Using Action Plans to Increase Performance

Action plans offer the opportunity help people think through the various challenges they face and apply some type of plan on how to overcome these difficulties. Whether discussing students, employees our yourself it is beneficial to consider the benefits of implementing action plans in a way that encourages greater insight by the person writing them. Insight sometimes leads to higher levels of performance.

In my experience in labor relations and as a professor in business I find that performance issues may not be willful but are a result of a lack of experience or understanding. For example, in labor relations I have found attendance to be a major employer concern. Through the standard grievance process employees can promise to make it to work on time but without an action plan the problem isn't likely to be resolved soon.

The same idea applies to students who consistently fail to turn their work by class deadlines. Each assignment they scramble for some excuse that will get them off the hook. The problem is not the creativity of the excuses but their processes. Understanding how chronic poor performance is part of a process of thinking is beneficial for finding solutions.

Before giving grace to poor performance consider requiring an action plan to ensure the person has some understanding on how to improve the situation. Requiring the person to develop a plan on how to change their processes helps them think through what is causing the problem and how it can be improved. They can search through their strengths and weaknesses that help them discover equitable solutions to the problem.

Most of us live our lives by patterns and reflecting on those changes needed to adjust the pattern is beneficial to sustainable performance.  An employee who has an attendance problem could discover the necessity of starting early, putting out their items the night before, and getting plenty of rest. A student who turns their work in chronically late may need to start assignments at the beginning of each week and also devote a full hour to writing each day.

Effective Use of Paralanguage in the Workplace

Paralanguage is related to the use of subtle messages that includes tone, prosody, intonation, tempo, syllable emphasis, and other hints that create additional meaning beyond the words themselves. Knowing and understanding how paralanguage influences clarity can help in creating more effective conversation in the workplace. Managers who are capable of creating higher levels of congruency between the words they use and the paralanguage associated with those words can increase their communication effectiveness and organizational influence.

Most information comes from non-verbal aspects of communication and alignment between these two concepts creates congruence. A study of university lecturers helped identify that those who used appropriate pitch, loudness, variability, pauses, and fluency increased audience satisfaction (Md Zani, et. al, 2011). The audience paid more attention and were more focused on the concepts. This helps ensure that the messages not only came across well but were also received by members of the audience.

If the use of paralanguage can benefit the quality of communication in a public forum it can also benefit management and employee relationships. As employees seek to understand expectations, directions, and practical information they will listen beyond the words into paralanguage to determine both intent and hidden meaning. This intent, whether positive or negative, will help ensure the truthfulness of the message. 

In many cases employees are not consciously aware of these messages and intuitively prescribe them to the words being spoken. The use of paralanguage is a system that develops within a cultural heritage to further expand the language capabilities between members (Wang De-hue, 2007). Because we are raised within a particular culture we may have some difficulty interpreting the meaning of messages from other cultures. The more we associate with other cultures the more able we are to understand their subtle messages.

We begin to become aware of that language at a young age in the same way that we become aware of social context. At the age of six children are still more likely to judge the actual words versus the subtle differences in paralanguage (Morton & Trehub 2001). Yet by the time they become adults they are much more astute at this overall judgment between spoken language and its subtle paralanguage. 

To create congruence of language also creates clarity in the message as well as its perceived honesty. For many managers it is about being aware of such language and its potential impact on employees that will help them create stronger relationships with employees as well as more effectiveness within their management style. It is through continuous practice that managers can improve both the giving as well as the reception of such messages. 

Organizations should consider a level of training in language usage as it pertains to the workplace. A number of studies have indicated that both written and verbal communication skills are important factors of success in the workplace. Employee resistance, misinterpretation, wasted employee effort, conflict, and general labor relations are all associated with the proper use of language. The concept becomes even more important as leaders grow in influence and power. It is difficult for them to clearly articulate their strategic visions if they are inadvertently giving off mixed signals that are interpreted differently by different sectors of society.

Md Zani, et. al. (2011). The relationship between lecturers’ paralanguage and student’s satisfaction in Universiti Teknologi Mara, Kendah, Malaysia. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in business, 3 (6). 

Morton & Trehub, S. (2001). Children’s understanding of emotion in speech. Child Development, 72 (3).

Wang, D. & Li, H. (2007). Nonverbal language in cross-cultural communication. US-China Foreign Language, 5 (10).

