Ropes Paper – Motivation and Reinforcement Theory
Kaitlin Frank
Organizational Behavior
December 14, 2011

What Can’t Be Cured Must Be Obscured
Summary
Motivation is what drives people to get something done faster, work harder and accomplish a goal. It is what drives people to do things that they normally would not do. Motivation can extend to any aspect of ones life and drives virtually every decision and action a person takes. People use motivation to overcome an obstacle or for self-improvement and fulfillment. It is very useful in the workplace to make the organization be successful by keeping the workforce motivated, happy and engaged.
Motivation can come in many different forms. Typically, motivation involves incentives—rewarding people after they have accomplished something. Since this reward is desirable, the employee with do whatever it takes to get that reward. Rewards can come in either positive or negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is rewarding a good behavior in order to encourage that behavior to continue. This could be giving an employee a raise, a bonus, promotion, recognition, extra vacation time and so forth. Just as rewards can be given for a job well done, punishment can be used as a motivator to change a particular behavior and discourage it from continuing. Negative reinforcement is a negative reaction to a behavior—implementing a punishment when that behavior is done and removing it when the behavior stops. Negative reinforcement would be extending working hours, requiring early or late meetings past the usual “go home time,” the removal of something pleasurable in the work environment and such. Decision-making and motivation are closely related because people will decide a behavior based on their motivation to do so. A person is motivated to wake up at 5a.m. every morning because they want to compete in a marathon. The decision to wake up so early is motivated by their desire to run a marathon and the satisfaction that comes from completing it.
The expectancy theory is based on desired outcomes contingent upon higher performance—“What I need to do to get this.” There are various levels to the expectancy theory with the first one being effort performance expectancy. In this one, workers have the capability and the opportunity to perform. They have an understanding of what is considered acceptable and the resources necessary to complete it. Instrumentality of performance is determining what behaviors are instrumental to exhibit for the reward, based upon the values and culture of the organization. This involves a clear understanding of the organization and learning what behaviors they want and reward. Performance-reward expectancy are the rewards a person expects to get at various levels of performance. Reward-cost balance is where the person determines if the rewards are worth the extra effort—a cost analysis approach.
Managerial decision-making determines what is best for the organization as a whole and not just one individual person. These decision-makers must acknowledge all possible alternatives and look at the long-term effects of such decisions. There are three uncontrollable events: certainty, risk and uncertainty. With certainty, it is known what the outcome will be with a particular decision. Risk means that there is a certain percentage assigned to one outcome verses another outcome occurring. And as the name implies, with uncertainty the possible outcomes are completely unknown. In the real world, managers make decisions using the principle of bounded rationality. Since the full implications of a decision can never truly be known, decisions are made when they meet a certain standard of “good enough” within the minds of the decision-makers.
Workplace Implications
Learning how to motivate the workforce is a challenge to every manager. Good managers learn how to motivate their employees and that leads to organizational success and profitability. Motivation is a powerful tool since people can be motivated to accomplish virtually anything. The challenge for managers is determining what motivates each person, which requires time and effort. But once this is known, managers can individually motivate each employee, ensuring the most productive staff. There is a delicate balance involved with motivation—it is an art. The rewards must be appropriate and fair to the entire workforce. One employee can not be rewarded with an iPad for completing a project before deadline while another person receives a candy bar. This is an extreme example, but illustrates the notion that there must be equality. Employees need motivation even to take a job. The organization must determine the level of reward they will give for those who work for them such as starting salary, health insurance, retirement fund, bonuses, hours. Employees will determine what rewards are enough to motivate them to be hired, perform and excel.
My Experience
I am motivated mostly by praise since I am such a people pleaser. In most of my jobs, I was either motivated because of the pay or because of the satisfaction I received from hearing I was doing a good job. When I expected to be praised by my employer and it did not happen, that was very discouraging and I was not as motivated at work. When I hear that I am doing well and getting good reviews, it motivates me to work harder and impress my employer more. This is definitely the easiest and cheapest method of motivating and would be ideal for managers to have only employees who just required some praise. However, other rewards can be very motivating. Besides recognition, money is a huge motivator.

