Management should change traditional relationship with workers
Today, most successful quality-oriented firms recognize the importance of its employees when developing a competitive strategy. Quality management is an integral part of most company’s strategic design, and the role of employees is an important aspect of quality management.
Management should change its traditional control oriented relationship with employees to one of cooperation, mutual trust, team work and goal orientation. A quality focused company generally needs a long-term commitment as a key part of its strategic plan.
In the traditional management-employee relationship, employees are given precise directions to achieve narrowly defined individual objectives. In a successful quality management program, employees are given broad latitude in their jobs, encouraged to improvise, and have the power to use their own initiative to correct and prevent problems.
Long-term investments
Strategic goals should be for quality and customer service instead of maximizing profit or minimizing cost, and rewards based on group achievement. Instead of limited training for specific, narrowly defined jobs, employees should be trained in a broad range of skills so they know more about the entire productive process, making them flexible in where they can work.
To manage human resources from this perspective, a company must focus on employees as a central key component in their strategic design. Companies that successfully integrate this kind of ‘employees first’ philosophy into their plans share several common characteristics. Employee training and education are recognized as necessary long–term investments. Strategic planning for product and technological innovation is tied to the development of employees’ skills, not only to help in the product development process but also to carry out innovations as they come to fruition.
All humans should understand the meaning of innovation and how they can help their organization. Innovation is not only developing and implementing new products or technologies but much more, it goes beyond technology and needs participation from many areas to come together to achieve success.
Innovation is a collaborative process where people in every field contribute to implement new ideas for better products.
Human resource managers have the responsibility to recruit employees who have the ability to think differently and who are in hunger to learn and implement new things, then innovations will flow all around the company.
Critical role
In any organization or an industry the management needs to plan out the ways of being more productive by utilising all the resources effectively.
They should have a culture and it must drive innovation, and hence employees are within the culture of the company or organisation with good innovative minds.
HR has a critical role to play, that is to help create, protect and build organisational culture, as a major driver for innovation.
The culture of innovation is very important to not only grow the business and increase profits but also to attract and keep talent.
Quality management hires, rewards and recognizes employees for a common desire, energy and enthusiasm to create great products and they encourage employees to think out-of-the-box and go for innovations.
Organizations that have specific culture or quality management methods that support innovation must ensure that their operating strategies are developed through interactions with employees, customers, partners, vendors, suppliers and consultants. They should identify, review market trends through benchmarking to know what is required to overcome the threats and to perform well in their competitive industry.
Barriers
There are many barriers to creating an innovative culture, such as lack of leadership support for time and cost driven innovations, lack of strategy and specially the lack of engagement of all employees in the organization.
It is very difficult for management today to build successful innovation processes in organizations. Having the right people in the industry is a critical element for innovation and look for employees who are open to change, thinking differently about the future, creative and entrepreneurial then the organisation will be doing business differently while focusing for a better future.
Therefore, a proper organizational structure, quality management strategies and all employees should have the ability and power or freedom to present their ideas. A right rewards system provides a powerful force to reinforce commitment, directing employee’s professional growth and making them more innovative.
Performance management tools, compensation strategies and target jobs with reward programs should be included to create a better innovative employees and win industrial competitions.
Although a safe, healthy working environment is a basic necessity to keep employees satisfied, successful companies provide special services such recreational activities, day-care, flexible work hours, cultural events, picnics, and fitness centres.
These are the services that treat employees like customers, an acknowledgment that there is a direct and powerful link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. It is important that employees understand the strategic goals of the company and that they can participate in achieving these goals. Employees need to believe they make a difference with innovative minds, be committed to goals and have pride in their work. As the strategic plan passes down through the organization, employees can participate in the development of local plans to achieve overall corporate goals.
The writer holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Logistics and Transport of the CINEC Campus.