Expectancy-Value Theory: Connecting Expectations to Rewards

As employees scramble over each other in an attempt to achieve the next promotion, or trinket of acknowledgement, it is important to understand precisely how their expectations lead to motivation. Expectancy-Value Theory is one way of looking at how employees value the behavioral options available to them.  In this theory, management should tie behavior and reward closely together if there is an expectation that employees will be motivated and productive.  Management has an ethical opportunity to ensure proper returns on investments and progressive use of human capital in order to fulfill their function.

The concepts of valence and expectancy make up the bulk of the Expectancy-Value Theory.  In general, employees believe that when they put forth a specific amount of effort there should be an appropriate reward that is offered. If the expected energy and the value of the reward are not in alignment it will be difficult for management to solicit certain types of motivated behavior.

Valence and expectancies make up the bulk of Vroom's Value-Expectancy Theory and are further defined as the following: 

1.) Valence: The desired outcome of working at a particular level.

2.) Expectancies: The subjective expectation that such action will lead to a particular reward.

Vroom defines valence as, "the affective orientation toward particular outcomes" (1964, pp. 15). Those positive outcomes an employee desires to achieve are called positively valent while those things which an employee desires to avoid are negatively valent. It does not matter much what the true worth of these positive or negative factors are but only that they have a subjective perceptual value to employees.

It is not enough for a person to think in terms of the value of objectives but also the likelihood of achieving those objectives. For example, if an employee believes there is a high likelihood of achieve a particular objective after a defined amount of effort is put forth motivation is more likely. If this association of effort and reward is lower, motivation is less likely. Such expectancies are often denoted in numbers and range from .00 (low) to 1.0 (high).

In general, employees continually scan their environment in an effort to judge the value combinations of potential valences and expectancies. Alternatives come and go and employees do not always maintain orderings throughout their time of employment (Behling & Starke, 1973). The ordering of valences and expectancies can be seen as Sum (EijVj).  Someone who prefers a specific expectancy and valence combination is said to prefer Sum(EijVj)1 over Sum(EijVj)2  This would mean they prefer a particular course of action based upon the value of expectancy and the likelihood of its valence. 

We might be able to break this into an appropriate example. An employee has an option to put effort towards 1.) obtain a raise; or 2.) obtain a promotion without a raise. Option 1 could be denoted as Sum(EijVj)1 and option 2 can be denoted as Sum(EijVj)2. The employee makes the decision that the particular value combination of option 1 is worth more than option 2. The employee is most likely to put his effort toward the higher income.

Researchers can often use these short denotations to help them categorize and keep track of certain options over others. It is such understandings and choices, from the perspective of the employee, that often leads to an approach in workplace behavior based upon the value ordering of these particular choices.  As employees move through these choices they will often ignore or forget older orderings as they become less available.

. . . most decisions are made in sequential fashion. Thus, having chosen y over X and then, z over y, one is typically committed to z and may not even compare it with x, which has already been eliminated. Furthermore, in many choice situations the eliminated alternative is no longer available, so there is no way of finding out whether our preferences are transitive or not. These considerations suggest that in actual decisions, as well as in laboratory experiments, people are likely to overlook their own intransitivities. Transitivity, however, is one of the basic and the most compelling principles of rational behavior (Tversky, 47, p. 45).

Unfortunately, many employees cannot formalize these values in their minds and this can cause confusion. At times it is beneficial for managers to ensure that the actions that lead to rewards are clearly defined for employees in order to help them make these values more solidified. This is one of the reasons why workplace expectations and the rewards should be transparent and clear for employees in order to build develop appropriate behavioral options.

Furthermore, understanding what employees value in terms of potential outcomes within the workplace will lead to a greater understanding of the motivational potentials of employee behavior. It should be kept in mind that management should ensure that the performance expectations are solidified through formal corporate literature, management behavior, and compensation structures. When there is confusion between the expectancies and their potential outcomes this lowers the total likelihood that certain behaviors will be exhibited. Poor performance is a direct result of poor management communication.

Behling, O. & Starke, F. (1973). The postulates of expectancy theory. Academy of Management Journal, 16 (3).

Tversky. A. (1969) Intransitivity of Preferences. Psychological Review, 76, pp.31-48.

Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and Motivation. New York: Wiiey.

The Components of Employee Motivation and Organizational Success

At the center of any successful organization rests the employees that take the orders, assemble the products, and sell the goods. Before companies can achieve success they should ensure employees are committed and engaged with the organization and its objectives. Where well managed and committed employees are an asset, a poorly managed company with a lack of employee commitment will ultimately lead to decline. Through the development and encouragement of employee effort does the unique synergy exist in   organizations that allow for higher levels of operational savings and environmental capitalization. The components of this motivation are discussed through this article.

