Organizational Behavior – The Employee Whisperer Essay Example
Organizational Behavior – The Employee Whisperer Essay Example

Organizational Behavior – The Employee Whisperer Essay Example

Available Only on StudyHippo
  • Pages: 10 (2671 words)
  • Published: February 4, 2017
  • Type: Research Paper
View Entire Sample
Text preview

In the OB in Action Case Study - The Employee Whisperer, we discover that a new way of thinking for employee motivation in the workplace is "fun". By "fun" it was meant that the employees were given incentives to laugh while at work and enjoy what they do, to make friends and think outside the box, which the business discussed in this article, Kenexa, is supporting as a new wave to employee motivation in the workplace. The concept is that by making the workplace a comfortable and enjoyable place to be the employee is more apt to look forward to going to work and is also more productive while there.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this case and my immediate instinct was to look the company up on line to see if they had any job

...

openings (lol). This has always been a concept that I have supported throughout my working career because I have seen the benefits of dealing with stress and conflict with humor and lightness as being a more positive approach in the workplace than anger and confusion tends to be. Before we develop some insight into the case in question we need to question the issues that the Kenexa system might have in the workforce in general.

Many times something looks so good on paper that we question why everyone and every company is not running with the concepts supported by a system such as the one that Kenexa implements throughout many of the businesses that they work for. What we do not see from this article is the businesses that they may have tried to help bu

View entire sample
Join StudyHippo to see entire essay

failed within and the reasons behind those failures. Many of the initial obstacles to having a company like Kenexa explore options for improved employee performance through motivation and feedback are some of the basics such as cost, company size, type of business, and management style already in place to name a few.

Many companies today are suffering in the wake of the downturn of the economy and do not have the financial excesses or upfront capital required to hire a company such as Kenexa even though the supposed financial outcome could in the end improve the companies bottom line. Another consideration is company size. While the style that Kenexa employs is generally tailored to the business it would seem that larger companies with more infrastructure would have more cause to use their methods for improvement rather than smaller companies without much management layers.

We could assume that smaller companies with less layers would be easier to reform but sometime that is not the case when you might be dealing with a specific type of employee or product. Many time there is no movement to be had and other ideals such as increased quality of the product would need to be established as a goal or increased output since promotional incentives or financial incentives may not be possible. Also to consider is that management in place may not be easily retrained to embrace to concepts support by Kenexa for success.

Many of the managers in older more established companies come with many years of experience behind them and tend to stick with the “tried and true” methods for management. This often included the

need to view work as work and not as fun. The established norm for a business may be seen as a values add more than happy employees. Especially in today’s marketplace where the adage ”if you don’t like it leave - everyone is replaceable” rings true more often than finding value in the employee who is already established and has considerable work knowledge already in place.

So what would be alternatives or other options open to businesses that might not embrace Kenexa’s basic mode of reform within a business unit? This is somewhat hard to decipher since we don’t actually have a picture of how Kenexa actually starts or performs the transition within a workplace. But it would naturally be to their advantage to have different scenario’s in place to be tailored to each business they encounter accordingly. So what makes a workplace "fun"?

I think the first step is in the overall atmosphere within the organization. One of fear of job loss, company financial worries and dissatisfied customers is definitely not the way to get there. "Fun" in the workplace can be something as simple as group activities to resolve a department issue or team work to get to a final objective, but can also include employee recognition events, employee picnics, or even monthly drawings for prizes as a type of program showing the company giving back to the employee.

Mostly I think the "fun" aspect is viewed more in a relaxed setting with a clear foundation and chain of command. Clear employee goals and focus and well as established results can be silently rewarding to employees. Many employees just look

for appreciation, praise and recognition for the jobs that they do everyday and the knowledge that they are an important component to the success of the business and not just a warm body to fill a seat. In my present place of employment this is not the type of atmosphere we generally enjoy on a day to day basis.

Because of the economic times that we are experiencing in the US today the company is filled with uncertainty and asks more of its employees for less in return and this has had a huge impact on moral. Many of the employees I interact with are there because there is nowhere else to go and they need the paycheck. Rarely do I see anyone volunteering to take on projects or helping out in areas that seem to be overloaded. The general consensus is to just do their work and get out of there at the end of the day.

The hierarchy has slashed the pay of salaried employees by 10% for the last year with constant promises to reinstate the wages once the company is on more solid footing but that day never seems to come. This increases the frustration level in the workplace and many employees are just giving to the company the least of expectations for their job and not giving any more than that as they feel the company does not deserve it. It makes it very hard to go to work everyday when faced with this type of atmosphere to deal with.

We could definitely use some help from Kenexa throughout the firm. What does seem refreshing when reading

about Kenexa is that the are trying to be procative in meeting a companies needs upfront by doing extensive research on the company and it’s policies and procedures already in place. This allows them to consider any obstacles that might come up in more competent manner and “head them off at the pass” if you will. Kenexa’s leaders have no excuses when it comes to creating a productive performance management program because of proven results.

With the mindset of “When you’re in a job that you enjoy and you’re good at, you’re not just a better worker. You’re a better spouse, a better parent, a better citizen”(Kreitner, R. , Kinicki,A. pg 269), they have the psychological base for supporting the business with the very basics of human nature. To take pride in your work and be recognized for it leads to positives within the employee’s entire outlook on life in general. With this mindset Kenexa “devises strategies to improve work environments and recruit, evaluate, and keep talent. “ (Kreitner, R. Kinicki,A. pg 269)

The second obstacle that Kenexa deals with is showing the financial benefit’s the company can bring to a business by improving employee performance and making the necessary changes within the company to improve those financial benefits. “Kenexa researchers presented statistics showing that companies with higher satisfaction scores had 700% higher shareholder returns” (Kreitner, R. , Kinicki,A. pg 269) which is huge in the business world today. This is one way that showing that a satisfied and appreciated employee is a more productive employee.

