BEP’s got me covered.

The cover design for Managing Employee Turnover is in:

Allen Bryant Cover

Now that you’ve PREVIEWED the cover, it’s a great time to PRE-ORDER the book:

PRE-ORDER NOW

Remember, shipping is free for a limited time.

THANKS!

Dr. Phil

An excerpt from Chapter 12 of Managing Employee Turnover

Principle 2: Specific and Challenging Goals Can Increase Employee Engagement

 Much has been written about the importance of goals to organizational and individual success. The purpose of this section is not to supplant or to recreate what already exists. One of the most successfully used goal-setting methodologies, Management By Objectives (MBO), was popularized by Peter Drucker in 1954. We refer the interested reader to his book, The Practice of Management, for an MBO primer.

More relevant here, though, is the role of goals in employee engagement, and the importance of engagement to retention. It is this topic to which we now turn.

The Research Evidence

Edwin Locke and Gary Latham are considered the pioneers in the study of goal setting and motivation. We highly recommend their seminal book entitled Goal Setting: A Motivational Technique that Works.

 Although originally written as a theory of motivation, goal setting done right has since been shown to not only increase employee motivation but also to increase employees’ sense of well-being, and to provide employees with a sense of direction and focus. In turn, each of these is related to reductions in employee turnover through engagement. Goal setting done right has been shown to reduce absenteeism (often seen as a lesser version of withdrawal than turnover and hence a proxy measure of likelihood to turnover).

The theory of goal setting has been corroborated by dozens of independent studies across a cumulative 40,000+ subjects across several nations and across several occupational fields.

Getting Started with Specific and Challenging Goals

Much of the research on setting goals can be boiled down to five steps in setting goals and six characteristics of well-written goals.

The five steps in good goal writing offered by Robbins and Coulter are: (1) Review the organization’s mission, or purpose. It is important to be sure that employees are working toward goals that advance the goals of the organization as a whole. (2) Evaluate available resources. Rather than motivating employees, setting and having goals that cannot be met with the given resources can be a huge demotivator. (3) Determine the goals individually or with input from others. If the culture of the organization permits, it is always better to receive input from employees on their own goals. Sometimes, though, the culture or needs of the organization lend themselves more toward goal setting from above. (4) Write down the goals and communicate them to all who need to know. This serves two purposes. First, it creates a sense of accountability to the stakeholders who are aware of and affected by the goals. Second, it serves as a constant reminder that employees can refer back to regarding what it is they are actually trying to accomplish on a daily basis. (5) Review results and whether goals are being met, and provide continuous feedback to help employees monitor where they stand regarding their goals. This helps make sure that things are staying on track and allows for revision of goals upward or downward as necessary. We would also add that some research suggests strict goal setting may work better in more highly routinized work settings.

Along with the five steps to goal setting, Robbins and Coulter also offer the following six characteristics of well-written goals: (1) Written in terms of outcome rather than action — it is important to make sure that employees are motivated and rewarded by outcomes more than by activity. (2) Measurable and quantifiable — this characteristic of a well-written goal makes for a specific target to shoot for, makes the determination of goal accomplishment an objective rather than subjective judgment, and provides a specific benchmark for the fair distribution of rewards as discussed previously. (3) Clear as to a time frame—this ensures that goals are being accomplished in a timely manner that is relevant to the time requirements of the organization. (4) Challenging yet attainable — on one hand employees need to be challenged to sustain a high level of engagement, at the same time though, it is important for employees to believe that they can rise to the challenge given the support and resources provided by the organization. Substantial research shows that setting specific challenging goals is more effective than goals that emphasize “doing your best.” (5) Written down and (6) communicated to all necessary organizational members — again these serve two purposes. First, they create a sense of accountability to the stakeholders who are aware of, and affected by the goals. Second, they serve as constant reminders that employees can refer back to regarding what it is they are actually trying to accomplish on a daily basis.

 In Summary, Well Crafted Goals Are:

• measurable,

• quantifiable,

• time bound,

• challenging

• attainable,

• written, and communicated.

Chapter 12

1. Allen, Bryant, and Vardaman (2010)

2. Drucker (1954).

3. Locke and Latham (1984).

4. Latham and Locke (2006).

5. Latham and Locke (1979).

6. Locke (2000).

7. Robbins and Coulter (2009).

8. Locke and Latham (1990).

9. Hackman and Oldham (1975)

10. Hackman, Oldham, Janson, and Purdy (1975).

11. Hackman and Oldham (1976);

12. Oldham, Hackman, and Pearce (1976).

© 2012, Business Expert Press

Parents, I ask you to consider what I’ve said. Sincerely,

You gotta love this kid!

Dorothy and I received the following email from one of our children last night. We’ve not yet addressed his concern. Instead, We asked him to forward his source of information.

