The management of a company is responsible for leading it towards achieving the objective that it pursues, without changing the responsibility for the fact that it is owned by a person or shareholders or its size, small, medium or large.
Its function is to direct and without exceeding the meaning of the words, it can be said that managers should not work, if we understand by working to focus attention and action on a defined and concrete task that is part of a whole and obey instructions.
The responsibilities of the management without being all or in order of importance, can be:
Be vigilant to observe all the fronts that we saw in ecological planning and anticipate the changes that they advise;
- Accompany the course Observe if the objectives remain valid; Supervise their immediate dependents; Keep alive the relationship with the owners of capital; "Know" what is happening in the company and in addition to others make everyone, employees and supervisors, work, replacing with motivation as a pressing instrument, orders and disciplinary control
- Definitions
A systemic solution to make it easier for Management to make personnel work with the minimum of direct supervision, integrating the functions of Personnel Administration with the other areas of their responsibility.
Ideas are presented to create simple and practical means that allow medium-sized and family-owned and tailored companies to have access to the same tools that large companies use for the purposes of this work.
Joint venture of resources organized to obtain a profit.
Although non-profit companies share the same problems, it has been preferred to put profit as the determining factor, since otherwise some of these actions may be misunderstood seen from another angle
Joint management of people, also generically called "supervision", responsible for obtaining a result that they cannot achieve without the collaboration of others.
They are in charge of the superior inspection or supervision of those called to execute instructions.
People set of people who meet in a job-
Systemic derived from system: set of rules or principles that, in order related to each other, contribute to a certain object.
Ecological derived from ecology: part of sociology that studies the relationships between human groups and their environment, both physical and social.
Budgeting derived from presupposing: assuming the reality of something to act in a certain way.
I demarcate the line demarcated in the dizzy chart for the government of pilots on trips.
Scenario where an event occurs or develops.
Responsibility quality of the thing to be answered.
Qualification skills necessary to meet a responsibility.
Post portion of responsibility entrusted to a work unit.
Square amount of work, per person, that integrates a position.
Market value is what is estimated to be paid for a position in the geographical area within which you can recruit and, consequently, lose personnel.
- Management Functions
There are three successive stages through which the idea of creating a company through managerial functions passes.
These which are:
To plan
To take the first step, the founders must state the objective to be achieved since it will influence predominantly throughout the time the company exists, it must be
- Concrete, without leading to interpretation doubts, but not so specific that, in order to adapt to market developments, it has to be modified, measurable to know if it has been achieved or to measure progress towards it. to be obtained Possible, so as not to generate discouragement if it is unattainable Adequate to the available resources.
Determine which are the resources that will make the existence of the future company viable.
Only the three that seem to be the only ones common to all companies will be analyzed: money, time and people.
Due to their different nature, they also respond differently to scarcity, replacement and storage, and thus it can be said schematically that:
- The initial money should be enough to start the activities and sustain the company until it achieves a place in the market.
It can be invested by the founders; obtained from the capital market if the company is promising or can be replaced by credit.
It can be collected for financial emergencies or to increase investment.
- Time is rigid, it does not stop, if it runs out it is irreplaceable and cannot be accumulated.
It is common to all who compete and success depends on its proper use.
- People are scarce, because it is not easy to find the one that meets the expectations of capacity and efficiency.
It is irreplaceable, since not everything can be done by "machines".
Its "collection" demands a careful personnel administration policy.
Organize
The second step is to design the organization chart or structure of the company to achieve the objective with the best use of resources.
It is very common that the organization chart is designed starting from the General Manager downwards, however, it seems advisable not to use this form since it can hide the repetition of identical responsibilities under different supervisors.
It is then proposed to start from the base, grouping the tasks by their nature and creating the least amount of hierarchical levels that ensure the effectiveness of those responsible for directing.
In this way, you will reach the top without two people doing the same thing, without anything being left undone and without someone else going to do it, foreign to the needs of the organization.
It also allows evaluating other possibilities such as creating autonomous and parallel sectors, specialized to serve the entire organization or entrust to third parties those whose reduced workload advises obtaining them from external sources.
- Policies that concisely synthesize the company's guiding thinking will be written and, if necessary, guidelines that will guide those called to achieve it will be written.
Control
The company is a model subject to permanent changes and that is why it is necessary to always be alert, using various tools to keep under control the effects of those changes.
We will choose three action plans that we will call:
- ecological to analyze the reciprocal influence of the company and its environment, track to accompany the progress of its progress and 11 + 1 to closely monitor the short-term operations of the different sectors of the company.