But those employees that do have the passion to improve their performance and contribute more to

the companies success are unknown without the right way to exploit that untapped passion. If I was to work for Kenexa in a sales position I would have to carefully consider what the key talking points for a sale pitch would be to potential clients. Immediately I would include the financial benefits that improved employee motivation and performance would bring to the company because in today’s world financial incentives are the core to sustaining a business.

I would also try to incorporate some of Thorndike’s law of effect into the presentation to validate the fact that positive reinforcement generally brings about positive results. With Thorndike’s law of effect the basic premise is that “behavior with favorable consequences tends to be repeated, while behavior with unfavorable consequences tends to disappear. ”(Kreitner, R. , Kinicki,A. pg 263) This ideal is not just apparent when dealing with employees in a work environment but also in everyday life when teaching our children right from wrong, as well as training our pets correct behavior.

The second theory that I would expect to support in this sales pitch would be a chart showing the basic Reward Distribution Criteria that is use most often in the beginning of establishing an employee motivational structure within a business. By using metrics such as Performance results, action and behaviors as well as nonperformance considerations the company sets the guidelines with which the company should base it’s employee feedback and motivational program on.

The conclusion of my presentation/sales pitch would be to show companies which Kenexa has helped to achieved the desired results and the timetable required to do so. The timetable is

important because many businesses, just as people themselves, are generally impatient for results to be evident. Changes such as the ones supported by Kenexa are more prominently observed over time and not something that can generally be fixed in a day, week or month. So to reflect on how one could perceive Kenexa’s potential for generating intrinsic motivation in terms of upporting Thomas’s four building blocks we would have to start at what intrinsic motivation means.

“Intrinsic motivation is motivation caused by positive internal feelings”. (Kreitner, R. , Kinicki,A. pg 257) Kenexa’s basic foundation does support these ideals in one way or another. The first building block is to “Lead for Choice” which is when they promote managers to empower their employees and delegate meaningful assignments and tasks, which in return allows the employee to learning to deal with conflict, learn new skills, and adding incentives for advancement - all worthy opponents for Leading for choice.

Kenexa supports this by promoting management interactions where the managers learn to really listen to their employees, and devise strategies to improve the work environments. Kenexa has even implemented this strategy with many of their clients by being able to “drill down to department groups as small as 30 people and deliver tailored plans directly to a company’s 15,000 managers. ”( Kreitner, R. , Kinicki,A. pg 269) Kenexa would next need to incorporate the Leading for Competence building block as described by Thomas.

This step included supporting and coaching employees and enhancing their sense of competence through positive feedback, skill recognition, and challenges to name a few. Kenexa supports this in their programs as well as

within their own company. They have everything from recognition programs to in-house competitions, as well as employee feedback programs to boost involvement and loyalty within their own company structure. The next building block to consider would be that of Leading for Meaningfulness.

By this Thomas has meant for managers to lead by example and show their meaningfulness by inspiring their employees and modeling the desired behavior. They do this by helping employees to identify an exciting organizational vision that they feel connected to and finding a connection to the tasks that the employee provides everyday within the business and showing the relevance of this task to how it effects the company thus trying to foster a strong sense of meaningfulness between the two. Lastly, they would engage in Leading for Progress.

This step requires a bit more interaction from the managers as they would have to monitor and reward others. This sometimes requires the manager to give support and credit where credit is due, as well as deflecting praise onto themselves but rather to the employee to which the praise is rightly deserving - all of which represent large scale intrinsic rewards. This can be a humbling process and one that can also be a powerful motivational tool within an organization. The key to this step of engagement is the type of manager being worked with and the mindset of that manager.

That could be the most difficult obstacle to over come. Would Kenexa be someplace I would care to work? Most definitely. Why? Because I am a firm believer of their philosophy and have more often than not supported their visions

in the workforce - without knowing that these were their visions. I am a firm believer that each employee needs a sense of purpose to exceed at their job. I also am hugely supportive of the “have fun” ideal because many, many workers spend the most time in their lives at work, making a living and support themselves and often a family.

To dread going to work everyday is a horrible scenario to be caught in. The negativity that breeds from such a scenario is also “catching” in some instances, so all it takes it one sour person low on life and an entire department can feel the effects of that negativity in the work atmosphere. I feel that the many statements to support what they do such as ” Through their work, people find dignity”, (Kreitner, R. , Kinicki,A. pg270) is a huge statement to go by in today’s day and age. So many people in the work force are taking jobs just to have one and not of their full potential because of the economy. here are layoffs and college educated people coming out of school with nothing available in their field. The are those same college educated people taking positions that would normally be held by uneducated people, leaving those people without work or income, and thus the vicious cycle continues. To have the availability of a motivational program to bring some sense of self worth to each and every employee within a system would be a very fulfilling position to be in and to help stabilize a company and turn it’s workforce into contributing employees would be the icing on

the cake.

I am not so naive that I would think that Kenexa is so successful that every day would be a great day, as I suspect they also have some not successful endeavors, but to establish oneself inside a company that is so obviously employee focused would be a very nice change for me in. The one thing that I do have going for me is that I have worked within company’s that are employee supportive and the also for those that are not. I say this is a benefit because I can see the success’ and failures within each of these establishments and it make one wise to the ways of the business world from a totally different viewpoint than if the usiness is directly a success or failure. As an employee ages and grows within their work type position certain other essentials come into play more so than pay scale and promotional opportunity. The ability to make a difference and be recognized for it as well as being satisfied with a job well done and having the ability to do that job well with the knowledge that we have, brings a larger sense of satisfaction to ones life than the paycheck you bring home at the end of the week.

Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New