Messages

31

Fast Food / Fast-food can up heart disease death risk

« on: July 08, 2012, 10:29:10 AM »

Fast-food can up heart disease death risk,....

MINNEAPOLIS, July 5 (UPI) -- People who eat fast-food four or more times a week up their risk of dying from heart disease by 80 percent, researchers in the United States and Singapore say.

The study, published online in the journal Circulation, found people who consumed fast-food even once a week increase their risk of dying from coronary heart disease by 20 percent, in comparison to people who avoid fast-food. The risk increased by 50 percent for people who eat fast-food two to three times each week.

Andrew Odegaard, a University of Minnesota postdoctoral researcher, senior author Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and colleagues at the National University of Singapore, found eating fast-food two or more times a week increased the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 27 percent.

The researchers analyzed the eating habits of 52,000 Chinese residents of Singapore who experienced a recent and sudden transition from traditional foods to Western-style fast food over a 16-year period beginning in 1993.

"What's interesting about the results is that study participants who reported eating fast-food most frequently were younger, better educated, smoked less and were more likely to be physically active," Odegaard said in a statement. "This profile is normally associated with lower cardio-metabolic risk."

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2012/07/05/Fast-food-can-up-heart-disease-death-risk/UPI-83971341544251/#ixzz1zyARzGYM

32

Health Tips / Some useful links of health

« on: May 29, 2012, 11:33:54 AM »

Natural cure without medicine
http://www.natural-cancer-cures.com/index.html

33

Ranking / Ranking The Brands

« on: May 27, 2012, 03:11:22 PM »

BrandZ Top 100 Brand Ranking - 2012 (Millward Brown) |
http://www.rankingthebrands.com

The Brand Rankings, BrandZ Top 100 Brand Ranking - 2012 by Millward Brown

34

Call Centre / Endless possibilities in call centre and outsourcing industry

« on: April 27, 2012, 05:59:14 PM »

Endless possibilities in call centre and outsourcing industry
 
Ahmadul Hoq, President of Bangladesh Association of Call Centre and Outsourcing, speaks to The Independent
 
The Independent: What are the objectives that you set for establishing, Bangladesh Association of Call Centre and Outsourcing, BACCO?
 
Ahmadul Hoq: Previously I was involved with running and off shoring call centres in countries like India, South America and UK. You may know that some of those countries have turned the call centre business into a mainstream industry and continuously contributing to their economy.
 
Then I came back to Bangladesh and at first I wanted to get permission for (VoIP) Voice over Internet Protocol from, BTRC, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. During my first endeavour nobody laid much importance on the subject and laws and regulation were tangled with bureaucratic bottleneck that was against the needed business atmosphere. I found some newly built call centres are facing loss because they didn’t know how to run the business and they were lagging behind due to lack of professionalism. Unfortunately they received very little support from the government and other institutions. 
 
Therefore, I convened the trade body with the aim of brining call centres businessmen under an umbrella. Like other trade bodies we are not providing businesses to the members but we are uniting them to project their needs to the policy makers.
 
The Independent: What are the possibilities you are looking at regarding outsourcing? 
 
Ahmadul Hoq: America alone has over US 500 billion dollar worth of pent up demand that needs to be outsourced. Already 35 per cent has been off shored to countries like India, Philippine, Sri Lanka, South Africa; the government in those countries and others with partnership with private sector is making it a national priority in bringing these works to their countries to create jobs for the youths.
 
According to my view, Bangladesh is uniquely positioned to create the same success; our costs are 25 per cent lower than our neighbour India and will continue to have this cost advantage for the next 10 to 15 years. The BPO industry is also a hedge during the recession, since during this time companies are looking to cut costs and hence outsourcing and during boom time they require capacity. To sustain in the business and to win in the global competition the western companies have to outsource. Nothing will stop this trend. There is no cost minimisation mechanism other than outsourcing for companies; it doesn’t matter whether they are local or global.
 
The Independent: Can we make call centre industry successful like our garment industry?
 
Ahmadul Hoq: The garment sector spends less than 5 per cent in salary but in call centre our cost are 65 per cent on salary. In the next 10 to 15 years we have the opportunity in creating 2 lakhs jobs. The salary of staffs would be around fifty thousand, and age limit of most of the recruited staffs will be between eighteen to thirty. This particular age group doesn’t save much that means more cash flow to the local economy.
 
