Your example could take one of three general forms:
- Academic article: Locate, read and summarize an academic article that presents a related theory, case example, etc. Draw connections between the ideas in the article and those you read for class.
- Interview: Talk to someone in an organization about what you read about. Ask them whether their experiences are consistent with the ideas presented in the readings, how the ideas might be useful in their work, etc. (This modality should include your own assessment of what you learned in the interview in addition to reporting the contents of the interview.)
- Popular press/personal example: Read the newspaper, Business Week, Inc. or think through your own experiences and find a story that relates to the week's readings.
The format of the posted assignment could take a variety of forms. It could be several paragraphs of text, it could be a narrated PowerPoint presentation, it might include audio files or visual examples. Feel free to be creative.
The week’s readings have especial application in my day to day work endeavors. I am the sales manager at Amano Artisan Chocolate. Having invested five years building a brand, Amano’s owners are finally to the stage where they are ready to build a great business. (I should note that this is my own observation, if you ask them they likely would say they have been building a business. That is a story for another day though…) Building a great business is no small endeavor (Collins, 2001). It takes the right people, doing the right job, and at the right time; or as Collins put it, getting the right people on the bus in the right seats (2001). I view Amano as a brand that directly correlates with luxury experience. The challenge we face on a day to day basis is translating the brand into a business, and wouldn’t you know that we encounter the same obstacles that Taylor, Fayol, Weber, the Gilbreths, and all the rest of the early management scholars encountered?
ReplyDeleteSoldiering is addressed early in the chapter about Taylor (Wren & Bedeian 2009). It may seem crazy, but I see this cutting throughout the entire organization, myself included. I am guilty of natural and systematic soldiering, almost on a daily basis. Admitting this hurts. I despise the thought of being less than 100% efficient for whatever reason. Some days I am mentally exhausted and the thought of coping with another client has me kicked back in my chair, daydreaming about the weekend adventures. Other days I become cross with one of the owners over (and probably a trivial) issue. Next thing you know I find myself ‘punishing’ them by shirking some of my responsibilities. Further I know the effort that I put into establishing new clients has a direct effect on how busy I am in the future. I often find my subconscious systematically reducing my effectiveness in an attempt to levee future work. It is my impression Taylor would have addressed this tendency I express (and the rest of our staff) through proper incentive (Wren & Bedeian 2009). Coincidently just last month I started establishing a sales architecture that will do, hopefully, precisely this.
And as a manager, is it any surprise that one of my Clifton Themes was Strategic? “The familiar ring of Fayol’s ideas suggests how thoroughly they have penetrated current managerial thinking…”Whether they admit it or not, it’s obvious most managers today are fundamentally Fayolists”” (Wren & Bedeian, 2009, p. 227). Fayolism in its essence, as captured by Wren and Bedeian (2009), is the process of strategizing. Planning, organizing and the subsequent execution of them through command, coordination and control equate to the strategy process. For me, strategizing encompasses a good portion of my work. I think it would be insightful to see how much time I spend strategizing before approaching a client versus the actual time of interaction. The same can be said of working with the owners and subordinates alike. Perhaps it is all too coincidental, but it just so happens I love metaphors and some of that strategizing time is always committed to finding the properly balance metaphor to convey my message. This balance equates to managing the “the paradox of metaphor” (Morgan, 1998, p. 9)
Nik, you do face some very real challenges in selling luxury chocolate. My hat is off to you for wrestling with both internal and external players on a weekly basis.
DeleteThe price point of $7-9 for a 100 gram bar sets you in a rarified class. Having spent time in Switzerland and Belgium, two of the leading producers of luxury chocolate, I have experienced some excellent chocolate bars that were less than that. But I have never tried any Amano Artisan Chocolate!
I would be curious who your clients are. I assume you operate at a wholesale level. So I would guess that convincing the buyers at a gourmet supermarket chain, such as Whole Foods, might be the people you would work with.
Finding what motivates them must be a large part of your strategizing time. It sounds like working those motivational elements into your metaphors is part of your process.