Motivation is derived from the word "motivate" which means to push, move, or influence the environment to achieve some objective (Kalimullah et al, 2010). Motivation can also be seen as the process by which behavior obtains a results, attempts to complete an objective and continues to push forward. It still may further be seen as an internal drive that pushes to fulfill some need (Bedeian, 1993).

Employee motivation is one of the main functions of management that is derived through the policies and procedures of an organization (Shadare et al, 2009). Through the need to accomplish some goal or find a path to personal development an employee will scan their work environment to put their skills, knowledge and abilities to the most appropriate use. Such excited employees are seeking ways to make their work more interesting and efficient and therefore organizations should foster the effort in order to make the company more successful (Kalimullah et al, 2010).

Through the capitalization on employee motivation an organization can meet customer demands, lower costs, and change to meet environmental challenges. Organizational effectiveness is the efficient process of turning inputs to outputs (Matthew et al, 2005). The more efficiently the organization is run through motivating processes the more effective is the process of converting the organizational factors into viable products or services. This is accomplished through the minds and bodies of workers that engage in and make micro and macro decisions throughout the process.

The Legitimacy Model views organizational effectiveness as “component preferences for performance and natural limitations on performance from an external environmental perspective” (Zammuto.R.F,
1982). In other words, while reviewing an organization it is possible to determine its effectiveness by understanding employees' preferences for performance and the limitations these employees have in utilizing these pathways. If road blocks are removed employees will put their effort toward those designed pathways that have the most chances of success.

Leadership is an essential component of motivation. Through employee trust of management they will believe that the leadership function of the organization will fulfill their explicit and implicit promises (Baldoni.J, 2005). Thus leadership and trust in management is necessary if employees are to make that decision to put forward effort into the organizational pathways. The leadership function and the labor function raise each other to higher levels of motivation and morality in a synergistic manner that furthers market interests (Rukhmani.K, 2010).

The essential components of employee motivation rely in trust, rewards, decision making, empowerment, information and group expectations (Baldoni.J, 2005; Yazdani,B.O. et al, 2011; Hassan et al, 2011; Adeyinka et al, 2007; Brewer et al, 2000). When these components work in tandem an environment can be more aligned to the needs of the employees and thus produce more meaningful results for the organization. Investors should ensure their management team are working to continually align their organizations to foster these motivational components to meet environmental needs.

Through a review of a number of studies it has been found that a various components contribute to the development of motivation within the organization:

 ...the factors that enhance employee motivation are fair pay, incentives, special allowances, fringe benefits, leadership, encouragement, trust, respect, joint decision making, quality of supervision, adequate working relationships, appreciation, chances for growth, loyalty of organization, identification and fulfillment of their needs, recognition, empowerment, inspiration, importance attached to their job, safe working conditions, training and information availability and communication to perform actions (Manzoor, 2011).

Baldoni, J., (2005). Motivation Secrets. Great Motivation Secrets of Great Leaders. [Online]
Available: http://govleaders.org/motivation_secrets.htm

Kamalian, A., Yaghoubi, N., & Moloudi, J., (2010). Survey of Relationship between Organizational Justice and Empowerment (A Case Study). European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences, 24, 165-171.

Matthew, J., Grawhich, & Barber, L., (2009). Are you Focusing both Employees and Organizational Outcomes. Organizational Health Initiative at Saint Louis University (ohi.slu@edu), 1-5.

Manzoor, Q. (2011). Impact of employees motivation on organizational effectiveness. Business and Management Strategy, 3 (1).

Rukhmani, K., Ramesh, M., & Jayakrishnan, J., (2010). Effect of Leadership Styles on Organizational Effectiveness. European Journal of Social Sciences, 15 (3), 365-369.

Yazdani, B., Yaghoubi, N., & Giri, E., (2011). Factors affecting the Empowerment of Employees. European Journal of Social Sciences, 20 (2), 267-274.

Zammuto, R. (1982). Assessing Organizational Effectiveness. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY.

Six Motivational Potentials Employers Should Consider

Iron Workers Noon Time

Job motivation is an important component for worker progression and organizational development. Motivation takes many forms but is often fostered through the conduit of organizational objectives. Employees seeking needs attainment search through their environments in order to find appropriate paths that create the most likely outcomes. Organizations that can create the right mechanisms for motivational expression are more likely to foster the aspirations of their employees.