Doin’ What Comes Natcherly
Summary
Motivated behaviors are those directed towards the achievement of a specific goal. This goal should strive to fulfill both the organization’s need as well as the individuals. Companies are most effective when their workforce has the same values as the organization. Management should strive to align the goals of both the organization and individual so that by achieving the organization’s goals, people will also achieve their personal goals. This can pose a challenge since implementation of this practice is difficult. Positive reinforcement builds the behavior desired by the company to reward the good behavior and encourage that it continues. Reward is associated with this positive reinforcement. Punishment is associated with the use of negative reinforcement. The punishment continues until the behavior has stopped. Motivation has two problems. First, management does not, will not, or cannot apply what they know. In most jobs, there is no link between goal-directed behavior and monetary incentives. Secondly, humans have unique capabilities that enable us to analyze the context for which the behaviors are rewarded. The motives of the reward giver or punishing agent are responded to rather than the incentive program. Another problem with management is that they reward one behavior in the belief they are also rewarding another behavior. It is important to be very specific as to which behavior is being rewarded.
Workplace Implications
Managers need to be very explicit when they motivate as to which exact behavior they are motivating and thus encouraging. Managers also have to be sure that the reward is motivating enough. Many times the reward will be intriguing, but is not worth the extra effort to accomplish the goal that is sought to be motivated to accomplish. The value of the reward offered needs to be equivalent to the benefit of accomplishing the goal. Both positive and negative reinforcement are needed within the work place and can be seen in every organization. Successful companies have determined what behaviors lead to profitability and therefore, those are the behaviors that will be motivated. Positive motivation is typically the most commonly used; however, negative reinforcement is sometimes needed for employees or a group of employees that are not accomplishing their task. Each technique has their place and is a powerful tool for managers to use.
My Experience
I’ve noticed that motivation also comes from within—a person’s natural drive to achieve more and not get lazy. And sometimes it is difficult to determine what exactly motivates a person. I’ve been in college classes were I was motivated to work hard in a particular class and then other classes where I was desperate to find some motivation to get something accomplished. In school, motivation comes from the requirement to meet deadlines. The reward is receiving a good grade and then having a high grade point average. The punishment is missing the deadline and receiving a bad grade. Finding motivation can be unique to the particular situation that motivation is needed for.

Fair Day’s Work
Summary
No one knows how to do a job better than the people that do it every day. Ted has a new education program, Procedures Improvement Program (PIP), that was aimed at learning how to work smarter than work harder. A fair’s day work is learning how to get the job done, without killing yourself trying to do it the way it is necessarily taught. Stanley goes to the packing department to see if this method was really true. Ginny Szekely, an experienced packer, was training a new employee. Ginny explains to the new employee how to hold and twist in order to pack easier. However, Ginny advised the new employee that when management, the Methods Engineer, comes around you do procedures his way. Ginny understood the concept of working smarter because she learned short-cuts to the job that allowed her to enjoy work, not get burned out and still produce the level of pieces required.
Workplace Implications:
This is how processes work on the floor. Despite an organization’s standards or policies on how to get work done, people that do the work every single day are going to find short-cuts in order to make the work more bearable and easier on themselves. It is human nature to look for ways to streamline work and lessen the work load so that it is more enjoyable. Very few people will stay in a position where they exhaust themselves in hard labor for eight hours, every day. It is realistic to expect the workforce to work smarter, not harder. Companies could even learn from the tactics used by these employees that find ways to make the work easier. Working smarter implies streamlining operations and learning what movements/tasks are required. This could be very useful information for managers to know in order to make the whole department more efficient. Working smarter is beneficial for an organization as well because it will lower employee turn over rates because they won’t be burning themselves out every day at work. Work should be enjoyable, so if a person is in a job with tedious, difficult labor, it would be very wise for them to find ways to make it easier on themselves, which they will definitely do. No one knows the operations of a department better than the people who work it every day. A fair days work is not always measured by the quantity of tasks completed, but by the quality of those tasks. Working at a pace that is tolerable and sustainable long-term will bring a higher quality and meaning to the work that is done, as compared to rushing all day, producing a low-quality product and being miserable as well.