Telling a story is a crucial direction in corporate communication these days. I close by including a link that includes several excellent examples of this principle. I would encourage you (and me) to consider this all the time, as we craft our corporate messages.
http://storify.com/communicateasia/storytelling-corporate-communication-series
It is definitely an interesting market. The organizations buying the bars comprise what I call our 'branding market.' We have an image to maintain as one of the best in the world (top 5 to be precise, none of which are Belgian or Swiss!) We do this by making the bars somewhat exclusive-which means WholeFoods only gets a portion of the line. The really high end bars are only found in specialty retailers, or at least that is the idea. Most our profits come from selling bulk chocolate to high end restaurants. But, yeah long story short we are always conscience of the message we portray and the impact it has on our business as well as the industry as a whole.
DeleteReferences
ReplyDeleteCollins, J. C. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap--and others don't HarperBusiness.
Cummings, S., & Daellenbach, U. (2009). A guide to the future of strategy?: The history of long range planning. Long Range Planning, 42(2), 234-263. doi:10.1016/j.lrp.2008.12.005
Morgan, G. (1998). The promis of images of organization. In Images of organization (pp. 3-13). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Wren, D. A., & Bedeian, A. G. (2009). The advent of scientific management. In L. Johnson (Ed.), The evolution of management (6th ed., pp. 121-155). Danvers, MA: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Wren, D. A., & Bedeian, A. G. (2009). The emergence of the management process and organization theory. In L. Johnson (Ed.), The evolution of management (6th ed., pp. 212-234). Danvers, MA: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
This week's readings relate to my challenges in convincing a client to move forward with several action plans to leverage the use of social media to increase their market reach. I have provided several sets of suggestions for change but have been met with unwillingness to respond to my suggested action plans. I realize that my client, the marketing manager of a large car dealership consortium, is quite overloaded with work and is unable to respond to every request. Leveraging the dealerships' social media presences is not her highest priority. It is my mission to move my suggestions higher up her list of work priority items.
ReplyDeleteThough the client is my boss, in a manner of speaking, she also needs management, in terms of buying into the value of my suggestions. Morgan's exploration of metaphors applies to this situation. The metaphor of an organization being an organism relates to how I need to more deeply understand how she thinks. Understanding an organism's life cycle will give insight into how to manage an analogous organization (Morgan 1998). So the more I can understand how she thinks, the better I can tailor action steps to fit her mental eco-system.
Bettis-Outland's concepts regarding processes of decision making in organizations have several applications to my challenges. One recent initiative met with very poor results. This experience can serve as a learning tool to suggest several steps to avoid in carrying out similar initiatives in the future (Bettis-Outland 2012). The negative experience can actually be a greater learning tool than a positive experience would have been.
Another direction Bettis-Outland suggests is decision making through incremental learning. The more initiatives we try, the more we will learn (Bettis-Outland 2012). Reminding my client of past successes can serve as a reminder of the strong possibility of future successes.
Concepts tried by Frederick Winslow Taylor, related to organizational efficiency, can apply. Trying an A/B approach to implementing a suggestion could easily prove the effectiveness of a particular direction (Wren & Bedeian 2009).
Finally, information overload may play a key role in my client's inability to take action on the many suggestions I provided. If I narrow down the suggestions to a very short list, I may increase the possibility that she will be willing to take action on them (Bettis-Outland 2012).
References:
Bettis-Outland, H. (2012). Decision-making's impact on organizational learning and information overload. Journal of Business Research, 65/6, 814-820.
Morgan, G. (1998). The images of organization. (pp. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Wren, D. A., & Bedeian, A. G. (2009). The advent of scientific management., The evolution of management (6th ed.). Danvers, MA: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Isn't it great when you in a sense are managing your bosses? I don't know if you have looked into Qualtrics much but it is a great market research instrument, maybe it has some application in convincing this marketing manager of the vital roll social media (should) plays.
DeleteI've heard of it but have not used it. I will check it out! Thanks.
DeleteAs someone with a background in organizational communications and public relations, I was really taken by Weber's system of Bureaucratic Management in comparison to the organizational system of a typical television station, or in this case, a Telemundo affiliate station.
