Job Satisfaction in Tea Plantation Sector

Job Satisfaction in Tea Plantation Sector

Ceylon Tea which is a world renowned brand name celebrates the 150^th year since the planting of the first tree by a British national in the Loolkandura Estate in the Central Hills of the country.  This blog is to analyze the Factory Employees’ Job Satisfaction and Productivity of the Sri Lankan Plantation Sector in Sri Lanka. Job Satisfaction and Productivity are widely spoken topics of the many other fields of the international forums and journals. Four hundred questionnaires were distributed among the Factory Officers of the Tea Estates. The response to four hundred questionnaires distributed among the factory employees, 370 were returned and the response rate was 92.5 percent. The data was analyzed by using descriptive analysis and structural equation methods. The findings show that job satisfaction has a significant positive impact on productivity. (Suranga Silva, 2018)

Job Satisfaction of Women Workers in Tea Estates India

Job satisfaction is an important indicator of how workers feel about their jobs and is a predictor of work behaviors. The study aimed to ascertain the job satisfaction levels of women workers employed in tea estates located in the Nilgiris District, TamilNadu. The Nilgiris being the largest tea tract in South India occupies an important place in the tea map of the country. Thus, tea plays a vital role in the economy of the district. Therefore, an attempt has been made in the present paper to identify the problems faced by the women workers, examine the facilities offered to them, and ascertain the satisfaction level of the women workers in tea estates in the Nilgiris district. The data was collected through a structured interview schedule from 300 respondents by using the convenience random sampling method. The tools used for analysis, that is, simple percentage, chi-square analysis, and factor analyses were applied to analyze the collected data. The results of the study revealed that there was a significant relationship between the demographic factors and the health related problems faced by the women workers. Furthermore, the findings show that the majority of the respondents were illiterate, and were employed in the process of plucking the tea leaves, as this activity generates a major chunk of the revenue for the tea estates. From the factor analysis, it was identified that the factors such as Work Allotment and Relationship with Colleagues, Support and Reward, Safe Environment, Compensation, and Training and Development influenced the levels of job satisfaction significantly. In addition, it was also found that four factors, that is, Disability, Workplace Environment, Pay and Conveyance, and Work Timings were the highly problematic factors causing dissatisfaction among the women workers employed in the tea estates. (J.Illavarasi 2013)

3 Key Factors to Job Satisfaction

1. Engagement.

When you are engaged in your work, you are present, focused, and productive.51 percent of workers reported not being engaged at work, many of which were millennials.

2. Respect, praise, and appreciation. 

Regardless of the job, you want to feel respected in the workplace as well as appreciated for the work you do. Employees are more satisfied in their positions when they feel respected and are praised for a job well done, even if it’s a simple thank you from a company manager. Supervisors are often vocal when an employee makes a mistake or something is needed of them but making the same effort to congratulate or voice appreciation can have a positive influence on worker’s satisfaction.   

3. Fair compensation.

The importance employees place on pay as a contributing factor to job satisfaction appears to be on the rise, according to the 2016 survey conducted by the SHRM.Workers currently rank pay as the second most important factor compared to the fourth most important factor the year prior. Benefits rank as the third most important factor with 60 percent rating them as crucial to job satisfaction. In essence, employees want to be compensated for their worth and are likely to look for work elsewhere if they’re not. (Emily Holland, 2016)

CONCLUSION

Majority of employees are satisfied with their welfare measures. They should take necessary steps to solve problems in those measures. So that the employee can do his job more effectively. The company can concentrate on the other non statutory measures to boost the employee morale.

REFERENCES

1. Suranga Silva, 2018. Available at https://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/EJBM/article/view/40612

2. J.Illavarasi, 2013. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277901689_A_Study_on_Job_Satisfaction_of_Women_Workers_in_Tea_Estates_With_Special_Reference_to_the_Nilgiris_District

3. Emily Holland, 2016. Available at https://chopra.com/articles/5-key-factors-to-finding-job-satisfaction

Performance Management

 What is Performance Management?

Performance management is an ongoing process of communication between a supervisor and an employee that occurs throughout the year, in support of accomplishing the strategic objectives of the organization. The communication process includes clarifying expectations, setting objectives, identifying goals, providing feedback, and reviewing results.(UC Berkeley)

Six Steps to Effective Performance Management.

1) Commitment from the top

Performance management is for everyone in the organization. The minute it looks like senior managers are somehow ‘exempt’ from the process or are not interested in the outcomes, the process will lose credibility.

To prevent this it is essential that managers lead by example and go through the process themselves. They should also be held accountable for leading the process with their employees. A simple way of doing this is to include effective performance management as one of their objectives.

2) Clear objectives

Objectives should describe desired outcomes rather than tasks. Tasks are the way in which you achieve the outcome and may change whereas the outcomes remain unchanged unless the business priorities shift. Let us explore this in more detail. If I ask you to sweep the floor, dust the surfaces and clean the windows of a room, I am giving you a list of tasks. However if I ask you to clean the room so that all surfaces are free of dirt, I have described an outcome and you would then complete the previously described tasks in order to achieve that outcome. Outcome language is important because it explains what the desired future state is.

