Job Design and Goal Setting

Introduction

In transforming the FMC Green River facility from a traditional organization to the Aberdeen "no fear" system, management must be motivated to the success of this implementation. Proactive management is needed to deal with employees as individuals to effectively increase employee motivation. In order to support the motivation of employees, management has to become aware of what motivates each employee. Being an interactive manager builds a relationship of trust, openness, and honesty which can enhance organizational productivity. Developing strong interpersonal relationships with employees to motivate them is a significant part of the process; however, supporting the relationship with structured systems also important. Organizational systems such as job design and goal setting, performance appraisals, pay, and career development are reliable ways of ascertain the clear understanding and impartial management of each employee.

Job Design and Goal Setting

An employee's job design helps to influence their motivation toward excelling in that position. Job design is the process of linking specific tasks to specific jobs and deciding what techniques, equipment, and procedures should be used to perform those tasks. (George & Jones 2004, pg. 203) Motivation can occur simply when an employee knows the details of the position and how to perform the tasks. Through their realized abilities, employees are now in a position to realistically set goals for themselves and the organization. A goal is what an individual is trying to accomplish through his or her behavior and actions. (George & Jones 2004, pg. 222) Through the "no fear" system, the employees at the Aberdeen facility have maintained a relationship of trust with management. Aberdeen also believed in a system where job defining was null and void. "They stressed that there were no job definitions in the plant, and that therefore everyone was responsible for making top-quality canisters profitably." (Clawson 2003, pg. 6) This method gave each employee the responsibility for the success of the organization no matter what their job specification entailed. Each employee's goal then became mutual- the achievement of a superior product for the customer. Green River traditional system promotes specific job designs that describe the work requirement(s) of each position. This distinction helps Green River operate under their current system but would not be much a success within the Aberdeen structure. Comparing Green River's employee motivation under their job design and goal setting policies to Aberdeen's "no job definition" system, more motivation occurs within Aberdeen. Aberdeen employees do not fear losing their jobs when making honest mistakes in regards to implementing new innovative measures to improve the organization. Instead, the employees are more willing to take on more responsibility by training for other positions within the organization to help out where they are needed. This work ethic does not exist at Green River because their current procedures do not allow the flexibility of making costly mistakes or cross-training to help with other positions. In order to incorporate employee motivation from Aberdeen to that of Green River, it is important that Green River also make goal setting a priority. Including employees in the goal-setting process of the organization will enhance their belief that the goals are obtainable and increase their motivation to achieve them. It will be the management's mission to ensure that each goal in some way energizes the person and obtain the vision of the organization.

Performance Appraisal

An accurate form of identifying the achievement of personal and organizational goals is through a performance appraisal. A performance appraisal evaluates the performance of an employee in order to motivate the employee's future behavior while also serving as decision-making tools for management for employee compensation incentives. (George & Jones, 2004) Aberdeen's system of for evaluating employee performance was achieved through a peer-review process. This process gave each employee continuous feedback from it's co-workers of their contributions to the team. This method increases impartiality during evaluations because more than one person assesses your performance which promotes equilibrium. Fairness and trust in your team motivates your performance as an individual and as a team. Green River employees are evaluated by management. If the manager is in charge of several employees, producing an accurate and fair evaluation would be impossible because managers will not be fully aware of the various accomplishments of each employee. Comparing Aberdeen's system of evaluating to Green Rivers system, employees will encompass more motivation from working under the Aberdeen system because it gives room for fairness and consistency. Green River's system can be easily tainted if the manager does not like an employee or if the employee has a bad day that the manager happens to witness without considering the employees' good days. Green River and Aberdeen system of evaluating should be applied in combination at the Green River facility. The evaluations could be partially management and partially peer-reviews. This method can account for personal problems that transpire with employees that might be only shared with management and not co-workers. This technique ensures management will use that knowledge and can take into consideration other occurrences that could have an affect on employees' performance.

Pay

A performance appraisal has the ability to directly affect an employees' pay. Pay is to give money in return for good or services rendered. (www.dictionary.com) In an organizational environment, pay is usually based on employee performance. This type of plan is known as the merit pay plan. (George & Jones, 2004) At Aberdeen, each employee is paid on a salary. Employees who are a part of production are paid their normal salary plus overtime for hours worked more than the traditional 40 hour work week. Aberdeen does not recompense their employees through annual bonuses, profit-sharing or stock options. As compensation for their hard work, they labor for incentives in the form of specific days off. Green River employees are also paid according to salary from the tradition job descriptions. However, Green River has the highest compensation pay among all FMC employees. (Clawson, 2003) In comparing Aberdeen pay system with Green River's, there is an important factor. Aberdeen system proves that a sizeable salary is not their ultimate