Most Important Employee Skills in the Workplace

Content theories of motivation attempt to explain the necessary things that motivate individuals in the workplace. Herzbergs two-factor theory of job motivation and satisfaction theorises that those factors are Hygeine or Maintenance factors which without them goes onto causing the workers being unsatisfied and Motivators or growth factors which when introduced to the workplace creates satisfaction.

In the case of ‘Joy of Chocolate’ maintenance factors are apparent through Suzy’s managing of the growth of her business. It is clear Leon, the Head of Chocolate Development felt after not being allowed to participate in the decision making as he had to insist on being invovled in the creation and production of new products. This then went onto cause a decline in his morale and motivation which also impacted the team’s morale.

On the otherhand, job rotation created an opportunity for employees to develop their skills whilst maintaing a high standard and promoting a positive work ethos. This resulted in the job enrichment which proved a positive contribution to the company because staff were becoming motivated through work instead of just money.

Process theories such as Locke’s Goal Theory which states that peoples behaviour determined largely by their aspirations as made evident by Suzy’s determination for startingn her business such as paying for her business start up by using her redundancy package, achieving six months work experience with a variety of chocolate firms within Europe and spending her holidays for the past five years gaining professional qualifications in chocolate making.

Job Design is a fundamental building block of human resource management, which is used to enhance job performance of employees as it leads directly to the specifications of contents, methods, and relationship of jobs so as to meet technological and organisational requirements and also social and personal requirements of the employee. Job Design seeks to determine how the variety, or lack thereof of a person’s work affects their work ethos, which is also impacted by the skill variety or autonomy of the job. The goal of job design is to enhance job satification, quality of work and to alleviate employees problems such as absences.

Empowerment is utilised by management as a way of giving their employees a sense of worth within their team. An employee’s skills can be shown if they are given the chance to do so they will then go onto having a higher outcome of tasks completed on time. Employees can be given empowerment from their superiors by being the leader of some form of task which allows the employee to have a higher self-esteem and job satisfaction due to the fact they have been allowed to independent. This is useful in improving job performance because it allows the employee to have a sense of purpose within the workplace.

Training is a method used by managers to improve job performance within the workplace due to the fact it can benefit the employees and the employers. Training not only allows an employee to feel a sense of engagement which causes them to be more motivated, it also trains the employee in a variety of new skills. The employer will profit from this due to the fact they now have a more motivated employee and one who is now greater at fulfilling tasks.

Group development and maturity factors can play a role in the importance of team working, these are as follows, forming, which is the first formation of the group and is considered to be the polite stage as the group gets to know one another. Then, the team goes onto the storming stage which is the stage in which many teams have failure due to the fact workers have different styles of working and push boundaries causing conflict. Progressively, teams will reach the norming stage in which colleagues begin to respect one another and their superiors. Once this happens there will be a greater work flow within the business due to less distruptions and problems. Then, the performing stage, in which the team work effectively and effieciently to reach their teams aspirations. Finally, the adjourning stage which is the disbanding of the team once the task is completed.