Question

GENERAL BUSINESS SCENARIO:

Bridget Jones has been the manager of the research office at her company for over a year. She is beginning to wonder if she will ever be comfortable in this role. Her employees seem dissatisfied and aren't working their hardest. Bridget leaves work most days feeling that there must be a better way to manage.

Remembering the lessons of the Hawthorne studies, Bridget works hard to praise her employees regularly. The work that her employees do is relatively interesting and there are considerable opportunities for advancement and growth. Bridget holds regular staff meetings to get input from her employees before making decisions. In spite of these efforts, Bridget's employees seem to be dissatisfied.

At the company's annual meeting, she runs into Cliff Richards, her predecessor in the job. She shares her frustrations and asks Cliff for advice. Cliff tells her "Management is simple - people are naturally lazy and uncooperative. To make them productive, they must be punished for negative behavior and rewarded when they work hard." Bridget finds this hard to accept, but replies with "Thanks for the advice, Cliff. I'll think about what you said."

QUESTION2: What advice might Frederick Herzberg give Bridget about dissatisfaction among her employees?

Answer 1

Frederick Herzberg who feels that satisfaction and dissatisfaction of a job depends on different factors and employees have various reasons for their dissatisfaction with a job. Frederick Herzberg might advise Bridget to find out what factors are not up to the mark with the job and what can be changed to make the work more easy for the employees. She must put in efforts to understand why the employees are not happy with the job and what factors are effecting them and must try to change the situation so that the employees might change their opinion on the job.