Studies on Employee Satisfaction

With the increased competition, fast-paced environment and globalization efforts, companies are finding that they need the support of their employees more than ever. However, the new breed of personnel wants more than pay as a benefit. They are increasingly being motivated by other factors such as greater involvement with business decisions. Recent studies are researching ways that successful organizations are encouraging positive employee morale despite ongoing business changes. Full employee participation is required for any organizational change to succeed. Joint development of programs gives people ownership and the motivation to ensure the support of the change process. At SmithKline Beecham and Levi Strauss, for example, the strategy is view employees as business partners (Reid, 2004, p. 40). Some of the ways that Beecham and Strauss are instituting change include: 1) An emphasis on values as well as goals, since employees want to know how the organization expects to meet the desired results; 2) Along with #1, encourage joint goal setting that leads to greater involvement and dialogue. Joint goal setting can be a powerful motivator (Reid, 2004, p. 40). 3) Support anonymous real-time feedback through the Internet or the traditional suggestion boxes. 4) In tandem with #3, respond to feedback to let employees know their ideas have been heard. 5) Test and reward new ideas and response to challenges; 6) See employee involvement as an ongoing process that builds over time, rather than a one-shot deal; and 7) Continually review the goals established to see what headway is being made and changes needed. Survey employees regularly to measure whether needs are being met and the degree of interest in the company's success. Employee specialist Joel Schettler also notes the importance of updating training that in many cases still treats personnel as â€Å"grist for the mill† (2003, p. 56). Training programs should be cast as enhancing a right rather than negating a wrong. Employee motivation and incentives and training programs must go hand-in-hand to become an effective tool in today's environment. Training should also develop teamwork and foster pride in one's work. Pay-for-performance approaches bring only short-term, skin-deep results. When an employees' emotional involved, unexpected positive results occur. Arnett (2002, p. 87) stresses that companies are always putting an emphasis on external marketing programs when they should be marketing their internal customers, â€Å"the employees,† as well. He argues that a successful internal-marketing strategy can enhance both job satisfaction, organizational pride and positive employee behavior that is characterized by a commitment to customer service, cooperation with other employees, and to the company. Looking at the research that has thus far been conducted on employee motivation, Arnett (2002, p. 88) says that the effects of employee satisfaction have been researched extensively, but not the effect of pride. In a study, he hypothesized that both job satisfaction and pride are important variables that managers can use to encourage employees to engage in desired behavior. Further, developing a good relationship with employees is a precursor to building a good relationship with customers. Specifically, the study looked at job satisfaction, or an employee's general affective evaluation of his or her job; pride, an emotion that is crucial to understanding human behavior that is derived from both self-appraisals and others' opinions and represents a belief that one is competent and viewed positively by others; role clarity, where employees are clear about the scope and responsibilities of their job; a reward system where employees know they will be measure on how well they perform their duties and that positive performance brings rewards; work environment that is pleasing and offers rewarding experiences; managers that provide the proper training, listen to employees and are fair; an organization that promotes its performance to employees so they know they are a part of that performance; and activities that foster positive employee behavior and the well-being of the organization. Arnett (2004) developed a questionnaire that was responded to by 860. The majority of the respondents had been with the organization for between 1 and 5 years, 26 percent had been with the corporation less than one year, and the remaining 3 percent had been with the company for over five years. Most respondents were hourly employees, 9 percent were supervisors, 4 percent were salaried non-management employees, and 4 percent were managers. The results showed that job satisfaction and pride have the desired goal of promoting positive employee behavior. Three factors seem especially critical to building job satisfaction among employees–role clarity, the work environment, and employees' evaluations of managers' performance. Employees who believed they had a clear understanding of what it took to do their job were more likely to be satisfied. Therefore, employers should try to ensure that employees have a clear understanding of their responsibilities and expectations. Interestingly, the employees' evaluation of the reward system did not influence their job satisfaction. However, the researchers feel this is not an indication that employees do not care about the reward systems in their organizations. Instead, it may be an indication that other factors are more important for changing employee behavior. The results do support the proposition that the work environment affects job satisfaction. Therefore, organizations should not focus solely on the guests' environment, but should also examine that used by their employees as well. Employee evaluations of managers is related positively to job satisfaction, so managers should monitor the perceptions that employees have of the management team and make changes as necessary. In fact, the workers' evaluation of managers is most important to job satisfaction; role clarity is the next most important, followed by work environment. The study also showed that job satisfaction effected pride positively. Employees who were the most satisfied with their jobs exhibited the most pride in their organizations. Therefore, we suggest that job satisfaction influences employee behavior. Second, it affects positive employee behavior indirectly by encouraging, pride in the organization, which then leads to positive employee behavior. The results support the fact that employees' evaluation of managers has a positive effect on pride in the organization, as well. The Arnett research concluded that both job satisfaction and pride in the organization are important factors that influence employee behavior. Therefore, organizations that wish to promote positive behavior in their employees should focus on both of these factors. Although many organizations have specific programs and procedures designed to improve employee satisfaction, fewer organizations make a concerted effort to increase employee pride. Our results suggest that more organizations should focus on improving employee pride. What these above studies demonstrate is that if a company wants to encourage positive change and employee behavior, they need to look at other factors than pay and other material incentives. Although these will always continue to part of an employee incentive package, it is also necessary to reward personnel with the knowledge that their feedback and involvement are important to the company's success.

Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 7

Technology - Essay Example Although keeping up with the high cost that these tools require places a heavy burden upon the system as well as upon the bottom line, the fact of the matter is that in order to continue to integrate with business and the patient, the new applications and software packages are demanded (Chunhau et al, 2009). Moreover, the industry standards that must be met also demand a level of standardization that goes beyond convenience and cost equations. Accordingly, one can understand that the information needs that a given health care organization may have relates to the storage of patient data, the encoding of insurance paperwork, billing in all forms, transcription needs, recording of changes to patient health and treatment, as well as a litany of others (G. L., 2012). It can be definitively said that the flow of information across HIT within my given organization greatly increases and supports evidence based practice due to the fact that it allows the healthcare professional ease of access to a great deal of patient information with regards to any single given case. Of course the downside to this is that the training curve to integrating these approaches with new staff is oftentimes long and involved; however, the rewards are manifest in a higher quality of care and treatment that such a proliferation of HIT can provide. Reddy, M., McDonald, D. W., Pratt, W., & Shabot, M. M. (2005).Technology, work, and information flows: Lessons from the implementation of a wireless alert pager system. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 38(3),

Speech Comprehension and the Human Language Essay

Speech Comprehension and the Human Language - Essay Example The question therefore is what sets the human language apart from another How is human language defined Moreover, with so many diverse languages known in the world (associated with country, race and culture), can human language actually be characterized as a whole to represent the vast array of languages used by all sorts of people The answer to this, of course, is yes and the unifying elements that weave all these languages into a universal method for communication are the properties of human language that are common to all. These will be detailed in the succeeding section. The other aspect of human language that this paper intends to explore is how people understand the spoken language or speech. It is widely known that humans begin to learn to speak during the early childhood years. As such, what are the processes and elements involved in learning and understanding speech Are these the same for everybody To answer these questions, an overview of speech comprehension shall be provided in the following sections of this article. Speech development generally occurs during the first two years of a child's growth. At the first stage, the infant produces his/her first sounds in the form of cries, vocal grunts and cooing. These are said to be phonetically indicative of the ug, ng or ungh sounds. Studies have shown that the consonant sounds are developed earliest, in particular the consonant h (Goodenough & Tyler, 1959). The infant then progresses to the stage wherein he/she utters single syllables repeatedly such as "da-da-da" or "ngee-ngee-ngee". At first, these utterances are used by the infant to amuse itself. Later on or during the third stage, these utterances already become useful for social interaction with the parents or whoever is considered as the care giver. At the fourth stage, which occurs during the second half of the first year, the infant learns to combine these mono-syllables to two or more different syllables to form a more complex word. Thus to give an example., the "da-da-da" becomes "daddle- daddle-daddle". This is the last period before true speech is actually produced. The infant then proceeds to learn how to select specific sound-combinations out of the wide variety of utterances that it has produced and to apply these sound-combinations to particular situations in which he has heard others use them (Goodenough & Tyler, 1959). Understanding Speech Understanding spoken language connotes a processing level by which meaning is derived from the combination of words and sounds that form sentence structures. Before this happens, however, several other operations occur that eventually lead to meaning attribution. One of these operations is called Semantic Processing which concerns working out what words and sentences mean (Harley, 2001). Syntactic operation, on the other hand, pertains to the recognition of how words are organized within a sentence (i.e., their relationships, how they are transformed by inflections or affixes, etc.) so that the order of the words becomes meaningful. The phonological process, which is the third set of operations, involves the transformation of the message into sounds uttered as speech through the use of the articulatory mechanisms - the tongue,

