Giving Employees What They Want: The Returns are Huge
David Sirota, co-author of
The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit by Giving Workers What They Want, finds that firms where employee morale is high tend to outperform competitors. He told us: "People at work have various basic goals. First, they want to be treated fairly. Employees want to know they are getting what is normally defined as competitive pay. If I feel underpaid, there is not much an organization can do to boost my morale. Second, employees want a sense of achievement from work. The key element is to be proud of your job and proud of the organization for which you are doing it. The third element is camaraderie. This is also not mentioned much in our field, but it’s key——not only in the sense of having a friend, but working well together as a team.”
And, he says, there are a number of other things companies can do to boost morale: “First, provide security. Laying off people should be the last resort, not the first thing you do. Some companies use a ring of defense. If the business is having difficulties, they retrain workers or bring work inside from subcontractors. There are a number of steps you can take before making people redundant.
Second, where there are difficulties in getting work done, we suggest self-managed teams. Toyota is a good example in having a team of workers manage part of the assembly line. The team could look at quality and at whatever kinds of maintenance and support were needed, and it could decide how to rotate workers. As opposed to the usual top-down management, this approach is tremendously satisfying for workers, and thus reduces the need for bureaucracy because the people essentially are managing themselves.
“Recognition is also important. Organization-wide awards should be like the Nobel Prize, where peers are involved in the selection of the individuals who receive the award for outstanding achievement, not day-to-day work.
“The traditional merit pay systems with an appraisal and pay increase are quite negative. Workers feel no relation between what they do and their pay increase. A reward has to be felt as such. Research has verified a system such as ‘gain sharing’, in which a group of workers judges its performance over time. If productivity goes up 20% and the workforce increases 10%, then that means there is greater efficiency.
“In the 1980s and 1990s, we had a reaction to particular forms of management. We talk about four kinds: the first one is paternalism, where workers are treated as children. Then there is adversarial, where workers are the enemy. Then there is transactional, where workers are like ciphers. Management does not know what they are like as individuals. The attitude is, ‘We paid you, now we are even. We don’t owe you anything.’ That’s where most companies have gone today. Loyalty is dead.
“The fourth is what we have been talking about, which is the partnership organization. It does not mean that because I paid you, we are now even. You don’t treat partners that way because you might need them to help you out sometime, and they might need you. It’s more like a relationship between mature adults -- not like children or enemies, but allies.”
1.In paragraph 1, what effect of high morale is mentioned?
2.Which of these does Sirota suggest is good reaction for a company with financial problems?
3.How did Toyota motivate workers on assembly lines?
4.How should bonuses be awarded, according to Sirota?
5.What, nowadays, is the typical management-worker relationship?
第1题:
细节事实题。文章第一段第一句后半部分提到“发现那些员工士气高的公司比他们的竞争公司经营得要好”（finds that firms where employee morale is high tend to outperform competitors），因此可知员工士气高的公司收益要比竞争对手高，选项C符合题意。
第2题:
细节事实题。文章第二段提到“解雇员工应该是最后的手段，而不是最初的。有些公司会采用一些防御办法。如果公司遇到困难，他们重新培训员工或者从别的承包商那里接工作”（Laying off people should be the last resort, not the first thing you do. Some companies use a ring of defense. If the business is having difficulties, they retrain workers or bring work inside from subcontractors.），由此可知选项D“将员工调整到其他岗位”符合题意。
第3题:
细节事实题。文章第三段第一二句话提到“当工作遇到困难时，建议团队进行自我管理。Toyota就是最好的例子”（Second, where there are difficulties in getting work done, we suggest self-managed teams. Toyota is a good example in having a team of workers manage part of the assembly line），接着该段介绍了团队如何来进行自我管理，比如决定如何让员工轮班（decide how to rotate workers）。因此选项B符合题意。
第4题:
细节事实题。文章第五段提到“研究证实了一种‘收益分享’的系统，在这种系统下一组员工不断进行绩效评估。如果生产量增加了20%，劳动力增加了10%，那么意味着效率更高”（Research has verified a system such as ‘gain sharing’, in which a group of workers judges its performance over time. If productivity goes up 20% and the workforce increases 10%, then that means there is greater efficiency），由此可知奖励是根据员工的工作业绩来定的，选项C符合题意。
第5题:
细节事实题。文章最后一段最后一句话提到“它更像成年人之间的一种关系，不像孩子或者敌人之间的相处模式，而是盟友”（It’s more like a relationship between mature adults -- not like children or enemies, but allies），由此可知选项D“平等的合作关系”符合题意。