ReplyDeleteWeber had clearly defined advantages to the "ideal" Bureaucratic system: Division of Labor, Managerial Hierarchy, Formal Selection and Career Orientation (Wren). In theory, any organization would strive to have such characteristics in place, including the typical Telemundo affiliate station. When people are actually put into place in this "ideal" organizational scenario, well, this is where the challenges arise.
For example, there are several departments within a typical television station, each of them reliant on each other to ensure a station's daily success. These departments consist of Traffic (programming and commercial scheduling), Production (the actual production of station promos and commercial spots), Sales, Master Control (the department that ensures that programming is being broadcasted), and Marketing.
The station Marketing manager is responsible for designing and executing key activities that generate revenue and raise the profile of the station. The role is clearly defined as per Weber's Bureaucratic system, however the Division of Labor is not equal. Workers in different departments take on extra responsibilities due to budget constraints and the need to turn a profit, including the Marketing Department. The added responsibility in this department is counter to Weber's idea that Division of Labor would equal greater efficiency (Wren).
For example, a station is participating in a live remote in order to execute a promotion. One individual cannot execute the task alone. So to compensate for missing members of the Marketing team (budget cuts), workers from the sales force are called on to help with the execution. Efficiency goes out the window because instead of selling and bringing revenue into the station, the sales staff (a reluctant one) now has to shift its focus. The trickle down effect is clear: Sales now has to stop selling for a given amount of time, thus, effecting their opportunities to earn commissions. This results in low morale. It also results in workers deliberately "getting by" so that they won't be depended upon in the future, which was a clear disadvantage to Weber's Bureaucratic system (Wren).
This called to mind Frederick Taylor's idea on workers that "underworked" (Wren), except rather than fearing that they would lose their jobs if the task was completed, in the television station scenario, people are worried that they'll be working more!
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Wren, Daniel A., Bedeian, Arthur G. (2009). The Evolution of Management Thought
(6th ed). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The idea of 'getting by' or 'soldiering' is very intriguing to me. I have a real interest in the communication of ethics within an organization, and there is a fantastic non-verbal conversation that transpires between the workers and managers when soldiering happens. Maybe something to look at for a project? I have been in sales for 7 years now, and I have experienced soldiering every day in myself and in the people working around me.
DeleteHi Phillip,
DeleteI wrote mine from the perspective of someone that's never been in a management situation and I find reading yours interesting because I think we both came to the same conclusion: how practical are these theories, not only in a time of cutbacks, like you mentioned, but everyone chipping in. Taylor's right man for the job ideas are tossed out the window. As you mention, a reluctant sales staff shifts gears and productivity for everyone drops. Although I wrote about my experience at my current job which doesn't provide that daily thought of layoffs (I'm not sure where the TV industry is) but I spent 5 years at a daily newspaper and the situation you describe is the exact same. I would find it hard to imagine it's easy to find any management theory that fits today's world.
I've learned a lot here in week 1, so who knows, maybe that question will be answered next week.
Justin
The concept of soldiering is interesting to me. I've been completely perplexed with someone who is dragging her feet on a re-branding project I think is boring. After reading this, I now wonder if she's soldiering, thinking that if she finishes this, she'll be terminated, when I'm thinking, "finish this so we can start something interesting." Will have to try some new ways of approaching the issue with her as a result of this reading.
DeletePart one:
ReplyDeleteAs we began our readings this week, one of the first challenges facing management that I encountered was “soldiering,” a term that Frederick Taylor used to describe the act of workers laboring slower than they are able to, but making supervisors believe that they are working quickly (Taylor). Immediately, I thought of personal experiences at companies I’ve worked for and how soldiering was part of everyday life at the office.
In agency life, billable hours are king. Although ethical billing is expected by most employers so is a constant level of productivity (pre-determined by the company). Based on my time in client service environments, systematic soldiering is common. Despite having a workload far less than what is deemed “full,” per company regulations, workers pad their billable hours with tasks that they never performed in an effort to keep productivity up and in turn, prevent supervisors from assigning additional work to them (Wren, Bedeian).
