LESSON 5: Workforce Focus

o Organizations are learning that to satisfy customers, they must first satisfy the workforce.
o Workforce – refers to everyone who is actively involved in accomplishing the work of an organization.
 This encompasses paid employees as well as volunteers and contract employees, and includes
team leaders, supervisors, and managers at all levels.
 Many companies refer to their employees as associates or partners to signify the importance that
people have in driving business performance.
 Workforce satisfaction is strongly related to customer satisfaction, and ultimately, to business
performance.
o The workforce is an important component of a basic quality system.
o ISO 9000:2000 includes several workforces – focused requirements.
 The standards required that “personnel performing work affecting product quality shall be
competent on the basis of appropriate education, training, skills, and experience”.
 They further require that organizations determine the level of competence that employees need,
provide training or other means to ensure competency, evaluate the effectiveness of training or
other actions taken, ensure that employees are aware of how their work contributes to quality
objectives, and maintain appropriate records of education, training and experience.

o Key Workforce-Focused Practices for Quality

1. Understand the key factors that drive workforce engagement, satisfaction and motivation.
2. Design and manage work and jobs to promote effective communication, cooperation, skill sharing,
empowerment, innovation and the ability to benefit from diverse ideas and thinking of employees and
develop an organizational culture conducive to high performance and motivation.
3. Make appropriate investments in development and learning, both for the workforce and the
organization’s leaders.
4. Create an environment that ensures and improves workplace health, safety, and security and supports
the workforce via policies, services and benefits.
5. Develop a performance management system based on compensation, recognition, reward and
incentives that supports high performance work and workforce engagement.
6. Assess workforce engagement and satisfaction and use results for improvement.
7. Assess workforce capability and capacity needs and use the results to capitalize on core
competencies, address strategic challenges, recruit and retain skilled and competent people, and
accomplish the work of the organization.
8. Manage career progression for the entire workforce and succession planning for management and
leadership positions.

o The Evolution of Workforce Management

 Prior to the Industrial revolution, skilled craftspeople had a major stake in the quality of their
products because their families’ livelihoods depended on the sale of those products.
 Frederick W. Taylor promulgated the departure from the craftsmanship concept.
 Taylor concluded that a factory should be managed on a scientific basis.
 He focused on work methods design, the establishment of standards for daily work,
selection and training of workers and piecework incentives.
 Taylor separated planning from execution, concluding that foreman and workers of those
days lacked the education necessary to plan their work.
  The Taylor system dramatically improved productivity.
 The Taylor philosophy also contributed to the development of labor unions and
established an adversarial relationship between labor and management that has yet to be
completely overcome.
 The Taylor system failed to exploit an organization’s most important asset – the
knowledge and creativity of the workforce.

o Workforce Management – is the function performed in organizations that facilitates the most effective
use of people to achieve organizational and individual goals.
 The objectives of an effective workforce management system are:
1. To build a high-performance workplace
2. Maintain an environment for quality excellence
 Workforce management activities include:
1. Determining the organization’s workforce needs
2. Assisting in the design of work systems
3. Recruiting, selecting, training and developing, counselling, motivating, and rewarding
employees
4. Acting as a liaison with unions and government organizations
5. Handling other matters of employee well-being

o Strategic Human Resource Management – is concerned with the contributions HR strategies make to
organizational effectiveness and how these contributions are accomplished.
 It involves designing and implementing a set of internally consistent policies and practise to
ensure that an organization’s human capital contributes to overall business objectives.

o Performance – means the extent to which an individual contributes to achieving the goals and objectives
of an organization.
 The design, organization, and management of work and work environment are crucial to high
performance.
o High Performance Work – refers to work approaches used to systematically pursue ever-higher levels
of over-all organizational and human performance.
 It is characterized by flexibility, innovation, knowledge and skill sharing, alignment with
organizational directions, customer focus and rapid response to changing business needs and
marketplace requirements.
 Kay Kendall and Glenn Bodison proposes five Conditions of Collaboration that characterize a
culture of high performance:
a. Respect – means believing in the inherent worth of another person.
 It also is taking into consideration the views and desires of others.
b. Values – are the guiding principles and behaviours that embody how an organization
and its people are expected to operate.
 Values reflect and reinforce an organization’s culture.
 Aligned values – create a congruency between what the organization stands
for and the personal beliefs of the individual.
c. Purpose – is the fundamental reason an organization exists.
 It inspires an organization and guides its setting of values.
 Individuals who share a purpose with the organization for which they work
are frequently more motivated.
  Having a shared purpose promotes collaboration because it minimizes the
focus on individual desires and elevates the focus to a greater good.
d. Communication – is often cited as one of the most important factors related to
employee motivation.
 Communication that flows freely in all directions promotes collaboration.
e. Trust – that management trusts the workforce and vice – versa – is vital.
 Employees leave their organizations because of trust, observing that lack of
trust was an issue with almost every person who had left an organization.

