Free Essay

Do Human Energy Affects the Work Performance of an Employee?

In:

Submitted By raetohjr
Words 1077
Pages 5
Summary of the Issue
This article describes how human energy affects the work performance of an employee and how individuals sustain their energy during work. Common strategies used and related to increasing vitality and reducing fatigue were also discussed in the article. With low ability to sustain their energy over a long period of time, it might leads to consistent low-level of performance from the employee, which is not the interest of any organizations. This article brought up what organization can do to aid their employees to achieve full capacity in term of replenishing energy and removing hindering factors. In addition, it states that it is more common for individuals to use work-related strategies as compared to micro-breaks to be efficient in managing their energy. Hence, we will discuss in the report the reliability of the studies conducted.

Theoretical Perspectives
The effort-recovery model (Drenth, Thierry & De Wolff, 2001) states that human energy can be restored if an individual has attained the correct factors that help in recovery which includes disengaging from the activities that are straining. This brings about the perspectives that the employees might be facing difficulties in attaining full recovery from fatigue during work as they face working long hours and bringing work related stuff in their leisure time. Based on the five level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1970), the most fundamental level of the pyramid consists of the basic physical requirements for example, food, water and sleep. Without satisfying these physiological needs, an individual will not be able to move up the pyramid that consists of safety, love, esteem and self-actualization. In addition, the law of effect formulated by Thorndike states that the behavior with favorable consequences tends to be repeated, while unfavorable consequences tends to disappear (Herrnstein, 1970). Hence, if the employees do not increase their vitality and reduce fatigue, their work performance, social life and health will be greatly affected and vice versa when the basic needs are satisfied.

However, based on Expectancy Theory of motivation (Vroom, 1964), individuals factors do affect an employee’s work performance. Nonetheless, these differences among the employee can be offset by motivation through satisfactory rewards. This shows that not only the energy aspect is related to the performance but the effort from the individual and the employer played a big role in improving work performance as well.

Accuracy of the Sources
This article had taken reference from the studies of famous professor in the discipline of work and organization psychology. One of them is Prof. Dr. Sabine Sonnentag who had numerous publications on energy replenishing through learning new skill and disengaging from the work load. As stated in the article, employees are not able to disengage from their work even during their leisure time and resulted low work performance which organizations suffered.

In addition, studies were done on the employees of a U.S. software development company and proven that work-related strategies does not aid in reducing fatigue and micro-break does not aid in increasing vitality. Few issues to be noted from the studies conducted.

Firstly, as the studies were done based on a U.S company, the result might differ among the different cultural context for example; Americans are individualistic while the Asians are collectivistic. As the result shown, the top 3 ranking for the both strategies used by the employees are more towards an individualistic. Strategies like offering help to someone at work and talking to someone about common interests are more likely to be adopted by the Asians.

Secondly, the credibility of the survey done by the employees is questionable as they are given a $5 gift card when they completed the survey. There might be the tendency of finishing the survey fast so as to receive the monetary incentive. Or worse, doing for their colleague as one might find it’s too much a hassle to do survey for just $5 (Bernard, 2011). Hence, the result might not be reliable, causing the organization to adopt an implementation that does not help in the employees’ energy replenishing process.

Lastly, as stated in the article, the sample of between 200 to 300 knowledgeable workers might only show a biased point of view from the white-collar employee and ignored another population of the blue-collar employees. The strategies adopted that influence the fatigue and vitality scale might differ given the different job environment and scope. The scope of this result is thus significantly narrowed down due to the small variety of employee involved in the studies.

Key Assumptions and Influence of the Context
The article had identified that the human energy is affected by fatigue and vitality and thus, affected the work performance. However, physical environment of the workplace might affect how an individual works and the energy consumption. We will look at Google, ranked 1st in the best 100 companies to work for in 2012(CNNMoney, 2012). The working environment in Google(Google, n.d), which includes free healthy lunch for all their staff, a more ‘open’ layout of the office where there are lesser solo rooms, pool tables and video games are available in the office for their employee to aid in the depleting effort of the human energy. Therefore, the working environment does play a vital part in the employees’ work performance.

Average age of the employees from the sample is 45 years old and the article had made the assumption that the work-related and micro-break strategies are applicable to other age generation. This does not hold true as younger generation employee are more self-motivated, driven by achievement and demonstrate greater teamwork (SHRI, 2008; Kane, n.d). Therefore, the strategies that work for the older generation might not be useful to the younger generation. More studies consisting of various ages should be done to come with a more concrete conclusion.