The Independent: What are the benefits we have in Bangladesh to make this industry grow?
 
Ahmadul Hoq: Our population is our strength to boost the sector and we are able to provide 25 per cent cheap labour than India. The percentage of educated young is on the rise. Our young population is very serious towards their work, they are attentive and always egger to learn. For example, when I was in BRAC garments, we use to pay extra 50 Taka per month for full attendance. 95 per cent of the employee earned that money. That only shows how committed they are. We just have to show them respect, provide the right working environment and guide them towards the right path.     
 
The Independent: Please tell us about our preparation with requisite infrastructures? 
 
Ahmadul Hoq: The required ICT infrastructure is slowly spreading across the country. Bandwidth price has come down much more than before. Hopefully, we will get second submarine cable connection soon, it will be a backup to the existing submarine cable connection to support when it is down due to unavoidable reason.
 
Unfortunately we are the only county in the subcontinent which has only one submarine cable connection. A decade ago we missed the chance to get submarine cable connection at free of cost. We could be successful like Indian call centre business if we wouldn’t miss the chance that is present now. Only for wrong policies we incurred huge loss. Just after second submarine cable connection BTRC and BACCO will work in favour of creating a more business friendly policy guidelines.
 
The Independent: Can you tell us the knowledge level of our staffs?
 
Ahmadul Hoq: In UK one week training is enough to employ call centre staffs but in our country we need at least six month to sharpen the skills of staffs. But it doesn’t mean our younger people don’t know English. I found it is hard for them to understand English accent of some regions. So we are providing effective listening practices and emphasising on overcoming diphthong related problems by arranging training; it can help them to pronounce English word in a standard way.  Besides, once they are in a call centre environment where English is spoken around them which will help them to improve continuously.
 
But you should also know that voice only covers 5 to 7 per cent of a call centre functions, many other channel of communications are incorporated in this industry such as chat, SMS, web, live video support, etc, so a more appropriate name is  'contact centre' instead of calling it ‘call centre’. 
 
 
The Independent: What the supports are you expecting from the concern authority?
 
Ahmadul Hoq: For call centre industry we need an industrial park. Time is money for this business, so getting its employees to work at the shortest possible time is very important. Also, the transportation of staffs of call centres should be address as emergency service workers. Like ambulance they need fast transport systems to avoid traffic jam and security should be provided to the staffs because they have to work and travel at night.
 
The Independent: Are you getting female staffs easily?
 
Ahmadul Hoq: Not yet. One of the social prejudices is girl shouldn’t work at night. But I think female staffs will join us when all the security will be ensured and parents will be certain that their girls are working at a safe and proper atmosphere. In my business house I also call parents and husbands of female staffs to show the healthy surrounding of my call centre. It is fact that everywhere female callers are in majority and performing better than male counterparts.     
 
The Independent: Do we need foreign staffs to run the contact centre?
 
Ahmadul Hoq: Yes, but just for a certain period. In the beginning we need foreign experts who can bring expertise and jazz up the local staffs. So visa processing for the foreigner staffs must be easier, even they should be provided 5 years long visa with 1 year stay permission. 25 per cent tax on their salary sound much high. We have to ensure a comfortable atmosphere for foreign trainers and investors whose investment must be protected. 
 
The Independent: How can we make a stunting offer to the outsourcing countries?
 
Ahmadul Hoq: Only this year 15 years tax holiday has just expired in India. Our government should extend the tax holiday for another 15 to 20 years for the BPO industry to give an additional cost advantage over other countries.  We need it because the upfront cost of getting in this business is very high and the ROI is very long.
 
As per our analysis such tax holiday will bring huge investment to the sector. Our IT generation will be able to earn much and individually they will be able to pay more tax on their salary. It will boost up the earning of middles class as well as the economy of the country.
 
