Management Strategies and Practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Management Strategies and Practices - Essay Example This paper explores methods available for today’s managers to assist in attracting, motivating, and retaining employees to make a more productive organization. Finding the right individual who can fit the culture of the organization, according to Greengard & Byham (2003), involves hiring based on attitude and the candidate’s perceived ability to relate to customers in a positive manner. The authors further suggest that using this behavioral approach to assessing potential employees can be time consuming, offering the need for multiple interviews in order to make the right assessment. This tends to suggest, despite the efforts required of the hiring manager, that the outcome of these extended efforts will produce the best employee for the job. In actual business practice, research suggests that many managers simply do not have the time to invest in lengthy, multiple interviews due to the demands of a competitive business environment (Nickels, McHugh & McHugh, 2005). However, it might be a logical assessment that making the effort, despite the difficulties due to increasing business pressure, would far outweigh any minor interruptions to regular business operations when the outcome is a quality employee who may remain loyal to the firm for years. Of interest to the concept of motivating employees is recognizing a theory of management proposed by Douglas McGregor: Theory X and Theory Y. Offering a brief definition, Theory X basically proposes that people are lazy by design, thus without management intervention they would not accomplish their tasks (Gallas). Theory Y, in opposite accord, suggests that employees, if they are nurtured to succeed, will work diligently toward assisting the organization (Gallas). Companies which direct employee activities using the Theory Y approach, in most instances, will likely receive a better end