The purpose of preparing this essay is to find out the importance of retaining best employees that is most essential for organizational development. This essay also investigates how managers can use the integrated model of motivation to enhance productivity and human resource maintenance. The essay starts with a brief introduction about employees, retaining best employees and the importance of retaining best employee for organizational development. Then it talks about how can a manager retains the best employees that is the most important factor for an organization. It also brings up the integrated model of motivation, the procedure to motivate the employees for enhancing productivity and human resource maintenance. Considering these ideas, gradually this essay comes to the conclusion and evaluates some motivation factors that are very much needed for development of organization.

Employee is the most important element in an organization. An employee is any person hired by an employer to do a specific "job". In most modern economies the term ‘employee’ refers to a specific defined relationship between an individual and a corporation, which differs from those of customer, or client. They work hard and put their all effort, intension, knowledge for the company to produce a good number of outputs. The outputs can be in terms of money that is called profit, can be in terms of product or can be in management sector that is needed for the survival of the company. The word ‘best’ indicates the best output of an employee that he can produce in every sector for the organization.

Now the issue automatically comes forward that who are the best and precious employees and why should manager retain them. The most precious and valuable and talented employee for the company are those who can easily come up with a great number of ideas and techniques, who are more knowledgeable and experienced compare others. The word ‘best’ means the things that have great value, like talent. In Human Resource Management, best employee indicates those employees who are able to make a great value for the company. When an employee put his all effort, experience, knowledge, technologies & use them effectively with his mental strength then he is called best employee. More best and precious employee means more effective organization, more valued organization. To make an employee precious or best, he need to achieve proper empowerment, have job efficacy, experience, knowledge, power of control, practical experience, self-motivated, more dependable etc. It is very important to make sure that every organization has some specialized, effective, talented and precious employee. These effective employees are the best treasures of an organization.

According to Chairman and CEO, Hal F. Rosenbluth, and Consultant, Diane McFerrin Peters, of Rosenbluth International, the third-largest travel management company in the world, “Most of us choose our spouse with care and rear our children with nurturing and compassionate attention. Yet, we tend to select the people who will join our company on the basis of an interview or two, and once they have joined, they often find that they must fend for themselves. This contrast illustrates the disparity between the environments of family and work. But, given the amount of time we must spend at work, wouldn’t we all be happier if we took as much care at the office as at home to create a supportive environment? Wouldn’t we also be far more successful?”

Hiring good employees is not only important to business, it’s most essential. Employees are the heart and soul of a business; they are the mechanism that makes a business run; they are the breath of life that enables a business to be something more than an idea. In support of this view, John Baldoni, a communications consultant based in Ann Arbor, Mich., and author of Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders (McGraw- Hill Trade) says, "Retaining talent is essential to the health of every enterprise". (Retaining Top Talent, 2008). A business cannot run unless someone is doing the work. Any intelligent business owner always looks for good employees. Bad employees not only affect an employer by driving down sales, costing the company unwanted expenses due to negligence or simple lack of motivation, etc, but they affect the customer as well. Of course, once a customer has experienced a bad employee, it automatically affects the employer in obvious ways. Whatever the case, it is a fact that sales get driven down and production slowed for a reason. That reason could very well be because of the customer’s lack of satisfaction with whatever service he or she had received and that lack of satisfaction stems from bad employees.

The recipe of success for any knowledge economy organization hinges on its ability to leverage human capital, so as to deliver business results. Employee development and retention plays a pivotal role in their growth. Hence, managing talent in the LPG era, where cutting edge being provided by HR, has assumed added importance. It is slowly drawing on the minds of HR professional that it is easier to get good people but it is very difficult to retain them. What is their need? In support of this view, Dr. Tom Massey, president of Pacesetters Consulting Group in Norman, Okla., and author of The ABC's of Effective Leadership: Managing from the Heart (Robert D. Reed Publishers) says, “Valued employees want career growth and personal development opportunities."

The integrated model (Wood et al, 2004, p. 160) discussed the idea about Content theories and the process theories that includes Maslow’s Hierarchy Needs (Boone & Kurtz), Alderfer’s ERG, McClelland’s acquired needs, Herzberg’s two-factor, Equity, Vroom’s Expectancy that help an manager to motivate the employees. Each of the theories presented is potentially useful for the manager. Although the equity and expectancy theories have some special strength. When employees examine the relationship between their outcomes (pay, recognition, promotion) from a job and their inputs (knowledge, skills, education, experiences) that is called equity theory. After comparing if he thinks that everything is ok then he is becoming motivated. In expectancy theory work motivation is determined by individual beliefs about effort – performance relationships and the desirabilities of various work outcomes from different performance levels where, Motivation (M) = expectancy (E) x instrumentality (I) x valence (V). In order to success with this theory at first a manager need to understand his/r employee. Now these two theory weighted a lot for the motivation of the employee and the development of the organization.