Conclusions, Implications and Consequences
Despite the limitation and assumption made in the article, it gives us a better understanding on how human energy level affect the work performance of an individuals and that the strategies used to replenish these energy. To avoid wrong implementation made by an organization, a more in-depth research can be done to discover more ways to help employees increase their work performance capacity. Since replenishing human energy can varies with the cultural and demographical differences, organization can look into motivating employee to increase their work performance rather than focusing on increasing vitality and reducing fatigue.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

What Are Various Phases in the Employment Process Within Personal Psychology

...Training……………………………………………………4 2.1.4 Performance Management……………………………………………….5 2.1.5 Organisational Exit………………………………………………………..5 3. THE ELEMENTS OF THE STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING PROCESS AND LINKING THE IMPACT OF THE THREE LEVELS OF BUSINESS PLANNING ON WORKFORCE PLANNING (REFERING TO IMPALA-PETROLEUM)…………6 4. BARRIERS TO IMPEMENTING AN EFECTIVE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN IMPALA-PETROLEUM………………………………………………………….8 5. RELATE STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT TO PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AT IMPALA-PETROLEUM BY APPLYING A MODEL LINKING HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT TO PERFORMANCE……………10 5.1 Strategic human resource management………………………………………….10 5.1.1 Performance Management……………………………………………………..10 5.2 Theoretical and empirical problems in the linkage between human resources management and performance…………………………………………………….11 5.3 A conceptual model in managing performance………………………………12 5.4 Key propositions of the model…………………………………………………13 5.5 Performance management at IMPALA-PETROLEUM…………………….14 6. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………..15 7. REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………..16 8. ASSESSMENT…………………………………………………………………...16 1. INTRODUCTION There are various phases in the employment process within personnel psychology which are used in the management of human resources. Human resource management to operate well it has to consider these phases. That is job design and evaluation, workforce planning, recruitment, selection, training, performance management and...

Words: 5714 - Pages: 23

Premium Essay

Hrm and Engagement

...Human Resource Management and employee engagement: A Literature Review Managing Human Resources: BHRM702 Introduction The term employee engagement is somewhat a new construct, in the late 1950s it was work motivation which was the main topic of discussion however over the past decade this notion has expanded to many new constructs ‘work engagement’ being one of them, Albrecht (2010). Moreover in recent years there has been growing interest in employee engagement within organisations, Saks (2006).This is due to the fact that many researchers have concluded that employee engagement is a key factor for an organisational success, Macey et al (2009). Despite the significance of employee engagement being linked to organisational success, it is clear that little empirical research has been undertaken, and little academic literature has been published. As Saks (2006) put it, “there is a surprising dearth of research on employee engagement in the academic literature” (p. 600). This literature review will focus on ‘work engagement’ and employee engagement as two main constructs. As it will become prevalent, the central issue of employee engagement is the fact that there has yet to be a clear definition of “employee engagement” and how it should be measured, Saks and Gruman (2014). It is also evident that there are unanswered questions about the antecedents and consequences of engagement, Menguc et al (2013). The first section of the literature review will look at antecedents and consequences...

Words: 2909 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Team Written Hr Plan: Gdf Suez

...Written HR Plan: GDF Suez Team 10: João Barata 361181 Răzvan Botea 361067 Bogdan Larion 361068 Rotterdam 2012 Executive Summary This HR plan analyzes GDF Suez. It starts with a brief description of each of the pilllars of HR management. Next, we identified the main problem of GDF Suez, which is related to the performance and evaluation pillar. The main reason for that lies in the fact that the tool GDF Suez is using nowadays to analyze the performance of the employees does not have the desired results. The report also contains a SWOT analysis of the company, which consists of a short description of the internal strengths and weaknesses the company possesses but also a short description of the external opportunities and threats. Then the report frames GDF Suez’s problem with the HR theory, and points some of the possible methods that can cope with the problem. The report ends with the recommendations to the company. The main points of the recomendations are that the SMART model should be used to indentify which the parameters that should be evaluated are and that the evaluation should be done by more than one manager...