Motivational potentials is a concept that entails creating pathways whereby employee motivation can meet beneficial outcomes. In organizations where there are few motivational potentials, and appropriate pathways, it is doubtful employees will come to the conclusion that additional work will result in some level of reward. Without the desire, the pathway, and the reward the employee will continue to treat work as just another mundane task to engage in throughout the day in order to maintain their lifestyle.

Motivational potentials can include the following (Heckhausen & Rheinburg, 1980):

1.) Clearly defined areas of responsibility.
2.) Employees conception of optimal work-results and appropriate measures to reach them.
3.) Consideration of employees' positive experiences with similar work-tasks.
4.) Importance of work-results for sub-dominant goals.
5.) Transparent and performance-oriented incentive systems.
6.) Opportunity of choosing between alternative extrinsic rewards.

Employees seek to own the work and its results, appropriate feedback of performance, have positive work experiences, fulfill multiple goals, trustworthy incentive programs, and meaningfulness of the rewards. To employees the environment must be worthy of their effort and there need to have appropriate opportunities to achieve once that effort is put forward. The compensation structure defines how much and what kind of effort is required for a reward.

Let us assume that Ben is an employee who desires to engage his work environment. However, his supervisor practices control versus empowerment and Ben cannot find an appropriate path to engage his work environment. The extra effort he puts forward is either unnoticed or unfairly capitalized on by his supervisor. After a few attempts at trying to benefit himself through the organization he either gives up or seeks other opportunities for employment. Ben may stay within his position for a while but is unlikely to produce much as he intuitively knows that no benefit can be obtained by offering ideas or working harder.

Ben desires to know what his responsibilities are, wants to know what is considered "strong work", wants to enjoy the tasks he does, wants to enhance his market worth, desires to understand precisely how someone receives additional compensation, and wants a choice in the type of reward he receives. If his supervisor is not transparent with Ben it is unlikely he will trust his supervisor or his workplace. He will not be willing to put forth much effort without a dynamic change to the environment. 

There are organizations that practice the assumption that workers must be controlled and discipline is an appropriate driving force to keep employees productive. Such behavior often encourages compliance but will rarely produce anything beyond low standards of productivity and engagement. Creating an appropriate atmosphere for successful alignment of personal goals with that of the organization can help provide opportunities for motivated workers to reengage their environment. In this century employees are expected to be more than a part in the machinery and should be shown the path forward. Great supervisors and managers can effectively communicate the expectations and follow through with them when they are achieved.

Heckhausen, H. & Rheinburg, F. (1980). Learning motivation in education, newly considered. Unterrichtswissenschaft, 1. pp. 7-47.

Enablers Produce Organizational Results

Enablers are an asset to any workplace that seeks to solve market problems and continue to progress through environmental difficulties. People whom we consider to be enablers use multiple resources from the workplace in order to develop both the organization and themselves. They have the amazing ability to maintain motivation and capitalize on resources if given an opportunity to succeed.

Enablers are able to connect resources to find solutions that help in encouraging business imperatives. At times they utilize the skills of other people and other times they use existing resources in unique and new methods. The skill of the enabler is in the encouragement of higher levels of organizational attainment.

Enablers achieve results for organizations, employees and society (Ehrlich, 2006). Their approaches are divided into 1.) Enablers that produce 2.) Results.

Enabling Factors:

-leadership
-people
-policy and strategy
-processes

Result Factors:

-people results
-customer results
-society results
-key performance results

Enablers and their results contribute to innovation and learning within organizations. Like a cyclical process the use of the enabler factors produce beneficial results that are tied to the process of learning. Understanding how the use of each component produces a specific result helps such decision makers to create ever higher levels of organizational alignment. Enablers continue to learn as they pull resources together and observe the end results which affords them increasing skills in managing the workplace.

Let us take an example that may tie the concept together. An enabler needs to solve some organizational problem. He/She uses leadership, people within the organization, policies, strategy, and processes to achieve specific results that improve upon products or services with people, customers, society or predefined goals. Each time an enabler tries to pull together various factors to produce specific results he/she learns how the components work together. With each subsequent trial the learning process continues. 

An enabler is a person who has the motivation and desire to solve problems within an organization. This makes the enabler unique when compared to many colleagues who prefer to maintain minimal performance standards. You can determine who is an enabler by their desire to continue to think about and develop methods of solving organizational problems.

Ehrlich, C. (2006). The EFQM-Model and work motivation. Total Quality Management, 17 (2).