Strategies for Motivating Employees

Strategies for Motivating Employees How to identify unmotivated employees and help them become motivated: Some strategies for managers. An employee who is well motivated is able to produce better results quicker and is also much more creative. There are many problems that exist in the workplace. Motivation is a subject that everyone will come across and it is common to be placed in a situation where you will need to work with a colleague or subordinate who suffers from a lack of motivation. It is important for an employer to know how to deal and overcome any issues arising from motivational problems so they can make the most of their most important asset (their employees); this paper will look to analyse and overcome these problems. The first thing an employer needs to do is have a clear understanding of what motivation is. Wikipedia defines motivation as â€Å"having the desire and willingness to do something† (Wikipedia, 2007). One book states â€Å"Motivation is a state of readiness or eagerness to change, which may fluctuate from one time or situation to another, This state is one that can be influenced† (Motivation, Rob Long 2005). Taking that into account a prominent American Psychologist, Abraham H Maslow (1908-1970) the inventor of Maslows Motivation Theory, stated that mans behaviour is controlled by â€Å"Internal† and â€Å"External† forces. This report will focus heavily on the Internal and External forces as they are extremely pertinent to understanding differences in motivation problems. Which leads to my personal definition of motivation as having the willingness, eagerness or desire to change or to do something that you need or are required to do by factors and influen ces that are not only External (environment) , but Internal (feelings, emotions) as well. Understanding that motivation also comes down to the individual and how they react and relate to certain situations is very important as well. Some possible signs that an employee is suffering from motivational problems are that their productivity is low, they have a lot of sick days and they look unhappy. At this point a manager may be thinking about why you should bother about motivating employees that are already paid to do the job that is required of them. A manager needs to forget any negative thoughts towards an employee and do what is best for the employee as they are the most important asset any company has. One article states that â€Å"a common mistake when dealing with motivation problems is to quickly jump ahead to solutions without knowing what is causing the problem† (Motivation Management, Green, 2000). If a manager has limited knowledge of the employees problem you are probably less likely to be successful in helping that employee than if you investigate the situation with the employee. If a manager can see that an employee looks unhappy the best thing for a manager to do is talk to him or her. Any relationship counsellor will tell you how important communication is being it in a professional or personal relationship. Motivation Management states that there are three types of motivation problems; lack of confidence, lack of trust and lack of satisfaction (Motivation Management, Green, 2000). After researching I have found it valid and essential to add a fourth motivational problem being lack of hope. I will compare these problems with Maslows Internal and External forces theory. If an employee has a lack of hope (neither influence) they have no will to succeed in or do the job. This could stem from any other motivational problem but is to a point where the employee will never (mangers opinions may vary) be able to be turned around. Whilst this happens only in extreme cases it is something that can be identified, investigated (sit down with the employee and ask why it has come to this) and prevented from happening again. If a manager is experiencing multiple cases of lack of hope, maybe other sources could be looked at such as Human Resources and Recruitment. â€Å"All the motivation in the world wont make people stay, if youve hired the wrong people† says Terry Harris President of Chicago Consulting (Motivating Customer Service Employees, Harps 1993). If an employee has lack of confidence (internal influence) he or she does not have enough trust or belief in his or her abilities. This is very self explanatory in this situation you are better off giving the employee some responsibility which in turn helps them overcome their confidence issues. Be sure to be there to assist as they will probably require your guidance from time to time. If an employee has lack of trust (both internal and external influences) they dont have enough faith in something; generally an employee will have a lack of trust in an employer or manager. Empowering Supervisors by Ern Prentice Gordon Rabey state that an employees performance largely depends on the competence and effectiveness of their immediate supervisor. Most books on motivation or empowerment tend to agree on the fact that if you ha ve a weak/incompetent leader, that your overall motivation will be low. Managers can also have a lack of trust towards their employees. The most common time this would occur would be in a strict and well disciplined working environment. An American Mill company called Nucor introduced a management style which saw an increase of profit and dividends to shareholders exceed almost 400%. They ensured managers abandoned the command and control model (charismatic approach) of leadership and go towards a worker responsibility environment. They also ensured that they shared corporate wealth with their employees. (The Art of motivation, 2006). Using the Nucor example we can determine that employees will trust a manager if the manager takes the first step and shows trust towards the employee first. This creates trust for the employee and helps eliminate any mistrust that might have existed. An example for a manager to create trust could be to (where possible) let the employee set their own wo rking hours or days, and give them flexibility with rules in the workplace, and have them aware of repercussions if they fail to meet any reasonable deadlines they themselves set out. If an employee has lack of satisfaction then they are generally not happy with the external influences revolving around their job role. Psychologist Frederick I Herzberg (1923-2000) introduced the Motivator Hygiene Theory, which states that demotivators (Isolation, poor working conditions continual pressure) need to be reduced and motivators (good pay, controlling own work (empowerment) and varied work) need to be increased. Some ways to increase satisfaction is to have an emphasis on teamwork and helping each other. It is important to ensure that employees feel they are a part of the greater good of the company and that without their input and work deadlines would be missed. Whilst pay and benefits are a good way to increase job satisfaction many surveys and research would indicate it is less importa nt to employees. One study of what motivates 31 000 men ad 13 000 women employed in the Minneapolis Gas Company between 1945-1965 shows that pay was not among the top factors but Security, advancement, type of work and being a part of a company they are proud to work for were. (http://www.accel-team.com/motivation/index.html) Managers should now have a good understanding of how motivation works in the workplace and where to start should an employee have a motivational problem. It is very important however to remember to talk to an employee, as communication is the most important aspect in any working relationship and as a manager you are responsible for taking the first step every time. References in Alphabetical Order: Maslow, A.H (1943) Conflict, frustration and the theory of threat. J.abnorm. (soc.) Psychol, 1943, 38, 81-86. ATHERTON J S (2005) Learning and Teaching:   Motivation    [On-line] UK: Available: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/motivation.htm   Accessed: 25 March 2007 HERZBERG F (1966) Work and the Nature of Man Cleveland: World Publishing Company   Leslie Hansen Harps (1993) Motivating Customer Service Employees: The cutomer service Empowering Supervisors by Ern Prentice Gordon Rabey The art of motivation, Business week, New york (May 1st 2006) Iss 3982 pg 56. http://www.accel-team.com/motivation/index.html 2007 â€Å"MOTIVATION 2020† – or – how to constitute and properly motivate a successful and efficient work team in 2020? What factors will influence an employees satisfaction and motivation in 2020? Teodora Paligorova Wikipedia

