When it comes to organizational success, having a happy and engaged workforce is just as important as developing excellent products. Therefore, it is crucial that the people responsible for bringing your products to life feel like valuable members of the organizations. This is especially important for companies in manufacturing, retail, warehousing, and other industries that rely on sizeable blue-collar personnel to operate.
This is best exemplified by a Study conducted by Sirota-Mercer, Conference Board, ROI, Consulting LLP, and The Culture Works. The purpose of the study was to assess how much engagement affects an organization’s bottom line. From the findings, it was determined that companies in the US lose approximately $ 550 billion annually due to disengaged employees.
Unfortunately, many organizations are unable to capitalize on the opportunities available because of disengaged employees. This boils down to the management and supervisory practices an organization uses. A common trend among companies that struggle with employee productivity is the use of traditional punitive structures and approaches to workplace management.
This is why it is essential to adopt modern approaches to workforce management and supervision as they have been observed to boost productivity and morale. In this article, you will learn how punitive management systems affect employee performance as well as the benefits of adopting new techniques.
EFFECTS OF CLOSE AND PUNITIVE STYLES SUPERVISION
In recent years, due to the evolving nature of the business landscape, the most significant catalysts for organizational growth have been creativity and innovation coupled with agility. Companies that find new or simpler ways of doing things or those that are quick to adopt new innovations significantly outgrow their competitors.
However, this is next to impossible for a company to achieve while relying on punitive styles of supervision. An experiment was conducted to test how different management styles affect the workforce. In the experiment, close and general management were compared, whereas the effects of punitive approaches were compared to those of non-punitive methods.
With close supervision, employees developed aggressive feelings towards their supervisors, which was acted upon through lowered productivity. Close supervision also elicited negative feelings towards co-workers, thus affecting collaboration.
When it comes to punitive approaches, there is also an increased level of aggression towards supervisors but not co-workers. However, production levels are still below par. Close and punitive methods of supervision are counterproductive. They lower employee self-esteem, build animosity within the workplace and lead to reduced output.
HOW GAMIFICATION IN MANAGEMENT CAN BOOST PRODUCTIVITY AND MORALE
Due to skills gaps and the highly competitive nature of doing business, it is crucial for companies to keep hold of their employees. Also, employees today look for more than just a paycheck from their organization. They want to be in a company where they feel valued and part of the team.
As such, employee engagement has become a key factor in performance and employee retention. Though over 70% of executives indicate that employee engagement is crucial for their organization’s success, achieving it has been the main challenge.
However, by taking a look at how modern companies are able to maintain high levels of employee engagement, gamification comes up as a suitable solution.
WHAT IS GAMIFICATION?
Traditionally, the idea of a workplace or office set up is accompanied by the thought of seriousness and people busy doing their daily tasks. Whereas focus is essential at work, it does not necessarily mean the workplace has to be dull, or there’s no room for some entertainment. Gamification is a method of motivating and increasing employee engagement by incorporating games in their projects.
By making games and competitions out of your projects as well as adding some incentives, your team will be more willing to complete projects and will do so at their level best in the shortest time possible. This, in turn, will significantly boost your production capacity.
The effectiveness of gamification comes down to dopamine. When someone is excited or enjoying an experience, dopamine is released and passed through your neural network. When this happens, you become even more invested in the activity, thus allowing you to produce more.
Other than boosting performance, gamification can be used to enhance communication with your team as well as for employee training.
BENEFITS OF GAMIFICATION
Along with increased productivity, gamification offers benefits such as:
1. INCREASES MOTIVATION
Gamification comes with elements such as competition, achievements, milestones, and rewards, which increase your employee’s motivation to complete projects. In addition, your team will also have higher levels of satisfaction.
2. ENCOURAGES CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Agility is one of the main factors that contribute to organizational growth and survival in case there is a disruption in the industry. One of the biggest limitations of punitive fear-based management methods is that they stifle creativity and innovation. Employees are forced to doing things how they have always been done and are unwilling to present new ideas in fear of consequences. This is risky as it limits a company’s ability to adapt to disruptions or capitalize on new opportunities.
A gamified management system creates a dynamic working environment that encourages and appreciates creativity and innovation. This will make it easier for team members to present new ideas that will benefit your bottom line.
3. REDUCES SUPERVISORY REQUIREMENTS
Even though it is counterproductive, organizations that use close supervision do so to ensure production levels are maintained. Essentially, this approach suggests that employees do not have the drive nor motivation to achieve production targets.
Gamification solves this by giving them incentives and making it enjoyable for them to achieve targets. Therefore, there will be no need for close supervision. This, in turn, will help lower management costs, and supervisors will have more time to dedicate to improving products and processes.
ENHANCE THE BENEFITS OF GAMIFICATION WITH AUTOMATION
As your employees become more invested and interested in their work, production and engagement levels will increase while employee churn and management costs will reduce. However, it is also important to enhance efficiency to support increased levels of production. This can be achieved by automating processes to ensure repetitive tasks are handled quicker.
Zira is a tech company that helps organizations enhance efficiency via automation. Our automated scheduling solution helps with Shift assignment, team communication, coverage needs, and performance and show rate monitoring. Get in touch with us today to streamline your production capacity.
