Empowerment
Giving employees shared authority, responsibility and decision-making with their managers
- shared information, training to understand the issues at question
- Giving them broad authority to make authority to make workplace decisions that can improve performance
- closer to the customer means better decisions for the customers, better for the customer should mean better performances for the company
- Keep employees informed about company’d financial performance and giving them a stake in the company’s performance
Linking rewards to company performance
- Employee stock ownership plans
1. gives employees share ownership, leading to potential employee financial gains as the value of the firm increases
2. Motivates employees to work smarter and harder so can share in firm’s financial success
3. aligns interests of employee’s with shareholders - Stock options
1. Right to buy a specified amount of company shares at a given price within a given time period
2. Approximately one-third of all options go to the top five executives at a firm
3. Also offered to lower employees, particularly in tech firms
Team
A group of people with certain skills who share a common purpose, approach, and performance goals
- mutually responsible and accountable for accomplishing objectives
- ability to work on teams a priority during the hiring process
Five types of teams
- Work teams: Relatively permanent groups of employees with
complementary skills who perform the day-to-day work of
organizations - Problem-solving teams: gather information to solve a specific problem
- self-managed teams: work teams that have the authority to
decide how their members complete their daily tasks. - cross-functional teams: have members from different functions, such
as production, marketing, and finance. - Virtual teams: groups of dispersed co-workers who use a
combination of telecom. and IT to accomplish an organizational task.
team characteristics
Team Size
- can range widely, but most have fewer than 12 members
- ideal size is usually six or seven members
Team level
- the team’s average level of ability, experience, personality, or any other factor
Team diversity
- The team’s differences in ability, experience, personality, or any other factor
Stages of Team Development
- Forming is the orientation period
- storming is when the personalities of the members come out as they clarify their roles and expectations
- Norming phase, members resolve differences and accept each other
- Performing phase, members focus of solving problems and accomplishing tasks
- Adjourning is when the team disbands after wrapping up and summarizing the team’s experiences and accomplishments
Team cohesiveness
The extend to which team members feel attracted to the team and motivated to remain part of it
- cohesive teams quickly achieve high levels of performance and consistently perform better
- Team-building retreats can be used to encourage cohesiveness; improve satisfaction and retention
Team norm
a standard of conduct shared by team members that guides their behaviour
- can be positive (contributing to accomplishment of goals) or negative (contributing to reduced work effort/quality, poor job attendance)
conflict
the outcome when one person’s, or one group’s, needs do not match those of another, and one side may try to block the other side’s intentions or goals
cognitive conflict
a disagreement that focuses on problem- and issue- related differences of opinion. Members need a willingness to examine, compare, and resolve their differences to improve team performance
Affective conflict
a disagreement the focuses on individuals or personal issues; can make people uncomfortable, cause them to withdraw
Team leaders
facilitate good communication so that teammates respect each other and work cooperatively
Communication
a meaningful exchange of information through messages
- managers spend 80 percent of their time in direct communication with others
- company recruiters rate effective communication as the most important skill they’re looking for in hiring new employees
- all communication occurs in a situational or cultural context. The context can exert a powerful influence on how well the process works
Oral communication
- an important part of oral communication is listening
cynical (defensive) listening
receiver of a message feels that the sender is trying to gain some advantage from the communication
Offensive listening
receiver tries to catch the speaker in a mistake or contradiction
Polite listening
receiver listens mechanically to be polite rather than to communicate
active listening
requires involvement with the information and empathy with the speaker’s situation
- the basis for effective communication
written communication
- channels include reports, letters, memos, online discussion boards, social media, emails, and text messages
- effective written communication reflects its audience, the channel carrying the message, and a suitable degree of formality
- email is a very effective communication channel, but they can be misconstrued when written less formally
- always make sure you are sending it to the right person and no more
formal communication
- flows within the chain of command, either down or up
- downward communication, from those in authority to those they supervise
- upward communication, should flow up to the person in direct authority
- open and honest communication is key, but not as easy to do
- can there be too much information?
Open communication
- employees feel free to express opinions, offer suggestions, and even voice complaints
- characteristics of open communication:
1. employees are valued and are trusted
2. employees are well-informed
3. conflict is invited and resolved positively
4. employee is input is solicited and creative dissent is welcomed
5. feedback is ongoing, not avoided
Informal communication
- informal communication channels carry messages outside formally authorized channels
- organizations becoming a more decentralized/global; informal communication provides an important source of information
Grapevine
internal information channel that passes information from unofficial sources
- main drawback is gossip; spreads misinformation, weakens morale
Nonverbal communication
- nonverbal communications transmits messages through actions and behaviours
- gestures, posture, eye contact, tone and volume of voice, and even clothing choices are all nonverbal actions that become communication cues
- have a far greater impact of communications than many people realize
- can show a person’s true feelings and thoughts; receivers tend to believe nonverbal cues when they conflict with verbal ones
