Innovative culture in engineering - Siemens

Siemens is the engineering group that is behind many of the products and services people take for granted in their daily lives. The list of products designed and manufactured by Siemens is almost endless. It includes traffic lights, gas turbines, superconducting magnets in medical scanners, wind generators, automated factories as well as domestic appliances like kettles and fridges. It generates about 40% of the UK's wind energy and it hosts, supports and maintains the BBC's website including the development of the BBC iPlayer. The company has been operating in the UK since 1843 and employs more than 18,000 people. Across the world Siemens employs over 427,000 people.

Engineers use scientific principles to develop products or systems to solve real life problems. Much of engineering is about innovation rather than invention. This means that engineers transform creative ideas into improved products, services, technologies or processes.

Motivation is the driving force for a successful company and motivated employees are a company’s most important assets. Each individual is motivated through different factors and its as unique as one’s personality. A creative environment, such as that provided by engineering, can be very stimulating. Some staff at Siemens thrives on the problem-solving aspect of their roles and respond to challenges. Other employees find the varied nature of the work motivating having the opportunity to try different roles. Siemens employees also value the fact that they are allowed to be imaginative and can influence their own work. The structure of Siemens motivates individuals by empowering them to improve processes. Siemens provides the sort of environment where workers can learn new things and are given the opportunity to progress within the business. This culture demonstrates that Siemens values its employees and helps to recruit the next generation of engineers.

Perhaps the earliest attempt to design jobs came during the era of scientific management. Taylor’s scientific management theory involved observing workers to see how they carried out tasks. As a result of his work tasks were broken down into smaller scale units of work, requiring little understanding from employees of what they were doing. This job specialization meant that workers undertook tasks with a narrowly defined range, for which they were rewarded according to how much they produced. Payment systems rewarded those who produced the most. Today, engineering needs people with greater creativity, capability and flexibility. Taylor’s way of working is very different from the needs of the modern working environment. However his work has helped form a scientific understanding of how work is organized.

Siemens have succeeded in creating an innovative culture in the engineering process which is quite challenging in this particular industry. At Siemens, the culture encourages employees to be involved in their work, suggesting and implementing possible improvements. Control as originally suggested by Taylor, which removed personal responsibility, is not what modern engineering is about. Controls still exist but the person doing the job is encouraged to work as part of a team and become involved in deciding the best way to do or improve a task. This is because in engineering there is a continuous need to develop new and better products and processes. They cannot be confined to one way of doing things. For example, a new product or process may open the way to new markets.

One of the most famous theorists on motivation is Abraham Maslow. In 1954 he developed a “hierarchy of needs”. This he represented as a triangle. The most basic needs are at the bottom. The more complex needs are at the top.

Siemens provides their employees with opportunities to improve their higher order needs. Mostly, engineers have a high priority to fulfill such needs due the creativity demand of the job. Esteem is about having self-respect and the respect of others. Feeling that one’s work is making a difference can improve self-esteem. Recognition of an employee’s achievements by the employer also helps to meet esteem needs. For example, Siemens runs schemes in which suggestions and projects for improvements are rewarded. This could be financially, either individually or as part of a team, or in terms of peer or management recognition of their achievements.

Self-actualization refers to the need of becoming all you are capable of becoming. Siemens offers engineering staff training and development opportunities. This links with self-actualization as it helps engineers to extend their capabilities which may lead to a progression up the career ladder. Training and development also helps individuals to meet the changing demands of the business global markets.

Frederick Herzberg approached the question of motivation in a different way. By asking individuals what satisfies them on the job and what dissatisfies them, Herzberg came to the conclusion that aspects of the work environment that satisfy employees are very different from the aspects that dissatisfy them. Herzberg labeled factors that cause dissatisfaction of workers as “hygiene factors” (company policies, supervision, working conditions, salary, safety and security on the job). In contrast, motivators are factors which are intrinsic to the job such as achievement, recognition, interesting work, increased responsibilities, advancement and growth opportunities. Herzberg’s theory showed that managers need to attend to the motivating factors and personal development aspects to improve employee performance. They also need to ensure that hygiene factors are met or managed in order to avoid dissatisfaction in the workplace.

To remove dissatisfaction, Siemens follows the method where they raise awareness of issues with employees and encourage their involvement. They then understand and recognize the need for change. This has helped Siemens to manage change programmes. Motivators at Siemens are the factors that stimulate engineers to work in the best way possible. They enjoy the characteristics of their roles. Being empowered helps them to manage their roles and enables them to use this power to change things. Whether individuals enter the organization after they have taken their A-levels, as apprentices or as graduates, the work they undertake is stimulating.

By 

Sonu Soney Joseph

Enterprise Rent-A-Car - A success story in motivation

Motivation is the desire to achieve a goal or a certain performance level, leading to goal- directed behavior. Motivation is particular to an individual so it is important to find out what factors drive each person. Some employees may be motivated by working in a team whereas others could be driven by a desire to make a difference. In this blog I will be throwing light on how Enterprise Rent-A-Car (Enterprise) has succeeded in creating the right environment for motivating and engaging its people through the development of good communication channels, appropriate training and honest and timely feedback.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car provides a car rental service for customers. It was founded by Jack Taylor in 1957 in the basement of a car dealership in St Louis in the USA. Today the company has over 750,000 rental cars in service globally. The company runs on a very strong customer service and only a highly motivated staff will provide this quality of service. The company uses a simple customer satisfaction survey – the Enterprise Service Quality index (ESQi) - to find out how satisfied its customers are. It is based on two simple questions:          

1. Were you completely satisfied with your rental experience at Enterprise?
2.  Given the opportunity to return to Enterprise, would you?