- Ecological planning is a way of adapting the company to the changes that take place in its environment, made up of different fronts such as »the competition», «the union», «the State», «the raw material», «the hand work "," the technology "," the import "," the finances ", etc., etc.
By building an irregular polygon, as many sides will be drawn as there are influential fronts at the initial moment of using this help. Each side will be given the length that represents the degree of influence that front has in the running of the company.
Choosing a moment in the future, according to the managers' experience, a scenario is drawn, that is, a new polygon resulting from the variations that management foresees in the fronts.
Some will remain the same, others will increase their influence, some will disappear and a new one will become part, which will allow the study of the measures that must be taken to gradually adapt to these changes.
As many scenarios as necessary are designed based on the stability or variability of the environment in which it is operated.
The course will monitor progress towards the goals that are set for the different activities of the company.
It will be divided into three sectors:
- The first, which we will call the budget, must be unalterable since it commits investments and action programs valid for a given "current" time and that, if not complied with, would create confusion, disorder, mistrust and waste of money.
It covers the time that begins with the moment the plan is set in motion and lasts for the period that the experience estimates.
- The second one that happens and which we will call immediately, has the same objectives but, as it is still within expectations and, unlike the budget, it can be modified.
- The third or mediate, which will cover longer terms than the previous one, is a forecast that compromises the future as long as the validity of the original objective is maintained, which is why it should be noted that it has not changed over time in order not to get to where you are not expected to go.
These three stages follow each other "ad infinitum" and are of the nature of management's responsibility.
This plan is usually called "short, medium and long term" but it was preferred to use a more representative name of the functions it performs and of the differences between the periods.
III. The 1 + 11. Another useful instrument for different areas within the company is to set a time under control (twelve months for example, not necessarily a calendar year) and divide it into as many units as they integrate that time, which we will call 1 + 11. and successively 2 + 10, 3 + 9, etc.
If it were a production plan, in each unit the quantity to be produced will be recorded so that when the end of the chosen period is reached (12 in the example), the expected total is available.
If at the end of the first period or in any of the following, what was actually produced coincides with what was budgeted, it will go to the next unit 2 + 10 and so on.
If, on the other hand, the amount differs from the estimated (by more or less) and since that difference will influence all the periods to come, a new series of 1 + 11 must be started in which everything foreseen will have to be readjusted.
These variations on the estimate may cast doubt on the validity of the final objective and alert on the advisability of revising it, setting a new one instead of forcing the march towards the original one that was no longer valid.
It can also demonstrate defects in forecasting, efficiency, operating capacity, market knowledge, financial planning etc.
As you can see, control has an importance equivalent to that of the plan and the organization, with the difference in its favor that it allows a margin of error because if it were rigid, the changes could be even more damaging than mere adjustments.
These functions are successive and interactive and shortly after the first cycle begins, it is difficult to distinguish which one you are in.
- Why do you have to make people work?
More than forty years ago, Douglas McGregor (The human side of the company) called Theory X to the idea that prevailed at that time and that was supported by the traditional vision of Management and Control, that people are natural and majority reluctant to work, He then put forward the opposite idea to what he called Theory Y which consists of integrating the objectives of the company with those of the employees.
The method that according to Theory X was considered effective, was that of prizes, to those who work and do it well and punishments to those who do not work or do it badly, "carrot or whip"
At first glance, it seems that this may be the way to reach the desired end, but if by reduction to the absurd they are taken to extreme limits, both to rewards and punishments, it is quickly verified that in essence the method is not valid for everyone equally.
The award makes it appear that what pays the salary is only the presence in the workplace and it is the bonus that pays for a job well done.
If the efficiency in the performance of the responsibilities described as job content, which is what is expected, gives reason to deserve a salary increase, this can equal that corresponding to a higher hierarchical level, disarticulating any salary scale.
If it is punished with increasing disciplinary sanctions, dismissal may result, requiring a negative involvement of supervision, distracting it from the driving and guidance functions that it does to its nature.
With Theory Y the modernization of the relationship with the personnel begins and almost all its practice is developed as the Personnel Administration does today and that we will see later.
Co-contemporary with and cited by McGregor, Herzberg managed to differentiate motivation in a generic sense that was present in all theories of human resource management and to distinguish the one that refers specifically to work.
There will always be X-people and workplaces where they are supported, such as bureaucratic administrations, but the demands on skills and costs have forced people to be seen as part of their capital and not as a resource.