My Experience:
The job I had in high school was essentially a grunt position where I would file, shred, do special assignments, mail out the company Christmas cards and so forth. I would be given boxes of papers that needed to be shred and when I was first hired and “trained” for the job, I was told that when shredding the papers, I should only put three papers into the machine at a time. Clearly, with all of the shredding they would give me to do, there was no way I could only put three papers into the shredder at a time—I would be there for ever! I learned that the shredder could handle a much bigger stack than just three pages. I was able to stick approximately ten pages into the shredder and was able to get the task done much faster.

Piano Player
Summary
Stanley hears his friend Ben yelling, “I won’t do it! I will not do it.” Jimmie, who works with Ben, is very upset because these stopwatch men were critiquing his work and telling him how he should be working and running the machines. The engineers were acting as though they knew how to do the job better than Jimmie. They were upset that the machines were not being used the way they had been designed for them to be run. Jimmie knew how to work the machines better than the engineers because it uses the machines every day! Jimmie even learned how to salvage hundred-dollar Expandrium castings; Jimmie learned how to work smarter, not harder. Ben understood Jimmie’s methods, and understood Jimmie’s frustrations in being criticized by the machines makers when he was the machines operator. Ben agreed that the line workers should do the work in the manner they want to, rather than the method the engineers wanted.
Workplace Implications
Companies will consistently implement procedures without consulting the advice of the workforce; they do not ask the employees ways their jobs could be improved or how to create a better working environment for them. This is a slippery line for managers to walk for them to direct employees on how to do a task which they have never done. Often times corporate employees do not know what the line workers do to keep the business operating. When changes are placed into the system, employees will get frustrated because the people that make these changes do not know how it will alter the entire work flow or create an extra burden for them. Even when changes are made that are in an effort of improving the processes, unless the actual process workers are consulted, there is no guarantee that a change made in good faith will truly be beneficial. In order for employees to embrace changes made in their work flow, they must understand how this change is beneficial to the work they are doing and the purpose behind this task. Understanding the why of a job is extremely important for efficient operations. Managers should seek to have a collaborative relationship with their workforce, which works to keep employees engaged, production high and costs down.
My Experience
Like with the shredding, I had to learn how to get the job done and not waste time following a procedure that was put into place to discourage people into putting a huge stack into the shredder. I had to learn how to speed up the process though, otherwise I would have no other time to get the filing done or the computer assignments completed. Most of the time, employers do not check on the methods of getting the work completed, they just want it to get done. My employer never came to watch me and see that I was only putting three pages in the shredder at a time. But what they were more impressed with was my ability to get multiple assignments done during only a few hours at work. And that was all that mattered.

Am I Invisible?
Summary
Lesley is an new and ambitious sales person who has had a very successful first year, landing the regions biggest Expandrium sale of the year. She thinks that she has done great. When it is time for her review from Kerry, she has high hopes that he will be exceedingly impressed and complimentary. However, when Kerry presents his review on Lesley he started mentioning the most minor issues such as how Lesley could have spent less on mileage, dining and hotel fare. He complained that Lesley could’ve saved money by staying on the outskirts of town rather than in the city. He questioned whether she was taking the shortest route on her trips since her mileage exceeded by 15%. He also suggested that she eat at less expensive restaurants. Lesley left the meeting feeling completely crushed because she thought she was doing well and expected to get a good review, but instead she got a terrible review. Lesley finds out from the other workers eventually that Kerry in fact really likes Lesley and thinks she is doing a great job; however, that opinion is never voiced to Lesley.
