Writing Assignment help on : Repairing Jobs That Fail to Satisfy

Writing Assignment help on : Repairing Jobs That Fail to Satisfy

Introduction

Employee’s sense of success and achievement which is termed as Job Satisfaction is perceived to have a direct linkage with the productivity and personal wellbeing of the employees. This implies doing a job which one enjoys and the rewardswhich he/she receives for the efforts        (eNotes 2012). It is said that happy employees create happy customers. One of the research from the university of Missouri says that the CEO’s who pay more attention to employee’s job satisfaction are actually able to increase customers satisfaction and also increase the number of customers who would like to do repeat business with the company(Business News Daily 2011). Other studies have found that there exists a link between employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction and productivity. It says:

• Satisfied employees are more productive, loyal and innovative.
• Increase in job satisfaction leads to increase moral of employees which results in increased productivity of employee.
• The overall outcome would is customer retention(Corporate Leadership Council 2003)

Keeping in mind the survey results of management consulting company which showed that workers in DrainFlow  are less satisfied than workers in other comparable jobs and customer survey result which revealed 40% customer dissatisfaction and also the above mentioned facts, this report is presented which proposes plans that can help in increasing employees motivation, performance and customer satisfaction. The Proposed report revolves around four important aspects pertaining to Job design, Job satisfaction, personality and Emotional Labor. Based on the observation and interaction with the employees it may be inferred that present job design iscontributing to employee’s dissatisfaction. Although the job specialization is cutting the cost but there is a concern with regards to customer’s dissatisfaction when it comes to response time and cost. This customer dissatisfaction is coming out as a result of employee’s dissatisfaction of the job design. Therefore this report suggests some of the ways of redesigning the jobs that can help employees feel more satisfied with the work.Research and Organizational Behavior theories like Hezberg’s Motivator Hygiene theory and Adam’s Equity Theory have also shown that there exists  important link between rewards, recognition and employee satisfaction. To keep employees motivated a reward system (monetary and non-monetary) is proposed which if implemented can add to employee’s satisfaction.

The report also discusses specific plans to measure the effectiveness of the reward system. There are hiring recommendations with special focus on personality traits and emotional labor that can help in finding the right people who are better suited for the kind of job.

Job Satisfaction and Productivity

While job specialization can avoid cost which arises from varied experience and it can create condition that may foster learning and improve efficiency, it may also lead to cognitive arousal resulting in disengagement from task.  With repetitive and familiar task workers do not find a way to improve performance, they lose motivation which affects the performance (Harvard Business School 2011). Workers in DrainFlowsee their work mostly in technical, or Mechanical terms and they also find it stressful to deal with negative feedback from customers and co-workers. This has caused employees dissatisfaction with their work. This employee dissatisfaction is a cause of concern for the organization because research has shown that satisfied workers do a better job. Studies conducted since 1980s show that there exists a link between satisfaction, productivity and financial success of the company. Happy employees work harder and are more motivated which results in increased productivity .Although earlier theories such as Hawthonstudies(1930s) did not show any higher impact of employee satisfaction on productivity . However, latter studies of James Heskitt, W. Sasser and Schlesinger (1997) clearly demonstrate that higher satisfaction of employee leads to higher customer satisfaction and higher profit.

Job Characteristic and Response to work

 Job Characteristic Theory by Hackman & Oldham;1975,1980 establishes the relationship between job characteristic and individual response to work. It says that employee’s job satisfaction, work motivation and the productivity are the function of job characteristics Task identity, task significance, skill –variety, autonomy and feedback are five central characteristics. The five characteristics are discussed in brief:

Task Identity: The degree to which job requires completing the entire work (from start to end ) which ensures some visible outcomes.

Task Significance:The degree to which the job has an impact on the lives of other people.Whether those people are in the organization or in the world at large.

Skill-Variety: The degree to which a job requires different kind of work that needs to be done involving his/her different skills and talent.

Autonomy:The degree to which the job provides independence, freedom with respect to taking decisions about time, procedure and process.

Feedback:The degree to which the job gives clear idea about the effectiveness of the performance of the employee.

Looking at the present job characteristics of Drain Flow it is evident that it does not satisfy the above mentioned job characteristics which has made the job mechanical and technical for the employees. There is no autonomy and skill-variety. Employees do the same task again and again. There is no internal feedback system on performance and because of specialization there is lack of task identity as well (Bulletin Philology 1997)

– Intradepartmental job rotation can be one strategy wherein there can be different sets or group who would deal in particular set of customer problems. These groups can be shuffled to add to everyone’s experience and understanding.

• A special position of experts can be created. These would be the people from within the team only who would have the clear understanding of intricacies of the customer’s problem and they will help in sending right person to the customer’s door. This will eradicate confusions and will add to satisfaction.

 Proposal for Reward to motivate employees

 The importance of rewards and recognition as a source of motivation has been very well discussed in human resource theories like Adam’s Equity Theory. Hezberg’s Motivation hygiene theory and Expectancy theory.Lack or absence of any reward and recognition might lead to dissatisfaction and demotivation of employees. So in order to motivate employees it is important to have a reward system in place. Proposed below is a cash reward system and implementation that can help in motivating employees:

• The cash reward  can be given in the form of Incentive which will be calculated as a percentage to the salary
• It will be a monthly process and every second month it will be credited to the account.

