Assessing the ability to perform a job

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Ability to perform a job is an individual's capacity to fulfil various tasks that compose a particular job. Overall individual's job ability is based on his/her physical and intellectual capacity. Rebecca will need to evaluate the capability and aptitude of the job's applicants required for a position in the call center. The following criteria may be used:

ability to learn quickly the basic information about the product

typing skills and accuracy

telephone etiquette

ability to respond professionally to clients on the telephone  

grammar and vocabulary skills

attention to details and ability to concentrate

ability to follow specific instructions and telephone problem solving skills

Conducting job interviews, Rebecca can use specific tests to check an individual's abilities to satisfactorily perform the job:

Psychometric test - aims to measure intelligence, aptitude and personality; how well the individual can work with other people, handle stress, cope with intellectual demands of the job.

Personality test - measures the ability to work well in a team, customer focus, effective communication with co-workers. Staff personality is important for overall quality of service.

Aptitude test - assesses logical reasoning and thinking performance, data checking, verbal and numerical ability, spelling and grammar. The test consists of multiple choice questions.

In addition to the specific tests, Rebecca can use telephone interview to find out phone skills of the job applicant.

Factors to be considered also include candidate's biography, gender, marital status, culture, seniority, work history, education level, previous experience in a call centre.

Question 2. Work environment within Plume's Cannery

Motivation is alignment of aims, purpose and values between staff, teams and organisation. Personal association with the company is closely linked with the employees' motivation. Plume's Cannery must create a work environment that promotes involvement, optimism, enjoyment and opportunity. The main problems of work environment that negatively affected staff motivation before the agreement between Plume's management and NZCFPU include:

uneven, irregular workload

poor management communication

spontaneous production decision

poor work organisation

inadequate control of resources and ingredients' supply

wasting labour time when switching to new product batch

low moral and high turnover of workforce

dismal labour relations

lack of support from supervisors

low quality control - mainly replaced by control of workers

no positive changes and innovation

lack of staff recognition and training

If the Plume's problems remain unsolved and changes never get implemented, the result would be an unproductive staff, inefficient, non-encouraging work environment, and the non-competitive business as a whole. The following diagram demonstrates the components of a working environment that would enhance employees' motivation and increases the company's efficiency:

(Source: http://www.businessperform.com/workplace-training/workplace_environment.html)

After the agreement the company's work practices have been optimised, the long production line transformed into few smaller. Job redesign has significantly reduced boring work routine and increased the variety of tasks that employees perform. This should improve employees' satisfaction, and raise overall productivity.

Workers are involved in control of quality and output efficiency. Each group of workers will be responsible for improvements and training within the group in order that employees have the ability to perform a variety of tasks at high levels. The company introduced also job rotation where workers can become multi-skilled having the opportunity to move around the groups and work with different equipment and people.

The overall workplace environment has been improved and made friendly by adding recreational amenities, decorating with plants and murals chosen by workers, and addressing the issues with ventilation, lighting and noise control.

Question 3. Specific strategies and motivational theories

Strategy

Motivational theory

Job redesign -

job rotation

job enlargement

job enrichment

Herzberg's Two-Factor theory -

intrinsic motivation

Management by objectives -

precise goals

participatory goal setting

performance feedback

Goal-Setting theory

Job characteristics model -

skill variety

task identity

task significance

autonomy

feedback

alternative work arrangement

Self-efficacy theory -

social learning

Employees involvement

Equity theory

Job redesign and Herzberg's Two-Factor motivational theory

After the changes each group of workers will be fully responsible for up to three product types, including quality, efficiency and training. It is expected that many workers will become multi-skilled within their groups. This approach will increase the amount of tasks employees normally do at a similar skill level (job enlargement). Jobs also will be enriched because workers will be undertaking some tasks of a higher skill level - quality control and training. Making employees responsible for quality improvements is the contemporary motivational strategy which increases employees' satisfaction and involvement. Workers will not perform their everyday tasks routinely. Within a particular work area employees will be able to move between different operations (job rotation). Flexibility and change require undertaking tasks of various skill levels making the job interesting and less boring.