Workplace Implications
Managers need to make sure that they communicate their feelings regarding the work their employees are doing. Nothing is more frustrating than working hard at work and never receiving the recognition for that work. When employees go too long without that recognition, their productivity decreases, they no longer enjoy work and are no longer engaged in their contribution to the company. This can not only affect the individuals work but also have a negative effect on the whole atmosphere of the department. Managers can be quick to point out all of the negatives in an employees performance and never address what they did well. Focusing purely on all of the actions that they are doing wrong and how they could be better, it is also essential to recognize what they are doing that is great. Pointing out flaws can quickly discourage an employee rather than motivate them to improve. Kerry in this story, lacked the “human touch” to know how to communicate effectively with his employees and therefore utilize their talents to the fullest extent. Lesley was shocked to know that Kerry actually liked her! This is a frustrating position to be in for an employee because they need to know that their work matters and is being recognized. Managers need to be very conscientious in communicating to their employees how they are doing. Not only mentioning where there could be improvement, but also balancing out that negative with a positive, like all the things they are doing well. In the situation with Lesley, she would’ve left her review with a much better feeling if Kerry would’ve praised her on her accomplishments during the year and landing that large sale first, before he brought of the discrepancies in her mileage reports or suggesting she ate somewhere not as expensive. Then Lesley would’ve looked at those negatives as constructive improvement rather than pure criticism. It is all about how the situation is approached and not focusing purely on the negatives. People need to be appreciated and recognized for their work, no matter what. This ensures a healthy working environment and satisfied employees.
My Experience
I worked for a teacher in college that lacked that “human touch.” I worked long hours and would usually be the last one to leave the department yet I never received much recognition or praise from the work I was doing. It became frustrating because I just wanted him to notice and say something about how he appreciated my commitment to finishing the projects he assigned for that day, even if it was past the time I was scheduled to work. I would’ve much preferred working for someone that gave me the recognition I wanted to hear because that would’ve been motivation to continue that behavior and keep working so diligently.
Back to the Drawing Board
Summary
This story discusses the difference of dispersed responsibility and deferred responsibility. A prototype aircraft structure was overweight by fifteen tons and Ted was frustrated because there was no one person to blame since at each process of the total manufacturing, each department had passed a product that was overweight by a few pounds. However when all of the overweight parts were put together, the whole structure was a whopping 15 tons overweight! Yet no department wanted to take responsibility for their action. The workers at the mill were so use to doing things the way they had always been done that the suggestion of trying it out a new way wasn’t popular because there was no insurance that it would work and be a good product. Once the workers were told there was no guarantee using the new method, no one had interest in trying it out. Therefore, the employees stick to the old methods, even though the item may be a few pounds overweight.
Workplace Implications
Diffused responsibility is a philosophy that the old way works, so why change it? The new way may fail and that is a risk too great to take. The problem with diffused responsibility is that one big problem is created by numerous little problems from numerous people, so who is to blame? The fault can not be placed on any one single person or department . In deferred responsibility, by the time the problem is known, the person responsible for the problem may be gone or the item has moved on to a different department and there is no way to track back the issue to the person responsible. Deferred responsibility takes the outlook that “it’ll be someone else’s problem.” This can pose a real problem for managers in controlling quality and when a situation like this occurs, a product 15 tons overweight, managers have to figure out how they can establish some accountability and make sure this does not happen again. Some decisions are made in the spur of the moment, with a short-term focus, yet this is not necessarily good in the long-term. In a large organization, it can be difficult to find the person to hold responsible for a product that has been made poorly. It is typical for departments to shift the responsibility and blame on another department rather than coming together to solve the problem. People, by human nature, look to find a scapegoat to take the heat off of them. This not only creates tension and rivalry among departments, but it decreases the quality of the product, slows production time and generally creates problems throughout the whole manufacturing process.
My Experience
I have found myself guilty of exhibiting deferred responsibility in situations and not worrying about the problem because, soon it would not be my issue to take care of. When I graduated from college, I was working in the business department as like the departments secretary. There was still so many projects that needed to be completed: excel spreadsheets over test scores to start, organization of the binders, finishing other projects and so forth. My mindset at the end of the year right before graduation was just the excitement to be done with school and how I could not wait to leave. So most of those projects I never completed and did not really want to finish because my turn was down and it would be the secretary for next year’s problem to deal with, not mine. It’s easy to look for someone else to shift responsibility on when you no longer want it.

Rite of Passage
Summary
Stanley would walk 50 feet from his car to the front office door every day. When he noticed a back door to the office that would lead him straight to his car, he wanted to use it. Stanley was informed that he could not use that door. Only the men that were on “Mr. Franklyn’s list” could use that door, and Stanley was in fact, not on the list. This frustrated Stanley that such obvious favoritism was being shown to certain employees. Stanley continued to make that long walk to his car for months. Finally when it was time for Stanley’s review, Mr. Franklyn was impressed and realized how hard Stanley had been working. As Stanley was leaving the office, Mr. Franklyn told him that he was now on the list and could use the back door to leave work that day. Stanley felt honored and proud that he had made the list and became one of “Mr. Franklyn’s boys.”
