Top Marks For The Best Employee Awards Management Essay

Top Marks For The Best Employee Awards Management Essay Nowadays an increasing number of organizations employ Best Employee Awards as a means to motivate their employees, and managers believe that best employee awards could encourage employees to reach their goals or accomplish their tasks in an efficient manner. In fact, as the saying every coin has two sides goes, top marks for the best employee awards has its own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore it is crucial for managers to make full use of the benefits of this kind of motivation while avoiding its negatives. This essay is separated into three parts. The first part shows the structure of the essay while the second part focuses on analyzing the benefits and problems of top marks for the best employee awards. At the same time, views from relevant literature and the examples from the case are used to support the points of the essay. The conclusion of this essay can be found in the last part where several useful suggestions are given for operation of organizations. 2. Analyses and Discussion 2. 1 The scheme of Top Marks for the best employee awards and the motivations of using it The Top Marks for the Best Employee Awards is a method of staff motivation and an annual performance evaluation method. It gives managers a chance to recognize the employees who produce the best-qualify work during month or year of evaluation. Usually organizations will evaluate the best employees according to their performances and then award them with bonus, trips, promotion and so on (Murray, 1982). The purpose is to encourage desirable behaviors by spotlighting role models, so that every employee could set a goal to be the best employee. Consequently, organizations could obtain augmentation in productivity and profitability by rewarding and keeping their top performances. 2.2 Advantages of using Best Employee Awards as staff motivators Different organizations set up different awards; however, these various methods will lead to different effects and results of staff motivation. Hence it is really important for organizations to make right use of staff motivators such as best employee awards. According to the literature reviewed and the case, the advantages of using this scheme are summarized as follows: First of all, best employee awards can generate fierce competition between individuals or teams of employees within an organization. While only a few employees could receive awards based on their individual performance, all the other employees usually would regard those awards owners as role models to inspire themselves and to work harder. (Lloyd, 2009). Needless to say, it is a strong staff motivator. As the case mentioned, Mr. Devine takes the best employee awards as a part of an overall strategy to identify who top performers are so that all the employees try their best to improve their performances. Without the competition, the organization will decrease its productivity and profitability. Secondly, intelligently designed incentives can be a boon to companies that seek to retain excellent employees for the long term. Lucrative awards, whether these are in the form of stock or bonuses, make it worthwhile for employees to stay at their firm, even if a salary offer from a competitor is more attractive (Grote, 2005). Incentives can also make employees feel as if their hard work is appreciated and recognized, thus reflecting well on their managers and the company as a whole. Those persons receiving the awards in the organization will become more loyal and respect the value of the organization. As a result, they will put all their energy into work to contribute the organization. Thirdly, by using positive reinforcement to motivate employees, a manager may build a good relationship with his employee, which fosters a sense of trust (Lindner, 1998). In a good manager-subordinate relationship, employees may feel respected and comfortable in their working environment. Providing rewards, both tangible and in the form of praise, can make employees happier. Happier employees often perform better at work. Just as the example of the case mentioned, Stephen Carella was a team leader at Kwik-Fit Financial Services and he set the best employee awards as a goal at the start of the year. He said the best employee awards was a great incentive and motivated him to do his best at work. According to him, when he was rewarded the great cash prize, it was the best moment of his life. Such rewards could make employees more royal to their organizations and they may regard the organizations as their homes, which, in turn, will benefit the organizations. 2.3 Disadvantages of using Best Employee Awards as staff motivators Although there are so many advantages of Best Employee Awards, we should see the other side of it, the disadvantages of it can be concluded as follows: First of all, employee resentment will be a serious problem in the organization. Because best employee awards can only be awarded to few persons, then some employees who think they work harder than award winners will feel unfair (Kerslake, 2002). In other words, in a perfect scenario, where the employees who work the hardest always reap the most rewards, incentives pose little problem. But no companies operate in an ideal world and thus incentives can breed resentment and discord among teams and employees. So like the example in the case mentioned: its very important that staff believe you have chosen the right person; its vital for the credibility of the scheme. It would be a disaster if the prize is awarded to the wrong people. At the same time, Best Employee Awards will lead to poor teamwork because individual incentive schemes by definition encourage individual rather than team effort (Clemmer, (2004). Some employee will focuses on their personal performance but pay less attentio n to the cooperation of team as well as the whole companys interest. Moreover, while its easy to quantify a salesmans performance, it is harder to quantify a staff writers contribution to the department, even if the writer is adding just as much value to the company. That can cause those under an incentive scheme to feel unappreciated as well as lead to the case of the recipients of unfair treatment. Therefore, using negative enforcement as a form of motivation could cause employees to become dissatisfied with their jobs. Unhappy workers typically produce less quality work, become sluggish or fail entirely to meet deadlines (Podmoroff, 2005). So how to make appropriate rewards troubles all the managers. Good rewards could encourage employees but inappropriate rewards may not. In the case, the salesman was awarded Best Employee but felt embarrassment because of the poor prize. As a result, the most excellent employee left the company. Thirdly, even though the organization executes the ideal scheme of rewards, for the best employee, applying too much motivation or offering too many rewards can also have a negative effect. Employees can become over-confident and they may feel that they are the bosses favorite workers, even if they start to slack off on their projects or test the limits of their working relationship with their supervisors (Messmer, 2001). Best Employee Awards may create reluctance to exert  the  expected level  of  effort: workers may believe that management will progressively increase  the  performance targets required to trigger  the  same bonus payment (Smith, 2004). They may therefore be reluctant to carry on at  the  incentives level  of  performance they have achieved, on  the  grounds that this will only result in higher targets that will make  the  bonus more difficult to obtain. 2.4 Recommendations The analysis of Best Employee Awards will help us to make full use of the staff motivation. As to how to deliver powerful praise and rewards in the organization rightly, there are three primary factors that determine  the  effectiveness of Best Employee Awards. The first one is right time.  Managers should deliver praise and awards at the right time, letting employees feel proud about the awards rather than feel ashamed. If award winners feel ashamed, then such awards would go the opposite way just as the two examples in the case. The second recommendation is right person. Managers are supposed to choose the most excellent employees to award (Bruce, 1998). Then, the right persons will be role models of the organization. If not, other employers will be unsatisfied with the awards so that the staff motivation would fail. The organization should give the prize which is what the employees really want. That way the employees will feel that they are valued by the company and will get motivated. The third one is right praise.  We all know that how you say something is as important as what you say.  The  same principle applies in staff motivation. Praising with energy and enthusiasm is more powerful than being stoical about it. In other words, managers should use high praise to reinforce staff motivation. For example, the general praise such as Good job! contributes very little to its effectiveness. The  more enthusiastically supervisors deliver their praise,  the  more impact it has. Regardless of the level of enthusiasm, it is critical that supervisors deliver  the  feedback sincerely. Managers should never leave their  employees  with the  possible notion that the praise is not sincere. 3. Conclusion This essay discusses the positives and negatives of Best Employee Awards, which is a popular method employed by managers to motivate their staff. It first outlines the basic scheme of Top Marks for the best employee awards and then look at the advantages of using Best Employee Awards as staff motivators in three ways. What Follows is the coins of such means of motivation. Finally three practical recommendations are given to avoid those possible drawbacks of using Best Employee Awards.

