. Fundamental to
Herzberg's position is the notion that motivation is a result of personal
growth and is based on an innate need to grow. Moreover, the requirement
to successfully meet hygiene factors exists as a symbiotic relational
parameter of an organization's attempt to maintain an accelerated level of
employee intensity and productivity. As companies continue to develop
organizational initiatives, the application of Herzberg's two-factor
theory can contribute to an environment that is conducive to excellence
and enhanced performance on the part of its most valuable asset; the human
resource.
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