Lullabies for Little Criminals

Child development is the genetic and internal changes that occur in children during early years. There are many internal and external factors that affect a child's growth and development. The connection between a child’s environment and a child’s development are explored in Heather O'Neill's lullabies for little criminals where a child named Baby becomes a product of her environment. This is explored through the early death of Baby’s mother, her being raised by a young father and her father's drug addiction. Baby’s bad decisions and choices come from a lack of guidance necessary for a child’s social growth and development.The absence of a mother in Baby’s life is without a doubt one of the most significant factor in how her life turns out. Not having a mother to guide her, encourage and mold her to become a healthy young adult is evident throughout the book as the important life lessons from a mother was never instilled. Although Baby is grat eful for her father, Jules’s attempts at parenting her, she recognizes that he is unable to take care of himself, therefore unable to give Baby the nurturing environment necessary for a child to flourish.This is evident when she laments â€Å"Jules tried to be a mother, but he’d always kind of fallen short on the mark† (O’Neill, 186). Furthermore, Baby does not understand the feeling of unconditional love that mothers often have towards their children which causes her to look for love in all the wrong places. Without a mother in her life, Baby does not have someone she can lean on for some of the most basic roles of a parental figure, and she grows up feeling ashamed of what she has becomes.Hence, Baby reflects on her outcome when she states â€Å"I thought that if my mother met me now, all grown up, she would be disappointed† (O’Neill, 97). Without guidance Baby succumbs to the life of drugs, alcohol and prostitution, a fate she feels was i nevitable given the lack of maternal love. Nevertheless, in her insightful moments Baby states that, â€Å"A lot of kids get the privilege of looking at themselves through their mother’s eyes. I could only see myself through my own eyes, and sometimes I could barely stand to look† (O’Neill, 186).Here Baby Speaks matter-of-factly, without any resentment towards her mother but more resolute that her life is shaped by her circumstances – without love, self esteem or respect for self. In A Theory of Human Motivation, A. H. Maslow writes; [We] have what we may call the desire for reputation or prestige (defining it as respect or esteem from other people), recognition, attention, importance or appreciation. These needs have been relatively stressed by Alfred Adler and his followers, and have been relatively neglected by Freud and the psychoanalysts.More and more today however there is appearing widespread appreciation of their central importance. (Maslow,1943,3 70-396) The instinctive needs and reassurance mothers provide their daughter’s with is what Baby searches for throughout the book. Therefore the lack of guidance and nurturing is arguably some of the root causes of her poor decision making, as she continues looking for love in the wrong places. When Baby was born, her parents were teenagers and therefore ill prepared for the responsibilities of taking care of a child.Her early childhood was characterized by neglect as a result her behavior inevitably changes for the worst. She learns early on that adults in her life are not reliable. For instance, when her father is released from the hospital, Baby was under the impression that her father will come for her immediately; however, she is disappointed when he fails to come for her. She expresses her disappointment by saying â€Å"I thought Jules was still in the hospital. I thought the day they’d release him, he’d hitchhike right over to the foster home and get me. † (O’Neill, 50)Jules is unable to understand that Baby has no one to depend on but him and he is presented as negligent of her needs through out the book. Jules is unable to put the needs of others above his own, and in return shows Baby that the only thing important in life is yourself. Baby want’s nothing but a stable and nurturing home environment but Jules is