Creative Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Creative Project - Assignment Example With such credentials, the following analyses shall lead to the implementation of viable solutions for success in the competitive segment. The provided information about the company inclines its probability factors in acquiring a beneficial clientele population in the fast-food segment. It is evident that the company seeks to provide three-course meals in the breakfast, lunch, and supper menus. From an expert’s perspective, the inclusion of lean meat, citric juice extracted from fresh fruits, and vegetable diets among other provisions denotes the new market entrant prowess to lure a profitable population of clients (Virtanen, 2015). The notion held towards the declaration of such aspects for strengths draws from the fact that the existing competitors provide the â€Å"unhealthy diets†. The current society’s attention to consumption practices indicates the willingness to support and remain loyal towards those products, which comprise sustainable and health-related benefits. Therefore, the Sunni Rae’s marketing team should embrace such information in reaching the target consumers from the 20 ADIs and the 150 additional segments. Better Foods Incorporated should strengthen the new entity through financial assistance if the market fails to react promptly as forecasted. Sunni Rae Restaurants remain vulnerable to unfair completion practices from the segment’s market leaders and challengers (Virtanen, 2015). For example, McDonalds and Burger King among other chains shall expose the new entrant to pricing wars and mass promotion practices. The weaknesses evident Sunni Rae Restaurants emerge from the planned high prices and the massive diversification of investments throughout the country. It is salient to acknowledge the economic situation of the target demographics prior to the implementation of the restaurants’ marketing mix plan. It is critical to pursue price penetration and loss leader approaches as

Critically evaluate the effectiveness of performance appraisal as a Essay

Critically evaluate the effectiveness of performance appraisal as a means of identifying and meeting employee development needs - Essay Example Performance appraisal therefore is very evident especially in total quality management. Quality is of higher significance especially in industries where there is a need to come up with competitive advantage. In the case of car manufacturing industry for instance, quality assurance is of high interest because the output or product offerings should be enough to convey customer’s trust and loyalty. Thus, an organisation belonging to this industry must be able to come up with performance appraisal among its employee to constantly check quality and organisational performance. This evaluation is centered to an individual’s performance and potential development (Singh et al., 2008). It is clear that employee performance appraisal is one of the bases in which the company has corresponding idea on how to determine employees’ given compensation and other privileges. However, despite the presence of performance appraisal in almost every company or organisation, there still a need to evaluate if it actually helps identify and meet employee’s development needs. Performance appraisal defined Evaluation is very important especially in the corporate world because it is a way in which corporate performance is known at a specific significance. The case of evaluating employee performance is a complex task depending on the nature of business operation. Employee is naturally under evaluation and it may be monthly, quarterly or annually depending on the organisation. The evaluation is said to be formal because it determines an employee’s career in the organisation. This evaluation is known as the performance appraisal and it actually helps the company decides of one’s career opportunity (Randhawa, 2007). It is a form of assessment in which an employee’s strengths and weaknesses are identified and observed for the purpose of enhancing, improving or commending performance for potential development (Landy and Conte, 2009; Aswathappa, 200 5). Performance appraisal is very complex because it involves specific standard that if not properly understood, it would result to a certain level of confusion and unnecessary feedbacks (Sandler and Keefe, 2003). Thus, it is important that employees must be able to understand what performance appraisal is all about and what it is for (Landy and Conte, 2009). The role of performance management Managers have important role to play when it comes to performance management process. One of the most and obvious role of performance management is to create a business environment that supports development and effective coaching for individual performance (London, 2003; Podger, 2009). With performance management, there is a considerable feedback that can become the basis of evaluation and control. The case of Investors in People is a good example because it is about business improvement and it tries to coach organisations to achieve their full potential. They target to help businesses improve their performance by knowing their priorities. There are many priorities that an organisation should focus. The Investors in People accredited organisations have significant priorities which include managing change, increasing efficiency, maximising profitability, increasing sales, improving productivity and strategic leadership. All of these priorities are eventually integrated with understanding the essential potential of company and its employees. Citing the case of AA Security Ltd, quality

