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INDIAN INSTITUTE OF PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
NEW DELHI
SUBJECT
ENHANCING EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY AT NALCO
SUBMITTED BY: IMAD REHMAN
BATCH: SS 9/11
PHONE NO.: 9650696328
E-MAIL: [email protected]
SECTION: SP3
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ABSTRACT
Increasing productivity is one of the most critical goals in business. Unfortunately, it’s an
activity seldom accepted by HR professionals as a legitimate mandate. While most HR
professionals acknowledge that their job entails establishing policy, procedures, and
programs governing people management, few attempt to connect such elements to
increasing employee output (volume, speed, and quality) per each dollar spent on labor
costs (or as an easier to measure alternative, revenue per employee).
Bonus programs are typically enacted that keep total compensation in line with market
trends, regardless of the value of work warranting incentive comp. Training tools are
often secured via the lowest-cost provider method with minimal consideration given to
which provider would be most effective. Recruiting practices too are more oftenmanaged with the primary goal of minimizing cost, not enabling business
capability/capacity. Regardless of the function you look at, in the typical organization,
HR is more concerned with executing transactions instead of delivering productivity
solutions.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Through this acknowledgement I express my sincere gratitude towards all those people
who helped me in this project, which has been a learning experience.
I appreciate the co-ordination extended by my friends and also express my sincere
thankfulness to the entire faculty members of Indian Institute of Planning &
Management, Delhi, giving me the opportunity to do this project/study and also assisting
me for the same.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
S.No. Topic Page No.
1. Abstract 1
2. Acknowledgment 2
3. Introduction 4
4. Research Objective & Methodology 5
5. Literature Review 19
6. Finding & Analysis 34
7. Recommendations 36
8. Conclusion 38
9. Bibliography 40
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INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC
The rate of knowledge worker productivity gains will separate enterprise winners from
losers throughout the 21st century.
Under the best of circumstances, however, HR can only serve as a “facilitator” of the
processes by which enterprise leaders and managers underwrite success.
The points of maximum focus and leverage lie with the reporting relationships of
individual people managers and team leaders. In a five-span, six-tier organization 96% of
the employees and 80% of the leaders, managers and supervisors reside in tiers five and
six. Flatter organizations, with larger spans and fewer tiers, nevertheless present very
similar challenges.
In most organizations people managers outnumber HR professionals (i.e. excluding
transactional HR), by a wide margin (e.g. typically >>10:1). So the highest and best use
of HR Professionals, in the quest for productivity gains, is by serving as enablers of
people managers.
Leaders and senior executives must do their part, which starts with defining and
communicating the clear and compelling enterprise purpose. Productivity gains must
accelerate purposeful value creation in that enterprise context. Other necessary leadership
conditions include a stable and secure growth platform, authentic leadership, pervasive
bidirectional trust and deep caring for employee wellbeing.
Upper middle managers must work with HR to connect with people managers and
provide mission-specific (i.e. time management, knowledge management and talent
management) mentoring.
People managers must orchestrate progress with clear lines of sight from their teams’
contributions to serving the enterprise purpose.
Every employee must “manage oneself”, paying particular attention to managing time,
knowledge and thinking ability.
The best thing HR can do is show leaders, senior executives, upper middle managers and
other people managers the ways to accomplish essential knowledge worker productivity
gains with simplicity, transparency and accountability. The biggest part of that challenge
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involves developing and sharing understandings of how to inform people processes and
people decisions, as well as how to motivate and reward knowledge worker performance.
A critical part of the recipe for success, and a place where HR should exert considerable
influence, is in the use of pre- and post-hire assessments and surveys to provide leaders
and managers with actionable information about the individuals and teams who must
consolidate the productivity gains. Applying the latest research contributions to
motivation and rewards will add measurably too.
Finally, those businesses that adopt a rigorous, robust and unambiguous framework for
formulating, validating, aligning, communicating, executing and monitoring enterprise
strategy that best serves their enterprise purpose will add turbo boost to their knowledge
worker productivity gains.
Businesses have all the necessary tools at their disposal, but organizations will have to
make systematic changes for the better to thrive (or survive). In the first decade of the
21st century, we didn’t get off to a very good start. Productivity gains lagged those
necessary to maintain standards of living, let alone build sustainable advantage.
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Research Objectives & Methodology
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
b. To Study the factors influential in Job Satisfaction at the Company..
c. To Study the causes of dissatisfaction of the employee Company.
d. To study factors affecting employee morale with respect to Company.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
SECONDARY DATA –
I SECONDARY DATA –
I will collect the Secondary data from following sources:-
• Newspaper – HT, TOI
• Magazine - Harvard Business Review, Xlri Journal
• Book – Course book/ Philip Kotler
• Notes- Professors Notes
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LITERATURE REVIEW
Recent research suggests that high-involvement work practices can develop the positive
beliefs and attitudes associated with employee engagement, and that these practices can
generate the kinds of discretionary behaviors that lead to enhanced performance. Simply
put, employees who conceive, design and implement workplace and process changes are
engaged employees. This article focuses on what managers can do to achieve a high level
of employee engagement.
Employee engagement and firm performance
Employee engagement can be critically important to competitiveness in the
contemporary business environment. The Gallop Organization, which studied employee
engagement in 7,939 business units in 36 companies, found that employee engagement
was positively associated with performance in a variety of areas, including increased
customer satisfaction, profitability and productivity, and reduced employee turnover. The
breadth of employee engagement was substantial. About 2/3 of the business units scoring
above the median on employee engagement also scored above the median on
performance, while only about 1/3 of companies below the median on employee
engagement scored above the median on performance (Harter, Schmidt & Hayes, 2002).
Employee engagement has three related components: a cognitive, an emotional, and a behavioral aspect. The cognitive aspect of employee engagement concerns employees’
beliefs about the organization, its leaders, and working conditions. The emotional aspect
concerns how employees feel about each of those three factors and whether they have
positive or negative attitudes toward the organization and its leaders. The behavioral
aspect of employee engagement is the value-added component for the organization and
consists of the discretionary effort engaged employees bring to their work in the form of
extra time, brainpower and energy devoted to the task and the firm.
This article focuses on what managers can do to achieve a high level of employee
engagement. Recent research suggests that high-involvement work practices can develop
the positive beliefs and attitudes associated with employee engagement, and that these
practices can generate the kinds of discretionary behaviors that lead to enhanced
performance. The section immediately below describes high- involvement work practices
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and how they are utilized in both manufacturing and service settings. The next section
outlines the evidence for the effectiveness of these practices. The final section discusses
the implementation process and argues for the importance of embracing a participatory
philosophy in order to align the process with the concept of high involvement.
What are high-involvement work practices?
Numerous authors have developed a long list of management practices for generating
high involvement and high performance among employees. These range from selecting
the right people for the organization to a commitment to training and skill development,
teambased work organization, job security, and incentive-based pay. In each of these
general categories, a variety of specific practices have been developed. For example,
incentive-based pay can take the form of a gain-sharing program, performance-
contingent pay to individuals, team-based pay, or employee ownership. Training
programs can be developed for current and future skills, technical and interpersonal
skills, new hires and experienced employees. With all of the choices, developing a
coherent set of high-involvement work practices that are consistent across the
organization and reinforce each other is a nontrivial challenge for all managers.
