More Quality from Work?

Question 1. What use, if any, could the above ideas be in helping to solve the problem?

Discussion: The above ideas can be helpful in many ways in the problem at hand. Increasing the wages can act as a motivator when it comes to the psychology of the work force. In the above example restatement 5 was taken to be the basis for idea generation. Bigley and Steers (2003) conducted a research to find motivational factors that affect the work behavior of the workforce. Their results suggested that self-efficacy was a high contributor to the better understanding of all the tasks of the job. Self-efficacy is a result of a high level of motivation. This motivation must be produced in the employees to let them take real interest in the job and perform their activities efficiently. It is also important to vary job routines. Humans get bored quickly due to repetitive activities and they should be enabled in working environment to perform different tasks interchangeably.

Question 2. Can you build on the ideas produced in any way so as to improve them?

Discussion: I believe that the ideas produced in the case study have room for further improvement. Building on other ideas is one of the basic principle of the brainstorming process (Proctor, 1999, p. 121). We could, for example, build on the idea of providing on job training. This technique is one of the fundamental part of total quality management. When you invest in humans by spending on their trainings, they become more loyal to the organizational goals and work more efficiently. Latest techniques are learned as a result of these trainings. These techniques can lead to better productivity. We could further explore the idea of giving the workers more responsibility. Expecting responsible behavior in itself is a great motivator. This would result in an increased feeling of trust in the mind on the employee. They would try their best to be beneficial for the organization and live up to the expectations.

Question 3. Try using some of the other problem restatements to produce insights into the problem.

Discussion: we could further explore the reward good performance restatement. Rewarding would result in an increase in the motivation level of the employee being rewarded. He/she would strive to do more to get the reward again. Other employees can be motivated with this strategy.  On the other hand there is a possibility that those who do not get the reward might get a feeling of uselessness. They might be de-motivated. There are possibilities that favoritism is at work in an organization and the right people are not rewarded. This also could cause conflicts.

Let us take restatement 9, get hold of improved machinery. By further exploring this restatement, we arrive at questions like who will operate the new machinery. Do we need to train our workers to learn to use it? Or do we have the necessary people to operate the machinery? These are the Questions we would need to ask ourselves while further brainstorming this restatement.

References

Bigley, G. A., & Steers, R. M. (2003). Motivation and work behavior.

Proctor, T. (1999). Creative problem solving for managers (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.