Employee Motivation: Appraisals and Reprimands

While machinery can operate at peak efficiency with relatively little maintenance, employees demand far more support to reach their full potential. As a manager or team leader one must understand how to support his or her employees in order to encourage optimal performance and keep everyone motivated.

An autocratic management style where mistakes are punished is unfortunately still widely used in many businesses. In order to prevent a reduction in employee motivation, it is important to place rewards above reprimands. If the need for a reprimand arises, a short but detailed reprimand should be given to the employee, followed by a short comment regarding your belief in the future performance in the employee. This serves as an effective notification of their error, while giving them the encouragement to achieve an acceptable performance level in the future.

It is vital to give regular rewards to employees after a good performance. Rewards should be aimed to out way reprimands whenever possible. Additionally, it is important to not over reward an individual or team as this can result in a reduction in the value of future rewards. Furthermore, when a verbal appraisal is given, the appraiser must specifically state in detail the reason for the appraisal, otherwise the individual might begin to feel that the appraisals are empty and meaningless.

The optimal scenario is to prevent mistakes taking place altogether. The main source of mistakes is caused by an inefficient explanation of the task presented by the superior. It is crucial for and manager to spend time with the employee or team that they want to performance the task and together set the goals that need to be achieved. Time should be given to sort out any misunderstandings and questions at this stage as this saves both the employees and managers time in the future.