Human resource motivation in the Greater Manchester congestion charge project

Organisational Behaviour

Greater Manchester Congestion Charge

The following pages focus on analyzing the human resources situation that characterizes the Greater Manchester's transport improvements project. As revealed below, the project's implementation is very important for the future development of the city.

The project is even more important if one takes into consideration the resources involved. The project requires

billion, it must be ready by 2013, and the impact over the population will be very significant. However, the most important resource involved in the project is represented by the human resources.

As presented in the following pages, the success of this project relies entirely on the efforts and contribution of the employees involved. The management responsible for this project has a very difficult task in handling the human resources strategy that concerns this project and its outcome.

The main managerial challenge regarding human resources in this case is identified as personnel motivation. As mentioned above, the success of the project is depending on the quality of employees' contribution. It is quite difficult to be constantly motivated throughout such a project of extended duration, where appraisals will only come when the project is completely implemented, but the internal and external pressure is present at all times.

After identifying the main challenge, the paper focuses on presenting strategic recommendations, revealing the theoretical background also. A series of various motivational techniques are presented. Suitable situation where such techniques should be applied are described.

Organizational Audit

The case study focuses on analyzing the transport investment project implemented in Greater Manchester. The city is in full development process, and the growth of the city is expected to continue in the following decades also. Traffic must also develop in accordance to new requirements raised by the city's development. Therefore, a traffic investment and congestion charge project has started to be implemented.

The project is managed by the following partners: the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority (GMPTA), the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA), and the Department for Transport. The Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority manages improvements to public transport, cycling and walking, and the use of the road network. Together with the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, the GMPTA will also implement congestion charges proposals that concern drivers.

When controlling the project's execution, one must take into consideration the three main constraints that influence the development of the project: time, cost, and scope, and relating these constraints to quality requirements.

Regarding the project's schedule, it is expected that the first charge will be implemented in 2013. In order to establish the feasibility of the project in the presented timetable, the AGMA has performed several tests. Test 1 has revealed that "the proposed governance and delivery arrangements and risk management strategy will ensure the delivery of 80% of the investment program before Day 1 of a charging scheme, with the scheme itself being introduced on a phased basis over a 2-year period as 100% of the improvements to the transport infrastructure are completed and operational" (Arnold, 2007).

The project involves following many steps. As a consequence, it is very important that all the phases of the project are performed in the established timeframe. Regarding the project's cost, it is estimated that it will reach a total amount of

3 billion.

The scope of the project is probably the most important constraint that is related to the project. The purpose of this project consists in traffic decongestion in Greater Manchester, by increasing the amount of investment made in the public transportation sector, and by introducing a congestion charge in accordance with a set of condition.

Such a project is likely to reach a tremendous size and its impact will be very important. Given the size of the public investment, the timeframe, and the importance of the outcome, the effects of the project will be significantly visible. Therefore, it is very important that everything takes place in accordance with the schedule and all the quality standards are respected.

Therefore, one may consider that the success of this entire project relies mostly on the human resources involved in the traffic investments program. Although the importance of financial and technological resources in this project cannot be denied, without complete implication from the human resources involved, the project cannot be successful.

The organization addressed by this case study can be considered as a social invention, designed for accomplishing common goals through common effort, having the essential characteristic of employees' coordinated presence.

The strategic importance of human resources is acknowledged by the fact that they represent a critical variable for the success of this project. Recent studies performed on Canadian organizations have revealed the fact that 66% of the responding managers consider human resources expenses as strategic investments and not as costs that must be minimized (Belcourt, 1998).

As a consequence, the main aspect that must be seriously taken into consideration by the management involved in this project consists in personnel motivation. As mentioned above, the transportation improvement program is very important for Greater Manchester's future development, and its success relies entirely on the human resources involved in the project.

If the employees involved in the project lose their motivation, the quality of their work will decrease, which will significantly influence the outcome of the project. For example, certain deadlines for accomplishing parts of the project will be delayed, which means the entire project's finish date might be delayed.

Also, such delays would significantly increase the project's costs. In addition to this, any delays or cost increases could produce great pressure from the public, other authorities, media, and other organizations involved in the public activity.

This is the reason for which employees' motivation represents the most important challenge for the managers involved in this project. The transport improvement program will be implemented in several years. During this time, employees must maintain a constant level of involvement and of work quality. It is an observed fact that employees' motivation drops progressively as the project develops. Therefore, managers must maintain a constant level of employee satisfaction through thoroughly established motivational strategies.

