Work Based Assignment – M3.12 motivating to perform in the workplace
By Ron Brown

The value of assessing performance

At MPL it is mandatory that each individual takes part in the appraisal system. An appraisal template form is first filled in by the individual’s manager, and a meeting time and date is planned. There are sections on the form for contributions by either manager or appraisee – either can add information before the meeting. In the meeting, the previous appraisal will be studied. A discussion will occur on whether last year’s objectives and training plan were met and what future objectives and training needs the individual should pursue. The appraisee can bring up any issues, and suggest themselves what they may want to achieve this year. Once the objectives and training are agreed, a plan is written up. The appraisee gets a copy and the manager will file one away. This system is repeated every 6 months.

When assessing individuals in the workplace, there are 2 different methods used.

Informal assessment:

This kind of assessment is mostly based on how you perceive the individual. It isn’t based on facts and figures but more about how well you think the individual is doing. Some examples of that are:

Walk around and watch them – As a section leader you can get a good idea of how well your staff are doing just by watching them. Do they work quickly? Do they work efficiently? Do they have good accuracy? Do they get on well with the team? Do they look happy? As a section leader I cover a lot of ground a night walking around and watching them.

Talk to them – It’s easier to assess a member of staff if you actually talk to them. This could be social or work related. When talking about work, do they know what they are talking about? Do they have a good grasp of what they are doing and why they are doing it? Are they polite, honest, or depressed? A good section leader should ask their opinion on things. I am always approachable at work and have a good work and social contact with my staff.

Work with them – By working alongside your team you can get a better understanding of the true picture. Some lazy individuals may ‘perk up’ when they see you coming, but they usually can’t keep it up for hours. By working with them you can get a true picture of how they work and what percentage of work they do in comparison with the others. I often will work alongside my staff. While it’s useful to assess them, I also find it a great motivation tool – it makes us a great team if we are ALL pulling together to achieve the same goal!

Gossip – Listening to what their team mates think about the individual can also be useful. If five of your staff all gossip about how lazy someone is – chances are he’s not the fastest worker there! While not a very accurate way to assess someone, (and certainly gossip is a very dangerous thing to take action upon), it can be useful in the workplace. I feel it would be unprofessional of me to gossip about an individual to a member of staff, but I am always willing to listen to my staff’s opinions of each other.

Formal assessment

Formal assessment is less to do with perception and more to do with facts and figures. This can be a structured document, a test, an appraisal, or even a record of individual productivity.

Appraisal – As explained above, an appraisal is a very useful meeting to analyse performance. It’s a good time for both parties to get their opinions across and make a plan for going forward. The important part of an appraisal is that a record is kept and filed away. If completed every 6 months it is invaluable to the appraiser as they can see whether the individual is improving or not. Also, if the individual leaves the company it is very useful when giving a reference.

Test – A test whether it’s oral or written can also be very useful. It tests the knowledge of the individual and is a good method of checking their understanding of the job. We don’t really have tests at MPL, but I often quiz staff members, as id rather they come up with the answer rather me just tell them.

Statistics - Depending on the situation, individual productivity can be monitored. In MPL we can use software to run a search on every transaction done for an individual. For example, if we wanted to know how many picks a certain user did in a day, or a week, this would take less than a minute. We usually only find this necessary if someone appears to be working really slow, or we have a complaint about them. It’s particularly useful for monitoring the shift as a whole.

My personal approach to assessment

I have already explained above my methods for informally assessing my staff. I use all of the above on a daily basis, and over time, I believe it creates a good understanding of each individual. When formally assessing the staff I use the above formal methods. For the agency worker appraisals I fill in a multiple choice style sheet, and grade the individual on each aspect of their work. Three other section leaders sit with me, and without the appraisee present, we reach a conclusion on each part. I feel this makes it fair and objective. Assessment is usually down to interpretation, and one section leader may take a different view than another. By having four people present this allows for a middle ground to be found, should any disputes occur? This is then passed over to the agency boss, who gives them the one-to-one appraisal.

Motivating the team to improve performance in the workplace

Considering the people in my workplace, here are the factors I think influence the way they perform:

Ability – The capacity they have to learn and perform.

Knowledge and ability – The information and skill they need to perform the job.

Feedback – Encouragement/ feedback from section leaders on how they are doing.

Personal standards – What they want and hope to achieve.