Caption: Ahmadul Hoq is sharing views with The Independent
 
The Independent
2 March 2012 

35

Be a Leader / The Path to Extraordinary Leadership

« on: April 27, 2012, 04:23:30 PM »

Pls see the attachment
 
U may also get a PDF file-
http://www.theworkfoundation.com/Assets/Docs/leadershipFINAL_reduced.pdf

36

Islam & Science / Re: Quran in Bangali laguage

« on: April 27, 2012, 11:19:29 AM »

For online Qur'an translation in Bengali , English. please click the link
 http://www.ourholyquran.com/

37

Our Parents / Story of Appreciation; A HEART TOUCHING STORY

« on: April 23, 2012, 12:12:34 PM »

This is a powerful message in our modern society.
We seemed to have lost our bearing & our sense of direction.

**Story of Appreciation**

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.

He passed the first interview; the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, Never had a year when he did not score.

The director asked,
"Did you obtain any scholarships in school?"
the youth answered "none".

The director asked,
" Was it your father who paid for your school fees?"
The youth answered,
"My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.

The director asked,
" Where did your mother work?"
The youth answered,
"My mother worked as clothes cleaner.
The director requested the youth to show his hands.
The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.

The director asked,
”Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?"
The youth answered,
"Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books.
Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.

The director said,
"I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.*

The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid.

The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future.

After finishing the cleaning of his mother's hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.

The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, asked:
" Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered,
" I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'

The Director asked,
" please tell me your feelings."

The youth said,

Number 1,
I know now what is appreciation. Without my mother, there would not the successful me today.

Number 2,
by working together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done.

Number 3,
I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.

The director said,
" This is what I am looking for to be my manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The company's performance improved tremendously.

A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts.

When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others.

For this kind of people, who may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement.

He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?*

You can let your kid live in a big house, give him a Driver & Car for going around, Eat a Good Meal, learn Piano, Watch a Big Screen TV. But when you are Cutting Grass, please let them experience it. After a Meal, let them Wash their Plates and Bowls together with their Brothers and Sisters. Tell them to Travel in Public Bus, It is not because you do not have Money for Car or to Hire a Maid, but it is because you want to Love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will Grow Grey, same as the Mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.



 

38

Speech / Speech of Bill Gates at Harvard University

« on: April 22, 2012, 03:29:57 PM »

Part 1

&feature=fvwrel

Part II

&feature=relmfu

Bill Gates answers tough questions

&feature=related

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates Together: Part 1

&feature=related

39

Organizational Behavior / Pls see all Chilboard

« on: April 22, 2012, 11:20:53 AM »

Motivation, Leadership, Commuincations- Basics & Strategies, Business Communications, Managerial Communications, Time Managment, Corporate Etiquettes, Organization Culture, Organization Management, Change Management, Decision Making, Interpersonal Relationship, Team Buildings, Values & Ethics, Conflict Management, Workplace Politics, Negotiations, Public Relations, Risk Management, Crisis Management

40

Leadership / Leader versus Manager

« on: April 21, 2012, 11:55:07 PM »

“Leadership and managership are two synonymous terms” is an incorrect statement. Leadership doesn’t require any managerial position to act as a leader. On the other hand, a manager can be a true manager only if he has got the traits of leader in him. By virtue of his position, manager has to provide leadership to his group. A manager has to perform all five functions to achieve goals, i.e., Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, and Controlling. Leadership is a part of these functions. Leadership as a general term is not related to managership. A person can be a leader by virtue of qualities in him. For example: leader of a club, class, welfare association, social organization, etc. Therefore, it is true to say that, “All managers are leaders, but all leaders are not managers.”

A leader is one who influences the behavior and work of others in group efforts towards achievement of specified goals in a given situation. On the other hand, manager can be a true manager only if he has got traits of leader in him. Manager at all levels are expected to be the leaders of work groups so that subordinates willingly carry instructions and accept their guidance. A person can be a leader by virtue of all qualities in him.

