Graduate Development Programme Work Based Assignment 2 M3.05 Writing for Business M3.

30 Motivating to perform in the workplace

Sushil Goswami SAP ID: 01060136 Graduate Mechanical Engineer Tata Steel UK Port Talbot

Background
Briefly describe your team, your role within it and how it fits into your part of the business.

I am a graduate mechanical engineer and my first rotation is for 12 months with Asset Improvement Team. AIT looks into maintaining and improving current assets and install new plants/systems throughout Port Talbot Works site. As a graduate mechanical engineer, my role within the team is to plan and supervise maintenance/improvement and new plant/machinery installation projects. I work as a part of a team comprising one graduate electrical engineer, two senior mechanical engineers, one placement student, one planning engineer and Line manager. As a matter of fact, in recent past, I have been involved in planning, inviting contractor quotes and supervision for three projects in the BF5 Mid-term campaign.

The value of assessing performance

Briefly describe your organisations formal systems of assessment/appraisal, and the informal practices that exist within your department or team. Briefly explain the value of each system and identify ways that you could ensure that it is fair and objective, or suggest any changes that would ensure that it is.

The formal systems of assessment/appraisal prevalent and employed in TataSteelUK are as follows: 1. Ratings: One of the simplest methods of recording performances, this method requires a manager to rate an employees performance on a predetermined scale. Different aspects of job like Job Performance, Skills, Behaviour, Knowledge, Punctuality etc. are rated with the scale varying from a 3 point scale to a 5 point scale with different descriptor for each point.

2.

Obviously, these categories may be sub divided. In my opinion, the most important parts of performance should have their sub-categories. Five scales are most common. However, I personally believe that the greater the scale the more discriminatory judgement is required from the manager. As a suggestion, it would be better to include additional notes to each section, which explains the reason behind the ratings and what could be done to improve it, if they are not in the top most category. 360 Degree Appraisal: The rationale behind this method id to gather the feedback/information about performance from different sources. For example, an employee may be appraised by his colleagues, seniors, managers and even suppliers and customers. Most commonly, the appraisal is again done using the system of rating by different sources. Hence, it has the strength and weaknesses of that system. Normally, the rating is done anonymously so that people giving the feedback can do so without any fear of reprisal of someone who may be superior. However, this is where the

problem stems from. Because of its anonymous nature, there is no place for discussions and communications based on these ratings. Furthermore, as the feedback is anonymous, it can be discredited by the employee/manager receiving it. The 360 degree appraisal system works at its best in a wellfunctioning environment here there is trust and mutual respect. The informal practice for appraisal that my team has, is as follows: 3. One-to-One with line managers: These one-to-one sessions with line managers are very informal in nature and more of a general chat about how an employee feels about his/her performance and his/her workplace. I, personally find them quite useful, as they tend to put my line manager and myself at ease about matters/topics of discussion due to its informal nature. These sessions allow an employee and his/her line manager to by-pass the seniority between them and encourage open and often friendly conversations.

Motivating the team to improve performance in the workplace

Describe the factors that influence the way that people in your workplace behave and, based on this, briefly explain how you could apply one recognised theory of motivation to your team to improve their performance. This section should include a statistical analysis of which factors are seen by your team as most important. You should present the results of this analysis in your report, in an appropriate format, either in the main text or as an appendix.

For this exercise, I conducted a survey within the Asset Improvement Team about situations/factors, which motivate and demotivate and also the impact of them in terms of longevity. Please note that the factors/situations chosen for this survey were taken from Herzbergs findings. The results are as follows: Motivators: Factors Achievement Recognition Work itself Responsibility Advancement/Progress Hygiene Factors: Factors Working conditions Supervision Salary Company Policy+Admin Technical Supervision Average Score 15% 20% 40% 10% 15% Impact Index 4 5 6 6 6 Average Score 32% 30% 10% 10% 18% Impact index 6 6 4 7 5

The results are very similar to Herzbergs findings. The following chart represents Herzbergs findings:

One of the key findings from Herzbergs work is that only motivators can make any significant difference to performance of an individual or team, whereas, the hygiene factors dont contribute much to an individuals motivation. However, their absence can be a cause of demotivation. Lets take an example to demonstrate this, if one is paid less than other workers with similar jobs, work longer hours, is in an office that is too cold, etc. fixing these issues will only bring her/him to neutral, it is not likely to motivate one. Managers should understand that every work colleague should be treated equal whilst different in their needs. This means that what works for one employee may not work for or worse inhibit someone else. Unless, ones hygiene factors are met and satisfied, a motivator wont be able to motivate him/her. For example, if one feels that he/she is paid less, giving more responsibility to him/her without a pay rise is only going to demotivate him/her. Its important to take care of hygiene factors before concentrating on motivators. Due to recent advancements in HR policies, Health & Safety legislation etc., working conditions have improved significantly over the last few decades. The same can be said about improvements in salaries as well. This should help organisations and managers to concentrate on motivators.

I suppose in my current capacity/role as a graduate mechanical engineer, there is not much I can do to influence or change the dynamics of my team. However, I would like to see managers take notice of top two motivators: Achievement and Recognition. One of the senior engineer in my team said, A pat on the back & a Mars bar go a long way in motivating me. In my own experience, when my line manager applauded my performance at the end of the two projects during Mid-term Campaign stop on BF5, I felt highly motivated and positive about myself. It gave me a sense of pride in my work. Achievement & Recognition certainly motivate people. However, the effect isnt long lasting. For example, a few days after my manager applauded my performance for the two projects which kept me fully engaged for the last 2 months, the feeling of motivation is starting to fade away and I now feel hungry for something equally or more challenging. Now, as these motivators are so short lived, managers need to make sure that they top them up on regular basis. Like I said before, a manager should treat his workforce as equal but different at the same time. He should assign tasks to individual in line with his/her strengths and weaknesses. It is equally important to pay attention to motivators, which have a long lasting effect such as Responsibility and Advancement. Advancement can be a hard nut to crack, as opportunities do not arise as often. However, with good use of delegation, managers can give responsibility to people. For example, I still remember the buzz and satisfaction I felt when my line manager gave me virtually full control over an important project, which I have successfully concluded now. I pulled in extra hours and even weekend work as I felt highly motivated and enjoyed what I was doing.

The value of feedback in the workplace

Briefly explain why feedback is important to improve communication and the performance of your team and compare the effectiveness of different types of feedback.

Work related feedback is a dynamic process. It has the potential to enable employees to appreciate how they can improve and achieve more and the potential to create negative emotional waves, which ripple out beyond recipient. We receive feedback all our lives. Receiving positive feedback can have many benefits. It can reinforce an attribute, a personal quality or a competency in an individual. It helps people to reinforce/question their decisions whilst helping them to improve their repertoire of behaving and relating. It may also create feelings of competency or awareness of a personal quality in a new area of which the employee was previously unaware. Positive feedback has been shown to improve productivity and increase sense of control. In a team environment, giving and receiving feedback is critical to building mutual trust. As mentioned earlier, an open system of 360 degree feedback/appraisal that includes discussions and communications without any fear of causing offence and reprisal, is one of the best methods to use constructive feedback in a workplace. In my team, we also use feedback from customers i.e. production/manufacturing team and contractors. This feedback is normally just an informal chat and allows our team to fix the communication loopholes based on their feedback. I personally like to have a one-to-one chat session with one of the senior mechanical engineers in my team.