The Demotivated Employee

DO YOUR EMPLOYEES SEEM DISENGAGED? Do you ever wonder why employees are not as motivated and productive as you would like for them to be? Do you find yourself thinking that some employees are just "lazy slackers"? You may be surprised to learn that there are other explanations for employee demotivation that you may not be thinking about when you are leading people. Authors Tara Peters and Cathy Bush have worked with thousands of leaders who are shocked to learn that managers and leaders play a significant role in causing employees to lose motivation. Without even realizing it, we take all sorts of actions during the process of leading people and organizations, and many of these actions actually deflate the motivation that people bring with them to work. In The Demotivated Employee, readers will learn what leadership behaviors they are engaging in that might demotivate their employees; how to better communicate with employees so this doesn't happen; and how to work within the constraints of organizational culture to help employees thrive.

Motivation has become a multi-billion dollar industry, courtesy of the patronage of corporations and the noble intentions of Executives who lead them. At the heart of this colossal confederation of inspirational speakers, platitudinous posters, parable-filled management books, and increasingly complicated incentive programs lies an alluring promise: that with enough encouragement, empowerment, and esteem, employees will become productive and loyal, to the benefit of both their employers and themselves.Yet, in spite of the staggering expenditures on packaged esteem, polls show that worker morale has reached critical lows, with a majority of employees even claiming to hate their jobs. How is this possible? And more importantly, what can Executives do about this crisis of employee dissatisfaction?In this revolutionary new management book, Despair, Inc.® founder Dr. E. L. Kersten plumbs the depths of employee discontent to find its root cause. Though most live lackluster lives filled with wasted opportunities and trivial accomplishments, employees grow ever more certain of their enormous worth and glorious destinies. Why is this so? Because most are the products of a narcissistic age, the spiritual casualties of a grand social experiment gone terribly awry.Ironically, managers attempting to motivate employees by increasing their self-esteem only compound the very problem they seek to solve.Reinforcing employee delusions of grandeur only increases their irrational sense of entitlement to the wealth, stature and privilege that justice dictates be reserved for the truly accomplished and inarguably worthy: namely, Executives.With The Art of Demotivation former professor and current executive Kersten offers not only a comprehensive analysis of the problem but a prescriptive solution; one grounded not in the fantasies of infinite human potential so often advanced by the motivation industry, but in the grim realities of a broken world. Managers who seek a productive, loyal workforce must first liberate employees from the prison cells of their narcissism by forcing them to confront that which they expend enormous energy to avoid:their true selves.

Imagine overseeing a workforce so motivated that employees relish more hours of work, shoulder more responsibility themselves; and favor challenging jobs over paychecks or bonuses. In One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees? Frederick Herzberg shows managers how to shift from relying on extrinsic incentives to activating the real drivers of high performance: interesting, challenging work and the opportunity to continually achieve and grow into greater responsibility. The results? An ultramotivated workforce. Since 1922, Harvard Business Review has been a leading source of breakthrough management ideas-many of which still speak to and influence us today. The Harvard Business Review Classics series now offers readers the opportunity to make these seminal pieces a part of your permanent management library. Each highly readable volume contains a groundbreaking idea that continues to shape best practices and inspire countless managers around the world-and will have a direct impact on you today and for years to come.

Workplace disenchantment can cause major issues for organisations – productivity decreases, employees can turn actively destructive and individual health and well-being can deteriorate. Most people start a job happy enough and determined to do a good job – if they are lucky, they have found a job which suits their skills and values. They may be eager, hopeful and willing to be engaged. So when and why do they become disenchanted and demotivated? In this new book, Adrian Furnham and Luke Treglown look at several theories into job satisfaction and workplace motivation. They explore how much of a motivator money really is, and which personality profiles are more likely to lead to a disruptive, disenchanted employee. Disenchantment discusses the related and identifiable behaviours that very clearly lead to disenchantment, and how individuals and organisations can work to prevent this and boost motivation and engagement in a way that is practicable and sustainable. Keeping employees motivated takes more than just ensuring they're not unhappy, and Disenchantment outlines some of the ways that organisations can manage this.

Lack of employee engagement is a major issue facing businesses today--one that, while not always the result of mismanagement, is within a leader’s control. According to a study by the prestigious Hay Group, depending on the industry, between one-third and one-half of employees report work conditions that keep them from being as productive as they could be. The Enemy of Engagement gives managers powerful new insights and research-based tools for ensuring their teams are both willing and able to make maximum efforts. Packed with the Hay Group’s latest research findings, this invaluable resource helps leaders enable their employees to radically improve their productivity and, ultimately, experience unapparelled success. You’ll learn how to uncover the hidden impediments to performance--including excessive procedures, lack of resources, and overly narrow roles--and the proven solutions for eliminating them.Don’t allow organizational obstacles to prevent dedicated workers from achieving their peak potential. By discovering what you can do to equip and elevate your employees, you’ll unleash the full potential of your team.

Managing under-performing employees are a manager's greatest challenge. In Fix Them or Fire Them author Steven Shaer provides actionable strategies, theories and practical advice on how to improve employee performance and, when necessary, how to terminate employees.

What really sets the best managers above the rest? It’s their power to build a cadre of employees who have great inner work lives—consistently positive emotions; strong motivation; and favorable perceptions of the organization, their work, and their colleagues. The worst managers undermine inner work life, often unwittingly. As Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer explain in The Progress Principle, seemingly mundane workday events can make or break employees’ inner work lives. But it’s forward momentum in meaningful work—progress—that creates the best inner work lives. Through rigorous analysis of nearly 12,000 diary entries provided by 238 employees in 7 companies, the authors explain how managers can foster progress and enhance inner work life every day. The book shows how to remove obstacles to progress, including meaningless tasks and toxic relationships. It also explains how to activate two forces that enable progress: (1) catalysts—events that directly facilitate project work, such as clear goals and autonomy—and (2) nourishers—interpersonal events that uplift workers, including encouragement and demonstrations of respect and collegiality. Brimming with honest examples from the companies studied, The Progress Principle equips aspiring and seasoned leaders alike with the insights they need to maximize their people’s performance.

An eye-opening, groundbreaking tour of the purpose of work in our lives, showing how work operates in our culture and how you can find your own path to happiness in the workplace. Why do we work? The question seems so simple. But Professor Barry Schwartz proves that the answer is surprising, complex, and urgent. We’ve long been taught that the reason we work is primarily for a paycheck. In fact, we’ve shaped much of the infrastructure of our society to accommodate this belief. Then why are so many people dissatisfied with their work, despite healthy compensation? And why do so many people find immense fulfillment and satisfaction through “menial” jobs? Schwartz explores why so many believe that the goal for working should be to earn money, how we arrived to believe that paying workers more leads to better work, and why this has made our society confused, unhappy, and has established a dangerously misguided system. Through fascinating studies and compelling anecdotes, this book dispels this myth. Schwartz takes us through hospitals and hair salons, auto plants and boardrooms, showing workers in all walks of life, showcasing the trends and patterns that lead to happiness in the workplace. Ultimately, Schwartz proves that the root of what drives us to do good work can rarely be incentivized, and that the cause of bad work is often an attempt to do just that. How did we get to this tangled place? How do we change the way we work? With great insight and wisdom, Schwartz shows us how to take our first steps toward understanding, and empowering us all to find great work.