unable to provide the basic necessities for her. In Contemporary Liberalism and the Fate of American Children David L. Tubbs writes â€Å"Children depend on adults for many things, and this dependence encompasses more than material needs.Certain intangible goods—education, for example—are just as crucial to their well-being. †(Tubbs, 2007, 1) This idea is especially true in lullabies for little criminals where the emotional bond Baby yearns for, her younger father is unable to provide. This lack of caring for his daughter can also be seen when he is taken away by the police, leaving Baby stranded and confused, â€Å"As the cop car pulled away, I waved to Jules in the backseat. He had been too distracted to even notice me being hit by a car† (O’Neill, 57).As a child, Baby has learned to be self reliant and independent. Nonetheless Baby witnessing her father's run in with the law profoundly affects her attitude towards the law as she herself becomes a prostitute and an addict. Despite the fact that Jules does not seem to care about Baby’s well being, she rationalizes his inadequate parenting as simply lack of experience. Throughout the novel Baby chooses to make decisions that are not in her best interest simply because that's all that she knows. It is this lack of guidance that paves the way for Baby’s poor decision making.Baby’s inadequate and drug addicted father is unable to provide the appropriate environment for her to learn the skills needed for success in life. As Baby talks about her father’s drug addiction she m akes a remark that is telling. She says â€Å"For a kid I knew a lot of things about what it felt like to use heroine. †(O’Neill,10) Early on in life, Baby is aware of her father’s dependency on drugs and is given no choice but to take on the parental role within her family. Baby has never been told otherwise and will never understand the dangers of heroin use.At a young age she already feels the pain and pleasure that comes along with drugs. In turn, Baby naively begins to glorify heroin as she associates it with happy times in her life. This is demonstrated in the book when Baby talks about her father and his friends, â€Å"They made me laugh so much. I thought they were the coolest group of humans that ever lived. †(O’Neill, 72). Early on in the book Baby is introduced to drugs, thus she makes a connection between drugs and happiness. Unfortunately, she does not have responsible adults in her life to tell her the negative effects of drugs, and h ence she does not grasp the dangers of drug use.This is later proven when Baby decides that she is, â€Å"firm on the idea that [she] would become a drug addict too now. [she] didn’t care what drug [she] was going to be addicted to. †(O’Neill, 72) Baby idolizes her father and he willingly or not, leads her to believe happiness can be gained through drugs. In the book Jules is arrested for possession of heroin and Baby says that, â€Å"Since Jules had started using heroin again it was inevitable that he would be arrested† (O’Neill, 57). Baby has become accustomed to her father’s abuse of drugs and understands the large presence it has on her and her father's life.The certainty in her statement also foreshadows the events that occur in her own life if she followed in his footsteps. Baby understands no other alternative than going to prison for her father or for herself. Likewise, Jules is unable to understand that by letting Baby grow up in th is kind of environment, it is inevitable that she will adopt these actions and behaviors as the norm and mimic them in the future. By adopting the life skills and choices of her father, Jules has trapped Baby within a life of bad choices.Child development is the biological and emotional changes people go through during childhood and there are many factors that can affect a child’s growth and development. Heather O’Neill’s lullabies for little criminals explores the similarities between a child’s environment and development through Baby’s bad decisions and choices and how they originated from lack of guidance necessary for a child’s social growth and development. This is seen through Baby’s mother early death, her father raising her at an early age, and her father’s addiction to heroin.