Work environment – The conditions of work and the people around them.

Motivation – Whatever incentives they find to work well.

I think every person is different and has different motivations for work. For example, some people on my team don’t have the same ability as others. They have the desire to do well, but find some of the more complicated tasks daunting. My approach for this is not to give up on them but to go through things slowly. I prefer to assign the right task for the right person, but only to a certain extent. If they have trouble learning and don’t mind doing the same task over and over again, then it makes sense to let them keep doing it.

Another member of my team seemed grumpy and less productive a few weeks ago. I gave her a new task to do which she found really difficult. After a few tries and much encouragement she got the hang of it. Not only did she suddenly seem a lot happier and full of confidence, but her work rate went back up. Positive feedback is in my opinion the best way to motivate someone.

Frederick Herzberg

I found Herzberg’s research into motivation to be the most useful. His research shows that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction were not opposing each other on the scale. He called all the things that make the job rewarding and satisfying ‘Motivators’, and all the dissatisfying things ‘Hygiene factors’.
The motivators deal with things involved in doing the job, while the hygiene factors deal with things that define the job context.

Here is a diagram of Herzberg’s theory:

This theory can be useful when motivating someone. In simplicity, motivators and hygiene factors work like a weighing scale – job satisfaction comes when the side with the ‘motivators’ factors are firmly on the ground. You can either increase the motivators for that person (i.e. adding more weight to outweigh the hygiene factors), or you can eliminate some of the hygiene factors (taking weight away). Ideally, a good manager should try to do a combination of both.

For example. A member of my staff seemed a bit down and her productivity was also down too. When asked what was wrong she explained that she was bored with work, she had to keep walking up the stairs every time she needed a computer, and she was having trouble sleeping. I took the approach of giving her some more training, a different job with some added responsibility. I also did my best to reduce her hygiene factors. Using Herzberg’s theory it looked like this:

Motivators:

Advancement - I gave her a new task to do that was more challenging than anything she’d ever faced in work before. This gave her a sense of purpose and progression.

Achievement – She achieved something she’d not done before and what she did made a difference to the shift.

Recognition – I gave her credit and congratulations for doing the task correctly. Personal growth - She had learnt lots of knowledge and had more confidence in herself.

Hygiene factors:

Work conditions - Since she had to keep walking upstairs to use a computer, I got her a portable device which the fork lift drivers use to connect to the computer instead. I made sure she had the right tools for the job.

Personal life - When asked why she had trouble sleeping, she said that it was too bright in the daytime. I suggested a place that did cheap black-out blinds. I had had a similar problem and they had worked for me.

Relationship with
Supervisor - Just by enquiring into her personal life this helped her relationship with me. It let her know that not all supervisors are out to ‘make her life miserable’, and we are all here to help.

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The value of feedback in the workplace

Giving feedback is an essential part of supervision. I see it as part of the training process rather than something you do every now and again. It is important that the people you teach are clear about their standard of performance, and good feedback can keep them motivated. Feedback is also a very important part of communicating with staff. It’s important that this communication extends both ways. This gives the person receiving the feedback a chance to reflect and respond to what is being shared. Also if the feedback is more of a conversation than a ‘shouting session’, this can only help to minimise the hygiene factor ‘relationship with supervisor’.

There are lots of different types of feedback:

Motivational - Motivational feedback is given to reward positive behaviour. As the name suggests it can keep the individual motivated simply by telling him you appreciate his work.

Developmental: This kind of feedback is given when a particular area of performance needs to be improved.

Constructive: Whilst this is often pointing out a person’s faults, it doesn’t have to be negative at all. If delivered in the right way constructive feedback can develop and motivate an individual in the workplace.

Intrinsic: This is feedback given by yourself – often based on your own experience. It is thinking about ideas, evaluating options and assessing their outcomes.

Extrinsic: This is feedback given by someone else.

I would say all of the above are used in my company. I am always forthcoming with positive praise, but I also discuss how we can improve on things. I make it a point to always let people know of their mistakes, but try to do it in a nice and positive manner. If I make mistakes I like to know about them so that I can learn from it and not do it again. I think a lot of the staff give themselves intrinsic feedback many times a day, as before I give them feedback they have already analysed themselves and reached the same conclusion. A good example of extrinsic feedback in the workplace is when the customer reports a mistake in their order, or complains the box was not packed well enough.