Leaders and Managers can be compared on the following basis:
Basis                  Manager                                                             Leader
Origin          A person becomes a manager by virtue of his position.    A person becomes a leader on   
                                                                                                basis of his personal qualities.
Formal Rights    Manager has got formal rights in an organization because of his status.    Rights are not available to a leader.
Followers    The subordinates are the followers of managers.    The group of employees whom the leaders leads are his followers.
Functions    A manager performs all five functions of management.    Leader influences people to work willingly for group objectives.
Necessity    A manager is very essential to a concern.    A leader is required to create cordial relation between person working in and for organization.
Stability    It is more stable.    Leadership is temporary.
Mutual Relationship    All managers are leaders.    All leaders are not managers.
Accountability    Manager is accountable for self and subordinates behaviour and performance.    Leaders have no well defined accountability.
Concern    A manager’s concern is organizational goals.    A leader’s concern is group goals and member’s satisfaction.
Followers    People follow manager by virtue of job description.    People follow them on voluntary basis.
Role continuation    A manager can continue in office till he performs his duties satisfactorily in congruence with organizational goals.    A leader can maintain his position only through day to day wishes of followers.
Sanctions    Manager has command over allocation and distribution of sanctions.    A leader has command over different sanctions and related task records. These sanctions are essentially of informal nature.

41

Leadership / Leadership and Management - Relationship & Differences

« on: April 21, 2012, 11:51:57 PM »

Leadership and management are the terms that are often considered synonymous. It is essential to understand that leadership is an essential part of effective management. As a crucial component of management, remarkable leadership behaviour stresses upon building an environment in which each and every employee develops and excels. Leadership is defined as the potential to influence and drive the group efforts towards the accomplishment of goals. This influence may originate from formal sources, such as that provided by acquisition of managerial position in an organization.

A manager must have traits of a leader, i.e., he must possess leadership qualities. Leaders develop and begin strategies that build and sustain competitive advantage. Organizations require robust leadership and robust management for optimal organizational efficiency.
Differences between Leadership and Management

Leadership differs from management in a sense that:

    While managers lay down the structure and delegates authority and responsibility, leaders provides direction by developing the organizational vision and communicating it to the employees and inspiring them to achieve it.
    While management includes focus on planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling; leadership is mainly a part of directing function of management. Leaders focus on listening, building relationships, teamwork, inspiring, motivating and persuading the followers.
    While a leader gets his authority from his followers, a manager gets his authority by virtue of his position in the organization.
    While managers follow the organization’s policies and procedure, the leaders follow their own instinct.
    Management is more of science as the managers are exact, planned, standard, logical and more of mind. Leadership, on the other hand, is an art. In an organization, if the managers are required, then leaders are a must/essential.
    While management deals with the technical dimension in an organization or the job content; leadership deals with the people aspect in an organization.
    While management measures/evaluates people by their name, past records, present performance; leadership sees and evaluates individuals as having potential for things that can’t be measured, i.e., it deals with future and the performance of people if their potential is fully extracted.
    If management is reactive, leadership is proactive.
    Management is based more on written communication, while leadership is based more on verbal communication.

42

Leadership / Leadership

« on: April 21, 2012, 11:51:13 PM »

Leadership Basics
What is Leadership

Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and influence the behavior and work of others towards accomplishment of specific goals in a given situation. Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce the subordinates to work with confidence and zeal.

Leadership is the potential to influence behaviour of others. It is also defined as the capacity to influence a group towards the realization of a goal. Leaders are required to develop future visions, and to motivate the organizational members to want to achieve the visions.

According to Keith Davis, “Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined objectives enthusiastically. It is the human factor which binds a group together and motivates it towards goals.”
Characteristics of Leadership

    It is a inter-personal process in which a manager is into influencing and guiding workers towards attainment of goals.
    It denotes a few qualities to be present in a person which includes intelligence, maturity and personality.
    It is a group process. It involves two or more people interacting with each other.
    A leader is involved in shaping and moulding the behaviour of the group towards accomplishment of organizational goals.
    Leadership is situation bound. There is no best style of leadership. It all depends upon tackling with the situations.


Importance of Leadership
Leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximize efficiency and to achieve organizational goals. The following points justify the importance of leadership in a concern.

    Initiates action- Leader is a person who starts the work by communicating the policies and plans to the subordinates from where the work actually starts.

    Motivation- A leader proves to be playing an incentive role in the concern’s working. He motivates the employees with economic and non-economic rewards and thereby gets the work from the subordinates.

    Providing guidance- A leader has to not only supervise but also play a guiding role for the subordinates. Guidance here means instructing the subordinates the way they have to perform their work effectively and efficiently.

    Creating confidence- Confidence is an important factor which can be achieved through expressing the work efforts to the subordinates, explaining them clearly their role and giving them guidelines to achieve the goals effectively. It is also important to hear the employees with regards to their complaints and problems.