In my experience, although a billing environment does tend to lead to systematic soldiering, it is eliminates a significant amount natural soldiering, which Taylor defines as “the natural instinct and tendency of men to take it easy” (Taylor, p. 30). Knowing that they must meet their daily productivity standard, most workers in shops I’ve worked in tended to stay busy, maintaining a high level of productivity to secure a positive performance review.
When it comes to completing tasks, how slow is too slow? While most communication professionals know how long it takes to write a news release, pitch media or perform other daily duties, there is usually no standard for how long those tasks should take to complete. In firms that I’ve worked in or observed, issues are typically not noticed or addressed unless they are so egregious that they cannot be overlooked.
Although selfishly, I would not suggest it due to the human nature that Taylor described, perhaps a time study and outline of acceptable, maximum times to perform daily tasks would improve efficiency at my office (Wren, Bedeian). If my daily productivity requirement is seven billable hours and I spend four of them writing a news release on a client’s secretary who is turning 92 years old, I am filling my quota and bringing in revenue, but in a wasteful way that delays the onset of additional projects that will bring in an equal amount of money and more in the future. I do believe that a “piece-rate” incentive, as described by Taylor would inspire frantic writing and outstanding client service, but I have a hard time believing that something an incentive-based workday would ever exist in our field (Taylor).
There are a lot of very interesting commission schedules out there that I think have great application in your field. One that I am particularly fond of and currently working to implement at Amano is a group based commissions pulling system. Succinctly, the way it works is each sale (or project) has a certain amount of commission attached, lets say 10%. The person closing the sale only gets a portion of that, say 70%. The other 30% goes to a pull that is split among the team. Transparency is essential so everyone knows who is contributing and who is anchoring the team. Of course it is very important to maintain a positive, constructive environment where everyone coaches and aids each other along, but if you can do this it creates very positive and successful sales forces.
DeleteHow often would you propose the commissions are paid out? I definitely do think that when trying to meet or exceed a revenue goal, whether monthly or annually, incentivizing better productivity is extremely useful. In a prior job as a cell phone sales guy, even when I was systematically soldiering (due to daily retail rage and other reasons,) when a manufacturer or company contest came around that allowed me to earn more money, cool phones, etc., I was all over it.
DeleteWe also used to have the occasional store bonus. Our monthly sales numbers would shoot through the roof and teamwork was more prevalent than ever regardless of whether we won the $30 pizza party or not.
Most everything the I have seen points to monthly pay outs and benefits. Annually is to far out for us to make the cognitive action-reward association.
DeletePart two:
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am not a manager, when looking at the big picture from one’s perspective, I tend to agree with Taylor’s view that systematic soldiering is most damaging. Although natural soldiering can be minimized by implementing productivity standards and other measures, identifying lazy workers and their lack of efficiency is a more involved process and requires a solid base of scientific research, such as a time study, to identify baseline facts prior to making a judgment on their efficiency (Wren, Bedeian).
In my view, Henri Fayol’s principles of management are extremely relevant and I believe that implementing them would be helpful in my current environment to engage staff and eliminate soldiering. By creating “one head and one plan for a group of activities having the same direction,” the goal would shift from meeting productivity requirements to ensuring client delight and cultivating new opportunities with existing clients, hence improving efficiency and less hang-up on “soldiered” tasks (Wren, Bedeian).
Throughout my career, I’ve often thought of the financial side of businesses as an impersonal machine, gobbling up money with no regard for the client, but “Images of Organization” opened my eyes to the thought that I, myself may be contributing to that very reality by making this comparison. Perhaps by associating billing to part of our company’s culture and livelihood, as an essential resource like water to an ecosystem, my attitude and even efficiency would improve (Morgan). After all, billing leads to revenue, which leads to salary, which leads to me being able to pursue my master’s degree, which will lead to further advancement and implementation of what I learned in graduate school.
Works Cited:
Morgan, G. (1998). Images of Organization. Thousand Oaks, CA: Saga Publishing.
Taylor, Frederick W. (1919). Shop Management. New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers.
Wren, Daniel A., Bedeian, Arthur G. (2009). The Evolution of Management Thought
(6th ed). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Each of this week’s scholars presented theories based on experience in an industrial setting, but I believe the concepts presented still have a place in the “experience economy” where many of us find ourselves.
