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He encouraged managers to understand that employees want to perform jobs well, but these barriers prevent them from doing so. Lack of motivation is seldom the cause of poor performance or poor quality.
Dr. Deming's instructions are well worth following, but we have observed that they may be difficult to implement objectively:
1. It is hard, in some organizations, to get employees to talk openly about the factors that serve as deterrents to their performance. Those who have spoken out may have been labeled as troublemakers. (After all, most barriers that employees are likely to identify fail within the responsibility of their supervisors in the organization -- those who dare to speak out about them may not be well-received.)
2. Second, employees simply may feel that there is no use wasting energy on something that is unlikely to be improved.
Even when employees do feel comfortable making their views known, we are confronted with sampling complications:
* Must we interview all employees to make sure we've uncovered all of the major barriers?
* How do we know which obstacles are most important?
Sometimes we can be led to believe that the problems of the most outspoken employees should receive the highest priority in our improvement efforts.
We do not mean to suggest that the assessment of these barriers or obstacles should be forsaken, but, rather, that a more objective method may help to overcome some of the problems mentioned above.
Why create a survey instrument to aid in identifying workplace obstacles? Our interest in this topic was spurred by our observations that even though there had been an overwhelming amount of research on employee motivation, much of it designed to assist managers in getting the most out of their workforces. While this research has been useful, it seemed to overlook the significance of factors in the work environment that are outside of employees' control. (For example, the employee typically does not have control over materials that don't arrive, poor indoor temperature control, or written instructions that are difficult to read.)
In the short run, these factors prevent employees from doing the level of work they are motivated to do. In the longer run, employees' motivation may fade as they realize that their goals cannot be...