Motivation At Work
It is common that when talking about motivation related to work, reference is made to Maslow (Motivation and personality), creator of the pyramid of vital and social needs, as if these led the human being to work to satisfy them.
Conversely, it could be said that those who have those needs satisfied by other means, would not have to feel the need to work but, as the same pyramid says, it culminates in self-realization, that is, the full development of the personality and that it is the starting point for the motivation that interests us here.
It is true as Maslow says, that who lacks
- house and food, security, a sense of belonging and recognition
It cannot achieve self-realization, but there are many people who are reduced to meeting those needs and have no ambitions that lead them to work well, with a view to personal improvement, and that is why those responsible for "making people work" have than being vigilant to distinguish one from the other.
Rightly Theory Y looked for the solution "inside" the person relying on motivation integrating the objectives of the company with those of the employees and demanding less effort from supervision for better results.
Hezberg (Work and the nature of man) verified with a survey that people can have a lively attitude towards work by paying attention to what the person feels when working, thus giving a new concept on how to stimulate motivation to improve the fruits of work.
Herzberg's original survey, confirmed with others in different specialties and hierarchical levels, revealed the internal reactions that lead people to comply with the content of their work, with care and without the need for their supervisor to control what He does "looking over his shoulder" and those that affect him in relation to the environment where he works when they are deficient.
To understand the essence of his idea, use can be made of the graphic that integrates his exhibition, which records the reactions of those who were asked what they remembered from his past life at work.
Outlining it (Figure 1) and reducing the analysis of the theory to that of the factors, the respondents recalled what influenced their working lives. It can be said that these factors were
- The motivators or content, which provoke a lively attitude and give satisfaction. These are: the achievement, recognition and content of the work, which have an effect of up to two weeks, and responsibility and progress, which lasts for years. (Figure 2) The demotivating or environmental, also called hygienic, (Figure 3) They provoke a discouraged attitude and give dissatisfaction.These are: business conduct (policies), quality of supervision, salary, interpersonal relationships and working conditions and have a negative effect all the time during which they are not corrected.
When analyzing the play of these factors, it has been difficult to understand that the absence of motivating factors is not demotivating and reciprocal, that the satisfaction derived from a good environment does not motivate.
You can circumvent the difficulty of understanding with a simile related to the palate: the lack of salt does not sweeten and the reciprocal, the absence of sugar does not salt, in such a way that the center between the two extremes will be bland if it is about flavors or indifferent if it is related to the factors that induce attitudes towards work.
Staff Administration
The intention of this work is to show which are the functions that the Management must attend with the support of the Personnel Administration (PA), responsible for the human capital of the company, and that tend to achieve their motivation.
It goes without saying that if one of the three essential resources of a company is people, this word includes all levels and everyone equally.
In order to obtain the expected results from the PA, the different tasks entrusted to your attention must be described separately and then integrated into a system.
So we will see regarding the posts:
- The description of the responsibilities that define each job and the necessary qualifications that the person occupying it must have.RemunerationPlanning jobs
And of the people
- Recruitment Performance evaluation Each person's career planning
Entering the analysis of the managerial functions entrusted to the Personnel Administration, we will first see those that refer to the positions
In small companies, jobs tend to be defined through the tasks to be carried out, with the consequence of not demanding more capacity from the employee than is necessary for the mere execution, without any other commitment.
In our case and in accordance with the idea expressed when referring to the organization chart, the base of the business pyramid must contain all the activities related to achieving the objective, expressed through the responsibilities entrusted to the jobs.
The number of places to fill each position depends on the workload to be attended.
The responsibilities
Defining responsibilities in contradiction to the habit of referring to tasks deserves an example as a way of clarification:
If to describe a position of "garage doorman" it says "take out a red flag every time a truck leaves" it can be done on the sidewalk where only people walking by see it, but if it says "avoid collisions with cars who are on the road »You have to go out on the road, announce the departure of the truck to the drivers passing through the street with the flag and give the truck driver the free way when traffic stops.
The responsibility of management as a whole is expressed in the objective and the task of supervision is to unravel it and divide it by specialty until it is reduced to the smallest unit that can be faced in a position.
Qualifications
In order to draw the appropriate profile for each position, it is necessary to define the conditions that the applicant must meet to satisfy the expectations set by the objective, the policies and the idiosyncrasy of Management, distinguishing:
- The intellectuals referring to the knowledge and experience in the matter to be entrusted to them.The temperamentals that allow them to face their obligations without having to live in permanent discord with the environment that links the position.The vocational ones that demonstrate their desire for progress consistent with their potential relationships that allow you to work as a team and accept being subordinate Those of morals and loyalty to your employer especially if you have access to confidential information
The remunerations
There was a time when remuneration policies were based on the aphorism "honest pay for an honest day's work" in the manner of the tacit psychological contract to which Schein refers. (Psychology of organization) in each part "presupposes" the attitude that the other will take.