    Building morale- Morale denotes willing co-operation of the employees towards their work and getting them into confidence and winning their trust. A leader can be a morale booster by achieving full co-operation so that they perform with best of their abilities as they work to achieve goals.

    Builds work environment- Management is getting things done from people. An efficient work environment helps in sound and stable growth. Therefore, human relations should be kept into mind by a leader. He should have personal contacts with employees and should listen to their problems and solve them. He should treat employees on humanitarian terms.

    Co-ordination- Co-ordination can be achieved through reconciling personal interests with organizational goals. This synchronization can be achieved through proper and effective co-ordination which should be primary motive of a leader.


Role of a Leader
Following are the main roles of a leader in an organization :

    Required at all levels- Leadership is a function which is important at all levels of management. In the top level, it is important for getting co-operation in formulation of plans and policies. In the middle and lower level, it is required for interpretation and execution of plans and programmes framed by the top management. Leadership can be exercised through guidance and counseling of the subordinates at the time of execution of plans.

    Representative of the organization- A leader, i.e., a manager is said to be the representative of the enterprise. He has to represent the concern at seminars, conferences, general meetings, etc. His role is to communicate the rationale of the enterprise to outside public. He is also representative of the own department which he leads.

   

    Integrates and reconciles the personal goals with organizational goals- A leader through leadership traits helps in reconciling/ integrating the personal goals of the employees with the organizational goals. He is trying to co-ordinate the efforts of people towards a common purpose and thereby achieves objectives. This can be done only if he can influence and get willing co-operation and urge to accomplish the objectives.

    He solicits support- A leader is a manager and besides that he is a person who entertains and invites support and co- operation of subordinates. This he can do by his personality, intelligence, maturity and experience which can provide him positive result. In this regard, a leader has to invite suggestions and if possible implement them into plans and programmes of enterprise. This way, he can solicit full support of employees which results in willingness to work and thereby effectiveness in running of a concern.

    As a friend, philosopher and guide- A leader must possess the three dimensional traits in him. He can be a friend by sharing the feelings, opinions and desires with the employees. He can be a philosopher by utilizing his intelligence and experience and thereby guiding the employees as and when time requires. He can be a guide by supervising and communicating the employees the plans and policies of top management and secure their co-operation to achieve the goals of a concern. At times he can also play the role of a counselor by counseling and a problem-solving approach. He can listen to the problems of the employees and try to solve them.


Qualities of a Leader
A leader has got multidimensional traits in him which makes him appealing and effective in behavior. The following are the requisites to be present in a good leader:

    Physical appearance- A leader must have a pleasing appearance. Physique and health are very important for a good leader.

    Vision and foresight- A leader cannot maintain influence unless he exhibits that he is forward looking. He has to visualize situations and thereby has to frame logical programmes.

    Intelligence- A leader should be intelligent enough to examine problems and difficult situations. He should be analytical who weighs pros and cons and then summarizes the situation. Therefore, a positive bent of mind and mature outlook is very important.

    Communicative skills- A leader must be able to communicate the policies and procedures clearly, precisely and effectively. This can be helpful in persuasion and stimulation.

    Objective- A leader has to be having a fair outlook which is free from bias and which does not reflects his willingness towards a particular individual. He should develop his own opinion and should base his judgement on facts and logic.

    Knowledge of work- A leader should be very precisely knowing the nature of work of his subordinates because it is then he can win the trust and confidence of his subordinates.

    Sense of responsibility- Responsibility and accountability towards an individual’s work is very important to bring a sense of influence. A leader must have a sense of responsibility towards organizational goals because only then he can get maximum of capabilities exploited in a real sense. For this, he has to motivate himself and arouse and urge to give best of his abilities. Only then he can motivate the subordinates to the best.

    Self-confidence and will-power- Confidence in himself is important to earn the confidence of the subordinates. He should be trustworthy and should handle the situations with full will power. (You can read more about Self-Confidence at : Self Confidence - Tips to be Confident and Eliminate Your Apprehensions).

    Humanist-This trait to be present in a leader is essential because he deals with human beings and is in personal contact with them. He has to handle the personal problems of his subordinates with great care and attention. Therefore, treating the human beings on humanitarian grounds is essential for building a congenial environment.