Organizational effectiveness scholar Edward Lawler and his colleagues identified four
interlocking principles for building a high-involvement work system that help to ensure
that the system will be effective and that the various practices will work together to havea positive impact on employee engagement. These principles can be summed up as
providing employees with power, information, knowledge and rewards. (See article by
Edward Lawler elsewhere in this issue of IBJ — Ed.)
Power means that employees have the power to make decisions that are important to
their performance and to the quality of their working lives. Power can mean a relatively
low level of influence, as in providing input into decisions made by others or it can mean
having final authority and accountability for decisions and their outcomes. Involvement
is maximized when the highest possible level of power is pushed down to the employees
that have to carry out the decisions.
Creating forums for employees to develop and share ideas for improving firm
performance can be effective, but only when good ideas from employees actually get
used. For example, Arthur and Aiman-Smith describe an employee suggestion system in
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a large manufacturing plant in the Midwestern U.S. with a unionized workforce of 1,500.
The system was successful in generating large numbers of useful suggestions from the
employees that saved the company US$9M in its first four years. Implementation was
facilitated by a joint unionmanagement review board that assessed each suggestion and
either accepted, declined, or asked for further investigation.
Information means data, including information on the quantity and quality of business
unit output, costs, revenues, profitability, and customer reactions. A major challenge for
managers developing a high-involvement work system is to create an information system
that provides employees with data that is timely and relevant to their particular work
process, that they can influence personally by either expending or withholding effort, and
that they can understand.
The more transparent managers can make the firm’s operations, the more effectively
employees can contribute to the firm’s success. Transparency is important because it
helps employees see the link between their actions and the performance of the firm,
thereby enhancing the cognitive aspect of engagement. Hence, transparency is essential
for employees to see what they are doing that is working and what isn’t. As CEO Ricardo
Semler says about his 800-person high- involvement manufacturing firm in Brazil,
“nothing matters more than those vital statistics – short, frank, frequent reports on how
the company is doing”.Knowledge, or employee skills and abilities, can be distinguished from information,
which is the data employees use to make decisions and take action. Improving
employees’ knowledge means a commitment to training and development. The training
investments are essential in a high- involvement organization because when employees
are making important workplace decisions, it is important that they have the skills and
abilities to make the right decisions.
New employees at General Motors’ Saturn plant initially receive between 350 and 700
hours of initial training; Saturn sets an organization-wide goal that all employees receive
at least 92 hours of additional training each year. On average, Saturn employees have
received 148 hours of training each year since 1991. The reason Saturn relies so heavily
on training is the fact that the work process design relies heavily on the use of employee
skills and knowledge, “to build a small car competitively in the United States, either
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costs (wages) had to be lowered or organizational productivity raised to make up the
difference…The only way to make up this difference would be to mobilize the
knowledge, skills, and commitment of the workforce, and to design the work systems and
organization in ways that achieved higher quality and productivity”.
The rewards component of the high-involvement equation means rewarding employees
for expending discretionary effort to enhance organizational performance. A key element
in the high-involvement equation, rewards for performance ensure that employees use
their power, information and knowledge for the good of the firm.
In each of the three cases mentioned in the previous discussion of power, information and
knowledge, rewards were in place for employee contributions to the firm, and that link
was critical to the success of the firm’s high involvement work practices. For example, a
gainsharing program in one plant was in place so that each employee earned a bonus of
$4,442 over the 4-year period for suggestions that saved the plant US$9 million. The
bonuses inspired considerably more effort on the part of employees than was evident in
the suggestion program. Plant supervisors and managers indicated that many plant
improvements were being made outside of the suggestion system, where employees
initiated changes in order to reap the bonuses generated by the subsequent cost savings.
In Semler’s Brazilian manufacturing firm, 23% of aftertax profit on each division income
statement was distributed to employees in the division. Because employees gain asubstantial reward for business unit performance, they put in extra effort to learn multiple
tasks and meet targets, and they eagerly await the monthly financial statements to see the
results of these efforts.
At Saturn, base compensation is tied to between 88 and 95% of the industry average;
employees can make up the difference by achieving the target of at least 92 hours of
training each year for each employee. In addition, workers receive bonuses for achieving
negotiated goals for quality, cost, schedule, profitability, and volume. The bonuses have
ranged from $2,017 per employee in 1997 to $10,000 per employee in 1995 and 1996.
How effective are high-involvement work practices?
Evidence of the effectiveness of high-involvement work practices has been documented
in several research studies. The multivariate statistical analyses conducted on the
research data introduce statistical controls for a variety of factors extant in the
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environment in order to rule them out as plausible alternative explanations for the
findings. As a result, fairly strong inferences can be drawn regarding the impact of the
high-involvement management system.
The results of this research are impressive. The early research examined the impact of
high- involvement work systems in manufacturing organizations. The development of the
Saturn Corporation within General Motors constituted a demonstration project for, “a
radically new organizational form in which work would be organized into teams, work
rules would be drastically simplified, and the union would be a full partner in decision
making from the bottom to the top of the organization.” The project has been largely
considered a success. For instance, the J. D. Power and Associates statistics on customer
satisfaction showed that in 1992 and every year since, Saturn has led all U.S. car lines
and all brands worldwide except for Lexus and Infiniti (Acura and Mercedes in 1997
only) in ratings of vehicle quality, reliability and satisfaction.
Researchers and academics have examined the implementation of the Modern Operating
Agreement (MOA) between the Chrysler Corporation and the United Automobile
Workers (UAW), which was signed and ratified in six Chrysler plants by 1987. The
MOA reduced job classifications, tied pay to skills within those classifications,
established joint consultation committees, and reorganized work into shop-floor teams. A
survey company contacted 782 unionized production workers at their homes 5-6 yearsafter the signing of the MOA contracts. Sixty-four percent of those contacted stated they
were satisfied or very satisfied with the MOA, 68% agreed or strongly agreed that they
preferred the MOA to the previous system, and 76% agreed or strongly agreed that they
preferred the team system to the old system.
In another study, Eileen Appelbaum and her colleagues (2000) studied 15 steel mills, 17
apparel manufacturers, and 10 electronic instrument and imaging equipment producers.
Their purpose was to compare traditional production systems with flexible high
performance production systems involving teams, training, and incentive pay systems. In
all three industries, the plants utilizing highinvolvement practices showed superior
performance. In addition, workers in the high-involvement plants showed more positive
attitudes, including trust, organizational commitment and intrinsic enjoyment of the
work.
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Larger studies have confirmed the positive effects of high-involvement work practices in
manufacturing. Jeffrey Arthur’s 1994 study of 30 steel mini mills in the U.S. in 1988-89
showed that the mills with commitment systems involving more employee training and
more employee participation in solving production problems had higher productivity,
lower scrap rates, and lower employee turnover. John Paul MacDuffie’s 1995 study of an
international database examining 62 automobile assembly plants in 1989-90 found that
flexible production plants with high-involvement practices such as team-based work
systems, contingent compensation, and extensive employee training consistently
outperformed traditional plants in terms of both productivity (labor hours per vehicle)
and
quality. In 2005, Deepak Datta and his colleagues analyzed survey responses from 132
U.S. manufacturing firms and found that firms utilizing high-performance work systems
showed significantly higher labor productivity than their competitors.