Human Instincts

Psychology Unit 1 Paper Human Instincts There are many arguments about whether human beings have instincts and not just responsive reflexes. I believe human beings all have natural born instincts. The definition of instincts tell us that they are unlearned and involuntary, which we all experience as humans. When animals are born they have certain instincts, just like humans. Instincts are in unlearned â€Å"fixed action patterns† or reactions to certain kinds of stimulis. Whether a particular behavior pattern is learned it is not always easy to determine because some behaviors can be changed by personal experiences.Any behavior is instinctive if it is performed without any prior knowledge, also known as a innate biological factor. You were born with instincts that are there to help you survive. Instincts are behavioral patters that do not seem to be learned , they occur in almost finished form the first time they are triggered. There is a complex relationship between instinct, habit and reason Theories involving these concepts typically have many implications, from the causes of human action to the nature of social order. The terms instinct and habit both have unfortunate intellectual baggage.Nevertheless, for convenience I retain the word instinct as a tag for biologically inherited dispositions. Habit refers to learned dispositions. Instincts are inherited through genes, and habits through culture and institutions Instincts are argued by some to be reflexes. â€Å"A instinct should distinguished from a reflex which is a simple response of an organism to specific stimulus, such as the contraction of the pupil in response to a bright light or the spasmodic movement of the lower leg when the knee is tapped.Instincts, in contrast, are inborn complex patterns of behavior that must exist in every member of the species and that cannot be overcome by force of will. However, the absence of volitional capacity must not be confused with an inability to modify fi xed action patterns. For example, people may be able to modify a stimulated fixed action pattern by consciously recognizing the point of its activation and simply stop doing it, whereas animals without a sufficiently strong volitional capacity may not be able to disengage from their fixed action patterns, once activated. † (http://www. trans4mind. om/) Some people deny their instincts. Although we can repress our natural drives, these drives express themselves sooner or later. However, instinct serves a purpose on a basic level, instinct helps to assure our biological survival for surviving and maintain life. † It is a permanent part of the repertoire of tools which allows us to respond to the many types of stimuli and challenges which we encounter all of which spur us to become even more conscious and responsive. †(www. trans4mind. com/) Some common cited example of instincts in humans are the materal instinct and the survivial instinct.These examples do not agree to the scientific definition of instinct. Many females don’t desire children.. Males tend to contradict their own survival through suicide. The role of instincts in determining the behavior of animals varies from species to species. The more complex the neural system of an animal, the greater is the role of the cerebral cortex, and social learning, and instincts play a lesser role. Babies have a variety of instincts because they do many of the same patterns , such as sucking their thumb which wasn’t taught. Human beings have three types of instincts; survival, procreation, and worship. Instincts, such as the instinct of survival, manifest itself as an ensemble of organic and vital needs and drives. These needs and drives are not instincts but aspects that emanate from the instincts. †The need to defend oneself from harms way is a example of survival. Other examples include having fear, courage, and hope. â€Å"Sexual desires can be satisfied through sexual inte rcourse — sexual intercourse can ultimately lead to the birth of a new child, continuing the existence of humanity by means of procreation. The love for one’s spouse is another aspect of the instinct of procreation.The tendency of a parent to love and even risk his or her life in order to protect the child is an example of caring for someone who came about as a result of the act of procreation; accordingly, this love is reciprocated by the child to the parent as well to one’s relatives, such as in the kindness to family. †( dsc. discovery. com/)The most difficult part about understanding  human  instinct is that  human  brains are complex and may sometimes override instinct or over express it. People seem less tied to instinctual behavior than other animals. I Believe that humans definitely have instincts.I also believe that human do have certain reflexes and habits as well. Certain times of your life you can be put in a position where you are aske d to defend your life, and our instincts will kick in. We would be over protective and scared, but those are just instincts to stay alive. There has always been that one time where you had a feeling you shouldn’t be around that certain group of kids at that point of time just because you knew something bad would happen, and you get that instinct of fear, so you choose to leave that situation and get out.Human instincts are unlearned, involuntary, a punch of complex fixed action patterns, they are activated by stimuli, and is presented in every member of the species. Works Cited: http://www. trans4mind. com/jamesharveystout/instinct. htm#Instinct causes, by definition, an unconscious act. http://dsc. discovery. com/adventure/6-types-of-natural-instincts. html http://brothermahdi. tripod. com/threeinstincts. html