Words: 4735 - Pages: 19

Premium Essay

Reinforcement Strategies in Criminal Justice

...conducted at the organization determines the strategies used. In the criminal justice system, reinforcement strategies are especially crucial because it helps keep the officers and other personnel focused on achieving goals set by the department. It is important that reinforcement strategies are continuously conceptualized and implemented to sustain employee’s disposition toward work. It is important to understand how the implementation of both positive and negative reinforcement strategies and affect an organization. Examining the strengths and shortcomings of reinforcement strategies allows managers to determine what is most effective with staff. Also, determining whether a strategy is continuous, positive, or negative can allow supervisor to understand the tools available to work with and implement them more successfully. Employee Recognition Employee recognition is a vital part of any organization as it positively promotes and influences organizational behavior. Employee motivation is an essential aspect of the working environment as well as a basic need for individuals. Rewarding employees for hard work and successful accomplishments enables an organization to retain personage who can achieve the organization’s objectives. However, because of the economic challenges, entities experiment with new ideas of a reward system. Instead of traditional monetary methods, such as salary increases and bonuses, many organizations implement non-monetary rewards that recognize and motivate...

Words: 2402 - Pages: 10

Free Essay

Telecommuting

...in Human Resources Management. Because of the slow economy management want to institute telecommuting and my presentation will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting All of us some time or another have had the desire to stay at home and work. I would like to know who would be interested in staying home and working in order to save. I know I would love that because at home has advantages like spending time with my family and being my own boss. Furthermore, this is advantageous for the employer as it can boost the company’s productivity. By the end of his presentation you will know all the reasons an employer should initiate the program or if an employee would want to take part in it. II. TELECOMMUTING Now let us discuss what telecommuting is. Telecommuting is an arrangement that is made between employers and employees to perform their job duties outside of the office. For example, an employee can choose to work from their homes or some other business center. III. REASON FOR TELECOMMUTING Employees who wish to telecommute do it mostly because of their career, or for personal or financial reasons. Example include parents who wish to spend more time at home with their children and people with financial problem who want to save on the high prices of gasoline. IV. FOCUS GROUPS PARENTS (Mothers) would not have to pay for child care Single People (Single Women) Who get divorce can move and know that they can keep their jobs. Employees with disability can work from...

Words: 1269 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Motivation

...Motivation Curt J. Howes Organization Performance Strategies Since the early 1900’s, organizations and behavioral scientists have studied how to improve the productivity of employees. During the Industrial Era of the early 1900’s Frederick Taylor became famous for his work on improving employee performance through time and motion studies. This proved to increase worker efficiency, but it had the downside of lower motivation and morale. Employees felt like machines required to leave their thinking and ideas outside the workplace. Later on it was discovered, somewhat by accident, (Hawthorne studies) that increased management attention to employees appeared to increase employee performance. This launched a revived era of employee motivation through what was called human relations. Better communication and open dialogue from managers accompanied by increased attention to the personal interests and needs of employees were thought to improve motivation and performance. These social based approaches did improve how employees felt about the workplace, but in the long run did little to sustain improved performance. Since that time, organizational research has confirmed several approaches that have a significant positive impact on employee motivation and performance. Goal Setting: Perhaps the most fundamental approach to improve employee motivation is by setting goals and holding individuals accountable for those goals. Goals not only align employee behavior to what is important...

Words: 1086 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Critiquing Analysis on Work Energy

...Organizational Behavior Human energy management is lacking in many companies, despite how it affects the overall performance in employees. Energy seems to be constantly drained, before, during and after work. It is affected by one’s relational, mental, physical and spiritual welfare. To find a way to retain or increase energy levels in the workplace, the frequency and correlation of micro-breaks (non-work and work related) taken by a group of knowledge workers with vitality and fatigue was investigated. Firstly, the methodology in using subjective vitality was largely accurate in measuring the complicated term. The accuracy of the seven-item subjective vitality scale used has been proven in a validation paper by Bostic, McGartland and Hood (2000). Results showed high factor loadings (>0.60), indicative that scale was consistent and reliable. However, the relationship between vitality and fatigue was not explained. If vitality is the enthusiasm that an employee has, the lack of it is due to fatigue – indication that they are merely flip sides. Improvements to data collection can be to use observational research by monitoring employees through a camera or to obtain colleagues’ assessment. While there is high cost in doing so, representative data can be obtained, eliminating the problem of inaccurate self-evaluation. The paper’s focus on strategies and breaks targeted at the individual may not be effective in boosting energies. The individual’s work is assumed to be the...