More recent researchers have asked the question of whether high-involvement work
practices can be generalized to the service industry sector. Once again, impressive results
have been documented. Two studies of employees in the life insurance industry
examined the impact of employee perceptions that they had the power to make decisions,
sufficient knowledge and information to do the job effectively, and rewards for high
performance. Both studies included large samples of employees (3,570 employees in 49organizations and 4,828 employees in 92 organizations). In both studies, high-
involvement management practices were positively associated with employee morale,
employee retention, and firm financial performance.
Another recent study has tested high-involvement work practices in a call center
environment. In a field experiment, 149 call center employees were randomly assigned to
either high involvement work practices, autonomous teams, aligned job design
(essentially new performance metrics aligned with the business strategy), or the
traditional management system. Findings comparing pre- and posttest scores showed
substantial improvement in organizational commitment and intrinsic job satisfaction in
the high-involvement work practices group compared to no change for the control group
or the autonomous work team group, and impact on organizational commitment only for
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the aligned job design group. The high-involvement work practice group also showed the
most improvement in performance on a variety of measures.
Canadian firms using high-involvement work practices
To assess the utilization of high-involvement work practices in Canada, medium- to
large-sized Canadian companies were surveyed about their HR practices in 2004- 05. Of
the 896 companies receiving the survey, 155 responded (17.3%, which is about average
for surveys)..
Three questions assessed incentive pay at the individual, group and firm level (i.e., profit-
sharing). Two questions asked about team structures, specifically, self-managing teams
and problem-solving or quality groups. Findings are shown in Figure 1.
The findings indicate a rather high level of penetration of high-involvement work
practices in Canadian firms in 2004-05, even though many firms did not utilize these
practices. Individual incentive pay was the most common practice, with 55% of
employers providing individual incentive pay to 21-100% of their employees. Only 14%of firms indicated that none of their employees received individual incentive pay.
Group incentives and profit-sharing were utilized less, with 33% of firms indicating the
use of group incentives and 34% indicating the use of profit-sharing for 21-100% of
employees. Fifty-six percent of firms indicated that none of their employees received
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group incentive pay, and 50% indicated that none of their employees received profit-
sharing incentives.
About 20% of firms indicated the involvement of 21- 100% of their employees in
problem-solving or quality groups, while 40% indicated that none of their employees
were involved in such groups. About 21% of firms indicated that 21-100% of their
employees worked in self-managing teams, while 49% indicated that none of their
employees worked in self-managing teams.
Figure 2 compares the utilization of incentives and group structures among the 42
manufacturing firms and 104 service firms in the sample.
Findings show that there is greater penetration of incentive pay and team structures in the
manufacturing sector than in the service sector. Specifically, 33% of manufacturing firms
indicated that 21-100% of their employees were involved in problem-solving or quality
groups compared to 15% of service firms. Seventy-one percent of manufacturing
compared to 28% of service firms indicated the use of individual incentives for 21- 100%of their employees. Profit-sharing was more prevalent in manufacturing firms, with 38%
of these firms indicating that 21-100% of their employees participated in profit-sharing
plans compared to 31% of service firms. Self-managing work teams and group incentives
showed about the same level of penetration in manufacturing and ser vice firms. About
21% of both service and manufacturing firms indicated that 21-100% of their employees
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were organized in self-managing work teams. Forty-nine percent of service firms and
50% of manufacturing firms indicated that 21-100% of their employees received group
or team incentive pay.
Implementing high-involvement work practices: The importance of alignment
Edward Lawler suggests that to implement high involvement management, “virtually
every major feature of the organization needs to be designed differently.” Faced with
such a monumental task, managers may well wonder where to start.
Providing an insightful answer to this question, researchers Ledford and Mohrman
developed the method of “self-design” in 1993. The selfdesign change strategy requires
managers to develop a vision of the new organization and state it in broad terms, “leaving
the more specific designing to be done by the members of the units that have to make the
design work locally.” Change proceeds in a decentralized manner, with different business
units creating changes at their own pace. Competition between managers and the need for
coordination press slower-moving units to catch up with the leaders as the entire
organization evolves from a traditional to a high involvement system.
Self-design is effective because the movement to a high-involvement system requires an
extremely high amount of learning among managers and front-line employees. By
participating in the process of investigation and development of system changes,
employees and managers gain the opportunity to both absorb the information needed tomake the change and develop the knowledge and skills needed to change successfully. In
self-design, changes are developed and implemented iteratively as business units identify
an appropriate starting point for change, design and pilot the new system, and make
adjustments. Over time, participants in the process re-design more and more systems and
build their change management and system design skills. Ledford and Morhman argue
that, “This strategy for change is appropriate in guiding large-scale change where all
contingencies and relationships cannot be known in advance, and where organizations
and their members are required to learn substantially new behavior patterns in order to
support the desired change” to the high-involvement work system.
CEO Ralph Stayer, of Johnsonville Sausages, recommends starting with a highly visible
activity, in his case, the daily tasting of the sausage. Previously done by managers, Stayer
delegated the responsibility for tasting to the production employees, who then were
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responsible for detecting and fixing problems and making improvements. The
employees’ investigation of issues arising at the daily tasting naturally resulted in
cascading the involvement process down the production line.
There are several reasons why a participatory change process is superior for
implementing high- involvement management. Beyond the knowledge, skills, and
information employees gain through the participative process, participation generates
engagement on all three levels by affecting beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Participating
in the change process changes people’s beliefs about the change by giving them
information about the limitations of the current work system and by exposing them to
new ideas that raise awareness about alternative ways of conducting the work.
Information about the limitations of the existing system and possibilities inherent in other
methods help employees understand the need for the change and the benefits of the new
system.
Participation also generates more positive attitudes toward the change to high
involvement. When people participate in the design of the new system, they become
personally invested in making the system succeed. By comparison, when outsiders design
the new system, people sometimes react negatively, the result of a perception that they
are being forced to change. Studies of the Chrysler MOA showed that employees had
more positive attitudes toward the new work system if they perceived that managementlistened to their input and that their suggestions for improving the work process were
used. These findings support the notion that employees have more positive attitudes
toward changes that incorporate their own ideas than to changes that are designed by
others.
Finally, participation in the design process produces the behaviors indicative of highly
engaged employees. By participating in the design process, employees begin to act in
ways that go beyond their narrow job descriptions in order to contribute to organizational
effectiveness. They begin to apply a wider range of ability, knowledge and expertise to
organizational problems. Hence, employees gain experience in devoting more effort,
knowledge and time to the organization. Over time, the self-design process normalizes
these behaviors, generating a climate of high employee engagement.
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High-involvement work practices that provide employees with the power to make
workplace decisions, training to build their knowledge and skills in order to make and
implement decisions effectively, information about how their actions affect business unit
performance, and rewards for their efforts to improve performance, can result in a win-
win situation for employees and managers. Employees seem to enjoy working in
highinvolvement workplaces, and managers reap enhanced performance from these
systems.
Designing and implementing a high-involvement system is not a trivial task, however.
Although the four principles of power, knowledge, information and rewards can be
generalized to both manufacturing and service environments, their application to any
particular workplace requires fitting these principles to specific and somewhat unique
situations.
Converting to a high-involvement work system requires that managers and employees
work together to virtually remake the entire organization through the process of self-
design. Self-design can start with small pilot projects almost anywhere in the
organization, and handing responsibility for a piece of an interdependent system over to
employees can naturally result in the cascading of employee involvement throughout the
work flow process. Hence, high involvement is a rigorous, long-term process, but the
result can be a uniquely structured organization with highly engaged employees and astrategic advantage over competitors.