Class Actinopterygii Facts and Examples

The group of ray-finned fishes (Class Actinopterygii) encompasses over 20,000 species of fish that have rays, or spines, in their fins. This separates them from the lobe-finned fishes (Class Sarcopterygii, e.g., the lungfish and coelacanth), which have fleshy fins. Ray-finned fishes make up about half of all known vertebrate species. This group of fish is very diverse, so species come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. The ray-finned fishes include some of the most well-known fish, including tuna, cod, lionfish, and even seahorses. Classification Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass: Actinopterygii Feeding Ray-finned fishes have a wide variety of feeding strategies. One interesting technique is that of the anglerfish, which entice their prey toward them using a movable (sometimes light-emitting) spine that is above the fishs eyes. Some fish, such as the bluefin tuna, are excellent predators, speedily capturing their prey as they swim through the water. Habitat and Distribution Ray-finned fishes live in a wide variety of habitats, including the deep sea, tropical reefs, polar regions, lakes, rivers, ponds and desert springs. Reproduction Ray-finned fishes may lay eggs or bear live young, depending on the species. African cichlids actually keep their eggs and protect the young in their mouth. Some, like seahorses, have elaborate courtship rituals. Conservation and Human Uses Ray-finned fishes have long been sought for human consumption, with some species considered overfished. In addition to commercial fishing, many species are recreationally fished. They are also used in aquariums. Threats to ray-finned fishes include overexploitation, habitat destruction, and pollution.

Leon Trotsky aka Lev Davidovich - 840 Words

Leon Trotsky also known as Lev Davidovich Bronstein was born on November 7, 1879. He was born in Yanovka which is now known as Ukraine. When Trotsky was about eight years old his parents sent him to Odessa school, which is a major cultural center of multi-ethnic population. When he started his last year of schooling, which was when his life as a revolutionary began to take shape. It was in Nikolayev at the age of 17; Trotsky started to skip school and was going to talk with political exiles and also began reading pamphlets and books to get more acquainted with Marxism. Getting to know the subject more, he began to get more ideas in his head about the revolution and so it didn’t take long for to start planning something so he saw that something wasn’t right with the workers’ union, and then saw that no one was doing anything about it. So in 1897, Trotsky decided to help found the South Russian Workers’ Union and for his activities with this particular union he was arrested in January 1898, that’s when he joined the Social Democrat ic party. Leon Trotsky had to serve two years in prison but after those two years he was trailed and exiled to Siberia. At a transfer prison Trotsky met Alexandra Lvovna, also a co-revolutionary who had also been sentenced to four years in prison; they got married and then had two daughters while they were in prison. After serving only two years of his four years in prison, Trotsky escaped and was smuggled out of town and was given a forged, blankShow MoreRelatedLeon Trotsky1373 Words   |  6 Pagesthe impact that Leon Trotsky had on national and international history. Lev Davidovich Bronstein was a major political figure in the turn of the twentieth century for the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialists Republics) aka Russia. Bronstein’s impact was greater with national history than international history. He was born on November 7, 1879, Ukraine (Yanovka) and later changed his name to Leon Trotsky, the name of his prison guard at Odessa prison whilst in exile in Siberia. Trotsky was introduced