What are other challenges (HRPS Workshop Report by Peter Karp, President-Elect, HRPS) that HR professionals or top management face in managing talent and motivating them except the integrated model of motivation. As discussed by Myron Curry, (March 14, 2008), there have some issues that help a manager to retain the valued employee by motivating them. At first if the foundation of the relationship has been based on misrepresentation of the truth then the new recruitee feels cheated, and thus sowing the seeds of self-centeredness. That’s why the first thing we have to consider is to one-on-one relationships. In support of this view, Herman says, "The single most important factor in retaining valued employees is the relationship between the employee and the employee's immediate supervisor. This factor applies at all levels of the organization." (Retaining Top Talent)

The next challenge for both HR and the employee is communication that is very important, not only in day to day business, but in retention and motivation as well. People need to feel as though they have a grasp on what is going on within the company. They want to know where the company is going and how they will be part of that process. They need to feel they are involved in the company. Being part of any planning processes, being able to contribute ideas for the company, and essentially being heard is all part of communication. Susan Eckert, principal of Advance Career and Professional Development in Brightwaters, N.Y., claimed, "Feedback should be regular and timely, employees want to know where they stand, be recognized for what they do well, and supported in their development." (Retaining Top Talent)

The next challenge is to ensure that there is clarity in the communication of roles and responsibilities. However, quite often roles are defined but not the performance parameters. Without proper techniques and clearly defined parameters, measuring performance will remain subjective, often based on likes and dislikes of the seniors measuring the performance.

Culture and working environment is somewhat like "the operating system" of the organization. It drives the organization and its actions. It guides how employees think, act and feel. It is dynamic and fluid, and it is never static. Some aspects of culture are visible and tangible and others are intangible and unconscious. Some of the most visible expressions include the architecture and décor, the clothing people wear, the organizational processes and structures, and the rituals, symbols and celebrations. Perhaps most important is developing the right kind of working environment. "Employees stay where they feel recognized, valued, and accepted, build the right environment, and people will stay."- says McKeown. (Retaining top talent)

Flexible work arrangements are alternate arrangements or schedules from the traditional working day and week. Employees may choose a different work schedule to meet personal or family needs that can highly motivate him/herself. Alternatively, employers may initiate various schedules to meet their customer needs.

Finally, having ill-structured compensation packets. For instance, an organization matching the new recruits last drawn salary in the previous organization which results in two colleagues in the same grade, performing similar job drawing widly, disproportionate salaries. "Competitive compensation is a given," Raldoni says. (Retaining top talent)

Comapany’s view to the employee also plays a vital role. Cisco systems run a program called “Make Friends @ Cisco” where employee candidates interact with people who work in positions that are of interest to them discussed in Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (2004). Their message is- “Employees look for opportunities for career development, responsibility, and professional satisfaction. Good people like to work for companies with reputations for honor and competence.” (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, 2004)

Finally, let the employee provide an opportunity to let them do it within your company, instead of having to go outside the company. More than likely, if they can’t do it in the company, they will venture outside to a place that they can. Take advantage of the multiple skills your people can learn within the company. This not only helps your company out, it gives the employee a feeling of more purpose and he or she will enjoy not having to go far to expand their skills. Get to know what people want, when they first enter the organization and periodically throughout their tenure. People’s motives and desires change. The good employer is the one that can keep up with those changes. Offer feedback methods and make sure you act on the results by using integrated models of motivation. Above all these ideas content and process theories, flexible work arrangement, good communication, attractive organizational culture and working environment, good relation between employees helps a manager to retaining best and valued employees for organizational development. So that he can motivate them to enhance productivity and human resource maintenance.


References

Boone & Kurtz, Contemporary Business, 11th edition, page 312.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. “It’s 2008: Do You Know Where Your Talent Is?” (2004) [Online, retrieved on 29th march, 2008]

Dr. A Jagan Mohan Reddy, March 14, 2008, ‘How to retain your Talented employees’ [Posted on May 29, 2006]

Dr. Tom Massey, president of Pacesetters Consulting Group in Norman, Okla., The ABC's of Effective Leadership: Managing from the Heart, Robert D. Reed Publishers.

Harvard Business Review on Finding and Keeping the Best People. Harvard Business School Press, 2001

HRPS Workshop: Report by Peter Karp, President-Elect, HRPS [Online, retrieved on 29th march, 2008]

Myron Curry, March 14, 2008, ‘Hiring and Retaining Good Employees’
[Posted on March 14, 2008 by duke lola]

Retaining Top Talent | Office Solutions | Find articles at Bnet.com (2008) [Online, retrieved on 29th march, 2008]

Retaining Top Talent, Susan Eckert, principal of Advance Career and Professional Development in Brightwaters, N.Y., [Online, retrieved on 29th march, 2008]

Wood, Chapman, Fromholtz, Morrison, Wallace, Zeffane, Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Organisational Behaviour, A Global Perspective, 3rd edition, 2004, page 160.