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FINDINGS & ANALYSIS
COMPANY DETAIL
Aluminum which is the most abundant crust in earth’s crust is having the properties like,
good conductor of heat and electricity, nonmagnetic, nontoxic and durable. It can also be
alloyed with copper, magnesium, zinc, silicon, etc to form various kinds of rolled
products; it is also called as “GREEN METAL”.
In 20 years of history, there have been substantial rational changes in primary
aluminum. U.S.A. is the largest aluminum producer followed by Russia. But most of the
recent growth in aluminum industries has come from the developing countries. As
aluminum is widely used metal and each country need it for different purposes. The
industry’s growth has been rapid in countries like Canada, UK, USA, Japan, Germany,
Italy and Australia. Other developed and developing countries also manifest a large
demand for aluminum; although India is yet to catch up with the trend.
Country Annual per capita consumption in kg
INDIA 0.7
CHINA 2.8
BRAZIL 4.2
UK 13.0
AUSTRALIA 19.2
FRANCE 22.3
ITALY 26.5
GERMANY 27.7
JAPAN 28.4
USA 29.0
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CANADA 30.9
Aluminum represents the second largest metals market in the world. Growing demand for the
lightweight metal is fuelled largely by the booming Chinese economy which already consumes a quarter
of the world’s aluminum Production. Analysts predict an annual growth rate of 7 to 14% in the Chinese
automotive industry up to 2011, a 12% increase in construction expenditure in 2007 and a minimum
of plus 16 million annual growths in urban population during the next 8 years. According to analysts
these factors will combine to see China consume 36% of world’s aluminum production as early as 2010.
In addition, the EU is discussing the possibility of introducing stricter CO2 emission requirements
for automobiles which will inevitably boost demand for aluminum. Aluminum is lighter than steel, so its
wider use in the automotive industry will make cars much more efficient. A kilo of aluminum, used as a
substitute for heavier metals in car industry, reduces gas consumption by 8.5 litres and produces 20 kg
less CO2 emissions. A 10% reduction of car weight results in a 9% increase of fuel consumption
efficiency.
Finally, rising prices for substitute metals, such as zinc and copper, stimulate a direct increase
of demand for aluminum in the power, transportation and construction sectors in particular.
Demand is enormous, consumers are wealthy, and profitability is evident: it seems a lot of companies
should be rushing to enter the aluminum sector, yet, the situation is not as simple as it may seem. Only
those who can establish and manage the full production cycle (from the extraction of raw materials,
the production of alumina, and the reduction of aluminum) in a highly efficient way can become leaders
in the aluminum industry.
Whoever owns resources owns the world Resources of bauxites, the raw material for aluminum, are not
widespread throughout the world. There are only seven bauxite-rich areas: Western and Central Africa
(mostly, Guinea), South America (Brazil, Venezuela, and Suriname), the Caribbean (Jamaica), Oceania
and Southern Asia (Australia, India), China, the Mediterranean (Greece, Turkey) and the Urals (Russia).
The main deposits of high-quality bauxites with high aluminum content (not less than 50%), are already
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divided by the main players. Other companies have to either buy alumina on the free-market —
or wholly depend on price movements — or join forces with deposit owners.
The richest sources of bauxite belong to the United Company RUSAL (UC RUSAL), which
was established in 2007 as a result of a merger between RUSAL, SUAL and the alumina assets
of Glencore (3.3 bln m.t. of bauxites), and to the mining and metallurgical giants: Rio Tinto (3.29 bln.
m.t.), and CVRD (2.73 bln. m.t.). Chalco of China comes fourth with its 1.92 bln. m.t. Alcoa and Alcan,
which are among the three largest producers, control deposits worth 1.89 and 0.38 bln. m.t. respectively.
These same companies make up the ten largest manufacturers of alumina. Analysts estimate that Alcoa
World Alumina and Chemicals (Alcoa’s alumina business, with 60% belonging to the American
company and 40% to the Australian Alumina Limited) will produce 19% of the world’s total alumina
production in 2007, UC RUSAL will produce slightly over 14%, Chalco will produce 12%, Alcan will
produce 8%, Rio Tinto will produce 4% and CVRD 3%. BHP Billiton (2007 estimate is 6%)
and Norwegian Hydro Aluminum (3%) are also among the leaders of alumina production.
The limited supply of raw materials is a factor behind the major consolidation trend of world aluminum
industry. In 2007 the merger of RUSAL, SUAL and alumina assets of Glencore was completed.
Rio Tinto proposed to take over Alcan, which, in turn, has already taken over the French aluminum
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manufacturer Pechiney in 2004. The US-based Alcoa is also named by the press as a potential merger
and takeover participant. According to analysts, the Chinese aluminum industry is on the verge
of changes: small manufacturers (amounting to more than a hundred in China), will either merger with
each other, or join Chalco.
THE BIG TEN
Today the Big Ten aluminum manufactures are:
United Company RUSAL is the leader of the world’s aluminum industry. Its products are exported
to clients in 70 countries of the world. The Company incorporates bauxite and nepheline ore producers,
manufacturers of alumina, aluminum, alloys, foil and packaging materials, as well as power assets.
The United Company holds 12.5% of the world’s aluminum market and 16% of the world’s alumina
market, which allows the company to produce 3.9 mln m.t. of aluminum and 10.6 mln m.t. of alumina
per annum. The company was established in March 2007, as a result of merger of RUSAL, SUALand alumina assets of Glencore. UC RUSAL provides employment for 100,000 individuals and is
operating in 17 countries on 5 continents.
Alcoa is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of primary aluminum, aluminum products
and alumina. The company is involved in aerospace, automotive, packing and construction industries,
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as well as in the field of commercial transportation and engineering solutions. Alcoa
has 129,000 employees in 44 countries of the world. In 2006 the company has produced 3.55 mln m.t.
of primary aluminum. In Russia, Alcoa owns OJSC Samara Metallurgical Plant and OJSC Belaya
Kalitva Metallurgical Industrial Amalgamation.
Аlcan is the Canadian aluminum manufacturer, which is over 100 years old. Today, the company is one
of the leaders in the world’s aluminum industry, producing bauxites, alumina and aluminum. It is one of
the three largest manufacturers of structural and packaging materials. Its production volume for primary
aluminum in 2006 was 3.4 mln m.t. The company has 68,000 employees, including joint ventures.
Alcan operates in 61 countries. In Russia, Alcan sells aluminum packaging materials, including products
for the tobacco and cosmetics industries. It has representative offices in Moscow and Leningrad regions.
At present, Alcan’s shareholders are studying a takeover proposal from the Australian-based Rio Tinto.
If the deal is approved, the new company will become the absolute leader in terms of volume.
Chalco or Aluminum Corporation of China Limited is the largest manufacturer of aluminum and the
only manufacturer of alumina in China. The company was founded in 2001 during the privatization
of Chinese aluminum industry. In 2006 Chalco has produced 9.2 mln m.t. of alumina and 1.6 mln. m.t.
of aluminum. All the assets of the company — 4 plants, manufacturing alumina and aluminum,
one purely aluminum and two purely alumina plants, plus, an R&D Institute — are located in China.
Chalco does not have representation in Russia.
