How Managers Can Influence the Productivity of Workers

Managers play a key role in influencing the performance of employees since they can determine how workers enhance productivity. Often managers set goals that are unrealistic and demand the workers to accomplish them without knowing the harm they are causing to the employees. Workers are inflicted with discouragement and deteriorating morale when they are put in a dead end situation by goals that are unattainable.

Out of fear to fail in their management, managers set targets way above the workers ability to achieve. This sends the employees in nightmares as they tumble around to make ends meet. The result is a total failure and waste of time and resources as the workers beat about the bush and wonder in and around, simply spending more time thinking on what they can do achieve the results rather than doing what they are supposed to do.

The situation is, in fact, aggravated when the manager is autocratic. The employees shy off in giving their opinions and suggestion. They are whirled in fear of expressing the reality that the work is just too demanding to be accomplished as per the expectations of the manager.  This leads to a retrogressive performance.

Communication is a vital element for any business organization. In order to utilize this tool of performance, the manager should enhance a communication system that is open and accountable. This way the employees are able to channel in their opinions, ideas and thoughts that best lead to a desirable performance.

Empowering the workers to nurture a communication system that brings out the willpower usually makes workers more result oriented. For instance, compelling workers to reach set targets that where devised a couple of months ago during the initial implementation plans, and have never received any reviews and assessments, can be a derailment to the management efforts to achieve the projected results.

There is need for a constant review of the goals and plans in place to ensure that they are aligned to the changing business environment. A feedback loop must be created to offer a periodical update of the performance and any changes that may deem a necessary. Aptly, managers must realize that it is not their rigidness, toughness or their amount of authority execution that will influence workers to deliver, but the ability to develop goals that are attainable and measurable.

Furthermore, the more authoritative power is applied to manipulate the workers to perform, the more they become adamant and non-productive. To emphasize, today's managers should learn to captivate within the workforce what is referred to by critics as self-propelled performance process, where the employee is the kingpin in the work performance.