Enterprise knows that to perform well on the ESQi it needs to have motivated employees. Motivational theorist Frederick Taylor believed that workers needed close supervision and were only motivated by money. However, Enterprise-Rent-A-Car has identified a number of factors which are non-financial and which provide high levels of motivation for its employees. According to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model, there is a hierarchy of needs that people want to fulfill through their work. At the lowest levels they require good pay so their basic needs for food, clothing and other essentials are met. However, in addition employees’ needs include:

• safety - a need to feel secure, e.g. through job security or personal protective equipment
• social - a need for affection, e.g. friendly work places based on trust, support and encouragement
• self-esteem - a need for self-respect and the respect of others, e.g. recognition and promotion
• self-actualization - the opportunity for personal fulfillment, e.g. learning new skills and working towards personal goals.

As part of its motivation programme, Enterprise managers are expected to ensure that employees are engaged and motivated by:

·         developing good relationships with their staff (this satisfies the social needs of the employee as per Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)

·          providing the right materials, equipment and information

·          encouraging employees to identify personal development targets (this satisfies the employee’s self-esteem and self-actualization needs)

·          recognizing and rewarding good performance. (satisfies employee’s self-esteem needs)

Enterprise also recognizes that motivated employees benefit the company by:

·         working with passion

·         coming up with new innovative ideas

·         moving the company forward.

Enterprise takes good care in developing and sustaining a positive work environment.  Enterprise‘s culture is based on having motivated people working every day to deliver the best service for customers. Managers and team leaders provide a culture through:

• Good relationships – managers take care of their employees. They try to find out about the employee’s expectations .They give clear directions and the team has fun together.
• Clear communications – clear goals and expectations are set and plans are shared. Reasons for doing things are clearly explained so employees can see how they fit into the big picture.
•  Adequate resources – managers make sure that materials, equipment and information are provided and fit for purpose.
• Encouragement – employees are praised for doing the right thing. Frustrations and problems are acknowledged. The focus is on working towards goals.
• Recognition – effort and good performance are rewarded. By establishing best practice, it is possible for Enterprise to measure branch culture against the benchmarks or standards it has set.

Developing a motivating culture takes time and effort. Enterprise managers and team leaders are given in-depth training. This allows them to develop a strategic, long-term approach to building a culture of customer care through motivated people. Everyone at Enterprise takes part in Motivation Training. This gives employees an understanding of motivation principles and techniques, so everyone‘s goals are in sync with the corporate goals as well.

Team leaders need to understand the needs of the people they manage to ensure they apply the right motivating factors for individuals. During training, managers learn to assess the motivation culture of their branch. For example, a branch with highly motivated employees may demonstrate this by:

•  answering the phone before the working day starts
• working together as a team
• regularly attending social work functions together
• arriving early every day
• organizing and preparing the office at the end of the day.

Employees are aware of the benefits of high levels of performance, such as recognition and promotion, but also the consequences of poor performance.

Frederick Herzberg showed that real motivation comes from within. Factors like good pay and working conditions (his ‘hygiene factors’) stop employees from being dissatisfied. However it is the opportunity to set personal targets and to develop oneself that are the true motivators. Within Enterprise, a number of de-motivating factors have been identified. These include:

•  a lack of organization or structure
• a lack of feedback
• a lack of understanding why a task is important
• a lack of consequences for poor performance.                                                                             

Managers are therefore trained to identify and work to reduce these within their branches. This may be by effective communication, training or clear guidance on job standards.

Recognition, one of Herzberg’s motivators, is important for employees to feel they are valued. To address this, Enterprise has introduced a system called ‘The Vote’. This aims to support and encourage the development of exceptional customer service. It works on the basis of co-workers providing assessment on themselves and each other. All employees in rental branches rank everyone in their team, including themselves, in terms of their customer service efforts. They provide a constructive explanation of the rankings given. These are then fed back to all employees. The names of the best performer and most improved employee are communicated to all employees in the region. This is a way of recognizing those employees who are delivering exceptional service and identifying those who may need additional motivation.

‘The Vote’ helps to achieve high ESQi scores because:

•  everyone is involved in suggesting improvements to others
• only constructive feedback is allowed
•  progress reports are issued regularly to remind fellow employees on how to improve.
•  improvement is valued as much as overall performance.

 A motivated workforce does not just happen. People need to be encouraged. This requires skilfull management and managers trained in motivation. Systems also need to be created which encourage employees to be more engaged with their jobs.

The table below shows how Enterprise highlights the differences between engaged employees and those who are not motivated:

Enterprise managers look for employees showing signs of disengagement so they can take immediate action. For example, they may remind employees why they are valuable.

They may also ask questions like:

·         How does your task and position fit your goals?

·         What could we do better?

By actively listening to the employee’s ideas, they may be able to make changes that will motivate the employee. Enterprise encourages managers to motivate their teams

throughout the working day. This involves:

·         making sure the team understands the objectives and target for the day (taking into account any constraints such as short staffing)

·         monitoring progress at mid-day and giving constructive feedback on how to make the rest of the day run smoothly

·          thanking and acknowledging each person’s achievement for that day and creating enthusiasm for the next day’s work.

Enterprise managers recognize that motivation is personal to the individual. If employees feel that they are being treated fairly, they will be more likely to give their best. Motivation comes from within an individual. Enterprise managers therefore need to find out about the personal goals and aspirations of their employees. What motivates one employee will not necessarily motivate another.

By

Sonu Soney Joseph