Hydro Aluminum is one of the two main business units of Norsk Hydro. Its second line of business
is the oil and power industry. Hydro Aluminum is a downstream-integrated company with major
alumina assets in Brazil and Jamaica, and aluminum smelters in Australia, Canada, Germany, Norway
and Slovakia. The company has also announced its intention to build an aluminum smelter in Russia.
Hydro Aluminum has 26,000 employees. In 2006 they have produced 1.8 mln m.t. of primary
aluminum. At present, Hydro has offices in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
BHP Billiton is the largest mining company in the world. The company acquired its present
configuration in 2001, when it was created through the merger of the Australian Broken Hill Proprietary
Company (BHP) and the British listed Billiton. Aluminum production is just one of ten businesses
run by this Australian giant. As of today, overall production capacities of the company are over 1 mln
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m.t. of aluminum and over 4 mln m.t. of alumina per annum. BHP Billiton owns industrial sites in South
Africa, Australia and South America. BHP Billiton does not have a representation in Russia.
Dubal or Dubai Aluminum is the largest aluminum manufacturer in the UAE. Starting in 1979 with
a single pot line, producing only 136,000 m.t. p.a., Dubal today is one of the leaders of world aluminum
industry, having production capacity of 900,000 m.t. p.a. of aluminum. 3240 people work for the
company. The main markets for Dubal are: the Far East, Europe, Asia, the Middle East,
the Mediterranean and North America. Dubal does not have representation in Russia.
Rio Tinto Group — is another diversified mining company among the top ten aluminum producers
in the world. It got its present configuration in 1997 after a series of takeovers and mergers. Aluminum
production is one of the group’s seven lines of business. Rio Tinto Aluminum mines bauxites, produces
alumina and primary aluminum, accounting for 26% of all aluminum, manufactured in Australia.
The head-office of its aluminum operation is located in Brisbane, Australia, with representations in New
Zealand, Australia and Great Britain. Rio Tinto Aluminum employs 5,000 people. There is no
representative office in Russia yet.
Aluminum Bahrain B.S.C. or Alba is one of the largest aluminum smelters in the world. Since it was
built in 1971 in the Knaff District of Bahrain, the smelter has increased its production capacity from
144K to 850K m.t. p.a. of aluminum, thus entering the Big Ten aluminum manufacturers and becoming
the world’s third largest aluminum smelter. In 2006 Alba has produced 2.3% of the world’s aluminum.
Century Aluminum was founded by the Swiss company Glencore International, as a holding for its
aluminum assets, in 1995. A year later Glencore completed an IPO of Century Aluminum stock, leaving
a 30% package. The company employs 1,750 people. It controls or holds shares of several aluminum
smelters in the US and Iceland, as well as a number of mining assets in Jamaica and in the US. Last
year, Century Aluminum produced 660K m.t. of aluminum, which accounts for 1.9% of the world’s
production. Its head-office is located in Monterey CA. Century Aluminum has no representation
in Russia.
The Power of Success The reduction of aluminum from alumina by means of electrolysis is a power-
consuming process, hence most vertically integrated companies are generating their own power.
Accessibility and the price of power drive the second trend of aluminum industry development.
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Aluminum production leaves industrially developed countries and shifts to countries that are reach
in resources and able to produce their own cheap energy.
Thus, in the last 18 months, growing power rates, lack of local resources and a tightening of ecological
regulations have resulted in the shut-down or closing of European production facilities manufacturing
a total of 354,000 m.t. p.a of aluminum. In the next year and a half, 3 more plants will be closed
in Europe, with a total production capacity of 206,000 m.t. p.a. At the same time, countries like India,
Iceland, China, Russia, and UAE enjoy growth and development of aluminum production. Analysts
believe that in the next four years each of these countries will increase overall production capacity by at
least 500K m.t. p.a. China will be the absolute champion, adding a total of 7.6 mln. m.t. p.a.
of aluminum production capacities by 2011.
Aluminum has been used for for just over 150 years, yet it has already gone from being purely
decorative, used by jewelers alone, to being a material which allows us to travel faster, live more
comfortably, use all the advantages of progress and study the worlds around us. The corporate history
of aluminum production is an interesting story. Companies which were considered world leaders merely
five years ago have become divisions of larger competitors, while plants that started as pilot shops
for manufacturing aluminum have become the largest manufacturers of the «flying metal». And this
is just the beginning!
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The Background:
National Aluminum Company Ltd.(NALCO) is considered to be a turning point in the history of
Indian Aluminum Industry. In a major leap forward, Nalco has not only addressed the need for
self-sufficient in aluminum, but also given the country a technological edge in producing this
strategic metal to the best of world standards. Nalco was incorporated in1981 in the public sector,
to exploit a part of the large deposits of bauxite discovered in the East Coast. Incorporated in
1981,as a public sector enterprise of the Govt. of India, National Aluminum Company
Limited(Nalco) is Asia’s largest integrated aluminum complex, encompassing bauxite mining,
alumina refinaring, aluminum smelting and casting, power gene3ration,rail and port operation.
Commissioned during 1985-87, Nalco has emerged to be a star performer in production and export
of alumina and aluminum, and more significantly, in propelling a self-sustained growth.
Following the discovery of large reserves of bauxite ore in the east coast and the preliminary
project work done by Bharat Aluminum Co. Ltd. The company was setup by the Govt. of India
in1981 top implement one of the largest multi-location integrated aluminum projects of the world
with its own captive power-plant and port facilities. Different segments of the company went into
production in a phased manner starting Nov. 1985. Within a short span of time, the company has
emerged as a leader in the field of aluminum production in the company and also had made
significant impact abroad. The company has helped the country to make a quantum jump in the
production of aluminum and has also been earning substantial foreign exchange through creditable
export performances year after year. The company serves the national interest and enjoys trust and
confidence of the market and of the general public on account of its products excellence,
productivity, and profitability and good industrial relations. The inherent trust on customer service
is another hallmark of the company. Energy and environment are the subjects of prime importance
to the company. Right from the design stage, the company has adopted antipollution and energy
technologies. There is constant monitoring to ensure that there is no pollution of water and air and
that there is no disturbance to environment or ecological balance. Plans are on the avail to expand
basic capacities of the plants and create downstream capabilities to meet the demands of the future
Vision:-
To be a company of global repute in Aluminum.
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Mission:-
To achieve growth in business with global competitive edge providing satisfaction to the
customers, employees, share holders and community at large.
OBJECTIVES:-
• To maximize capacity utilization.
• To optimize operational efficiency and productivity.
• To maintain highest international standards of excellence in product quality, cost
efficiency, customer service.
• To provide a steady growth in business by technology upgradation, expansion and
diversification.
• To have global presence and earn foreign exchange.
• To have large distribution channels.
• To overcome the obstacles in the distribution process.
• To have international levels of distribution channels for the supply of raw materials and
products.
THE MANAGEMENT
The company is a Government of India enterprise under the administrative control of the
Ministry of mines. The company is managed by a Board of Directors appointed by the president of
India. The board consists of maximum 18 directors including the CMD of the company. Apart
from CMD, there are 5 functional or full time Directors heading Project and Technical, Personneland Administration, Commercial, Finance and Production disciplines. There are 2 senior Govt.
officials nominated to the board as Directors by the Govt. of India. Besides, there are non-official
directors in the board. There are two part-time official directors and eight part-time non-official
directors.