Job redesign is closely linked to Herzberg's Two-Factor motivational theory:

Hygiene factors (can cause dissatisfaction with work) include company policy, administration, financial remuneration, quality of supervision and inter-personal relations, working conditions, and job security.

Motivator factors are based on an individual's need for personal growth. Therefore they create job satisfaction and can motivate workers to achieve high level of performance. Motivator factors include status, opportunity for advancement, recognition, responsibility, challenge, sense of personal achievement and growth in the job. With redesign and rearrange of production processes in Plume's Cannery motivator factors can take effect.

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Management by objectives and Goal-Setting theory

Management by Objectives (MBO) aligns employees' goals with the goals of Plume's Cannery. Each work group will have precise goal; thus everyone will be clear about product, output and quality, and overall result. Buffer areas are used to store finished products; workers can observe what is achieved and feel like a part of the whole. Employees will know what must be completed today and control their time so it is not wasted. Supervisors' feedback on achieved results will add to job satisfaction and motivation to do more and better.

MBO closely relates to the Goal-Setting theory. In order to direct efforts, people set particular goals. Due to new job design, employees' goals at Plume's will be:

clear and understandable, groups know what is daily production task

challenging, workers are stimulated and therefore not bored

achievable, so the more people produce, the better they are motivated

Positive supervisors' feedback is also very important for motivation success. It encourages workers to search for improvements, innovations and achieving high production level and quality.

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Job characteristics model and Self-Efficacy theory (social learning)

Hackman and Oldham (1976) proposed that important components of high motivation are:

meaningfulness of work - skill variety, task identity, task significance

responsibility

knowledge of outcomes

Production process at Plume's Cannery is redesigned so that each group of workers will be responsible for one to three product types. Thus on each production line appropriate variety of employees' skills is used. Groups are able to identify necessary skills for a whole and complete task, in order to produce required output and at high quality.

Groups will be able to identify tasks and link their contribution to the business. Employees are more motivated if they contribute to the whole company's output and therefore are more interested in their own and overall result. Groups' responsibility is based on autonomy, workers' participation in quality control, training and decision making, which makes everybody personally responsible for the outcome along with sharing the overall success. Timely management feedback is the crucial element that creates team's knowledge of outcome. This can be production figures or financial result. Feedback provides information for workers to be used for the groups' self-assessment and future performance.

Plume's management uses the components of the job characteristics model by:

varying work to enable skill variety

assigning work to groups to increase the wholeness of the production process and enhance significance

delegating tasks to the lowest possible level to create autonomy and hence responsibility

connecting workers to the outcome to provide feedback for learning

opportunity to move between the groups and gain new skills and interpersonal experience

Job characteristics strategy correlates to Self-Efficacy theory which suggests high inter-relation between individual's behavior, environment, and cognitive factors. According to this theory, four major sources of information are used by individuals when they assess self-efficacy:

employee's personal assessment is based on personal accomplishments

experience is gained by observing co-workers who perform activities successfully. People improve their performance by learning from what they have observed

persuasion - workers are motivated if they believe in ability to cope successfully with specific tasks. Coaching and evaluative feedback on performance are common types of social persuasion

physiological and emotional factors - positive feedback and encouraging example enhance self-efficacy judgments

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Employees' involvement and Equity theory

Involvement workers in control activities, decision making, and training increase job autonomy, satisfaction, employees' morale and commitments to the Plume's Cannery, as well as increase productivity, reduce turnover and absenteeism, and enhance the quality of products. By redesign production lines, the company enables:

self-managed work teams and task forces

continuous improvement

participative decision making

employee share suggestions and experience

workers' self-esteem

overall performance

motivation and low turnover

commitment and satisfaction

The Equity Theory describes how fairly an employee perceives he is treated and how hard he is motivated to work. The theory is based on workers' attempt to balance what they put in to their jobs and what they get back. Workers contribute their time, experience, qualifications, and capability along with personal ambition. Money is the primary motivating outcome for an employee, but not the only one, and sometimes not the most important. Power and status are also prime motivators, as well as flexibility, respect and variety.