It would seem that settling for a tacit contract before entering into an employment relationship is an unnecessary risk since disappointments can be generated that will affect the entire employment relationship.
Nothing prevents management from knowing
- What is the value of jobs in a job market, what are the conditions that the applicant must meet,
Just as it should not be surprising that the applicant wants to know
- What are the company's policies and what are the conditions of work and how much is offered remuneration
To find out what the market value of the jobs is, the surveys that are offered are expensive and typically cover more areas than is necessary for small and medium-sized companies.
You can do a survey yourself by asking five or six comparable companies, friends and neighbors, how much they pay for the entry position, how much the highest and, if any, a position of intermediate responsibility, of the profession or activity being investigated.
- With these data, they are ordered by value in three columns, one for each hierarchical level, and without interest from which company they come from, the extremes are excluded and the means are averaged over a coordinate system in which the ordinate contains from zero, values in money and the abscissa, starting from zero, the number of levels in the company between the entry position and that of the person in charge of the sector Where the lines in the curve intersect, the value will be read for each position level. (Figure 4)
There should not be a single remuneration scale for the entire company, but one for each profession or specialty.
The unique scales have the defect of comparing values as if there were a single professional market and it could happen that a profession of lesser relative importance but with little supply (trilingual secretaries} has to be paid more than another of a higher hierarchical level but with more offer (lawyers)
Compensation should be staggered so that each employee is paid a minimum if he meets the income requirements, then based on his performance, market value, and that maximum compensation is provided if he has no potential to progress.
For example, if you establish an amplitude of 50% between the minimum and maximum and the market value is 100 units, 20% less (80) will be paid at income and the maximum will be 20% more (120) to remunerate a good performance but with no ability to advance to a higher grade. (Figure 5)
This is
- An initial sum that pays the minimum requirements for entry, until your aptitude for the position is confirmed and reaches market value. The market value as long as there is no possibility of promotion AND the maximum if it has no potential to promote but if good performance or an increase for exceeding what is expected in the position but without conditions for a higher hierarchical level (Figure 6)
With the same criteria, the immediate higher charge will have, as a minimum, the average value of the lower and so on.
Job planning
The organization chart is triangular in design because there are fewer positions on each step than on the bottom and if we resort to another geometric figure to represent the company, we will see that each higher level needs to be supported by different responsibilities that support it.
Planning must ensure that at each level and in addition to purely operational support, a future replacement is prepared
The presentation of this planning adopts the same design of the organization chart but, in addition to the visual linkage of the positions, it must be indicated
- the name of the person who occupies it, what is the remuneration he receives, his seniority in the position and in the company, his last two performance qualifications and if he has it. dependent positions of different supervisors if it is the first one through which one enters the profession or specialty, data necessary for recruitment and if it occupies an intermediate place in the hierarchical chain, where it comes from and which can be promoted
As you can see, this is the point where all the information that enables the AP to fulfill its essential advisory function to optimize the resource we call People is crossed.
Turning now to the functions related to people we will see
Recruitment
One should be the main source of recruitment, the one that provides candidates taken from the active personnel, but it is not always possible to make use of this resource either.
- because it is a new position not foreseen in the plans because everyone is in the right place for a resignation, resignation, death or any other unforeseeable cause
If several people are presented as possible candidates who seem to fulfill the conditions described with respect to the two main points, responsibilities and qualifications, recruitment consists of selecting the person who most closely matches these guidelines.
However, it would be illusory to try to find someone who fully and fully satisfies them, since each company has its own characteristics and even if a person has professional qualifications, they need to adapt to the peculiarities of their new employer.
To ensure continuity in the flow of operations without ups and downs in service efficiency, it is desirable to have a replacement available for a prospective or unexpected vacancy.
The forecast may demand one candidate and up to two for the highest positions, but the chosen ones must ignore this condition since otherwise they would lose interest in the position they occupy without the need to fill a vacancy.
Performance evaluation
This tool can give more results than those that arise from a first reading and it goes from being a kind of sentence that gives prizes and punishments, to becoming an essential element for the proper running of the company itself.
