Explore how the Helping Hands initiative might affect motivation among the administrative staff at County General. Is this a good motivational tool? I am going to explore how the Helping Hands initiative affects motivation among the administrative staff at the County General Hospital. I am then going to decide whether the initiative is a good motivational tool or whether the idea could be improved and, if so, how. I am going to have to look at the Helping Hands initiative in detail, how it works and what could be done to improve its effectiveness.
By doing this it will then be possible to decide whether the initiative is a good motivational tool or if it is creating too much competition and demoralisation within the departments and within the teams at the hospital. The Helping Hands initiative is an award that is given to employees at the County General hospital who have gone ‘above and beyond the call of duty’. Its purpose, to show staff members how much the hospital values them without paying them more or promoting them.
It is recognised throughout the hospital that the administrative staff do not feel valued and that their efforts are not appreciated by either the medical staff or the general public, they are often called upon to explain why things have gone wrong to patients and their families. This is obviously going to present motivational difficulties within the administrative teams. Previous ideas included certificates, mentions in the hospital newsletter and letters from the hospital chief executive. These had been ineffective because they did not essentially mean anything or have value to the staff.
It is important that the reward, which is set in place, provide motivation. Staff do not benefit from a certificate or a mention in the newsletter but with Helping Hands they do, as do the rest of the team depending on how the winner decides to use the award. This is also good for motivation but, as I will look in to, can also be problematic for various reasons. The first is that coinciding with the launch of the Helping Hands initiative was the reorganisation of the structure of the administrative teams within each department at the hospital.
This involved a rotary system that allowed all members of each administrative team within each department to have experience in each role. The aim of this, to improve the understanding of the departments operations, make cover in absence easier and to enhance employees career prospects. The problem with this simultaneous introduction of two new schemes is that independently they both have problems but together they can cause demoralisation if there are problems with them and they are not identified. There are several other problems with using the Helping Hands initiative as a motivational tool.
In certain circumstances or amongst certain member of staff, for example, it could provoke a strong sense of competition causing disrupt to the administrative teams. This will inevitably lead to demoralisation and a lack of team spirit that would, in turn, defeat the objective of the award in the first place. The second is that the decision on who gets the award could be disputed and disagreements would be difficult to resolve fairly in the event that who should win the award is questioned. Also sometimes there may be the same winner twice running which may also cause problems between and within teams.
The first Helping Hands award was presented to Paul Jackson in Orthopaedics who received it for helping an elderly lady when she entered the hospital distressed and disorientated, because of his actions a potentially life threatening illness was discovered and she then received treatment. The last award, however, to have been presented was given to Brenda from Central Services after she uncovered major fraud within the department. This was intended to be a ‘profound message’ to all employees that this behaviour would not be accepted and that they should not be afraid to speak out about such matters.
The trouble with this is that it causes animosity and distrust within departments and teams. So not motivating to anyone. These are all reasons why the Helping Hands initiative would not be a good motivational tool. On the other hand rewards are a recognised approach to improving motivation, these rewards can include pay increases, material goods and security. These are extrinsic methods of motivation, simply meaning tangible and by offering a reward such as the Helping Hands award motivation should be, in theory, increased. Nevertheless it must be considered that monetary rewards are not the only reason that people work.
Because of this intrinsic motivation is workable and by giving staff the choice of what they receive as a reward they are also able to fulfil the social notion of motivation if they choose to include their colleagues. It is evident to see that the Helping Hands award is a good motivational tool in theory. It provides employees with an incentive to work harder and go ‘above and beyond the call of duty’. It also allows them to share with their colleagues if they win the award and this can be very motivating to a work force. It doesn’t, however, work as well in practice as is apparent from the County General Hospital case study.
It is plain to see that there are faults with the initiative that are brought about from the human element and, in this case, the introduction of other systems to improve motivation. The difficulty is that whilst motivating to individuals the Helping Hands initiative can create problems within teams if it is believed that the winner is not worthy of the award. If it is felt that the award is being rewarded for the wrong reasons or if, as it was at County General or if it coincides with other initiatives like the reorganisation of the teams.