How to increase productivity and improve worker empowerment

Ceding control to workers is essential for motivation and performance to flow.

In today's capitalist model, the dream of many employers is to increase worker productivity, the dream of many employers is to increase worker productivity so that their organizations can generate more profits. productivity so that their organizations can generate more profits. And, although there is no definitive answer to how to increase company profits, the ways to do it or the tools that exist to do so, one of the methods on which the business system has been based in recent decades has been (and, unfortunately, mostly is) control over workers (Jódar and Alós, 2008).

However, there is evidence that the way to improve productivity is, in fact, the opposite: empowering staff autonomy..

Control and productivity in companies

Many authors (e.g. Peña, 2004) agree that as humans we are always seeking to eliminate we always seek to eliminate insecuritiesThis tendency tends to converge in a tendency to control the environment and ourselves. In psychology, this is known as the "need for control". Of course, the feeling of control or, in this work context, of being controlled, greatly affects how an employee perceives an organization.

Today we can speak of a degree or scale of the level of control in companies. Et one extreme would be those companies that are very controllingIn these companies, the worker normally feels obliged to follow the rules and is only there out of necessity (mainly economic) and is limited to following orders from "above", whether he wants to or not.

On the other hand, at the other extreme we find those companies that leave and share control with workers, increasing their autonomy (e.g. companies such as Zappos, Google and Twitter).

At this point, certain basic premises can be established relating the level of control and productivity. From clear everyday examples that reflect the reality of our day to day, where we see that if we do something that comes from ourselves we do it much more efficiently than if we are ordered to do it, to empirical studies that have already demonstrated that transformational leadership (Mendoza et al., 2007), compared to other more authoritarian leadership styles, is associated with a greater feeling of control on the part of the person (internal locus of control), as well as a significant improvement in work performance (Howell and Avolio, 1993).

The way different organizations are perceived is a key factor in the production process.Intrinsic motivation (the primary driver of productivity) is usually diminished in the first case above in the degree-scale, i.e. the more control there is.

Unfortunately, the world has been built under this construct and a large percentage of companies still have a hierarchical model. still have a hierarchical pyramidal model, where the one who where the one who is in charge is the one who is higher up, has more control and the power to make decisions. In this type of company, it is clear that workers "work for" and do not feel committed to the company's values.

The importance of motivation

With the evolution of the market and of human resources systems, it has become increasingly clear that there is a need to give more value to the user and to to give more value to the user and provide him with more power and motivation.The company has also been using the use of the "smart" system, both by right and for convenience in the workplace (in addition to eliminating certain psychosocial risks in the workplace that could be a problem for the company).

But what we are also seeing is that the more autonomy or control the user has, the more productive he or she is and their sense of belonging increases, as many authors theorized. It is worth mentioning Deci and Ryan, who in 1985 explained with their self-determination theory (SDT) that there are three psychological needs that must be satisfied for individuals to develop both personally and professionally: autonomy, feeling competent and relating to others.

To give the importance it deserves to worker motivation linked to their productivity, we bring you the latest survey State of the Global Workplace (O'Boyle and Harter, 2013) by the prestigious firm Gallup, which states that 63% of employees worldwide, a majority, are demotivated, and this means that they will devote less effort to achieving organizational goals.This means that they will devote less effort to achieving organizational objectives. Moreover, another 24% of the total are actively demotivated, indicating that in addition to being unmotivated and unproductive, they are likely to spread negativity to their co-workers.

Boosting innovation: the case of GAMeeP

However, there are already numerous cases of success where the company provides workers with self-management tools or reinforces and motivates them in an additional way, not only with economic resources, following the multiple theories related to the increase of productivity and job satisfaction.

This is where an applied research project in the area of quality of working life comes in, co-funded by the Center for the Development of Industrial Technology, CDTI (2015-2017) under the framework of research and development projects and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) linked to the ERDF 2014-20 smart growth program. The project is called GAMeeP (Gamified Employee Engagement) and has been developed by Compartia, a small Spanish company.

GAMeeP, following the line of argument, proposes a gamified team management system which aims to improve the quality of work life and increase the overall productivity of teams and organizations as well as simplify human resource management, while increasing the sense of well-being and employee engagement.

The power of gamification

In the context of gaming, a study by Ryan, Rigby and Przybylski (2006) concludes that individuals are attracted to computer-mediated gaming (video games, but extensible to gamification) in part because we experience autonomy, competence and interrelation while playing (precisely the three psychological needs mentioned above for a person to develop optimally).

In the virtual platform already developed a system of tasks and incentives has been designedThe system of tasks and incentives has been designed in the virtual platform already developed, giving the worker the power and autonomy to be able to choose and perform the tasks he/she wants freely, always within a time frame. Not content only with the development of the platform, a research (pre-post test model) was carried out to really demonstrate how the innovative gamified system improved workers' behaviors. The indicators measured were, on the one hand: Autonomy, Competence and Interrelation (Spanish version of the Satisfaction Scale of Basic Psychological Needs at Work; Vargas Téllez and Soto Patiño, 2013; Deci & Ryan, 2000) and on the other hand, performance indicators (Involvement/Commitment, Collaboration, Efficiency, Productivity).

The conclusions were very clear: thanks to the GAMeeP, users are more engaged, more collaborative and more productive, as well as increasing levels of competence.and increase levels of competence in certain contexts.

Conclusion

With the data on the table and previous research, we can conclude that the world is evolving, and with it companies and leadership styles. What's more, with the change in management methods of organizations come hand in hand with changes in people's behavior.. Having more control over tasks, being more motivated or having more flexible hours are just some of the changes that enhance the feeling of job satisfaction we see today.

With the change seen and expected in leadership styles and human resources business management models, current and future market needs (especially in certain sectors such as entertainment, technology, content, etc.) are on the horizon.

Today, at a time when the information era is giving way to the people and talent eraAt present, as the information age gives way to the age of people and talent, new models such as GAMeeP are being identified on the part of workers to enhance humanity and certain business values that lead to greater job satisfaction and productivity.