Increasing Workplace Efficiency and Productivity: A Critical Analysis

The article discusses the importance of increasing workplace efficiency in big enterprises, particularly in the banking industry. It highlights the need for managers to create a motivating environment that recognizes employees' needs and desires, such as self-actualization, training, and career planning. The author also emphasizes the role of communication, feedback, and employee empowerment in improving productivity and efficiency. However, the article also acknowledges that daily wage earners may require a different approach, focusing on extrinsic motivators like financial rewards and pre-defined goals.

Running head: REVIEW OF ARTICLE ON ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1REVIEW OF ARTICLE ON ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
Thesis Statement- The article tries to find out the factors that affect efficiency at workplace, the
reasons for low efficiency at workplace and how motivation can be a tool to increase efficiency
for daily wage earners.
Introduction
The research of the article is related to daily wage earners. Motivating factors for
employees of facility industries and big enterprises can be slightly different. The article is
reviewed to understand the factors that can increase the efficiency at workplace. The factors
which affect efficiency are well analyzed in the article which includes both intra and extra
business factors. The article also analyzes the factors that can reduce workplace efficiency like
unhealthy relationships at workplace and stress. The article discusses the role of manager in
motivating employees and thus increasing workplace efficiency.
Discussion
Strengths of the article
The strengths of the article are that the article is able to analyze the factors that affect
efficiency at workplace, the research work is good in the article, the perception of managers
towards employees is studied and a manufacturing facility of weaving and fabric factory is
chosen for the research .The utilization of software tools which is Statistical Package for Social
Sciences makes the analysis of data smooth and easy in the article. Meaningful insights are
drawn from the data analysis and robust use of statistical tools help in analysis of the data in the
article.
The article is successful in identifying several methodologies which can increase
efficiency in organizations. Enlargement of business, Business growth and development, job
enrichment and work study, Value Analysis Method, Zero-based Budget Management ,brain
storming methods are several methods to increase efficiency. Thus the strength of the article is
that it analyzes both qualitative and quantitative methods to increase efficiency.
The strength of the article lies in the fact that the article describes the conditions which
negatively affect workplace efficiency like unsafe and unhealthy workplace environment, lower
level of motivation and pay.

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The article is successful in determining how motivation positively affects workplace
efficiency. The theories and techniques of motivation which can increase the efficiency of wage
earners are discussed in the article. The article provides a vivid viewpoint about the behavior and
perceptions of managers and their role in motivating employees so that their efficiency is
increased.
The data of the research is well presented depicting the sampling techniques, research
methodologies, research tools and data is analyzed well. Inferences from the data are presented
well.
Weakness of the article
The article is based on research of facility industry, weaving and fabric factory is chosen
for sample collection. Thus the article focuses only on one particular industry and section of the
society. The article fails to provide insights about other industries or section of the society.
The article makes an analysis of extrinsic factors of motivation that affect efficiency like
marital status and duration of tenure. However motivation is often intrinsic in nature and is
independent of external variables (Guclu and Guney 2017).
My viewpoint
The author describes in the article that motivation has a huge role to play in increasing
the efficiency of the wage earner. The employees should be motivated by the managers and a
supportive environment should be created. I personally think that flexible work structure and a
supportive work environment with participative decision making can be a perfect organization
structure for multi-national organizations, where employees are educated and are self driven.
However, the motivation from managers may not completely increase the efficiency of daily
wage earners in facility industries. Daily wage earners often require monitoring and flexible
work structure can often hamper their productivity. A strong span of control can increase the
efficiency and productivity of daily wage earners.
Also according to me, the daily wage earners are more driven by the lower degree of needs in the
Maslow’s Pyramid like need for shelter, food, clothing and higher level of needs at the apex of