Visual Analysis writing assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Visual Analysis writing assignment - Essay Example Inventory Image of a young girl from the back wearing white cotton skirt, and looking into a circular hole or what appears as a circular window in a dramatically patterned wall. A wide-brimmed hat obscures her head and echoes the shape of the entryway. She is bare feet and stands tentatively on her toes with the right foot overlapping the left one as though she wants to create stairs with her feet. She seems to be investigating something mysterious from inside the tunnel in which her right hand has disappeared into the unseen contents of the void. Intense sunlight is revealed with the distinct shadow cast by the girl’s body on the wall. The girl appears to be searching for an unknown thing, which leaves us investigating the contrast between the fearful unknown and her innocence. Composition One of the evident principle of design in this composition is emphasis whereby the artist pulls our eyes to the void through which the subject seems to be searching for something. ... The circular shape creates a sense of substance and space particularly positive space taken up by the subject. In addition, shape is also seen in the complex and dramatic pattern of the rectangles and squares of the wall. The surface texture of this image appears rough with black and white value that creates timelessness. Finally, there is repetition particularly of the circular shape, which results into a composition with unity and balance. Visual cues Black and white is the color of this photo, but with various tones. In addition, there is a sharp contrast created by the shadow revealing the photo was taken during intense sunlight. With respect to form, the circular shape of the heart leads the eyes of the audience to peep into the circular tunnel that seem to capture all the attention of this girls as she looks for an unknown inside the circular hole. When it comes to depth, only the foreground is focused, as the background is invisible due to the dramatically patterned old wall t hat blocks it. However, depth is visible in the circular portal, which appears to go deep inside beyond the wall. Finally, there is little movement with the only one created by the girl struggle to see what is inside or beyond the hole. This minimal, restricted movement creates a sense of fear. Semiotic signs and codes The element of semiotic signs and codes in this photo is the exaggerated big hat, which resonates with the Mexican people. The kind of hat in this photo is particularly used for those who work in plantations perhaps to shield them from intense sun, as well as for some cultural festivities. Along with the long white skirt, these two semiotic signs and codes play a significant role in determining the narrative of this image. Cognitive elements The cognitive

ABC Company Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

ABC Company - Research Paper Example Ending Income tax payable (10,000) (30,000) Net cash flow from operating activities (164,000) Analysis of ABC Co.’s Cash Flow A company’s operating cash flow indicates the revenue generated from doing business over a specified period less the operating expenses (Howell & Bain, 2008). This is an important process since it helps a company determine whether the business has a healthy financial position between the one given on paper and the one that is applicable in practice. From the results of ABC’s operating cash flow, the company is experiencing a negative cash flow. Although this is normal sometimes, it is still a cause for alarm to the company management. The situation indicates that the company is spending more money than it is receiving. This is a common phenomenon with new companies, however, the situation is dangerous if persistent over the long run (Lerner, 1995). There are several reasons for a negative cash flow but the main causes include poor debt col lection, high operating costs, and bad business decisions. In the case of ABC Company, there are three likely reasons for the negative cash flow. These are high costs of goods sold which mostly consists of purchases. The other reason is poor debt collection, the company’s accounts statement indicates that the net accounts receivable were still very high with a small margin having been collected compared to the previous period’s accounts. The third reason is the nature of the company, with a 25% growth in sales it means the company is a fast growing company, which results into significant increase in the company’s working capital. To improve the cash flow situation at ABC, the company needs to reduce its spending and increase its sales (Laughlin, Bebbington, & Gray, 2001)However, the best option in... ABC Company Besides facing competition from other companies that deal with cedar in making roofing and siding shingles, ABC also faces competition from products made of iron and clay, which are operating in the same market. However, cedar products have a higher competitive advantage over similar products in the market made of iron or clay. The main disadvantage of cedar roofing and siding products is the attached price, which might lead to potential buyers resolving for cheaper iron products. ABC Company is therefore likely to maintain its growth with minimal deviation either downwards or upwards. These deviations may be because of the harsh economic times forcing many homeowners to prefer cheaper iron products or clay products for their roofing and siding. Environmental conservation movements are also affecting the industry negatively (Sparrow Exteriors, 2013). These conservation policies are in turn making the cost of raw materials for cedar roofing tiles to be more expensive. Indulging into a new project such as building the dollhouse could be a viable solution for the company to meet its target goal of $3 million in the next three years. Being the company’s controller, my objective is to create a strict budget and assess all the employees towards the project so that I can ensure everything goes according to the set budget limits. The CEO should undertake the new project. After carefully consideration of its profit margin and the costs involved, the project is likely to help the company meet its target.