Workplace Implications
In an organization, there are a lot of perks that long time employees are privy too that new employees are not. They have exhibited their loyalty to the organization and therefore can enjoy the benefits that come with such. This may include where they are allowed to park, length of lunch period, first dibs of requesting certain holidays off and so on. This can even be seen with employees that are close to their boss. Employees that are close to their boss or supervisor definitely have special privileges and are held to a lower work standard than other employees, especially other employees that the boss or supervisor does not like. It is very common to see workplace favoritism and there is usually not much that can be done about it. In the situation with Mr. Franklyn’s list, the list served a purpose of motivating employees to become one of “Mr. Franklyn’s boys.” In the situation with Stanley, it worked. Stanley was irritated when he first learned of the list and the segregation of certain employees. However, when Stanley made the list, he felt honored and proud. This created a sense of loyalty to Mr. Franklyn in Stanley because he was “in” with the boss and looked at in a different light than the other employees.
This can be a useful technique to use with employees in the right situation, but certainly in not all situations. Since it was Mr. Franklyn’s company, he had the ability to have such an obvious favorites list. Yet in other businesses, such favoritism could create resentment and even a backlash among other employees that are excluded, especially if it is a large organization. Favoritism can be seen within every department, but a sign of a good boss is showing complete fairness to all employees. Equality gains respect my the employees who will realize that the boss is fair and thus abide by any decisions made by that boss. Of course a little favoritism can be shown, but not as obvious as with Mr. Franklyn’s list. Such blatant favoritism is walking a fine line…
My Experience
I had a piano teacher in grade school that showed obvious favoritism to another student who I knew, who was my classmate and very good friend. Both of us had been playing the piano for years and were at the same level of skill. However, this teacher kept assigning me songs to play from this lower-level book. When it was time for another piano lesson after a week had passed, I would’ve memorized the song she had assigned and be able to play it perfectly. Clearly I needed more of a challenge in order to grow and become a better player. My friend on the other hand, was assigned songs in higher-level books and she began to progress faster than I did. After two years of this same situation, I finally switched piano teachers because the teacher was showing such bias in assigning songs to my friend, who had been a student with this teacher since she started playing whereas I had just joined. Seeing that favoritism though, definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Sunrise Service
Summary
Ben is in charge of a project to make sure that it is completed and done on time. Each department that is involved in the project keep blaming each other as to why they can not start and are falling behind pace. Ben could not get the departments to communicate and work with each other. He decided to schedule 6:30a.m. meetings every morning with all of the departments in order to get them working together. Everyone complained about the early mornings, but after a few weeks, the project was moving as scheduled, the departments were communicating and there was real progress. Ben decided that they did not need the early meetings anymore, as long as everyone kept on task and completed their portion of the project as scheduled.

Workplace Implications
This story illustrates the use of negative reinforcement as a way of motivating people to change a particular behavior. This type of motivation can be very effective as compared to the tradition since of motivation being a reward, something positive. Motivating with an incentive can be challenging since everyone is motivated by different things. Where one person is motivated to work harder with the incentive of a bonus, another person is motivated by leaving work early one day. Other forms of incentives include extra vacation days, food, office party or even a mere pat on the back. Yet, still others are not motivated by incentives. Negative reinforcement can sometimes be more powerful than positive reinforcement because people will always change to get rid of something they do not like. People will not always change or work harder in order to receive the reward. It either does not interest them or its not worth the extra energy to work harder. Thus, positive motivation can be a tricky issue. Negative reinforcement usually has more consistent outcomes.
It is also important for the manager to be aware of his behavior during this time of negative reinforcement. If a manager is imposing this requirement on his staff to be at 6:30a.m. meetings, it is essential for them to be there on time for the meetings and show their commitment. Employees will gain respect for the manager that does this and it also makes the negative reinforcement easier to swallow when everyone is in the same boat. If Mr. Franklyn did not go to the early morning meetings, the motivation technique definitely would not have been as effective or successful. It takes commitment of the whole team, manager and staff, to be dedicated to what it takes to get a project done, even if it is something rather undesirable.