[click here for the original source].

The email:

Mom, Dad,

 

Please read with consideration.

 

i just read that more than half of parents give their kids $65 dollars a month. that is $16.25 a week.

 

in addition, more than half of parents give their children around $112 dollars for straight As (equaling $16 dollars an A)

 

Think that’s high? Not really, Inflation isn’t just messing with the price of groceries and gas, Inflation has hit the Lego and Paintball industries just as much.

 

Inflation is bound to go up, and If Brother and I  get $7-8 a week (Totaling $28-32 a month) then that’s not even half of what the vast majority of children (including 8 year old kids) get.

 

Just think, once we leave your house, we’ll have our College Fund (which we greatly thank you for) until we graduate college.

 

Then what? inflation has gone up. and with our allowance, we could save around $1,344 since the beginning of High school. Whereas most children could save around $3,120 since then.

 

We would start real life with around 1 third as much as most young adults, which could lead to financial poverty later down the road.

 

Parents, I ask you to consider what I’ve said.

Sincerely,

We think we’ll encourage him into law school… 😉 …

Forsaken

Papa took my little Lamb,
The one I loved to hold.
My soft and cuddly, loving Lamb,
I’d taken from the fold.

I cried all day for my Lamb,
The one my Pop had taken.
“Why, dear Pop? I don’t understand!
By Pop, I’d been forsaken.

The night that Papa took my Lamb,
We sat around the table.
I tried to ask about my Lamb,
So down, I wasn’t able.

Pop spoke first, asked: “How’s the meal?
Tonight we’re havin’ Lion.”
I couldn’t eat, nor hardly feel.
I feared that Pop was lyin’.

© 2012, Dr. Phil Bryant

“When writing your missi…

“When writing your mission or purpose,
As an organization or as an individual:
Be narrow enough to Define yourself,
Broad enough to not Confine yourself.”
— Dr. Phil Bryant

What advice do you give organizations or individuals considering their mission / purpose?

Keep Swinging and hit new heights.

With so many business books on the market, how do you know which ones are worth your time? Every reader has their own answers. Here’s just one. 800-CEO-READ.  Every month 800-CEO-READ presents their top selling business books.

This month Jay Myers’ book, Keep Swinging made it to 800-CEO-READ’s top 25, again. I met Jay about 5 years ago. We were both guest speakers in an Entrepreneurship class. What a tough act to follow.

Keep Swinging is an inspirational read and Jay is an inspirational and engaging speaker. He speaks and writes from the heart. Keep Swinging is the story of Jay’s company, ISI, it’s struggles and triumphs? His book encourages us all that if we just Keep Swinging we can accomplish our dreams.

Jay’s accomplishment of #19 on the list this month is especially noteworthy as he rises on the list above business author powerhouses such as the Heath brothers and Jim Collins.

Need a boost in your business during these tough economic times? Keep Swinging.

Redeeming Poetry

What is it with modern poetry and modern poets?

I just read a poem by a current author. Now excuse me – I feel like I should go shower!

It seems that poetry – an art I’ve always believed was as an expression of all that is right, true, beautiful, clean, lovely, etc. – has become just another venue for expressions of impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, orgies, and the like.

Would love to hear your thoughts. What’s poetry meant to be? What’s its purpose? Why read it? Why write it?

Thanks,

Dr. Phil Bryant

They’ll Have to Wear Shades

My publisher confided that whenever she receives a new pre-order for a book that is not yet in print, it brightens her day a bit.

They informed me yesterday that there are over 100 pre-orders for Managing Employee Turnover.

Help me flood the publisher with so many pre-orders that their days are so brightened they’ll have to wear shades.

Two months to go ’til its in print. If we can get 1,000 pre-orders before it is printed, I’ll ship a pair of shades to the publisher.

To pre-order, follow the link:

Managing Employee Turnover: Dispelling Myths and Fostering Evidence-Based Retention Strategies

Pearson Crutcher, Executi…

Pearson Crutcher, Executive Director of the Society of Entrepreneur, on Entrepreneurship:

“I think the entrepreneur is the heart and soul of our country, and we need to do whatever we can to educate people who want to be one.”

http://www.rsvpmagazine.com/voxpopular

Stressed out with all this “Globalization”?

My good friend, Terrye Nelson, has partnered with a couple of international organizational behavior heavyweights in writing this timely book.

Rabi Bhagat is one of the most internationally recognized and highly published professors of business at the University of Memphis. Jim Segovis is the former Senior Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of Treasury. Terrye, currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Memphis has substantial experience in industry, including 9 years as Sr.V.P. at First Horizons National Bank.

If you are feeling stressed out about globalization, I proudly recommend Work Stress and Coping in the Era of Globalization.