Words: 1326 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Managing People

...lucid and comprehensive evaluation of the telesales sector, including current trends and public opinion of the sector. Recommendations will be made on appropriate reward package schemes that will centralize around their current mission statement which is ‘to provide an outstanding call centre service that is monitored regularly to ensure the highest level of excellence to energy suppliers internationally, allowing our customers to reduce costs, drive revenue, increase cash-flow and concentrate on their core competencies.’ This reports recommendations will strive to improve WGYC’s employee retention and customer service, impacting team members that will be more motivated to succeed through employee of the month schemes with more freedom over their work through working at home. Workers’ well being will be given more consideration through the introduction of flexi-time, and team leaders will act as motivators rather than supervisors ensuring teams are working together in a high-intensity but friendly environment. Approximate costs of implementation will be £2,000,000 highlighting the high costs of an employee-orientated approach for this sector. Context The telesales sector is still a hugely profitable sector in the UK, with total revenues of £2billion. However, between 2010-2015 the sector has seen a decline in annual growth by -1.1% due to an increase in offshore competition and the financial crisis of 2008-09 meant firms had to rein in its costs of expensive outsourcing...

Words: 2513 - Pages: 11

Free Essay

Freek

...vodafone.com/content/dam/sustainability/2014/pdf/vodafone_full_report_2014.pdf Environmental Policy (P97)http://www.vodafone.co.uk/our-responsibilities/our-environment/ http://www.vodafone.com/content/dam/sustainability/2014/pdf/vodafone_full_report_2014.pdf Main focus is on using energy more efficiently in their networks, data centres and operations. Environmental management systems are in place. Top priority is to minimize CO2 output by investing in more efficient technologies and exploring innovative solutions that cut CO2 emissions by reducing energy consumption or using renewable energy. More and more sharing network equipment (2G, 3G, 4G) Main focus on using less energy, however they do switch to renewable energy too. By replacing network equipment, better service is maintained, however, it produces E-waste. E-waste is always disposed in a responsible way, by hiring recycling contractors. Human Resource Policyhttp://www.slideshare.net/mayank210/vodafone-hr-practices-a-study Employee engagement (Open and regular communication is fundamental -> ‘Intranet’) Employee consultation (Consult to their employees directly, which is preferred over trade unions) Vodafone European Employee Consulvative Council (EECC), meets once a year Managing organizational change (Committed to treating employees fairly and with respect during periods of organizational change, by communicating changes clearly) Development and training (Development and training programmes, annual analysis...

Words: 661 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Studying and Analyzing the Effect of Organization Culture on the Employee Work Attitude

...STUDYING AND ANALYZING THE EFFECT OF ORGANIZATION CULTURE ON THE EMPLOYEE WORK ATTITUDE. by Fathi Abd El-Fatah El-Hashash Supervised by Prof. Dr. Kamel Ali Omran This paper was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA) at Maastricht School Of Management, MSM Maastricht, The Netherlands Maastricht School Of Management P.O.Box 1203 6201 BE Maastricht The Netherlands October 2007 COPYRIGHT All copyright reserved t the Regional IT Institute and to be owned by the Institute who reserve all rights to this document. Any copy, reproduction in any form or by any means and / or use of this document or any part of it is prohibited and only allowed after taking written permission from the Regional IT Institute. © Fathi El-Hashash, MsM-RITI-Cairo Outreach Program, 2007 i ACKNOWLEDGMENT With GOD wiliness I managed to finish this thesis after days and months of hard working. I would like to dedicate my thesis to the soul of my father who passed away 11 years ago, but still live in my heart and mind. I wish to tell him that I would never reached what I achieved in my life without your effort and raising, and no matter what I did I would never give you back what you deserve. Father I really do miss you so much my best friend. I would like also to dedicate my thesis to my mother, who suffer a sever illness problem, but gave me the best support I can ever have, I would like to thank my brother Ahmed, my sister...

Words: 14847 - Pages: 60

Free Essay

Review of Related Lit

...and P. Torcellini National Renewable Energy Laboratory 1617 Cole Boulevard Golden, Colorado 80401-3393 NREL is a U.S. Department of Energy Laboratory Operated by Midwest Research Institute • Battelle • Bechtel Contract No. DE-AC36-99-GO10337 July 2002 • NREL/TP-550-30769 A Literature Review of the Effects of Natural Light on Building Occupants L. Edwards and P. Torcellini Prepared under Task No. BEC2.4002 National Renewable Energy Laboratory 1617 Cole Boulevard Golden, Colorado 80401-3393 NREL is a U.S. Department of Energy Laboratory Operated by Midwest Research Institute • Battelle • Bechtel Contract No. DE-AC36-99-GO10337 NOTICE This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. Neither the United States government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those...