My Experience
I had a manager once who could only motivate one of my co-workers by threats and negative reinforcement. I am the type of person who can be motivated by the praise of my employer. Because I am such a people pleasure, a simple pat on the back is very effective for me. Other people, like my co-worker, hear praise from their employer for doing a great job and then think that there is no need to give any effort because they are already doing well. People interpret things differently. Thus, my manager learned that the only way to keep this co-worker performing was to give playful threats like, “If you don’t get in there and clean the kitchen, you’ll get a shorter lunch period for the week!” Now of course these threats were more playful than serious, but my manager always spoke to this co-worker in the fashion that he was going to get punished if he did not do his job. I think the particular motivation technique used on employees should be tailored to each specific person. Once a manager gets to know the personality of their employees, they will be able to determine which method, positive or negative reinforcement, will be most effective.

Who Could Have Known?
Summary
Kerry is telling Pat how he was “once a millionaire—several times over.” Kerry explains how he started a business of producing certain prototypes and how the company ran into significant financial problems. Kerry was unaware of the significant process flaws that were occurring that was losing the company money. When Kerry did find out, he decided that he was going to give his field managers some added motivation to not continue to lose money. Kerry called all of the field managers together and told them that “the next man who reports a loss from the field doesn’t have to bother coming back for his paycheck, because it’s his last. . . Produce or else!” At first, there were no reported losses. Everything looked fine until hidden expenses showed up and staff was losing 15 percent on each job. Before Kerry knew it, his 2 million dollar company was worthless.
Workplace Implications
Feedback is vital and at the center of effective operations and company success. Kerry’s error was threatening to fire his employees if they told him bad news. This did not mean that there was no longer bad news, the employees just did not disclose that information to Kerry in fear of losing their job. Kerry exhibited a “kill the messenger” type of management style, which is extremely debilitating to an organization or team trying to communicate together. Feedback, whether good or bad, needs to be open and constant between team members, both management and the staff. Feedback is so crucial because it exposes the weaknesses that management is not usually privy to. It is the people in the factories, on the floors, making the sales calls that know what is working and what is not. They are the only ones that can notify management on what needs to be fixed or foreseeable problems. Kerry would have indeed been a millionaire if he would have had open communication and collaboration with his employees. And no matter what the feedback is, good or bad, that he would be able to handle it and make the company stronger for it.
It is wise of managers to establish a close relationship with an employee where that employee is comfortable communicating openly with them regarding any issues occurring in the department. Managers stay one step ahead when they have allies within their workforce that will notify them of issues to be dealt with before they get bigger and more people are involved. Managers of a department are usually one of the last to be informed of any problems, since most people are fearful of what will happen to them if management knows the problem. But when a manager has employees that keep them informed and up-to-date, managers can lead better and more effectively and be proactive in solving issues within the department or organization.
People like to report only the good things that are happening, especially to a boss. No one is going to tell the employer all of their short-comings and everything they did wrong. Employees want to share only pleasant information. Yet in order to be a good leader, there needs to be knowledge of the good and the bad. There is no way to get better if there is no indication anything is wrong. According to Kerry, he thought the company was performing and reaching financial stability based on the assumption that his employees were not telling him anything negative, therefore everything must be positive when in fact, that was not the case at all. Managers need to be careful the impression they send to their employees when they do not have good news to share. Bad news is merely opportunities for improvements and that is how managers should look at them: as areas of opportunity, not failure. With insider employees being the “eyes and ears” for management and just feeling comfortable to walk into their office and inform them of issues, managers are setting the foundation for success.
My Experience
A spent some time following a director who explained this philosophy of having employees comfortable to share information with him. Since he is typically in meetings, making phone calls, answering e-mails and so on, he does not have the inside knowledge of how his employees are operating. He has established good relationships with a few of his employees who will now come into his office and tell him if there was an issue that day, problems with an employee, or a defect in the flow of their operations. Thus, this director finds out about a problem before any one else and then can make the decision on how to deal with it. Proactively handing problems in this manner is more efficient than doing damage control after an issue has blown up.