    Empathy- It is an old adage “Stepping into the shoes of others”. This is very important because fair judgement and objectivity comes only then. A leader should understand the problems and complaints of employees and should also have a complete view of the needs and aspirations of the employees. This helps in improving human relations and personal contacts with the employees.

From the above qualities present in a leader, one can understand the scope of leadership and it’s importance for scope of business. A leader cannot have all traits at one time. But a few of them helps in achieving effective results.

43

Motivation / Classical Theories of Motivation

« on: April 21, 2012, 11:45:53 PM »

The motivation concepts were mainly developed around 1950’s. Three main theories were made during this period. These three classical theories are-

    Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory
    Herzberg’s Two factor theory
    Theory X and Theory Y

These theories are building blocks of the contemporary theories developed later. The working mangers and learned professionals till date use these classical theories to explain the concept of employee motivation.

44

Motivation / Essentials / Features of a Good Motivation System

« on: April 21, 2012, 11:44:54 PM »

Motivation is a state of mind. High motivation leads to high morale and greater production. A motivated employee gives his best to the organization. He stays loyal and committed to the organization. A sound motivation system in an organization should have the following features:
   Superior performance should be reasonably rewarded and should be duely acknowledged.
   If the performance is not consistently up to the mark, then the system must make provisions for penalties.
   The employees must be dealt in a fair and just manner. The grievances and obstacles faced by them must be dealt instantly and fairly.
   Carrot and stick approach should be implemented to motivate both efficient and inefficient employees. The employees should treat negative consequences (such as fear of punishment) as stick, an outside push and move away from it. They should take positive consequences (such as reward) as carrot, an inner pull and move towards it.
   Performance appraisal system should be very effective.
   Ensure flexibility in working arrangements.
   A sound motivation system must be correlated to organizational goals. Thus, the individual/employee goals must be harmonized with the organizational goals.
   The motivational system must be modified to the situation and to the organization.
   A sound motivation system requires modifying the nature of individual’s jobs. The jobs should be redesigned or restructured according to the requirement of situation. Any of the alternatives to job specialization - job rotation, job enlargement, job enrichment, etc. could be used.
   The management approach should be participative. All the subordinates and employees should be involved in decision- making process.
   The motivation system should involve monetary as well as non- monetary rewards. The monetary rewards should be correlated to performance. Performance should be based on the employees’ action towards the goals, and not on the fame of employees.
   â€œMotivate yourself to motivate your employees” should be the managerial approach.
   The managers must understand and identify the motivators for each employee.
   Sound motivation system should encourage supportive supervision whereby the supervisors share their views and experiences with their subordinates, listen to the subordinates views, and assist the subordinates in performing the designated job.

45

Motivation / Motivational Challenges

« on: April 21, 2012, 11:43:55 PM »

Motivation seems to be a simple function of management in books, but in practice it is more challenging. The reasons for motivation being challenging job are as follows:

    One of the main reasons of motivation being a challenging job is due to the changing workforce. The employees become a part of their organization with various needs and expectations. Different employees have different beliefs, attitudes, values, backgrounds and thinking. But all the organizations are not aware of the diversity in their workforce and thus are not aware and clear about different ways of motivating their diverse workforce.

    Employees motives cannot be seen, they can only be presumed. Suppose, there are two employees in a team showing varying performance despite being of same age group, having same educational qualifications and same work experience. The reason being what motivates one employee may not seem motivating to other.

    Motivation of employees becomes challenging especially when the organizations have considerably changed the job role of the employees, or have lessened the hierarchy levels of hierarchy, or have chucked out a significant number of employees in the name of down-sizing or right-sizing. Certain firms have chosen to hire and fire and paying for performance strategies nearly giving up motivational efforts. These strategies are unsuccessful in making an individual overreach himself.

    The vigorous nature of needs also pose challenge to a manager in motivating his subordinates. This is because an employee at a certain point of time has diverse needs and expectations. Also, these needs and expectations keep on changing and might also clash with each other. For instance-the employees who spend extra time at work for meeting their needs for accomplishment might discover that the extra time spent by them clash with their social neds and with the need for affiliation.