Words: 23650 - Pages: 95

Premium Essay

Motivation Paper

...many motivational strategies that affect productivity in a workplace. Another will include an explanation of organizational efforts to improve performance, employees’ resistance to increasing productivity and satisfaction, and management’s philosophy of motivation and its practices in the workplace. Motivation is one of the single driving factors in one’s work performance. Organizations take this very seriously and to waste time, and energy and the expense into training someone who is not motivated. Needs Theories, Goal-Setting Theory, Equity Theory and Expectancy Theory are the four specific theories that are used in motivational practice. In addition, I will identify and analyze the implications of applying any two motivational theories not currently used in my selected workplace and how they will influence both management and employees. Organizations are always looking for ways to increase productivity, especially in the growing competitive environment. It is a known fact that when employees are unsatisfied with their current job, productivity decreases, tension builds up in the work environment, and morale is low. Most organizations have motivational programs that provide useful tools to increase motivation, and reduce employee turnover. There are many strategies that are used to influence employee loyalty and these are intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is one’s personal development, self-control over their work without reward. Whereas, extrinsic...

Words: 1176 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Final

... | |ASSIGNMENT TITLE: Developing yourself as an effective HR Practitioner | |SUBMISSION: 1ST 2ND Extension (delete) |DATE OF SUBMISSION: 12 March 2011 | Before submitting your work to www.bradfield.co.uk please read the following statements and tick the appropriate box to show that you have understood and completed what is required. |1. I have read my work through and have checked it for spelling and grammatical errors using, where appropriate the spell and grammar |( | |checker on the computer. | | |2. I have written my name at the top of each page of my work and have numbered each page. |( | |3. I have read the definition of plagiarism. I realise that plagiarism is cheating and can confirm that the assignment I am submitting|( | |is my own work. | | The definition of plagiarism is given below. Read it carefully and note what it says. ‘Plagiarism is the act of...

Words: 2985 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Relationship Between Job Satisfaction and Motivation

...relationship between an employee motivation and their work performance. Employee motivation is described as the level of energy, commitment and creativity that a company’s workers bring to their job while motivation is the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of human behavior. A widely used trend in organizations is forced ranking procedure; this is used by managers to make a distinction between the levels of performance among workers. A grading system is established and employees are ranked based on the job performances. Most manager aim is to acquire information about the talent within the organization and also to eliminate workers that persistently ranked low. Based on my reading and experience, forced ranking can prove to be very effective provided that is free from all biases. As with all system, there are pros and cons. We understand some of the negative implications that this can have on employee’s morale, however this can help employers identify talent (talent management) which will compliment the organization’s performances, it also can motivate workers to work harder to be among the high ranks and also all the hard work of employees will be rewarded of some sort from maintaining their position in the company, receiving bonuses and promotion. This method also helps low performers to identify that they need improvement and or remove them from the organization. 2. Equity theory deals with how a person perceives treatment in social exchanges at work and their level...

Words: 710 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Example of a Company (at&T) and Policy That Is Addressing an Externality

...negative short or long term effect on humans (especially the vulnerable like infants, elderly, people with poor immune systems, pregnant women), animals, plants and more. These externalities are living beings who have no role in decision making, production or involvement with the business procedures of AT&T. Some, humans, however, may use the services of AT&T. Problems AT&T creates through its business practices affect humans, however, whether they work for AT&T or not. AT&T has set a sustainability program in motion designed to stop or seriously diminish activities that burn fossil fuel. The company is leveraging its massive size believing that it can reduce negative environmental impacts by using network-delivered application and services. In other words, the plan is to replace activities that have a high environmental impact with low-carbon activities and thus reduce harm to countless living systems who are affected by the toxins in the air and the growing greenhouse effect that is contributing to climate change that affects everyone and everything. This is being done by new programs and systems being introduced into the company nationwide. Examples: 1. Relying more on telecommuting so rather than employees traveling to a once centralized information resource, the company building, employees, using broadband connections and collaborative software, can work from anywhere I believe the assumption is that they would work from home. AT&T says that more is...

Words: 1030 - Pages: 5