The Enthusiastic Employee

David Sirota is founder and Chairman Emeritus of Sirota Consulting, a firm with a national reputation for improving performance by systematically measuring and managing employee, customer, and community relationships. He previously served as IBM director of behavioral science research and application. Sirota has taught management at Cornell, Yale, MIT, and Wharton, and was a study director at the University of Michigan's Institute of Social Research. His work has been featured in Fortune and The New York Times. He holds a doctorate in social psychology from the University of Michigan. Louis A. Mischkind has been involved with organizational effectiveness–research and practical application–for over 35 years. Prior to joining Sirota Consulting, he was Program Director of Executive Development at IBM, Advisor on Human Resources to the President of IBM's General Products Division, and in charge of opinion surveys and management assessment for IBM's technical community. He has taught courses in social and organizational psychology at New York University and holds a master's degree in experimental psychology from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in organizational psychology from New York University. Michael Irwin Meltzer joined Sirota Consulting full-time in 2001 as Managing Director, after serving as its General Counsel for 20 years. He has advised businesses ranging from financial consultancies and real estate developers to sales, distribution, and construction organizations. He has also served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Pace University, teaching business organizations, real-estate law, and trusts and estates. He holds a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School. © Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Acknowledgments.

About the Authors.

Introduction.

I. WORKER MOTIVATION, MORALE, AND PERFORMANCE.

1. What Workers Want—The Big Picture.

    Blame It on the Young

    What People Actually Say About Work

    Three Factors

    The Evidence

    How the Three Factors Work in Combination

    Individual Differences

2. Employee Enthusiasm and Business Success.

    Making the Connection

    Tell Us in Your Own Words

    A Few Leading Organizations

    Enthusiasm and Business Performance

    Building the People Performance Model

II. ENTHUSIASTIC WORKFORCES, MOTIVATED BY FAIR TREATMENT.

3. Job Security.

    Justice and Job Security

    Best Policies and Practices

4. Compensation.

    Money as Seen by Workers

    Money as Seen by Employers

    The Level of Pay

    Pay for Performance

    Strategies for Effective Compensation

5. Respect.

    The Heart of Respect

    Humiliating Treatment

    Indifferent Treatment

    The Specifics of Respectful Treatment

    Physical Working Conditions

    Status Distinctions

    Job Autonomy

    Constrained Communication

    Day-to-Day Courtesies

III. ENTHUSIASTIC WORKFORCES, MOTIVATED BY ACHIEVEMENT.

6. Organization Purpose and Principles.

    Elements of Company Pride

    Company Ethics and Business Results

    Ethics in the Treatment of Employees

    Getting Practical: Translating Words into Deeds

7. Job Enablement.

    Ah, Bureaucracy! The Evil That Just Won’t Go Away

    A Management Style That Works

    Layers of Management

    The Benefits of Self-Managed Teams

8. Job Challenge.

    Is This an Aberration, Are Workers Delusional, or Are They Lying?

    Given a Choice, Few People Volunteer to Fail

    Push and Pull Forces

9. Feedback, Recognition, and Reward.

    Do Workers Get the Feedback They Need?

    Guidance: Cognitive Feedback

    A Short Course on Giving Guidance

    Evaluation, Recognition, and Reward

    Promoting From Within

    Dealing with Unsatisfactory Performance

    Feedback Sets Priorities

IV. ENTHUSIASTIC WORKFORCES, MOTIVATED BY CAMARADERIE.

10. Teamwork.

    A Look Back

    Are We Doing Better Now?

    Socializing While Working

    The Negative Effect of Uncooperative Co-Workers

    Contentious Workgroups Are a Drag

    Building Partnership

    A Short Course on Effective Partnership Workshops

V. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: THE TOTAL ORGANIZATION CULTURE—AND HOW TO CHANGE IT.

11. The Chapternership Organization.

    Partnership and Its Alternatives

    Application to Other Constituencies

12. Translating Chapternership Theory into Chapternership Practice.

    It Starts at the Top

    The Action Process

VI. APPENDICES.

Appendix A. Survey Administration and Population Composition.

Appendix B. Reliability and Validity of the Data.

Appendix C. Job Satisfaction: Demographic, Occupational, and Regional Breaks.

Appendix D. Comparisons with Other Norms.

Appendix E. The Readiness Questionnaire.

Endnotes.

Index.