Management And Other Employees Motivation example essay topic

A business seeks to make a profit by providing customers with goods and services. The success of the business is in the quality of the goods and customer service. Management and leadership styles have a great impact on the working environment and employees' motivation. The working environment also affects both management and other employees' motivation, which in turn influences the overall progress and well being of the organization. It all comes down to keeping employees enthusiastic and energized by developing a leadership style that will build teamwork and growth for the organization. The managers' leadership style contributes directly to the employees' motivation and work satisfaction.

There are many types of leadership styles, one that is task-oriented and the other is employee-oriented. A manage or supervisor with a task-oriented style will typically train and expect results as if they we doing the task themselves. On the other hand, the manager with an employee-oriented leadership style will foster team work with a concern in boosting employee self esteem, enhancing their decision making and problem solving skills. Not all leaders fall exclusively into one style or the other. Depending on the personality and the dominant part of the manager's style, the effects on the customer service representative will vary. There are three main types of leadership styles that shape all kinds of leaders.

The three types are the autocratic, democratic, and free-reign styles of leadership. The autocratic style of leadership would be considered the most task-oriented type, in which the manager carries out all the decision-making process without any feedback or suggestions from subordinates. Communication is one-way, where the work provided by the manager is to be done without any modifications by the subordinates. In this style of leadership, the delegation of authority is controlled, meaning that the decision-making is only performed by senior managers and is rarely delegated to subordinates along the chain of command.

The democratic leadership style is more of a participative type of leadership. It is a two-way communication leadership, in which employees are allowed to contribute in the decision-making; however, the manager makes the final decision. The delegation of authority in this style of leadership is less controlled and more decentralized than in the autocratic style. Employees feel more flexible, since they are allowed to modify in the methods of accomplishing the tasks and to contribute in the decision-making.

This changes the working environment; making it an environment with a lot of team working, where each employee feels that he plays an essential role in the well being of the business. The free-reign style of leadership is the most lenient style, in which the employees have the complete freedom by having the right of making the final decision-making. When assigned tasks, they finish them using their desired method, making the final decision and adding any innovations. The leader creates a very friendly environment where each subordinate is accountable for his job, without the involvement of the leader, except in some situations. However, the manager in this case adopts this style of leadership when there is great honesty and trust between the employees and managers. Ideal leaders follow the motivational theories to enhance the working environment and to make the employees not only satisfied, but also highly motivated.

Employees' motivation is the force that initiates, directs, and sustains personal behaviors and actions, which is the force that moves employees and managers to higher performance. There is a multitude of reasons an employee will remain within a given company. High pay, excellent benefits, job security, and the ability to retire within a company are among the most sought after components of the perfect job. Unfortunately, any one of these attributes alone is not enough to outweigh the problem of low perceived job satisfaction.

(Leavitt, 1996). The opportunity to advance plays an important role in an employee's length of employment. If an employee feels they cannot achieve a higher level, they are more apt to consider another company's offer. On the opposite side, if an employer feels that an employee is not capable of a higher level of placement, they may retain the person in their current role indefinitely with only mediocre, if any, cost of living increases.

Job satisfaction is the single most sought after attribute of the employment relationship. The most important element of job satisfaction is job security. (Khaleque & Chowdhury, 1983). The ramifications of job satisfaction are extremely influential to any organization. It alone can be a determining factor affecting employee efficiency, productivity, absenteeism, as well as turnover.

(Rahman, Rahman, & Khaleque, 1995). Employee treatment is one reason for high turnover. Cornell Professor Rosemary Batt stated that many call centers treat their workers as "second-class employees" by providing lower pay and reduced benefits. Additionally, many call centers with high employee turnover segment their workers, a practice that makes it difficult for employees to cross-train or advance within the company.

"Providing top-notch customer service still requires a high level of human interaction, and call center managers must continue to invent creative ways to motivate, reward and retain valuable agents", (Elio Evangelista, Cutting Edge Information). "Today, companies must build more sophisticated reward and recognition programs to boost morale and create a light, fun working atmosphere". There are three ways to upgrade service in operating a call center: 1.) Set a higher performance standard - as a team. From day one a customer service representative should be made aware of the level of performance that is expected and how important it is to be consistent in maintaining this standard.