o Traditional HR Versus Strategic HR

Key Issues Traditional HR Strategic HR

Fundamental mind-set
View of organization
Education and training
Critical skills
View of employees
Timeframe
Process/outcome orientation
Risk
Response to change
HR systems and practices
Approach to system
development
Primary areas of practice
 Transactional
 Compliance/enforcement
orientation
 Micro
 Narrow skill application
 Traditional human resources
management (HR specialist)
 Limited business acumen
 Organization
 Compliance
 Head, costs
 People are exploitable
resources
 Short-term, immediate needs
 Primary concern for process
 Process control
 Low risk taking
 Reliance for proven
approaches
 Inflexible to change
 Routine, established programs  Adaptive,
and systems (e.g., traditional
training programs)
 Reactive – benchmarking, best  Anticipatory-forecasting,
practices
 Responding to stated needs
 Transactions, highly repetitive  Transformations,
in nature (e.g.,
 Transformational
 Consultative orientation
 Macro
 Broad skill application
 Basic business competencies
 HR education/training
emphasis on the following:
a. Organizational theory
b. Organizational culture
c. Organizational change
d. Strategic management
e. Job design
 Strategic thinking
 Planning
 Diagnosis and analysis
 Consultation
 Managing culture
 Mind, assets
 People are critical resources
 Mid-to long-term, current
and future needs
 Primary concern for results
 Process innovation
 High risk taking
 Experiment with new,
promising approaches
 Flexible to change
innovative
programs and systems to fit
future needs (e.g., web-
based, just-in-time training)
predicting needs
 Recognizing unstated needs
change,
innovation (e.g., strategy,
 recruitment/selection, training, knowledge management,
compensation, labor relations) culture, organizational
change, talent management,
leadership development)
Status in organization  Weak  Strong

o Principles of Workforce Engagement and Motivation

1. Workforce engagement – refers to the extent of workforce commitment both emotional and
intellectual, to accomplishing the work, mission, and vision of the organization.
 Organizations with high levels of workforce engagement are often characterized by high-
performing work environments in which people are motivated to do their utmost for the
benefit of their customers and for the success of the organization.
 Workforce engagement is rooted in the psychology of human needs and supported by
motivation models of Maslow, Herzberg, and McGregor.
 Employees are motivated through exciting work, responsibility and recognition. It provides a
powerful means of achieving the highest order individual needs of self-realization and
fulfilment.
 Employee engagement offers many advantages over traditional management practices as it:
a. Replaces the adversarial mentality with trust and cooperation.
b. Develops the skills and leadership capability of individuals, creating a sense of
mission and fostering trust.
c. Increases employee morale and commitment to the organization.
d. Fosters creativity and innovation, the source of competitive advantage.
e. Helps people understand quality principles and instil these principles into the
corporate culture.
f. Allows employees to solve problems at the source immediately.
g. Improves quality and productivity.
 A global benchmarking study of employee engagement conducted by Right Management
identified the following as the top 10 drivers of workforce engagement:
a. Commitment to organizational values.
b. Knowing that customers are satisfied with products and services.
c. Belief that opinions count.
d. Clearly understanding work expectations.
e. Understanding of how personal contributions help meet customer needs.
f. Being recognized and rewarded fairly.
g. Knowing that senior leaders value the workforce.
h. Being treated equally with respect.
i. Being able to concentrate on the job and work processes.
j. Alignment of personal work objectives to work plans.