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Thus, the board of the company is a pool of highly experienced and outstanding professionals
drawn from various fields of specialization. The board enjoys max possible operational autonomy,
consistent with the overall corporate objectives, basic policies and programmes with a view to
achieve optimum utilization of its resources. Subject to the provisions of the Indian Companies
Act, Memorandum and Articles of Association, memorandum of Understanding signed with the
Govt. The CMD has full powers to sanction expenditure or to deal with other matters for effective
functioning of the company.
The management’s control system is based on delegation of authority and individual
accountability for results. The responsibility and authority to take decisions on various matters are
delegated by the CMD to different levels in the management hierarchy. For personnel matters
such as employment, confirmation, promotion, discipline, transfer, grant of
various benefits, leave, etc. powers have been delegated to different levels of
executives, in conformity with the principles and policies of the management .The schedule of
delegation of powers is a published document available for reference, which is subjected to review
from time to time to incorporate necessary changes.
SALIENT FEATURES:
1. Modern updated technology.
2. Captive resources in raw materials.
3. Integrated operations.
4. World class products.
5. International linkages in technology and markets.
6. Well trained manpower.
7. Sound financial management.
8. Pithead locations of the power plant.
9. 9th largest producer of alumina in the world.
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10. Efficient logistics in transportation.
11. Dedicated port facilities on the Bay of Bengal.
12. Environment friendly operations.
13. Self funded expansions.
14. Expertise in project management.
"It is as simple as this." Webb Edwards, president of Wells Fargo Service Company,
asserts, "When our people are in the right job, spending the right time on the right things,
feeling good about their contributions, fully using their skills, learning new ones and
having fun, they will do right for the company and the customer."
There's no question about it. Well-trained employees are the cornerstone of workforce
productivity and a clear-cut edge in the marketplace. As such, in a competitive business
environment it is especially important to develop a company's human capital strategy in
concert with its economic strategy. Just as businesses continually strive to improve
bottom line performance, they will also focus on employee performance with a
commitment to increase knowledge and enhance skill sets.
Accordingly, the deployment of effective training programs is essential. Although many
companies have extensive training programs that focus on content, they generally do not
take into account how people learn. Rather, the norm is for employees to be oriented andtrained in the style that is natural to the one doing the presenting. That is, trainers,
supervisors, leads or technical specialists unconsciously teach according to how they
learn. This phenomenon may result in a hit-and-miss training approach that is costly in
terms of time, money, frustration, mistakes and outcomes. More importantly, it does not
lead to enhanced and/or maximum performance levels.
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Personalized learning approach gets employees up to speed
Everyone learns differently. If employers take the time to study how each employee takes
in and processes information, they can create the right environments to transfer
knowledge in a way that is best received by every individual. In order to accomplish this
goal, it is important to identify, understand and apply the four most common approaches
to learning. They are:
1. Experimenting/doing. The individuals most likely to use this approach are
generally tactical in nature. When they attempt to do a task, they wait to see what
happens. Using trial and error, they learn by doing, by putting their hands on
something and really trying it for themselves. Whether or not it works, they are
still learning. They want to know: "What can you do for me", and "how soon can
you do it?"
2. Observing/participating. These individuals learn by watching someone else do
the task, and then they will try to imitate what they have seen. Taking notice, they
strive to replicate the knowledge or skill worthy of attention. These learners have
a special ability to associate what is unknown with whatever is known and benefit
from positive reinforcement. They want to know answers to questions starting
with "who" or "what else."
3. Inquiring/consulting. Individuals with this type of personality have a strong need
to understand and use a thought process that features an "if-then" approach. The
intent is to foresee the outcome of potential choices. They assess various
scenarios, talk to others to see what they think, look for alternatives and value
feedback. Needing to know the context behind the task and the rationale of what
needs to be done and the big picture, they want answers to questions starting with
"why" and "what if."4. Analyzing/patterning. People with this style function best when things are well
defined and the patterns are visible. These individuals need to reduce risk and
establish a step-by-step sequential process needed to accomplish a task. A
documented methodology, something they can reference when needed, is
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required. Reinforcing methods that work, they eliminate faulty ones. They seek
answers to questions that begin with "how" and "how much."
Certainly, there is no one approach to learning that is any better than another. It is simply
a matter of personality and style. In fact, most individuals may use a combination of
approaches, even though one style is often dominant.
Appreciation of different learning approaches
Bygie Quigg, director of performance improvement at Wachovia Securities in Charlotte,
North Carolina, not only knows how to hire motivated people, but she also knows how to
get them up to speed. "We use the natural talents of employees," Ms Quigg explained.
"We don't focus as much on expectation or preference, but we draw on their natural
instinctive talents to get the group up to speed." By assessing employees and customizing
the method of learning, employers can save time and money. Employees not only begin
performing efficiently in less time, they are also much less frustrated.
When a department in the bank's Retail Services Group underwent a number of
significant changes, Ms Quigg drew on her special knowledge of learning and behavioral
styles. A total of 20 new people were hired into the department at about the same time
that the department manager left. To fill the vacancy, a manager from another department
was brought in, and suddenly there was a lot of negativity and blaming. Ms Quigg
profiled the members of the group and brought them together so they could learn about
one another and their individual differences.
One of her discoveries was that the training system in place did not satisfy the learning
approaches of the people involved. Only a few team members had an
experimenting/doing style, while the majority were observing/participating,inquiring/consulting and analyzing/patterning types.
Selection made by natural talent
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"We picked people out according to their styles," said Ms Quigg, "and assigned them
tasks so we could use their natural talents. We picked those with an analyzing/patterning
style to do more of the detailed tasks that required repetition and documentation."
Ms Quigg adds that the each member of this team now has a better appreciation for one
another's learning approach and unique abilities, and the team has become a cohesive
unit. She asked her group, "You may hate detailed work, but aren't you glad there are
people in the world who thrive on that, so you don't have to do it?" The answer was a
resounding "Yes!"
Recognition of learning approaches helps employees understand their instinctive
personality differences, which can either assist or interfere with effective communication
in the workplace. It relates especially to what one needs to know in order to feel safe and
confident in accepting information and moving forward with it. In corporations today,
this means the emphasis on learning should stress its value for communication. It should
enable each employee to feel more effective personally and be able to work in a
synergistic fashion in the group.
Evaluation tools enhance learning
There are tools available to employers to improve training methods, improve productivity
and foster an environment of teamwork. They help companies analyze both personality
and learning approaches. Because of the impact on productivity, there are several key
features to look for when assessing and selecting learning support tools for use in a
corporate setting. Look for tools that are:
1. Easy to use. If a learning evaluation tool is not easy to use and administer, it may
be difficult to get an accurate assessment.2. Fast to administer. The ideal assessment takes only 15 to 20 minutes to complete.
If it takes longer, people may lose interest.
3. Devoid of technical jargon and psychobabble. Ideally, the results need to be
understood by everyone and should be presented in a logical, non-threatening
manner.
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4. Graphically presented. The results should be visually presented, making them
easy to understand and applicable to practical situations.
5. Useful in conjunction with other tools. A good learning evaluation tool can be
applied in conjunction with other tools and organizational activities.