It is vital that the customer service representative have a genuine love of the work. Those who do not will lack the concentration needed - to motivate themselves on a daily basis. A customer service representative who loves working on the phone grasps the demands of giving better service much easier. 2.) Insist that customer service representatives communicate the idea or subject matter professionally - with concern for the consumer.

3.) Have well - informed customer service representatives. Encourage company loyalty. Management should encourage employees to speak out about how comfortable they are with the quality of the product and provide callers an impromptu forum to voice their opinions. Customer service representatives must be kept abreast of new techniques that will bring them better results on the phone and provide satisfaction to the consumer, too.

Call center managers who are insensitive to workforce morale risk alienating customers with bitter or rude customer service representatives. Call center managers build workforce morale by recruiting cheerful employees, deploying broad-based reward and recognition systems, and empowering employees to satisfy customer needs. For example, a company may authorize employees to spend a defined amount of money to solve customer problems. Such empowerment boosts morale by displaying confidence in every employee's ability to solve customer needs independently. Call centers are divided into two categories: outward bound and inward bound.

The principle idea of any outward-bound contact or call center is that it involves a predefined set of offers to a segmented list of customers and prospects at a predetermined time, over a specific period. In short there is a great deal of predictability. When customer interactions are highly scripted, there is little opportunity for empowerment. Call center staff are often entry-level employees with only a few days or weeks of training. Salaries are hourly and low; call volume is high. In this environment customer interactions are not only scripted, but also monitored to ensure compliance with guidelines for accuracy and time spent per call.

There is little variation in this environment. Agents in inbound call centers are faced with a different challenge; the customer generally controls the call. Inbound call centers typically focus on sales and / or service, where each phone call is unique. Agents have a greater degree of flexibility in dealing with customers. Agents must have had detailed training on the product being supported and immediate access to support archives and other support personnel; the help desk. Giving an answer "That information is contained on our website" is not a suitable answer to a customer calling for information.

Standardizing customer interactions is a worthwhile undertaking. Automating these through tightly scripted exchanges is the typical approach. When scripts are guides, they can still be efficient, customer-friendly and empower agents. When they are inflexible management tools, they can do more harm than good. Investing in training, incentives and recognition for customer-friendly behavior involves up-front costs and on-going investments. Given the current economy, such investments may be beyond the realm of possibility for many companies.

At some point in the future, and sooner rather than later, there will be a lasting economic upturn. Even if there is little money in the budget for upgrading agent skills, there are almost certainly adequate resources for planning. Communication is essential because it increases knowledge and agent buy-in. Many companies have incorporated a form of electronic news using email, company TV, and intranet access, as well as conventional methods such as hard copy news, and face-to-face conversations.

A tremendous emphasis must be placed on providing extensive and frequent training for customer service representatives. Training is typically provided intensively to new employees and offered continually to long-term employees and management. Continuous training will accomplish many items to include: make the employees smarter, improves self esteem, enhance loyalty in the company, and ultimately increase the value of the entire company. The old saying "You " ve got to spend money to make money" holds true in the area of customer service. Compensation, rewards, and recognition are areas that can not be overlooked. Some companies will base a portion of their customer service employee compensation on performance measurement goals, ensuring that incentives are linked to customer service work processes, motivating employees to produce the desired behavior.

The days of a customer service representative sitting in a dimly lit cubical for hours on end, without the proper skills and information are long gone. The customer service representative today is a highly skilled individual with a passion for assisting each and every caller with the best possible service they can provide. They are empathetic, compassionate, and dedicated to the task at hand. They are truly an asset to any companies well being and success.

Bibliography

Leavitt, W.M. (1996).
High pay and low morale-Can high pay, excellent benefits, job security, and low job satisfaction coexist in a public agency? Public Personnel Management, 25,333-341. Khaleque, A., & Chowdhury, N. (1983, May).
Perceived importance of job facet and over all job satisfaction of top and bottom level industrial managers. Paper presented at the proceedings of the third Asian Regional Conference of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, Bang, Malaysia. Rahman, T., Rahman, T., & Khaleque, A. (1995).