The Initiative
The general response when people are told about a new venture, only 10pc come up with capital to invest as risk is involved in a new enterprise.
As investors join hands to launch a startup, a point to be noted is that there is an equal chance for them to succeed or fail.
Chalking out the plan
First things first, there needs to be a plan in place. After the team has come together, the mission and vision have to be written down very clearly. Roles need to be defined. Requirements like logistics, inventory, resources, raw materials need to be notified and fulfilled.
There might be some data about the past performance which helps in setting targets. Here in the Tower exercise, the conditions were that a person will be blindfolded and he will have to create a tower of cubes by only his odd hand and 2 other members of the team can only guide him by telling directions but cannot help in any other way. It was also told that previously a tower of 17 cubes had been created in a similar fashion.
In this way it was an analogy of a startup coming in shape with a team with some capital in hand and also risk factor.
SMARTER Goals
Firstly skill mapping should be done to identify who would be the best candidate to perform a task. After selection of the candidate, he should set a goal for himself that is in agreement with SMARTER goals.
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time bound
Evaluative
Re-evaluative
What they mean has already been defined and discussed well in the lecture and Dr Prasad's blog link : Dr Prasad's blog on POM
A point that can be added here, goals should not be so low that they diminish productivity and are not compliant with the employee's ability and skill and on the other hand, they should not be so high that they are not realistic anymore and appear to be demotivating. The middle management should make sure that competent goals are set keeping in mind the past performance, average standards. This is done in all companies at the start of the appraisal cycle where we are supposed to do the goal setting for the next cycle in conformance with our skill, experience, past performance and project requirements.
The management should also ensure that the work conditions are ambient for the employee to give his maximum output. For eg, when people are working in odd shifts, they are provided with adequate arrangements for food, conveyance like cab services, maybe some relaxations along with some extra allowance for odd shift.
In Production: Interaction amongst the top brass, mid-level management and employees
As the production/work starts, the top managemnt defines a strategy and assumes a role where it exercises control over day to day operations at an arm's distance i.e. overseeing it but not regularly interfering in them. Their work is to interject at crucial points in the process. Their invlovment can be in the form of direct communication, media/market interaction, consulting with experts, govt, or industry as per the situation. They should not be doing the micromanagement as their prime duty is to decide on higher level questions and strategies of the business.
The middle management is entrusted with this important job of constantly monitoring the employee, progress and motivating them to achieve the goals. Its their duty to keep a track of the performance and make sure that the estimates are met. Alongwith that, they also have to ensure that the employee satisfaction and motivation levels stay high and do not deteriorate as the work pressure peaks.
Management Practices
There can be two approaches for getting work done from employees.
They come under 'carrots and sticks' policy. A management can follow any of them or a combination. What it basically means it either employees can be assumed to work out of motivations of greater responsibility, rewards, appreciation& respect ie Carrots.
OR
It can be assumed that as nobody by nature wants to work or take responsibility so some kind of threat or force need to used to get the work done, in other words, Sticks.
It depends on the employee rather than the management that which approach should be applied.
End Result (or a Continuing Process?)
As checkpoints are covered gradually, the estimates might need to be revised in accordance with the progress made. Upward revision indicates that the management has been successful in making the employees reach the best of their potential. This is an achievement and source of professional satisfaction for both the employees and the managers. Managers therefore always expect the employees to surpass their goals, they are aware of the Pygmalion effect, so they try to motivate employees with rewards, appreciation, recognition, which in turn instills the desire in the employees for excelling beyond their set goals. This was demonstrated in the class when the last couple of blocks were being placed over the stack in Tower building game.
 |
| Upward revision of goals |
Downward revision means faulty management practices and are a symptom of a gap b/w the organisation and the employees.
This was my learning from the lectures conducted by Mandi Sir during last week. It was an opportunity to learn by doing, while doing and by observation about the nitigrities of business and management.