ReplyDeleteIn the cost-accounting structure Taylor advocated, the goal was not to work harder, but smarter. This concept of “mutuality of interest” (Wren & Bedeian, 2009, p. 148), of organizing a system so that the employee’s motivation aligns with the company’s, makes perfect sense for the types of businesses Taylor oversaw. What I was most struck by in Taylor’s thoughts was that it seemed his goals for organizations were to be set up as if each worker were a piece of machinery, and while I originally considered this to be irrelevant outside of manufacturing, I considered the operational environment of my company’s theme parks, resorts and cruise ships. This concept of using each employee’s time most wisely, guarding against soldiering, is certainly applicable to delivering a standardized experience of quality, as the linear of nature of manufacturing work is not too far removed from the queues for attractions, food & beverage locations or hotel check-ins.
Similar in impersonality was Weber’s pursuit of an ideal bureaucracy. Particularly the concepts of division of labor and managerial hierarchy (Wren & Bedeian, 2009, p. 231) had application in my personal experience, as when viewed through the lens of efficiency above all, clearly-defined roles not only keep a work group on task, they enhance each employee’s focus. This focus is particularly key as our company has made an uncompromising position on employee and guest safety. Without clearly-defined roles and hierarchy, an environment where each employee can focus on doing one job safely and well would be a near impossibility.
What most intrigued me, though, were the concepts of Fayol; particularly the balance of control and input needed for successful management.
Parker & Ritson (2005) articulated this concept of balance and Fayol’s thoughts on the matter, suggesting that “for Fayol, the ideal manager appears to be one who guarantees the operational integrity of decision-making, goal-setting and planning processes by asserting his or her authority whenever needed, whilst retaining the capacity to motivate his or her subordinates by trusting their capacity for initiative” (p. 187).
Along with advancing the need for management education, I was also taken by Fayol’s emphasis on esprit de corps, that there is a need for thoughtful consideration to employees’ cohesion and well-being. For one of the businesses I support, we recently staged a small but successful event where our senior leaders spoke of their gratitude to our team for the work they put in launching major new initiatives for the business, so it was heartening to see that this type of “team bonding” has a more philosophical root.
I look forward to hearing my classmates’ thoughts on these scholars and their theories, as well as how they apply in our diverse roles and industries.
Morgan, G. (1998). Images of Organization. Thousand Oaks, CA: Saga Publishing.
Parker, L.D., & Ritson, P.A. (2005) Revisiting Fayol: Anticipating Contemporary Management. British Journal of Management, 16, 175-194. doi:1 0.1111/j.1467-8551.2005.00453.x
Wren, D.A., & Bedeian, A.G. (2009). The Evolution of Management Thought (6th ed). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Isn't it interesting to see these early scholars begin to tackle morale early on in the management conversation? It makes me wonder where they were on the spectrum of doing it for profitability or for humanistic reasons. What do you think the sincerity level of Fayol and others was?
DeleteI’m not in management and I haven’t been, so all of these readings were purely that: readings. I write medical device alerts for the ECRI Institute, a non-profit medical device research and consultation company.
ReplyDeleteEvery morning I arrive at ECRI with the same group of colleagues (a mixture of researchers and engineers) and dive into my cube. My cube, on the outside, looks just like everyone else’s; my cube, on the inside, looks just like everyone else’s as well. For roughly 8 hours a day, I sit in my cube and type alerts based on manufacturer and regulatory agency safety alerts. Occasionally, I leave my cube to attend meetings.
After this week’s readings, I recognize that our management and senior executives would fall under the Fayol model of management, the “esprit de corps (Wren and Bedeian 2009). Harmony, unity, and open input from around our organization is promoted: No idea, whether from an engineer or writer, is shot down. From staffing to planning to organization, ECRI would promote itself as following Foyer’s theories, and that it was working. I would agree and would follow Fayol’s theories as well. However, I don’t know how practical they are for managing someone not in a managerial role.