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the Pyramidal structure like self-actualization needs may not fully motivate the daily wage
earners because they are not completely self-driven.
The Thesis Statement
I agree with some points of the thesis statement and disagree with some other points.
Agreement with the Thesis Statement of the essay
Motivation has huge role to play in big enterprises and multinational companies.
Enterprises should not follow a rigid and hierarchical structure but should have a flexible work
structure. Supportive environment and participative decision making can increase the efficiency
of the employees. Motivation from managers and flexible work structure can increase creativity
and innovation at workplace thus making the workplace more productive. Fun at work and
cheerful work environment can increase the efficiency of the employees. Employees in big
enterprises are self driven and the higher degree of needs in Maslow’s hierarchical structure like
need for self actualization can play a huge role in motivating these employees (Wright,
Christensen and Isett 2013).
The efficiency at workplace is also increased by training and mentoring the employees.
Development programs for employees should be constructed carefully in big enterprises like
banking industry. Motivation at workplace and efficiency of workers are affected by factors like
training and development and career planning. Employees should have training and mentoring
sessions and these sessions should be reviewed by the employees (Bliesner, Liedtke and Rohn
2014). The objectives of the training and mentoring session should be set from before and the
employees should review the training session in the beginning , middle and end of the session so
that feedback from employees are taken and it is ensured that training objectives are fulfilled.
Career and succession planning has also huge role to play in motivating employees and
increasing their efficiency. Employees should be given opportunities to upgrade their skills to
survive in the highly competitive workplace. An open model of communication should be
followed at workplace and the self-efficacy of the employees has huge role to play in increasing
their efficiency (Cherian and Jacob 2013). The managers should inform the employees about the
details of the tasks in advance, the complexities of the tasks and the skills required to accomplish
the tasks should be clearly explained by the managers to the employees. The cognitive skills of

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the employees should be improved and the employees should be motivated by managers to take
up challenging tasks (Nielson 2013). Thus, managers do have a huge role to play in increasing
workplace efficiency as discussed by the author in the research article.
The light hearted environment at workplace created by managers can be a motivating
factor in increasing the workplace productivity and efficiency. The author clearly states that
productivity of the workers in facility units can increase and their stress levels can be reduced if
managers encourage fun at work which is true according to me (Gerow et al 2013).
Disagreement with the Thesis Statement
However, according to me, the daily wage earners in the facility industry might require a
higher span of control for higher productivity. These workers are not generally self driven and
lower degree of needs like need for food, clothing and shelter are major motivating factors for
these workers. So a strong monitoring of performance of the daily wage earners might me
required by the managers. There can be mismanagement and wastage of time if participative
decision making is followed and the opinions of the workers are considered. Pre-defined goals
can increase the efficiency of these workers. So in facility industries managers should focus on
setting the goals and conveying the same to workers. The workers are driven by extrinsic
motivating factors like a financial reward, bonus and incentives and they should be awarded this
monetary value to increase their productivity and efficiency. The intrinsic motivating factors
may not have huge role to play to increase the productivity of these workers.
The tools of motivation can be tailor made in organizations. The motivating factors for all
employees are not the same. For instance, for some employees intrinsic motivating factors like a
better work culture and job satisfaction can prove to be beneficial to increase their efficiency and
for some employees, extrinsic motivating factors have huge role to play to increase their
efficiency (Dobre 2013).These employees are affected by motivating factors like bonus and
commission and other monetary rewards like a pay hike. The line managers should communicate
with the employees and try to identify the factors that motivate them to improve their efficiency
at workplace (Parker 2014). Also empowering the employees and recognizing their
accomplishments have huge role to play in motivation of employees (Goffee and Jones 2013).
Therefore, appraisals of employees should be conducted frequently. Appraisal tools should be

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holistic in nature and the performance of the employees should be reviewed by self, peers and
managers like 360 degree appraisal methods (Blakstad and Andersen 2013).
Conclusion
The strong thesis statement of the article is clearly developed and while critiquing the
article, some points of the thesis statement can be agreed with, while disagreement can be
presented with some other points of the thesis statement. The manager’s supportive role can
prove to increase the efficiency of the workers in big enterprises. For daily wage earners, span of
control can be effective to increase efficiency. Participative decision making may not be fully
effective for these workers as flexible work structure can lead to mismanagement. Also, financial
reward and extrinsic motivation may play important role for these workers.

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