Active involvement and job redesign will significantly increase workers' interest and satisfaction. According to the Equity theory, intrinsic rewards and recognition result in high productivity and quality, obligation and commitment to the company.

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Question 4. Outcome of changes to motivational environment

The changes in Plume's will create employee involvement system that helps workers to fulfill their needs - meaningful work, responsibility, creativeness, fair treatment and recognition. Some operations may still be routine, but other can be developed to promote satisfaction and increase productivity. Sharing responsibility for output and quality will provide opportunity for growth, innovative ideas, high achievement and satisfaction. Workers empowerment will increase motivation and improve employees' morale.

The motivated worker should do their job better and like it. Motivation factors such as opportunities for accomplishment, personal learning and skill upgrade, assessment and inter-personal feedback will generate stronger feelings of loyalty, satisfaction and enthusiasm.

The company will need to create an effective remuneration scheme. Money is the factor that can be both a source of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The workers will be dissatisfied with pay if they feel it is not adequate to their efforts, or is distributed inequitably, or doesn't reflect the responsibilities of the job, etc.

Employees always want to be a part of a company with a positive and encouraging work environment. With all changes in place, Plume's workers will focus on achievement and maintaining their equity in the workplace in terms of skills, knowledge, experience and power. People have a need of their importance in relation to others within the company. If employees believe they are not treated equally, they will not perform well.

Plume's workers should be more interested due to redesign of the production process, feeling of appreciation, recognition and involvement, personal achievements, a feeling of being a part of a team, good working conditions, personal growth, learning and interpersonal relations. All these factors contribute to the better support, understanding, mutual respect and pride at work place.

The quality of supervision is very important for employee satisfaction, motivation and retention. Supervisors will have to be a part of working groups; direct control of workers should be replaced by co-operation, collective decision making, discussion and assessment of the achieved results. The Plume's supervisors' responsibilities will include:

clearly communicate expectations and task to workers

give regular feedback about performance and hold regular meetings

integrate performance and goal setting

recognise and value employees; coach workers performance

handle employee complaints and problems

hold career development discussions with employees

Question 5. Possible barriers to the implementation of changes

Barriers to implementation of the changes that might be experienced within Plume's Canneries:

Lack of communication

Workers might not be given enough information on the changes in the production process and job design. If employees are not explained well how their job will be organised, they will have little trust and low enthusiasm towards the changes. Workers will still believe that the old way is the right one and there is no need to change the process. Many employees have their own view and ideas for operation improvements. With lack of two-way communication, workers cannot give their suggestions. Also, managers may consider it is not important to explain the reasons and necessity of the job redesign. Staff therefore can have an impression that managers do not have enough knowledge or ignore what employees think.

Employees are not ready to take new responsibility and learn new skills

Some employees may claim that new responsibilities and tasks are not included in their job description or employment contract. This can happen when workers are not open-minded and are not able to see new perspectives and opportunities. Here the management communication is playing a crucial role to convince and stimulate employees' interest to the changes.

Inefficient remuneration and lack of rewards

People might accept the changes but later have a feeling that payment and recognition are not adequate to those who are working harder, taking new responsibilities in production, quality, training others, etc. People's believe that they are not fairly compensated for additional efforts can destroy motivation and become a serious barrier to the changes.

Lack of positive feedback and unequal treatment

If workers feel unappreciated, are not given support and motivation, feedback on achievements, they can lose enthusiasm and satisfaction, and will not contribute much in the team's performance. Workers within one group will compare themselves - in terms of efforts, time, ideas and quality of work - to others. If workers with different input are given the same reward, employees who work harder will lose motivation to do their best in the future.

Management and supervision style

Job redesign requires serious changes in supply system and supervision approach. If smooth delivery of ingredients is not provided, performance of different groups will be incomparable which will create strong dissatisfaction and disappointment.