Section 4

Blythe Reichert

Nancy’s Creamery part 4

     People are an integral part of any business. They are often viewed as a company’s most valuable resource. Employees are expensive to train and a high turnover rate in a company would indicate low employee morale and satisfaction. Businesses’ can use a variety of ways to attract and keep qualified employees.  These may include a competitive wage, benefit package, and stock options. Employee motivation is a huge component in an employee’s success and work ethic.

Studies have shown that when an employees pay is directly linked to work performance then output and productivity increases. Money is not the only motivating factor. Extrinsic rewards like money are important, of course, but for long-term employee retention a job also needs to be intrinsically rewarding. Other extrinsic rewards are praise and recognition. Intrinsic rewards are personally satisfying and cause a raise in self-esteem and enjoyment of the workplace. 

    

There are many theories of employee motivation. Psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed that people have five basic needs that have to be satisfied in hierarchal order. These needs are physiological, security, social, esteem and self-actualization.         

     Another psychologist, Fredrick Herzberg had a different theory on motivation. His theory proposed that employee needs can be broken into two categories. These are hygiene factors and motivational factors. Hygiene factors relate to the work environment, and include a living wage; safe and comfortable work conditions, fair and equitable policies and job security. Motivational factors include intrinsic rewards for the work itself, achievements, recognition, delineation of responsibility, involvement in decision making and advancement within the company.

    

     Douglas McGregor proposed a theory relating to Maslow’s personal need theory for management principles. It is called theory X and Y. These are essentially opposing theories with the premise of X being that people are lazy and must be cajoled into working. Y theory states that work is as natural as play and that people enjoy working and just need direction. Personally I think they are both extreme and neither is wholly correct. Theory Z, which is a middle road between the two, is a modified blend of X and Y and seems to be like an ideal management style to me. This is the management style employed by Springfield Creamery. Theory Z is a management style, which promotes employee participation. It is modeled after Japan’s business model.

     Businesses have to occasionally discipline employees, but Springfield Creamery reported that they have not had any substantial issue in the area. This could be due to their policy of predominantly hiring people known to management, or other employees. This seems to foster a feeling of family and community within the company. All of the hiring is handled by the owners and uses principles similar to Maslow’s. Springfield Creamery offers a very competitive wage, generous benefit package and screens applicants to figure out if they will be a good fit socially in the company.

     Springfield creamery does not employ job rotation or job enlargement principles. This means that the jobs are specialized. They have a traditional work schedule and are flexible with scheduling and work to accommodate employee’s needs. Springfield Creamery recruits both internally and externally, through networking with business contacts and present employees, as well as accepting resumes.

     During the process of selecting new employees a variety of criteria are evaluated. These criteria are dependent upon the vacancy being filled. Some of the criteria they look at are work ethic, experience, references, and a fit socially for the company. References are checked and scrutinized during the application and interview process.

     Springfield Creamery currently employs fifty-five people. Twenty percent of these have been at the company for over twenty-five years. This is a great example of employee satisfaction and retention.

     They do not have a specific assessment procedure which they shared with us. They also did not reply to the question inquiring about a diversity requirement, which I think could be a weak point in the business. It has been demonstrated that through bringing in employees with different socio economic and cultural backgrounds companies can broaden their knowledge pool and it can also be beneficial economically.