Motivational Methods
Introduction
Downsizing of departments has been rampant in many organizations worldwide. This could be as a result of technological advancement that is creating an avenue for more machines and less human resource. It can also be caused by the harsh reality of the ever deteriorating economy that has rocked most economies of the world. This becomes a hard assignment for managers especially when breaking the news to the members of the department (Lombardi & Schermerhorn, 2007). As a result, one question remains, what should a manager consider in announcing such a change in the organization? This paper seeks to discuss the motivational methods and techniques that a manager can utilize in bringing about this kind of change in an organization.
Main body
The motivational methods
There are many methods in which a manager can employ to inform the employees about changes, one of them being downsizing. This paper will narrow down to appreciation, recognition and rewarding, in an attempt to be on familiar terms with efforts that the employees have accorded the management in the period of time that they have served in the organization.
Appreciation
The first method that the manager can use is appreciating the employees. It will be very important for a manager to appreciate the working relationship that has been accorded to the management by the employees for a particular period of time. This involves acknowledging that the organization may not have reached where it is, were it not for the cooperation between management and the employees. It can therefore be argued that the ability of the manager to recognize the effort of the employees will neutralize the effects that are brought about by downsizing (Boynton, 2011). Most employees who are victims of downsizing are affected emotionally, and physical to some extent, and this can explain the reason as to why most of them end up being upset by such moves. However, if approached from the aspect of appreciation and goodwill messages in their future endeavors will deconstruct their anger and replace it with joy of having served in the organization for a particular period of time.
In appreciation, the manager may have the opportunity to do psycho-education on the changes that are affecting the daily operation of the organization. In the appreciation speech, the manager needs to elucidate how organizations are being affected by changes in technology. For instance, the manager ought to explain some of the activities that the management seeks to undertake to ensure competence, competitiveness and productivity is maintained and this may affect the size of the work force (Cameron, 1994). This will enable the downsizing culprits to be informed before they leave the organization rather than hiding such crucial information from them. It would also minimize chances of these culprits taking legal action against the organization like the trends that have been observed in many organizations across the world. This is an assumption that the employees will identify with such changes.
Recognition
One of the starting points for a manager in recognizing the effort of the employees is by giving statistical report of the achievements that the organization may have attained since its inception. This would include the challenges that the management may have faced in the process of growth and how this was addressed with the help of the employees. On the other hand, it would be important to recognize individual support that every employee has accorded to the organization all in the name of putting the interests of the organization in forward. In giving this report, it would be very appealing to hear the manager recognize those employees who may have shown performance pressure, which simply is the employee’s drive to deliver quality outcome at work (Gardner, 2012). Such people deserve applause to encourage and to let them know that their efforts were not in vain.
Recognition also involves vocalizing employee’s contribution in terms of what an individual has achieved and how this achievement was orchestrated. In other words, the best way that a manager can maintain the enthusiasm, interests and energy or effort level of the best employee is in recognition of the individual’s ability to be creative and the ability to bring this creativity into actualization at work place (Campbell-Allen et al, 2008). There is no other person who is fit for the task of recognition other than the manger because of the level of interaction with the employees. Therefore, in announcing these changes, the manager must recognize the employees who have demonstrated excellence in their duties. This will not only help them understand the reason for the downsizing but will motivate them to be more creative and autonomous in their future ventures.
Finally, recognition also can be in form of recommendation. Many organizations always ask for a particular work experience in the field applied for. This knowledge can help a manger in this scenario to write strong recommendation or even take it further through referring an individual to another organization for consideration on merit basis. This is also another means of telling the employee that the effort that was put in this organization was commendable and is needed in other places. This will improve the employee’s competence and courage to face the future.
Rewarding
This is probably one of the best approaches that a manager can use in downsizing process. There several ways in which rewarding can be done. Behavior psychologists have observed that rewarding will increase the opportunity of the positive behavior to happen again, while withdrawal of a reward will discourage the behavior to happen again. The first method is to determine categories of employees to be awarded. Depending with the size of the organization, there may be the need to get a runner’s up position whereby the effort of the first two employees is adorned with an award meant to appreciate their work in the organization. Another way of rewarding is promotion of the employees who have exposed competence in their places of work. Although this approach is good in the eyes of the manager and the beneficiary, it may not go well with those who fail to satisfy competence test. Lastly, the manager may reward employees through a celebration party where the main agenda is to celebrate the employees for their hard work. This can be the best opportunity to give awards as discussed earlier.
Conclusion
Downsizing in many organizations is inevitable and therefore it is very important for mangers to design diverse ways in which this can be done with little or no effect on those who will be affected. In as much as the three methods discussed above are appealing and acceptable to the manager, there will always be a level of discontent among the employees because of losing their jobs and livelihood as well. It is therefore important for managers to consider planning for it and probably have a budget for it which will include incentives and therapeutic interventions for those who will be affected. This will minimize the effects of downsizing to the members of the organization.
References
Boynton, P. (2011, August 12). Appreciating employees with flexibility. New Hampshire Business Review , p. 21.
Cameron, K. (1994). Strategies for successful organizational downsizing. Human Resource Management Summer , 189-211.
Campbell-Allen, N. et al. (2008). Best practices in New Zealand organizations for rewarding and recognizing employee innovations and Innovations. Total Quality management , 123-137.
Gardner, H. (2012). Performance Pressure as a double edged sword: enhancing team motivation but undermining the use of team knowledge. Administrative Science Quarterly , 1-46.
Johnson, D. (2000, March 1). 10 way to inspire employees. Management , pp. 48-52.
Lombardi, D. & Schermerhorn, J. (2007). Health care management: tools and techniques for managing in health care environment. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