2. Employee involvement (EI) – refers to any activity by which employee participate in work-related
decisions and improvement activities, with the objectives of tapping the creative energies of all
employees and improving their motivation.
 Engagement begins with involvement.
 EI initiatives are by no means new.
  Unfortunately, these approaches lacked the complementary elements of TQ, such
as customer orientation, top management leadership and support, and a common
set of tools for problem solving and continuous improvement.
 EI approaches can range from simple sharing of information or providing input on work-
related issues and making suggestions to self-directed responsibilities such as setting goals,
making business decisions and solving problems, often in cross-functional teams.
 Employee suggestion system – is a management tool for the submission, evaluation, and
implementation of an employee’s idea to save cost, increase quality or improve other
elements of work such as safety.
 Simple suggestion systems can have many benefits.
a. Thinking about solutions to problems at work makes even routine work
enjoyable
b. Writing down the suggestions improves workers’ reasoning ability and
writing skills

3. Motivation – the art of creating conditions that allow every one of us to get his work done at his on
peak of level of efficiency.
 A more formal definition of motivation is an individual’s response to a felt need.
 Some stimulus or activating event must spur the need to respond to that stimulus, generating
the response itself.
 There is no such thing as an unmotivated employee, but the system within which people work
can either seriously impede motivation or enhance it.

Motivation Theory Pioneer/Developer Type of Theory

Content Theories
Hierarchy of Needs Abraham Maslow Need
Motivation and Maintenance Douglas McGregor Need/satisfaction
Theory X-Y Frederick Herzberg Managerial expectations
n-Ach, n-Aff, n-Pow David McClelland Acquired need
Process Theories
Preference – Expectancy Victor H. Vroom Expectancy
Contingency Porter and Lawler Expectancy/reward
Goal Setting Edward Locke Goal
Path – Goal Theory of Leadership Robert J. House Goal
Environmentally Based Theories
Operant Conditioning B. F. Skinner Reinforcement
Equity J. Stacy Adams Equity
Social Learning/Self - Efficacy A. Bandura; Snyder and Williams Social Learning/self -efficacy

o Designing High – Performance Work Systems

 The design of work should provide individuals with both the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to
achieve quality and operational performance objectives.
 Leading companies view the design of work systems in a fashion similar to the design of their
key products and processes.
 Many of its work systems are unique to the industry.
 Examples are a ramp – in schedule in which new employees are allowed to work for
only a specified number of hours to learn their jobs and minimize the potential
repetitive stress injuries
  A rotation system by which employees rotate to another workstation every 20 minutes.
 This format ensures that workers can understand and respond to product quality issues at any
stage of the process and understand their internal customers; it also fights boredom, reduces
repetitive stress injuries, and promotes learning.

1. Work and Job Design

 Work design – refers to how employees are organized in formal and informal units, such as
departments and teams.
 Job design – refers to responsibilities and tasks assigned to individuals.
 Both work and job design are vital to organizational effectiveness and personal job
satisfaction.
 An integrating theory that helps us understand how job design impacts motivation, satisfaction
and organizational effectiveness was proposed by Hackman and Oldman.
 Their model has been validated in numerous organizational settings.
 The model proposes that five core characteristics of job design influence three critical
psychological states, which in turn, drive work outcomes.
a. Task significance – the degree to which the job gives the participants the
feeling that they have a substantial impact on the organization or the world
b. Task identity – the degree to which the worker can perceive the task as a
whole, identifiable piece of work from start to finish
c. Skill variety – the degree to which the job requires the worker to use a variety
of skills and talents
d. Autonomy – the degree to which the task permits freedom, independence and
personal control to be exercised over the work
e. Feedback from the job – the degree to which clear, timely information about
the effectiveness of performance of the individual is available, not only from
supervisors, but also from measurements that the worker might take directly.
 High levels of skill variety, task identity and task significance create a psychological
state of experienced meaningfulness – the psychological need of workers to have the
feeling that their work is a significant contribution to the organization and society.
 High autonomy drives the psychological state of experienced responsibility – the
need of workers to be accountable for the quality and quantity of work produced.
 Feedback from the job creates the psychological state knowledge of results – the need
of workers to know how their work is evaluated and the results of their evaluation.
 Together, these psychological states drive key work outcomes of employee
motivation, growth satisfaction, overall job satisfaction and work effectiveness.
 Quality is related in a primary or secondary sense to all five of these core job characteristics.
 Quality of a product or service is undoubtedly increased by a worker’s dedicated
application of skills, which is enhanced by task identity and a feeling of task
significance.
 Quality of work is enhanced by a job design that incorporates autonomy and
feedback relating to quality characteristics.
 The key outcomes of high general job satisfaction and high work effectiveness can be seen as
results that define and reinforce excellent quality.
 Several common approaches to work design:
a. Job enlargement – worker’s jobs were expanded to include several tasks rather than
one single, low – level task. This approach reduced fragmentation of jobs and
 generally resulted in lower production costs, greater worker satisfaction, and higher
quality, but it required higher wage rates and the purchase of more inspection
equipment.
b. Job rotation – is a technique by which individual workers learn several tasks by
rotating from one to another. The purpose of job rotation is to renew interest or
motivation of the individual and to increase his or her complement of skills.
c. Job enrichment – entails “vertical job loading” in which workers are given more
authority, responsibility and autonomy rather than simply more or different work to
do.