Before going into the details of your field of action, it is advisable to refer to the opportunity, or rather, the opportunities in which you should talk to the employee:
- The first is six months after admission The second twelve months after that date The following after each anniversary Another independent from the previous ones, at the start of the vacation and the subsequent one, upon returning to work Last and whatever the cause, at the end of the employment relationship
The interviews should not be a monologue during which the employee feels like under the magnifying glass wielded by a superior but with the ease of a dialogue between equals, however much it costs for both interlocutors.
The first two allow knowing the "new" and knowing how they feel about the company since they see it for the first time from the inside. It helps you assert yourself from the first steps.
The anniversary ones have the advantage of not being one in the bunch. When everyone is rated at the end of the year the burden is so heavy that at the beginning one thinks about each one and at the end it is done by comparison with the others "A is better than B".
Another advantage is that, as there is only one person, they comment on it, find out the reason for the failures and ask what training needs the interviewee has.
The ones before the holidays include criticisms and evaluations influenced by the stresses of a year of work and the conclusions reached by the supervisor should not be taken into account while waiting for the return.
In that moment of relaxed mood, he is read the statements he made when leaving and wonders if he keeps them.
The exit interview, no longer related to the company, can provide information that would never have been done in other circumstances.
The career plan
This is the synthesis of all the actions described above and by its nature, it should not be known by the subjects.
The anticipated knowledge of improvements as mentioned above, loses interest in what is at hand, damaging performance and if it is not complied with for any reason other than the employee, it disappoints him and damages his morale.
Anticipate recruitment needs, organize training programs and influence remuneration.
Motivation In Action
Confirming what was expressed in the initial proposal and simplifying the concepts for a better understanding, we will say that the relationship between the factors, their definitions and those responsible for the courses of action is as follows
Motivators
- Achievement is successfully completing a job or solving a problem, claiming it for yourself and seeing the results.
Action is from AP through responsibilities
- Recognition is an act in which someone demonstrates
have noticed the achievement, pondering or blaming, The action is AP through performance and remuneration
- Content of the work and especially if you do not share the tasks with another.
Action is from AP through responsibilities
- Progress is the change of status or position in the company
Action is from AP through the run
Motivators
- Supervision is the ability of supervisors to delegate, teach, and keep a group harmonious.
Action is from AP when recruiting and evaluating performance
- Policies are the principles that govern the company and the tact to lead a company.
The action belongs to Management at the time of organizing the company.
- Salary inconsistency with remuneration policies
Management's action in defining its policies
- Interpersonal relationships with superiors and equals due to work
The action is from AP and supervision.
- Equipment, comfort and hygiene work conditions.
The action is from AP and Management.
It is often striking that the salary is not among the motivating factors and if it is one of the motivators, but the explanation is that if the salary offered does not respond to market values, the position is normally not accepted but, if in the course of the employment relationship loses that value and causes discomfort.
Final recommendation
As stated in the heading, the intention is to demystify the idea that all the techniques and procedures described can only be used in large companies that have specialized technicians.
It is true that it can be difficult for a small company to develop elaborate methods and procedures that must be attended with almost exclusive dedication and that are also disproportionate for small schools.
But the intention is different. If the principles that have been shown are not known, initial errors of apparent little importance can be made while the company is small or medium, but then, over time and when it increases in size, the correction is very high cost, if not impossible..
No one is obliged to do what they cannot but to inform themselves so that, at least, they do not act when they start their growth against what has already proven to be effective.
For the rest, some concepts do not depend on the size of the company and can be taken into account without any condition other than knowing what effect they may have.
Sources and Bibliography
The ideas presented in this work are the result of twenty years of managerial experience at all levels in transnational companies accompanied by equal time in university teaching at the American Management Association and IDEA.
They have been collected from the questions of those attending courses and workshops and from consulting in medium and large family businesses.
They are a compilation of what the author said in the book La Empresa Familiar, Publinter SA; ISBN 950,613,000.0 and in eight articles published in the magazines of Editorial Cangallo: La Información y Contabilidad-Administración.
It also contains ideas developed from reading the following books:
- Bertalanffi: General Theory of Systems Herman / Korenich: Authentic Management Herzberg, Mausner & Snyderman: The motivation to work Mc Gregor: The Human Side of Enterprice Ogliastri: Japanese Management and Circles of Participation East: Management by Objectives Red: Management Psychology Planning: Organizational Psychology: Up the OrganizationTurangeau: Strategy ManagementWeber: Time management
TITLE: HOW TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES?
AUTHOR: JUAN MANUEL DE LA COLINA [email protected]
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