Strategic recommendations

The strategies implemented by the organization must reflect a broad perspective and a dynamic vision on human resources, fully integrating them within the project. The strategies that will be recommended in the following pages must show long-term continuity for the employees.

As Milkovich and Boudreau state, human resources strategies refer to the organization's fundamental manner of regarding its employees. In addition to this, the following aspects must be taken into consideration:

Managers' decisions regarding employment relationships

The effects that environmental pressures have on the organization and its employees

The connection between organizational conditions and managerial decisions regarding human resources

Relevant literature also presents other guidelines that can be applied in this case, regarding personnel strategies:

a) project's intention to integrate, diversify, and develop b) proposals regarding the increase of the organization's efficiency during the project implementation c) the necessity of developing a positive culture, oriented towards performance d) management demands associated with changes within the organizational culture e) other environmental factors that could influence the project, like: government's intervention, legislation, public pressure (Armstrong, 1996).

Regarding strategic recommendations, there are three general types of strategies that can be applied in this case:

Personnel strategy oriented towards investments

Personnel strategy oriented towards value

Tactical policies and practices

As mentioned above, the most important challenge that managers involved in the Greater Manchester's transport investments project must deal with regarding human resources consists in personnel's motivation.

The most important theoretical approaches in the field include: McGregor's X and Y theory, Maslow's theory, Herzberg's theory, Vroom's theory, and the contingency approach. According to these theories regarding motivation, there are three sets of essential variables:

Individual: skills, knowledge, effort, behavior, performance

Organizational: organizational strategy, organizational culture and climate, economic situation, management's quality, prestige, and leadership, communications, motivational methods, organizational performance

Contextual: national culture, country's development level, national legislation, taxes, level of incomes

The motivational strategy must be elaborated by addressing all of the components of the motivational cycle:

Employees' needs (material, cognitive, relational) - aspirations and expectations - attitudes, efforts, decisions, actions, behaviors - performances (individual and organizational) - stimulation (rewards and sanctions) - motivation for labor, performance, and professional development.

The motivational strategy comprises a vary detailed range of techniques, that vary from formal to informal techniques, or from economic to moral and spiritual techniques. In the case of Greater Manchester's transport improvements program it is recommended to apply the following motivational techniques:

Formal - economic: wage, bonuses, wage penalization

Formal - moral - spiritual: written warning

Formal - complex: promotion, temporary suspension, dismissal

Informal - economic: gifts, festive meals

Informal - moral - spiritual: appraisal, granting trust, celebration ceremonies, critique

When designing the personnel policy, one must start by analyzing personnel objectives that define, synthesize, or express the goals that must be attained. They represent the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the pursued goals. Also, personnel objectives represent evaluation criteria for future activities in the human resources field.

It is very important to determine the types of motivation that are the most suitable in this case. Numerous and various possible motivations can be used within the organization, in accordance with certain criteria. Basically, a motivational type represents the ensemble of motivations, delimited in accordance with a set of criteria, used repeatedly by managers in a specific manner, based on certain hypotheses regarding motivational conditioning of the employees' performances.

The basic sets of motivation are:

Positive and negative

Economic and moral - spiritual

Internal and external

Cognitive and affective

It is recommended to apply each of these motivational types, since each of them is suitable in certain conditions. For example, positive motivation aims at increasing personnel's efforts and contribution to achieving the project's objectives, based on amplifying employees' satisfaction.

This type of motivation should be applied in less important cases. For example, in case an employee reduces the amount of involvement in the project. It is not recommended to use positive motivations when dealing with important negative behaviors from employees, since positive motivation would not be enough in such cases.

Negative motivation aims at increasing personnel's contribution by diminishing satisfaction. This type of motivation should be applied in case an employee does not accomplish the tasks and objectives established by his superiors. However, if the situation repeats for several times, such motivation may not be sufficient.

Economic motivation uses classic economic means that are meant to satisfy employees' economic aspirations and expectations. This technique has a very important influence on long-term. It is the main type of motivation that must be used within the Greater Manchester traffic investments project. If the personnel is not financially motivated, it does not matter what other types of motivation are used, since they will not be sufficient.

The moral - spiritual motivation deals with satisfying moral and spiritual expectations of employees, involving their system of values, attitudes, and behavior. This kind of motivation is useful for short-term periods of time, it can be easily applied by superiors.

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