2. Empowerment – giving people authority – to make decisions based on what they feel is right, to have
control over their work, to take risks and learn from mistakes, and to promote change.
 It is a shift of decision responsibility downward within an organization – from management
to workers on the production floor or to service workers on the front lines.
 It requires employees to step outside their traditional roles and make decisions previously
made by managers.
 Empowerment can benefit customers who buy the organization’s products and services.
 Empowered employees must have the wisdom to know what to do and when to do it, the
motivation to do it, and the right tools to accomplish the task.
 These requirements may mean significant changes in work systems, specifically, the
following:
a. Employees are provided education, resources and encouragement.
b. Policies and procedures are examined for needless restrictions on the ability of employees
to serve customers.
c. An atmosphere of trust be fostered rather than resentment and punishment for failure.
d. Information be shared freely rather than closely guarded as a source of control and
power.
e. Workers feel their efforts are desired and needed for the success of the organization.
f. Managers are given the required support and training to adopt a “hands-off” leadership
style.
g. Employees are trained in the amount of latitude they are allowed to take. Formulating
decision rules and providing role-playing scenarios are excellent ways to teaching
employees.
 Empowerment also means that leaders and managers must relinquish some of the power that
they previously held.
 This power shift often creates management fears that workers will abuse their
privilege.
 Empowerment gives managers new responsibilities.
 They must hire and develop people capable of handling empowerment, encourage
risks taking, and recognize achievements.
 Giving employees information about the company finances and the financial
implication of empowered decisions is also important.

3. Teamwork
 Team – a group of people who work together and cooperate to share work and responsibility.
 Teamwork breaks down barriers among individuals, departments, and line and staff
functions.
 Employees who participate in team activities feel more empowered, are more satisfied with
the rate of improvement in quality in their companies, and receive better training in both job –
related and problem – solving skills.
 Teams also help organizations to capitalize on diverse ideas, culture, and thinking of
employees.
 Teams encourage free – flowing participation and interaction among its members.
 Teams often perform a variety of problem – solving activities, such as determining customer
needs, developing a flowchart to study a process, brainstorming to discover opportunities for
improvement, selecting projects, recommending corrective actions, and tracking the
effectiveness of solutions.
 Teams may also assume many traditional managerial functions.
 Many types of teams exist in different companies and industries.
a. Management teams – teams consisting mainly of managers from various functions
such as sales and production that coordinate work among teams.
b. Natural work teams – teams organized to perform entire jobs, rather than specialized,
assembly line – type work.
c. Self – managed teams – specifically empowered teams defined as “a highly trained
group of employees, from 6 to 18, on average, fully responsible for turning out a well
– defined segment of finished work – also known as self – directed work teams
d. Virtual teams – teams in which members communicate by computer, take turns as
leaders, and jump in and out as necessary. These types of teams use a combination of
cloud computing, e-mail, video conferencing, and shared computer screen
technologies to get their jobs done.
e. Quality circles – teams of workers and supervisors that meet regularly to address
work – related problems involving quality and productivity
f. Problem – solving teams – teams whose members gather to solve a specific problem
and then disband.
g. Project teams – teams with a specific mission to develop something new or to
accomplish a complex task.