Journal Article Summary and Application Essay

This paper presents the summary of the article â€Å"Staff development and student learning: A synthesis of research on models of teaching† by Bruce Joyce, Beverly Showers and Carol Rolheiser-Bennett published in the Educational Leadership on October of 1987. The second half of the paper will discuss how the findings of this paper could be applied to real life situations. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that theoretical assumptions of the authors about staff development can actually be used to enhance curriculums that would result to increased student performance. Summary This article argues that staff development must be and can be used to develop school programs and curriculums that would result to increased student performance and better learning. The authors discussed that the recent developments in the field of staff development have been very useful in designing new educational programs for students because the findings of said research have provided educational leaders the guide to which staff development can enhance student learning, provided innovative ideas and programs for more student involvement and a wider application of the different learning models. The authors assumed that the theoretical models and program designs that could be adopted to effectively improve student performance would only work in as much as how effectively the staff has been developed and trained. Thus, for the authors, staff development should come first before any improvements or programs can be designed and developed. The most important aspect of the measure of student performance and improvement was the effect size. According to the authors, effect size is akin to the level of change or value that was supposed to have occurred due to an intervening process or variable. Effect size can be used to determine how much the improvement was relative to its original value, effect size is important because it could tell just how effective the intervention was in bringing about change. On the other hand, the authors also pointed out that high effect size is desired but often a small effect size for a large number of people is more desirable as it would bring about greater change. The authors also discussed the teaching models that have been found to have yielded promising results and those that have been applied successfully in some research studies. Social models of learning refers to group and cooperative learning against individual learning, it has been found that students who learn by cooperation and group work are more socially equipped, have better self-concept and positive attitudes to learning. The authors recommend that staff development on how to teach cooperative learning can actually lead to better academic performance. Information processing models make use of the learning process as the strategy to help students retain more information and learn more in a given period. The authors mentioned the use of advanced organizers and mnemonics, which both had been proven to increase student learning and output but this would require intensive training of teachers and a highly technical staff development program. The personal models refer to the use of person centered learning experiences; the authors said that synectics and nondirective learning would help students learn both academically and personally. However, some have argued that the personal models would likely have lesser academic impact because it focuses on the person. The behavioral models were taken from the work of Skinner and it makes use of the different behavioral methods such as programmed learning, conditioning, reinforcement and the like. Much research have actually found that behavioral methods are effective in increasing student performance and this have been the focus of many staff development programs. The authors also identified specific teaching methods that could be used to increase student performance across levels such as wait time and teacher expectation and student achievement. Wait time refers to the process of allowing students enough time to think about the teacher’s questions while teacher expectation says that there are differential treatments in the classroom. The authors conclude that designing staff development programs should make use of the most effective working models and strategies and that this should be the focus of administrators who wishes to see their schools improve. Application The article has pointed out several learning models that could be used effectively to enhance student learning and this could actually be applied to the design of staff development programs. The assumption here is that teachers could not teach what they do not have, and since these models are not the conventional models and traditional ones teachers have been trained to do, it is imperative that staff development be able to teach teachers the exact method and process for a more effective classroom experience. For example, a staff development program on using nondirective learning should start with an input on the theoretical and technical aspects of the model, and then a workshop on how to carry out classroom interaction within this model can be demonstrated to the teachers and then critiqued by the group and resource speaker. Then the second part of the training session would be to have the teachers design a lesson plan and demonstrate it to the group and a series of critiquing would also be done to help teachers see their weaknesses and strengths in using the model and then be able to make improvements. The experiential learning was used in this design as adult learners learn more effectively in this way. References Joyce Bruce, Showers, Beverly and Rolheiser-Bennett, Carol. â€Å"Staff Development and Student Learning: A Synthesis of Research on Models of Teaching. † Educational Leadership 45/2 (1987): 11-23.

Being Too Brilliant Is Dangerous - 1073 Words

Sometimes being too brilliant is dangerous. Herman Mudgett lived a normal childhood, for the most part, but he also did things your average child wouldn’t do. He had an impressive college education, although it lead to him committing insurance fraud and the stealing of corpses. After moving to Chicago, he continued the fraud and began the homicides. He had many girlfriends and wives, women tended to fall for his charm, which lead to their death. Henry H. Holmes did terrible things, from tricking people to killing them, but the intelligence behind his actions is what kept him from getting caught for so many years. Herman Webster Mudgett was born on May 16, 1861 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. As a child, Herman was bullied, at one point being forced to touch a skeleton in a doctor s office (hhholmes.weebly.com). Herman was very intelligent from a young age. He began to dissect both living and dead animals. After graduating high school, Herman went to the University of Vermont to study medicine. He then transferred to the University of Michigan, because he was interested in their human dissection program. Holmes and his friend Benjamin Pitizel conducted a plan to collect insurance money from fake family members. Holmes stole bodies from his medical school. He was accused by the school of stealing bodies, but there was no solid evidence against the accusation (History.com). When he finished medical school he went to New York to be a doctor’s apprentice. He was presentedShow MoreRelated Why is Dracula such a great horror story? Essay985 Words   |  4 Pagesdetail. The atmosphere not only adds to the dangerous ride to Draculas Castle, but also comes alive as were reading it. The atmosphere surrounding Harker is incredibly frightening but the detail and descriptions used are so astounding that we can feel the strange chills. I felt like I was sitting beside Jonathan Harker. I shared his fear. 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