1.05% of SalaryEvery repeat visit of customer  will ensure a small bonus for the set of employees who had served the previous request

Studies have shown that money motivates almost everyone, the degree and extent might vary which can be moderate for many and most for some (Personnel Systems Associates n.d.). It’s not the money alone that brings motivation it’s also the value and importance that is shown by the organization to the employees by offering them rewards in the form of cash that motivates

However, using financial incentives as a reward has its own shortcomings and drawbacks:

• Cash incentives can have direct impact on the cost as it can incur cost for the company. A proper calculation of cost and benefit ratio is needed before initiating such incentives. For a company like DrainFlow where there is already a chance that revenue might shrink and cost incurring strategy or plan may not prove to be a very prudent decision.
• Cash Incentives may have a tax implication on them, so, when compared to other form of incentive it may not add to the expected value (ehow 2012)
• Survey have shown that there is no lasting association of cash as a source of motivation. Its value disappears in pocket of recipient once it is spent.
• There is a guilt factor which is seen to be associated with cash reward if they are no utilized in basic needs such as hunger, sleep etc.
• The appeal of cash rewards is quite non-emotional and abstract and hence has no lasting impact(White Paper 2011)

If money is given to achieve customer satisfaction goal, it may happen that vague or unclear representation of customer satisfaction is presented in order to maximize incentives.

Cash as incentive might also pave a way for unhealthy competition and jealousy within the team.Since there are different ways through which cash incentives are presented and in case where one employee is getting it again and again, it might lead to internal conflicts within the team itself.

Other types of Incentives that can be considered are:

• Employee of the month can be selected based on the performance and they can be given awards and trophies
• Performers can be made member of hall of fame
• A specialized t-shirt, cap, mug to the performer can be impactful
• A lunch, dinner coupon, holiday trip or a free parking space would also give a very exciting and lasting experience to the employee.

Plan to assess the working of reward system:

Assessing the effectiveness of reward system can be a three step process:

Starting with Surveys and Benchmarking:- Industry benchmark surveys similar to what was used by outsourcing company can be used here also to assess how effective the reward program is. An interpretation can also come on the basis participation rate for example a low participation rate which can mean low interest in the reward or low understanding of the rewards which not a good sign(legacy bowes group 2012)

Linking the reward component with the business Strategies- This will help in mapping the components of the reward to each strategy of the business. If the strategy is aimed towards motivation of employees and increase in customer satisfaction, the same should come through.

Impact analysis: –Direct impact should come in the revenue of the company. If the program is working, it will have a positive impact on the employee’s motivation level. This will lead to increased productivity of employee and hence enhanced customer satisfaction level which will reflect in the revenue of the company. There will be reduction in customer complaints number and a time to time survey with the customer can even give a better idea.

The dependent variables that would change if the reward system works are- customer satisfaction level, employee’s motivation level, number of customer complaints and revenue of the company. The same can be measured with the help of survey and random interviews. Increased revenue will automatically reflect in the P& L of the company.

Hiring Recommendations Based on Personality Traits for Customer Service Responsibility and Emotional Labor:

 As far as the hiring of customer service is concerned it should focus on combination of right attitude with right experience and excellent presence of mind. The same can be judged through a series of process:

• A psychometric test to see the inclination of the mind of the candidate

• A writing test to check their knowledge of the subject

• Role Play to check the presence of mind and confidence

• Personal interview to see his empathy, intelligence, creativity and how good he/she can fit in the corporate culture

All employees who are hired should be given a formal and structures training to develop their knowledge and skills.

Based on Five Factor Model of Personality, there are traits that can looked into a candidate while him/her for the Customer Service responsibility and Emotional Labor

• Neuroticism– This is also known as emotional stability. A candidate of this profile should have a higher level of emotional stability. With respect to the erratic behavior of customers, a customer service representative should be emotionally stable so that he doesn’t react negatively to stressful situation. A person who is low on emotional stability might get carried away and this may impact he personal life as well.

• Extraversion –  The candidate should be energetic and outgoing so that he give enthusiastic signals to the customers(ehow 2012)

• Agreeableness – A friendly and kind reflection should come out. He/she has to be a good listener in order to understand customer and take first in building positive rapport with him/her.

• Conscientiousness– This refers to the degree to which individuals or candidates are motivated,dedicated, committed to achieve the goals, keeping the promise or to reach to a goal impresses the customers (Psychlopedian.d.)

• Openness to Experience: This refers to the degree to which the individuals are open to appreciate emotions, ideas, novel actions and feelings. Higher the trait, better is the candidate for the profile.

Conclusion

With respect to job satisfaction and its impact on productivity and customer satisfaction, the present report has proposed the job designing possibilities with the context of DrainFlow along with reward plan that can help in motivating and increasing job satisfaction of employees. It also proposes the way to measure the effectiveness of the reward plan and sets forth the hiring recommendations and discusses required personality traits. The entire plan is proposed with the motive of increasing customer satisfaction.

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