Writing device alerts at ECRI is best though of as a production line and my department is more akin to those jobs described in Taylor’s Scientific Management theory. My colleagues, because we are salaried and perform the same task from the same never-ending “lump of labor” (Wren and Bedeian 2009), chose to work slowly; we “soldier” (Wren and Bedeian 2009). I know we (my colleagues) all realize that “business is a system of human cooperation that will be successful only if all concerned work toward a common goal” (Wren and Bedeian), but in an organization that is diverse, full of engineers, doctors, physicists, nurses, and scientists, I wonder how you integrate everyone and make sure that everyone is performing the best task they can? It is Taylor’s idea of “person-job fit” (Wren and Bedeian) that I think would make the most sense, especially when combined with Fayol’s theories.
As an organization grows, how best do you utilize everyone’s talents to the best of their abilities? Or is it based on the job? Then as your organization grows and diversifies, how does the variety then affect employees? I see this within ECRI just based on the diversity of the background of current employees.
Regardless of the answers to any question, I find it intriguing that Taylor, Fayol, and Weber were writing based on manufacturing and line-production jobs around 100 years ago and it’s possible to relate them to modern-day offices.
References
Wren, D.A., Bedeian, A.G. (2009). The evolution of management thought. Danvers, MA: John Wiley & Sons.
Is there a certain number of alerts that you're supposed to write each day or is it soley based on the manufacturers and regulatory agencies?
DeleteWould Taylor's idea of paying you more money if you exceeded a pre-determined number of alerts per day make you want to work harder?
While reading about Henri Fayol (Wren & Bedeian, 2009) and his belief that management is a science for study reminded me of the many times I have seen employees who are technically outstanding meet their downfall when they become managers. Often, in the business world, employees who excel technically are promoted to manage teams, as leading teams is viewed as the next step and even reward for those who are exceptionally talented in a particular technical aspect. Fayol’s view that management should be studied apart from technical matters in school (Wren & Bedeian, 2009), holds true today in manufacturing and office workplaces.
ReplyDeleteI once worked in the marketing department of a software company, where prolific software engineers were promoted to management roles as the company grew and expanded rapidly. But while those software engineers might have been excellent project managers or visionary programmers, they often lacked the administrative skills that their new management roles required; consequently these excellent employees were challenged as managers and often failed.
The problems these individuals had in managing were articulated in Fayol’s fourteen principles, including authority, discipline, and unity of direction. (Wren & Bedeian, 2009). The skills and faculties that made them successful at writing software code were quite different. If the individual was promoted from within the team, often they faced the challenge of asserting authority and discipline over their former colleagues.
From the perspective of an internal communications manager whose role it was to ensure that managers were defining their teams’ role in the business vision and direction, I saw the challenges these inexperienced managers were facing in understanding how to plan, manage employees, goal setting, all things that Fayol listed in his principles. To this firm's credit, management did recognize the issue and sought professional managers for some key roles and implemented a management training and mentorship program to groom and develop managers from within the ranks of the technically skilled.
References
Wren, D.A., Bedeian, A.G. (2009). The evolution of management thought. Danvers, MA: John Wiley & Sons.
That is great they were able to recognize what the rift in their management staff's ability was. When upper management can't see the reason their managers are failing it can cause an organization to really stumble. Do you think that any person can be groomed into a manager?
DeleteInteresting question, Nik. I have often wondered if managers are born, not made. When I worked at Prudential, we were encouraged to take a variety of courses on coaching for lower-level managers, which at least addressed the need to provide a foundation for best management practices. On the negative side, I have encountered many individuals in supervisory positions who practiced "management by exception" or were just in it for the money and prestige. I think that many who are groomed for management positions eventually falter due to personality issues and lack of organizational skills that hinder their progress.
DeleteCan Efficiency Wages be the Incentive Answer to Soldiering
ReplyDeleteI had the opportunity recently to read an article in the March 2011 edition of WORKSPAN written by Cornell University Professor Kevin F. Hallock titled “Motivating With Efficiency Wages and Delayed Payments. Mr. Hallock wrote this article after a bad experience with having a bug in his food at a fast food restaurant. This article got Hallock thinking about the various aspects of why people are paid the way they are.
