Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
expectations from others. It is the dual nature of human longing—to be part of some-
thing great (pride in organisation) and to be independent (heroic spirit) at the same
time—that underlies the tensional state of human conduct and actions. Managing this
dualism to the advantage of the organisation is part of the art of motivating. People
at all levels must be given independent roles to play; they must feel that they control
their own destiny, their own work, and their own performance. People should be al-
lowed to set their own targets and standards of performance (though the latter should
not be below the ones of the organisation); to control their own working conditions,
and to exercise free choice in ways of achieving a given goal.
Effective organisations use the powerful tool of positive reinforcement—in form
of rewarding good performance, featuring the champions, and showcasing the heroes.
On the contrary, punishing a person for bad performance or failure may force him
to become a recluse, a sullen loner who will spend his energies in seeking ways
to escape punishment or to seek retribution by inflicting harm on the organisation.
Positive reinforcement builds up items of positive value on the person's agenda,
eventually displacing the negative items as more and more good things crowd his time
and energy. Some of the recipes of creating opportunities of positive reinforcement
could be, for example: to be specific (fill the polypots by July 20), to give immediate
effect (write out a reward on the spot), to set standards that are achievable (no
impossible expectations), to give due weight to the intangibles (attention of the top
management), to avoid regular patterns in order to prevent loss of excitement and
novelty (surprise by sudden rewards).
People of an organisation must be steeped in its basic values. Everyone should have
copies of mission statement, symbols, logos, performance charts, cultural trends,
mementoes, news bulletins, trophies, rewards, and other memorabilia all around the
workplace and at home. People should be encouraged to design their own cultural
symbols embodying the ethos, the values, and the mission of the organisation. There
can be endless ways of creating, renovating, reinforcing, representing, and expressing
the set of values to be lived in one's life—on work and off work.
The top management in an effective organisation communicates face-to-face with
its people. Face-to-face communication earns them credibility and charges people
with enthusiasm and genuine sense of involvement in the affairs of the organisation.
The top management must practice the precept, be on the spot, listen to the people,
and get genuinely interested in people's problems, their work, and their ideas. Far
too often, it is assumed that people know what their duties are; that they know what
is being expected of them. It seldom is true. People need repeated and reinforced
communication all the time and at all levels. Sending in letters and circulars teaches
them nothing. It makes them estranged from the management. It would be appropriate
to say that good managers need to spend three-fourths of their time in communicating
ideas that they come up with during the remaining one-fourth of their time.
Participatory decision-making is essential for getting people involved in their
work. A decision that has been made in the dark will be incomprehensible to most
of the people down below; they will be bewildered, exasperated, confused at it. A
participative decision, on the other hand, is already communicated by the time it has
been finalised, and therefore, will be half implemented already. Similarly, a small
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