The media like nothing better than to bombard us with negative news in respect of job losses, scale of personal and government indebtedness etc.
A case in point is the recent reporting that cereal
firm Weetabix are being consulted over possible cuts to pay and working hours.
Management are planning a 10% cut in production staff wages and a wage
freeze for other staff.
The company said it needed to be able to "adapt to meet the
changing needs of today's modern families".
From interaction with companies across a broad spectrum of business there is no doubt that negative news is having a significant impact on morale and therefore impacting bottom line results.
It is important that managers take on board the effect of these outside inputs on staff and wherever possible reduce the "fear factor".
All too often the default position from management style is to rely on pressurising people to attain often unrealistic targets. Far from improving performance it has the opposite effect.
It is time for a rethink - instead of relying on the stick approach, how about hitting with a carrot?
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