David Hastings's Online Journal: Some post spring-break motivation advice

Some post spring-break motivation advice

I took a gander at an article on entrepeneur.com, and here is the link:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,320810,00.html

I found this article interesting as it lays out nine principles to keep employees motivated. Things like making sure employees have the necessary resources and not holding onto negative opinions, clear communication of goals and vision, really getting to know employees, training and retraining, paying attention to symbols/stories, being aware of how you are perceived as a manager, giving meaningful rewards and consistency in the long run are all crucial elements.
Meaningful rewards have been discussed on this blog before (http://blog.case.edu/hastings/mt-tb.cgi/5909)
and I totally agree with that. I also like how this guideline takes into view the symbolic view of organizations we talked about in class, noting how important the effects of stories and myths are. I think the most difficult part for many managers when it comes to this way of motivation is the humility involved in asking others for personal feedback.

I think that a great number of managers would either refuse to seriously consider or be too offended at the feedback for it to be useful. Also, this may not be appropriate for certain organizational cultures. In some places, the boss is always right, and fear is probably the strongest motivator in that environment. I would not want to work there. I think that organizations that want open relationships between employees and managers need to train managers to deal with this kind of feedback, or else motivation will not take place and things will probably get worse.