T R M G

The Perfect Staffing Model: Does It Really Exist?

What Does It Look Like?

perspective by

Timothy J. O’Donovan, Esq.

RMS Transportation Services Fall 2011 Conference St. Louis, MO October 10, 2011 Transportation Revenue Management Group

THE STAFFING CHALLENGE

TRMG THE RISK OF ADVERSE RETENTION  The most experienced, skilled, and productive workers are often the most difficult (and costly) to retain …  Risking progressively greater reliance on the least experienced, skilled, and productive workers Factors Contributing To Job Dissatisfaction       Poor Pay Poor Compensation Poor Work Conditions Lack of Promotions Poor Benefits Offering Lack of Job Security Factors Contributing To Job Satisfaction       Good Leadership Practices Good Manager Relationship Recognition Personal Growth Feedback and Support Clear Direction and Objectives

Optimizing components of job dissatisfaction does not increase job satisfaction.

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JOB DESIGN PRINCIPLES

TRMG  SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT AND JOB SPECIALIZATION:  First espoused 100 years ago by Frederick Taylor’s

Principles Of Scientific Management

, a primary influence for how work was organized for many years  Job specialization involves breaking down jobs into their simplest components, each worker performing a select number of tasks in repetitive fashion  Scientific management involves minimizing waste by maximizing efficiency through time-motion studies of each task, leading to standardized job performance methods

Research shows that job specialization and scientific management maximize worker efficiency . . . and lead to job dissatisfaction.

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JOB DESIGN ALTERNATIVES

 TRMG JOB ROTATION    Movement of employees from job-to-job at regular intervals to relieve the monotonous aspects of job specialization Reduces employee stress levels, improves job satisfaction, reduces turnover Effective way for organizations to increase skill level of work force, and to increase flexibility for workflow management  JOB ENLARGEMENT    Expanding the variety of tasks assigned to employees, versus limiting activities to a small number of tasks Positively related to employee satisfaction and higher quality customer service, plus increases the chance of catching mistakes However, adding menial or simple tasks has been shown to negatively impact employee satisfaction, resulting in fewer errors being caught  JOB ENRICHMENT    Allowing employees to have more control over how they perform their tasks Demonstrated benefits from increased productivity, reduced absences and turnover Risk of dissatisfaction from increased compensation or promotion expectations Transportation Revenue Management Group 4

CORE JOB DIMENSIONS Research shows there are 5 job components that increase the motivating potential of a job:



SKILL VARIETY:

The extent to which the job requires a person to utilize multiple high-level skills 

TASK IDENTITY:

The degree to which a person is in charge of completing a piece of work from start to finish 

TASK SIGNIFICANCE:

Whether a person’s job substantially affects other peoples’ work, health, or well-being 

AUTONOMY:

The degree to which a person has the freedom to decide how to perform his or her tasks 

FEEDBACK:

The degree to which people learn how effective they are being at work Transportation Revenue Management Group TRMG 5

HACKMAN & OLDHAM’S MODEL

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The 5 core Job Dimensions lead to 3 critical Psychological States, resulting in 5 work-related Outcomes: Motivating Potential Score [“MPS”] =

[ (Skill Variety + Task Identity + Task Significance) ÷ 3 ] x Autonomy x Feedback Transportation Revenue Management Group 6

JOB INTERSECTION

TRMG

The points at which different job functions intersect often present opportunities for load leveling and skill variety enhancement:

Admin / Support Service Support Customer Care CRM • Mail Processing • Data Entry • Document Handling • System Updates • Document Review • System Updates • Task Segmentation • Decisional Matrices • Process Maps • Workflow Management • Independent Judgment • Information Reporting • Process Analysis • Strategic Planning • Tactical Planning • Profitability Analysis Transportation Revenue Management Group 7

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OTHER RANDOM THOUGHTS

RECRUITING & TRAINING    For lower-skilled, production-oriented jobs with high turnover, design a highly efficient recruitment and training process If you are not using Linked In™ and other social networks, or Craig’s List™ and other on-line resources, you are missing opportunities Try to incorporate a personality assessment to determine motivational fit and probability of retention PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT    Assign a Primary goal and a Secondary goal, both of which represent readily measurable, core production metrics that can be measured and reported faithfully “SMART” goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Based Offer frequent incentives (no less than monthly), tied to both Individual achievement and to Team performance PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL    Research suggests Peer Evaluation drives performance more effectively than pure Goal Achievement evaluation “Grade On A Curve”: Evaluate employee performance on a 3- to 5-point scale, e.g. Top 10%, Next 20%, Middle 40%, Next 20%, Bottom 10% Tie compensation and promotions to performance appraisals Transportation Revenue Management Group TRMG 8

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

TRMG Organizational Behavior , “Chapter 5: Designing A Motivating Work Environment”, Talya Bauer and Berrin Erdogan adapted by P. Buckle,

http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/pub/1.0/organizational-behavior/45449#web-45448

Recruitment and Selection , “Executive Summary”, Paul R. Bernthal Ph.D.,

http://www.ddiworld.com/DDIWorld/media/trend-research/recruitment-and selection_ere_es_ddi.pdf?ext=.pdf

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