Because each employee has a unique approach to learning, a business, armed with a
thorough understanding of each person's learning abilities and style, is better able to
equip its employees with the information they need to do their jobs well and enjoy long-
term success. Webb Edwards of Wells Fargo has first hand experience with these
learning tools. He notes:
"Fortunately, we have a learning tool that helped us fill a need. It enables us to look for
the kind of people who want to work together as a cohesive team and who are more
energized than our competitors. We want the best people from diverse backgrounds and
cultures."
By addressing the unique learning approach of each individual, a company can
significantly decrease the time required to integrate a new hire into a job and improve the
effectiveness of all employees. Effective, satisfied employees are more likely to stay with
a company over time, are more engaged and represent a tremendous asset to the bottomline.
Predicting success
Sara S. Fawcett, vice president of human resources at Edens and Avant, one of the
nation's premier retail real estate companies, headquartered in Columbia, SC, utilizes the
learning aspect of personality throughout all phases of employment, asking all applicants
under serious consideration to fill out a questionnaire. While Ms Fawcett is quick to pointout that Edens and Avant is not looking for a particular personality type for a job, using
an assessment tool helps not only with the initial training process but also with assigning
tasks throughout employment.
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Ms Fawcett uses the example of an upcoming task she is spearheading: rewriting the
employee handbook. "It's going to be very tedious, detailed-oriented work," explains Ms
Fawcett. "I want to have input from managers and supervisors who are going to be the
ones that apply these policies to their employees. In order for my handbook team to be
effective, I'm going to try to pick people who have a personality profile that would
indicate that they are interested in that kind of tedious work.
Choosing employees for tasks based on their learning approaches and personality traits
sets the team up for success. Handpicking employees to utilize skills, which they like to
use allows them to thrive in the workplace, making them a more productive and valuable
member of the team.
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Assessing differences in learning approaches
In order to accommodate the different approaches to learning, an employer must first
evaluate how each employee learns. This is done through what is known as a "forced
choice" personality inventory, where the respondent must chose either A or B answers to
questionnaire items. This type of assessment uncovers several dimensions of the
personality: rational, socialized and instinctive.
The rational personality dimension reveals the individual's preferred style in job roles and
activities chosen freely by the individual. When an employee is stimulated and enjoying
work, a "like-to" style is in evidence and represents positive personality strengths. In this
stress free mode, an individual experiences a sense of self-mastery.
The socialized dimension, created from responses to authority figures, represents learned
ways of interacting with others. It reveals expectations of self and others and how the
person expects to be treated to enlist support and to gather information. What does the
individual expect of the employer? How should the associate be managed? Does he or
she expect to be a team player?
The instinctive dimension reveals what a person needs to do. This aspect looks at core
survival needs and motivational forces. It identifies what an individual needs to really
feel self-confident and energized. These are needs, which must be met on a daily basis
and influence all activity in daily life. It provides the key to knowing why an individual
does what he or she does.
Learning style is revealed in instinctive assessment
An individual's approach to learning is revealed in the Instinctive aspect of the
personality assessment. The results of the questionnaire are given to both the employer
and employee in the form of colorful graphs and reports with detailed explanations. The
learning approaches are described in terms of colors so that there is no negative
connotation to any one learning mode. By depicting learning behaviors objectively and
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graphically, the trainer or employer has a good idea of how to present information and
training materials to each employee and can eliminate the roadblocks that come from
style differences. In this way, both management and the employee are more likely to stay
focused and achieve results.
Create understanding to increase productivity
Nancy Rubin, chief human resource officer for Providence Health System in Southern
California, uses this learning analysis model in workshops geared especially for reducing
conflict. She notes: "It has bridged a lot of gaps between people, because their personal
styles are different from their co-workers." Ms Rubin adds: "There's been a real lack of
understanding of why somebody may react a certain way in a situation. Once other team
members realize that is the individual's personal style, they are not as put off as otherwise
they would be." She says that now when there is conflict, employees utilize their
newfound learning skills to solve problems.
"People really get why that's [conflict] happening," asserts Ms Rubin. "They are more
able to ask for help about how to deal with somebody who is more this type than that
type." She reports that units are working together more efficiently and with much less
conflict. Where there is less conflict, there is more productivity.
It is important to recognize the key to learning is emotional and nonverbal. The learning
analysis model provides a method of uncovering hidden needs and making them visible.
Once the employee is aware of his/her personal strengths, he/she is able to work at the
highest level of productivity, thus creating more job satisfaction.
By assessing employees and letting them know how they learn and process information,
they understand what they need in order to approach a learning task or orient themselvesto a new position in their organization. By knowing what associates need, employers are
able to structure a learning system for them, so employees can take more of the
responsibility for their own learning.
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Benefits of adapting management styles to learning approaches
The notion that adapting training techniques to the four different learning approaches
requires more time and money is false. In fact, the opposite is true. Because learning is
structured toward the individual, employees learn more rapidly. The time and effort spent
preparing participants to do tasks is reduced and so is employee frustration.
Consequently, employers who use this technology quickly see new hires become
productive team members.
The upshot is that every employee has his/her own approach to learning, a style that can
be defined in terms of need. If that need is met, learning is more likely to be easy and
fun. When the need is not met, learning can be cumbersome. This, in turn, negatively
impacts job performance. On the other hand, quality training that takes into account
participants' learning approach will reduce staff turnover and assist in attracting more
skilled employees.
In addition, one of the most important benefits of adapting teaching styles to learning
approaches is that it boosts employee confidence. Using an approach that is different
from the trainee's style undermines the associate's self esteem and decreases confidence
in his/her abilities. Employees may know what their learning needs are at an instinctive
level but are often unable to verbalize those needs. An employee armed with information
about his/her learning needs will more likely take a proactive role.
Moreover, when using learning analysis model to train employees, there is a positive
impact on the whole team, department or class. Employees, now aware of each other's
strengths and weaknesses, work together more effectively with a deeper appreciation of
each other's individual approaches.
Work smarter
The use of personality and learning analysis tools leads to many positive solutions and a
competitive advantage in today's marketplace. They allow a company to work smarter,
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save money, reduce turnover and maximize its human resource's abilities. As Joe Edens,
chairman of Edens and Avant explains:
"Our company has grown from $300 million in asset value to more than $2.2 billion in
value with the best people in place. After a quarter of a century of experience using a
personality analysis tool, we can say with certainty using this is one of the best
investments we have ever made."
The right investments in learning initiatives pay off. The more skilled and knowledgeable
a workforce is, the greater the asset to the business. Accordingly, companies that rethink
and adapt their training methods to take into account how people learn experience
significant rewards that benefit the employer, employees, customers and the bottom line.
Now, that is a winning strategy in any economy:
Teaching model using variations in learning approaches
Using the concept of teaching someone how to use new software, here is an example of
how a trainer might make minor adaptations in the way information is presented to
individuals who have different approaches to learning:
• Experiment/doing. A person with this learning approach needs a brief explanation
of what to do and a clear target of the work to be done and the time it will take.
Given all the materials and equipment (manuals and computer loaded with the
software), the trainee would be allowed to use trial and error to work on the
program for a short time. The work would be checked for accuracy, immediate
feedback given and questions answered. This process continues until the trainee
can do the job successfully. Someone with this learning approach will choose the
resources he or she needs and is eager to finish the work.• Observing/participating. A person who learns via the observing/participating
approach needs an overview of the process, to watch an experienced person use
the software and discuss the options available on how to work with the program.
