Showing Employees ("Associates") That Good Performance Doesn't Matter
Showing That Good Performance Does Not Matter
Most (if not all) managers and supervisors want to demonstrate to their associates that their good performance matters -- both to them and to the organization. Yet, research and experience has demonstrated that many "bosses" show, via their actions, that good associate performance in their organization does not matter that much. In fact, research with students who have or have had jobs identified at least 45 ways that managers and supervisors demonstrate to their employees that GOOD performance does not really matter that much.
Effective managers ought to be aware of these negative practices that communicate the wrong message to their associates. Therefore, each of the following managerial practices communicates that good performance does not really matter that much in this organization. Figure 1 lists 45 human resource management practices. Please rank each of the practices on a 1 to 5 scale (1=never occurs and 5=often occurs) for the extent to which they exist in your organization.
We would suggest that all associates, managers and supervisors rank these questions. It should be very interesting to compare responses across different human resource layers within your organization. These results could then be discussed at a future staff meeting.
After evaluating the extent to which these negative managerial practices exist in your workplace and/or within your organization, identify the most frequently utilized practices. Obviously, effective management teams do not want to perpetuate activities that demonstrate to their work teams that positive performance is not important. Nevertheless, the research is conclusive: many (potentially all) managers and supervisors are inadvertently "guilty" of one or more of these negative associate performance practices. Therefore, what is your commitment to improving the organization's management practices by eliminating those practices that are most frequently being used?
Conclusion
We hope you have found this article useful. We invite readers to provide feedback (via email) on which practices were the most prevalent in their organizations. In addition, Drs. Wysocki and Kepner are happy to lead a workshop on how managers and supervisors can demonstrate to their people that good performance does matter.
Your comments and suggestions are always welcome and you may e-mail directly at wysocki@fred.ifas.ufl.edu or respond via extension web page at http://webct.nerdc.ufl.edu:8900/public/WysockiExtension/index.html .
References
Class discussions led by Dr. Karl Kepner in AEB 4424, Human Resource Management in Agribusiness.
 |
|
|