100 Ways for Leaders

Author: Wang Yuxin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features:
5. There are ways to make work more diverse and interesting—these need to be created. American psychologist Douglas McGregor once conducted an experiment, selecting 12 female workers. Initially, they were assigned clear roles such as team leader, packaging, and quality inspection. After they became proficient in their tasks, the original divisions were abolished, and they were allowed to organize production according to their own preferences and ideas. They were told that if production declined, their wages would not be deducted, but if production increased, their wages would be raised. At first, production performance was poor for several weeks. However, after 15 weeks, output rose significantly, quality improved, and costs decreased.
The U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare also published a research report analyzing workers' attitudes and job content. The conclusion was that a major source of employee dissatisfaction was the nature of their work—their job content. If their work could be enriched and expanded, then blue-collar workers would be more motivated to work harder. This shows that job enrichment is indeed something worth paying attention to.
Many companies today have provided excellent experiences in this regard:
1. Expanding job content and increasing job scope. Japanese author Kanda Katsu wrote a book titled How to Improve Leadership Skills. In it, he said: "In China, small groups are called 'teams.' Each team consists of 8 people and implements the 'Eight-Position System,' which includes:
(1) Statistician;
(2) Production Coordinator;
(3) Payroll Administrator;
(4) Tool Custodian;
(5) Labor Protection Officer;
(6) Quality Inspector;
(7) Cost Accountant;
(8) Planner.
These roles are rotated every three or four months, with a full cycle every two to three years, ensuring that each member accumulates various experiences and becomes a production expert."
The "Eight-Position System" was popular in China during the 1950s and played a significant role in boosting workers' motivation and tapping into their potential. Today, we cannot fully adopt it, but the ideas it provides are invaluable. How to motivate employees through functional division is indeed something worth exploring.
2. "Team Leader Rotation System." This was created by General Motors in the United States. Depending on the length of the production phase, skilled workers are periodically assigned to be team leaders. The company entrusts the entire production line to the team leader while also conducting regular evaluations and supervision through a monitoring committee. This allows many workers to leverage their knowledge, expertise, and strengths, enhancing their sense of initiative.
3. Organizing employees' activities groups. In capitalist countries, employees' activity groups are quite common, some called project research groups, others called special topic research groups. These groups typically have 10 or fewer members, with varying activity durations, some even taking up work hours. They usually exist for about half a year, with activities covering a wide range of topics, and the results are generally quite positive. For example, at Texas Instruments in the U.S., these groups consist of 8 to 10 people, with one or two engineers joining. Participation is voluntary, goals are self-set, and the groups exist for three to six months. The company has 9,000 such groups. Some believe that only within these groups can people truly feel their own existence. Japanese groups are even more mature, with many being:
(1) Full participation. Each group has 5 to 8 members, including everyone from the CEO to the workers.
(2) Comprehensive development.