Then the trainee needs the opportunity to use the software with someone
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observing, discuss the work, receive positive feedback on work done correctly
and be coached for continued improvement.
• Inquiring/consulting. Someone who learns through the inquiring and consulting
mode needs to have all the information about the software technology, why the
new technology is being implemented, as well as how to utilize the program (past,
present and future uses and background information.) After understanding the
context for the task, the trainee would then begin using the new program and
expect detailed feedback.
• Analyzing/patterning. For an individual who learns by using this approach, the
employer needs to define precisely how the task is to be done. Information is best
received if presented in an organized, logical manner. This individual would then
organize the material in a step-by-step method, from start to finish that makes
sense to him or her. After completing some tasks with the new software, the
individual needs feedback about what is right and what is wrong.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
We've heard that health can improve a worker's productivity by improving their physical
capacity. But to be more accurate, improved health can improve a worker's ability to be
more productive. Productivity is largely a factor of an employee's desire to work. Just
because they have the physical capacity to do more work doesn't necessarily mean they
will. Recent evidence has emerged to indicate that perhaps workplace health programs
do in fact play that pivotal role in enhancing an employee's desire to work.
The human factor is simultaneously an organization’s greatest asset, and its greatest
liability. High performing, healthy and productive employees are the gears that drive a
business whilst a dive in employee productivity applies brakes to those gears ultimately
slowing profits. All of a sudden it takes longer and costs more to produce the same
product or service it did when employees were at their peak.
Job engagement refers to higher levels of vigor, dedication and absorption in daily
activities. It's about an employee's desire and willingness to work hard as a member of
your team. Job engagement should not be confused with job satisfaction. Macy and
Schneider defined engagement to have both emotional and behavioral components, with
emotional relating to feelings of focus and enthusiasm while behaviors are displayed by
proactivity and persistence. In many instances, job satisfaction may contribute to a
willingness to give high effort, however satiation doesn't guarantee the energy and focus
defined by engagement.
Achieving optimal performance requires delicate management; hovering on the fine line
between enforcing key performance expectations and pushing past it to stress, burnout
and resentment. In the same way, reward systems need to elicit a desire to work, yet not
be too generous, nor completely beyond reach and subsequently encourage mediocre
attitudes.
There are many benefits at an organizational level of enhancing employee job
engagement, the obvious being productivity, however there are also significant rewards
at a personal level. Employees who are more engaged in their jobs are happier, have
better home lives and remain healthier than those who are not according to research from
Kansas State University. Therefore organizational kick-backs extend beyond productivity
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and may include numerous health dividends, such as reduced absenteeism, improved
retention and reduced medical or injury costs.
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CONCLUSION
What factors can we influence that can help sustain an employee's drive? Is it simply a
measure of how well we dangle carrots? Financial incentives and key performance
indicators obviously play a role, yet they are industry specific and dependant on aspects
such as job type and demographics. There are however, key environmental and employee
support mechanisms which do play a significant role in enhancing job engagement which
can benefit both your business, as well as your employees and their families.
A workplace health and wellness program represents an effective and potentially cost
efficient mechanism for improving employee job engagement. In addition to health cost
reductions for your organization, it also demonstrates a genuine commitment to your
people - a key motive for engagement. According to the Towers Perrin Global WorkforceStudy, senior management interest in employee wellbeing is the number one driver of
employee job engagement. This is in line with other research, such as Macy and
Schneider, who confirm that the most important factors include fair treatment, and
creating a sense of safety and trust , all demonstrated by a genuine and visible
commitment to employee health and wellbeing.
For workplace health and wellness programs to be most effective, they need to be
ongoing and integrated into the daily operations of your organization. It's not enough to
offer your employees an annual health screening or quarterly lunch and learn. Your
employees want a sincere demonstration of commitment to their wellbeing. Health needs
to be a shared long term vision with ongoing support, and in return for this commitment,
your people will show commitment to the organization.
Job engagement and workplace wellness programs are more intimately related than some
may assume. They work in tandem, helping each achieve their targeted outcomes.
Workplace health programs aim to improve the health, energy levels and resilience of
employees. When implemented effectively, they help educate and incorporate strategies
to empower employees to be more accountable for their health behaviors, and to
encourage work-life balance. In addition, according to the results shown by Towers
Perrin, they also play a huge role in providing employees the confidence and ability to
become engaged in their job. Working in reverse, the absorption in one's work pays back
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into the health improvements and feelings of wellbeing - outcome targets of the wellness
program. Research shows that employees that are engaged in their jobs are happier, have
better home lives, enhanced work-life balance and are ultimately healthier. These
outcomes, driven by a successful workplace health program will produce significant
returns for an organization not only in productivity boosts, but also in health cost
reductions. There are estimates that high performing companies are expected to pay, on
average, around 12% less ($1,200 per employee) for health care in 2010 compared to
poor performing organizations.
We know that poor employee health becomes costly for companies. It also seems that
poor work culture and an employee's interest in their job can contribute to declining
health and performance. Noxious work environments, job insecurity, interpersonal
conflict and excessive pressure situations have all been linked to poor work-life balance.
All of these conditions have been shown to increase the rate at which employees will cite
work issues seeping into, and interfering with their home life. It's noted above that
enhanced work-life balance is associated with improved health, mood and job
engagement; it appears that the opposite is also true. Those with deleterious work
environments and lack of balance report higher rates of stress and are more likely to
exhibit risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. Even after adjusting for other health
damaging behaviors, chronic work stress made it twice as likely that men would developsymptoms of metabolic syndrome. Workplace wellness programs not only work to
address the poor health outcomes, but they help to improve the culture and work
environment.
There is somewhat of a sense of entitlement in modern society. Old school values of
working hard for a paycheck, forging a career path through a single employer thus
demonstrating commitment and loyalty towards that employer are fading. Employee job
engagement is not as organic as it once was, and finding new ways to entice a sense of
dedication from your workforce can have huge competitive value, particularly if it can
reduce your production costs and rate of turnover. If this solution concomitantly
addresses the declining health that plagues our generation then it can have many
immediate, and ongoing returns for your organization. Evidence continues to emerge in
the literature that suggests that a comprehensive workplace health and wellness program
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may represent the best current solution. As the number one driver of improving
workplace culture and empowering employees to take responsibility for their health and
wellbeing it allows them the freedom and confidence to focus energy towards their work.
Job engagement and health are closely linked, and should remain as a foundation to
nurturing a productive, competitive and sustainable workforce moving forward.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) Kansas State University (2009, August 25). Employees Who Are Engaged In Their Work Have Happier Home Life. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from
http://www.sciencedaily.com¬ /releases/2009/08/090824115911.htm
2) William H. Macey and Benjamin Schneider. "The Meaning of Employee
Engagement": Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2008; 1 (1): 3-30
3) Towers Perrin. "2009 Health Care Costs Survey. The Health Dividend: Capturing the
Value of Employee Health", June 2009.
4) University of Toronto (2010, January 13). When work interferes with life.
ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com¬
/releases/2010/01/100112135038.htm
5) T. Chandola, A. Britton, E. Brunner, H. Hemingway, M. Malik, M. Kumari, E.
Badrick, M. Kivimaki, M. Marmot: "Work Stress and Coronary Heart Disease: What are
the Mechanisms?"; European Heart Journal, Jan 2008 (doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehm584)