3) Balanced feedback

Feedback is essential information that tells the performer what to do more of or less of in order to improve their performance. To have the desired impact on performance it should be given immediately or as close to the situation that warrants feedback as possible. It should NOT be stored up during the course of the year and presented as evidence for a poor performance rating. Not only is this demotivating for the employee, it also represents a list of missed opportunities for performance improvement as well as missed opportunities for reinforcing good behavior.

4) Regular progress reviews

Any activity considered important will be reviewed in order to ensure that it happens. Imagine managing a project without review meetings? How do you know that you are still on track a few months down the line? How do you take into account changes in priorities? How do you know what progress has been made? What support will you need and when? For the same reasons, employee objectives and development plans must be reviewed on a regular basis.

5) Development plans

Part of improving performance is establishing where the shortfall is and finding a way to close the gap. Not only that, but you might be expecting employees to take on greater responsibility or new tasks (perhaps the job has changed or new technology has been implemented). Their performance reflects on you and it is logical that you would put a development plan in place to ensure that they are able to cope with the new challenges. Longer-term development goals not only increase employee motivation but also make good business sense, as it is more cost effective to grow your own skills rather than recruiting them in.

6) Capable managers

The best process will fail if managers do not have the skills to have effective performance management discussions. A productive discussion where employees feel listened to and part of the process will encourage employees and spur them on to achieve their objectives and more. On the other hand an inadequate discussion where employees feel ignored and treated unfairly will demotivate them and at worst persuade them that there is nowhere else for them to turn leading to resignations and high cost turnover.

(Gary Watkins. May 23, 2013)

CONCLUSION

Performance management is a corporate management tool that helps managers monitor and evaluate employees' work. Performance management's goal is to create an environment where people can perform to the best of their abilities to produce the highest-quality work most efficiently and.

References

UC Berkley. Available at https://hr.berkeley.edu/hr-network/central-guide-managing-hr/managing-hr/managing-successfully/performance-management/concepts

Gary Watkins. Available at http://www.workinfo.org/index.php/articles/item/573-six-steps-to-effective-performance-management

Organizational Flexibility

The Advantages of Flexibility in an Organization

In the contemporary world, a small business must be flexible. If your business is too rigid, then it will fail. Rapid changes will occur- in technology and also in the economy - which means that only organizations that are flexible so that they can adapt to these changes will succeed, which will give them a massive advantage over more-rigid organizations.

(Nicky La Marco. December 03,2018)

1)   Enhanced Competitiveness

2)   Improved Efficiency

3)   Your Scheduling Becomes More Flexible

4)   Better Team Building

5)   Better Continuity during Uncertainty

6)   Your Environmental Impact Is Reduce

7)   Hiring Costs and Turnover Costs Are Reduced

8)   Your Organization Will Grow Faster

The need for flexibility in the workplace

The need for organizational flexibility is very important. When looking at why there is a need a for flexibility there are factors that are creating the need for flexibility in the workplace. Things are changing all the time, which means an organisation, must be able to take on these changes. Aspects such as social, technological, economical, legal, political and other global factors in which a business operate within are changing all the time, so organisations should be able to adapt when these changes happen. So in other words they need to be flexible. As it says there is a need for flexibility in the workplace, but there is also a need for flexibility in the workforce, meaning the staff. As change happens, how work gets done too changes therefore the workforce should also be flexible.

(UK essays)

Types of Organizational Flexibility

• Functional Flexibility- Functional flexibility basically states that employees will do jobs that go beyond what they are actually there to do. So they will perform jobs that they weren’t originally specified to do. So employees should be able to do different jobs but still do their own. So the organisation will require multi-skilled employees. So for example would be in an organisation, a debtors clerk doing their own job, which is debtors, but also being able to do creditors when required.
• Numerical Flexibility- This basically involves an organisation bring labor in or taking labor out in accordance service or product demand. The state of the economy can also be a factor for the organisation to bring in or go without labor. They can control this by the number of employees they need at the time. Therefore they will hire as they need. They can do this by hiring casuals or part time workers.
• Financial Flexibility
• Procedural Flexibility
• Skills Flexibility
• Attitudinal Flexibility
• Structural Flexibility

CONCLUSION

The term organizational flexibility refers to the overall flexibility of an organization as a system (structure) defined by a set of resources (technology, personnel, financial resources, and knowledge), processes (operations, tasks, routines) and managerial functions (strategizing, organizing, planning, leading, directing)

REFERENCES

                                    

Nicky LaMarco. December 03,2018 (Available at;

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-flexibility-organization-37369.html)

UKessays (Available at; https://www.ukessays.com/essays/business/definition-of-organisational-flexibility.php