As Hallock focused primarily on the fast-food and hotel industries, he talked about how it is assumed that employees may not always do what is best for the company and may loaf around or waste time at work. I immediately reflected back to when Frederick Winslow Taylor worked at the Midvale Steel Company and during his early years of experience in management as gang boss, he recognized then an employee practice called “soldiering” where employee output was low deliberately or due to a lack of incentives. After time study, Taylor sought ways to improve job performance. One of those ways included a piece-rate incentive. Taylor also believed there was a need to match the abilities of an employee to the right job.
Hallock’s article offered two types of incentives, Delayed Payments and Efficiency Wages. The Delayed Payments option, although efficient, is stifled by the minimum wage and other constraints. As a better option, the article considers Efficiency Wages, paying employees a wage higher than the next-best offer they could get. Hallock suggests that this premium wage would make employees who are slacking fear losing their jobs and then having to settle for a lower wage elsewhere. Also, offering this premium wage may result in hiring a more capable employee.
In closing, the article gave some comparisons within both industries, company-owed versus franchisees and which is better at monitoring employees and paying higher wages based on performance. The industry results proved many things including the inseparability of how closely employees can be monitored and other attributes of employee compensation design.
I'd never heard of "efficiency wage" by title, but have always thought about the concept. As an employer, if you make a habit of paying top employees what they would make in the next-highest level somewhere else, you could essentially lock them into staying with your company. Although the fear of losing their job and having to work somewhere else for less money may be effective at preventing soldiering, I think that the natural tendency to relax kicks in at some point regardless of how much money you're making.
ReplyDeleteAs the owner of a company, what are your thoughts?
In my job, communications consultants partner regularly with specialists in the areas of talent management and compensation to design and communicate employee incentive plans. Thanks in part to the challenging economic climate of the last few years, we’ve seen more and more companies adopting pay-for-performance incentive plans for employees at all levels. Not only do we share Frederik Taylor’s view that responsibility lies with management to design effective incentive plans (Wren, 2009), we also believe that good communication is essential to the success of incentive plan implementation. However, our practices do diverge from scientific management in our treatment of the human element. Despite Taylor’s protests that properly practiced scientific management maintains “the proper personal relations … between the employers and men, (as cited in Wren, 2009, p. 152), most of my colleagues would argue that strict adoption of scientific management has a detrimental effect on employee attraction and retention. Fayol’s acknowledgement of the role of job enlargement in increasing employee engagement (Wren, 2009) is a step in the right direction, but as a whole, Taylor, Fayol, and Weber – while offering many excellent management principles -- undervalue the individual employee.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone else find Taylor’s description of the motivations for “soldiering” particularly interesting? He observed that employees would “soldier,” or underwork, for a number of reasons, most of which boiled down to fears that high performance would not be rewarded in the long term (Wren, 2009). No doubt Taylor had great insight into the incentive needs of Midvale’s engineers, yet I cannot help but wonder if better communication (including clear “if, then” scenarios and direct address of worker assumptions) could have solved performance problems just as readily as a revised incentive plan.
This week’s reading reminded me of a BBC News article I heard referenced on NPR. Links to two full articles are provided below, but to sum it up, the Department of Education in England and Wales recently announced its recommendation to implement a pay-for-performance compensation approach for teachers (“British Teachers,” 2012; Coughlan, 2012). While the department’s recommendations are complex and include several pay-for-performance models as well as the idea of “different pay in different areas,” a surface evaluation of the suggestions certainly brings scientific management theory to mind (“British Teachers,” 2012; Coughlan, 2012). The committee urges an approach in which “the best teachers are rewarded while the weak are discouraged from staying in the profession” (“British Teachers,” 2012). If that doesn’t divide teachers into “first-class” and “second-class” workers, I don’t know what would!
Perhaps teachers’ unions would have better received better-focused recommendations offering greater anticipation and consideration of teacher concerns. What do you think?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18089505
http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/british-teachers-paid-performance-141620652.html
References
British teachers to be paid for performance? (2012, May 1). Indo Asian News Service. Retrieved from http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/british-teachers-paid-performance-141620652.html
Coughlan, S. (2012, May 16). Michael Gove pushes for performance pay for teachers. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18089505
Wren, D. A., & Bedeian, A. G. (2009). The evolution of management thought (6th ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.