In any organization, employees play a crucial role in determining the success or failure of the company. As a result, it is essential for companies to identify the different types of employees and understand their behavior to create an efficient and effective work environment. In this blog post, we will discuss the three types of employees and how companies can handle them.
1. Company's interest
Prioritizes company's interest first. These employees are highly motivated and committed to the success of the company. They understand the importance of creating redundancy for themselves and cross-skilling others in the team. By automating most of their work, they reduce dependency and help the organization save resources. These employees focus on the bigger picture and prioritize the company's goals over their personal interests. They are reliable, proactive, and always look for ways to improve processes. This thereotically should benefit his upward movement since whatever that he is responbile for, has been brought to such s state and stage that it can be taken care of without him and thus he can move on or up to something else.
2. Manager's interest
Prioritizes manager's interest first. Here is manager does not necessarily mean manager or management, it is always the immediate person in heirarchy of reporting or decision making. Employees who work for their manager prioritize pleasing their superiors over the company's success. They tend to be complacent and avoid suggesting improvements or corrections, even if it negatively affects the company. These employees are not proactive, and they are not interested in acquiring new skills or knowledge. They tend to be average workers, and their performance is dependent on the management's approval. Such employees often lack the motivation to go beyond their job description, which results in mediocre output. Advantage here being, managers too are humans and thus yes men do the leg up every now and then.
3. Self interest
prioritizes self interest. Employees who work for themselves prioritize their personal goals over the company's success. They create dependency on themselves, which means that if they are not there, most of the things will be on halt or put on hold. These employees tend to be less collaborative, and they do not share knowledge or skills with other team members. They choose projects or tools that increase their dependency and keep the number of resources needed high.Now, let's discuss how companies can handle these three types of employees.For employees who work for the company, companies need to ensure that they are motivated and engaged. They need to be given opportunities to learn new skills and take on new challenges. Companies should also recognize and reward their efforts to create redundancy and reduce dependency. By doing so, companies can retain these employees and build a strong and committed workforce. As long as there is a dependency on him, he will be the gatekeeper and gets to decide who passes in or out of his domain, whether it is the domain or technology that he is working on or controls. This will not only ensure his job security but also any action by management. Management would often sacrifice type 1 and type 2 employees to satisfy this kind of employees else the business won't run or may stop.
For employees who work for their manager, companies need to encourage them to think beyond their job description. They need to be given opportunities to provide feedback and suggestions, which can help improve processes and ultimately benefit the company. Companies should also encourage these employees to acquire new skills and knowledge. This can help them become more proactive and engaged, which can benefit the company in the long run.For employees who work for themselves, companies need to create a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing. They need to encourage these employees to work with others and share their skills and knowledge. Companies should also identify areas where these employees can reduce dependency and create redundancy. By doing so, companies can reduce the risk of critical knowledge loss and ensure that operations continue even when these employees are not available.
When employees of type 1 feel ignored or taken for granted, they drop down to type 2 or 3. It ultimately depends on how rewarded they are in regards to their efforts, contributions and how secure they feel about their job.
Imagine a business which charges for support for its products but their documentation is so good that you do not need support to set it up and their product is so good that it rarely crashes or has problems and if it is also opensource, people can just do a PR against their git repo for hotfix and bugfix, then they will greatness of the product will drive them out of business. Sure, there will always be bugs, new features to add etc., SUSE, Rehdat all operate on such model and they have not gone out of business. Microsoft products, apple products on the other hand are an example of the opposite business model. Their profit it directly proportional to minimal transparency (of code or product design), maximum dependency and any support you might need for fix, repair or upgrade. Businesses do the type 3 modeling against their customers all the time.
COMA Question!
So how do you know who is who? Simple!. Ask yourself this question. If X is in coma for a month, what will be the impact on the show? Low(Type 1 employee), Medium(Type 2 employee), High(Type 3 employee).
Redundancy loop!
Your redundancy loop should try to be as big as the size of the team. A has created redundancy in B, B has created redundancy in A, that makes it the smalles loop which is wrong. It should be A's redundancy is B, B's redundancy is C, C's redundancy is A, if you have ABC members in your team.
Employees play a crucial role in the success of any organization. By understanding the behavior of different types of employees, companies can create an efficient and effective work environment. Companies need to ensure that their employees are motivated, engaged, and focused on the company's success. By doing so, they can build a strong and committed workforce that can help them achieve their goals.