Made to Measure
Summary
Kerry is frustrated because he is bogged down with all of these new programs designed to measure results of his employees. Kerry had so many reports to do that he lost the time to actually spend with his employees. In report, “Subordinate Readiness and Intermediate Milestone Program,” Kerry had no way to measure his employees readiness when he was no able to observe their behavior and progress on a consistent basis. Kerry had forty-two reports to complete in a one month period, limiting the amount of time he could spend with his employees. He felt that his first hand knowledge of how the business and his subordinates were performing was compromised.
Workplace Implications
In this changing business world, it is not enough to just do a good job. That good job must be measured and determined how to become an amazing job. Measuring success and a commitment to continuously improve are the focus of businesses today. While this is a great focus, sometimes it can have a negative effect. It is very common in the business world to see the leaders of an organization become so disengaged and removed from their departments. Managers can lose sight of what is actually happening on the units because they are always busy in meetings or making reports. Programs to improve sales management and effectiveness can do just the opposite. Most of the time, these reports are filled in with “estimates” and not actual data. They become more of a burden to the workforce that has to complete them. There purpose is not explained to the workforce either, who then sees no value in adding “another thing to do.” While these reports are designed to measure performance, rarely are they an accurate account of performance.
Before a new report is implemented, there must be an analysis as to the value added by this extra activity. The problem occurs in the design of the reports. The people who design the report are not usually the people that have to complete the report. The people that complete the report might be looking for a way to impress their superiors and move up the company faster by designing a program to measure company success. While this may sound great to management, the actual use of these reports are slim. They become an extra hassle to the workforce who answers them generically and as fast as possible to just get the report completed; therefore, their results are invalid. A clear understanding of how a particular report will be of use and add value to the organization’s purpose is essential for the proper implementation and analysis of these reports.
My Experience
At the hospital, I have seen all of the reports nurses are required to complete. These reports are designed to ensure patient safety; however, sometimes there is little actual value in these reports. Nurses main complaint is the continuous addition of new job requirements and things they must do. There is always additions without the removal of responsibilities; continuous job enlargement. While some of these added responsibilities go with the changing nature of healthcare, others are rather pointless. The addition of reports and ways to measure success are only felt in the field by the workforce. New reports for nurses to complete should only be those that add value. Also, the purpose of such reports must be clearly understood by the nurses in order for them to make it a priority to complete the reports and follow them correctly.

Spend It…Burn it
Summary
Ben and Kerry receive an order to build a product using a particular method that is more expensive than the method Ben and Kerry typically do. They do not understand why they should do the manufacturing as requested when it is so much more expensive and unnecessary. Dr. Faust sheds some light on the situation for Ben and Kerry and explains to them why so much money needed to be spent. Some the organization received a specified lump sum of money every year by the government, if they do not use all of that money by the end of the year, it will be assumed that they do not need that extra money and thus, they would lose a portion of the funding. If the organization did not overspend in the current year, they would not receive enough money for their budget the next year.
Workplace Implications
In order for the organization to grow in this story, it needed to overspend. Overspending shows that more funds are required to get the product manufactured, the service rendered, etc. However, as in this illustration, company leaders will assume that this amount of money is essential for that department to have in their budge because it was all used, when in fact that much money is not required. Managers must be aware of what is exactly done with the budgeted money in order to ensure that the funds are appropriately being used and not wasted, as in this story, in order to give the perception that the department is growing. That money could be used for another need within the organization and while funds never like to be taken away, they do need to be properly distributed to various departments according to their need level. It is managements job to be aware of this and where money is being essentially wasted.
My Experience
I have not been in any organization where overspending was an issue and they needed to use up extra money. I am sure it would be a nice feeling! At the hospital, most departments use up their budget every year and ask for a budget increase every year. The departments know that if they do have any extra money left over at the end of the year, that money will be taken and transferred to another department and then their budget will be decreased for the next year. Thus, in order to receive more money, or even to keep the allotted funds they currently receive, department leaders know that their funds must be completely exhausted by the time budget season rolls around again. It is all about managing perceptions.