Author Question: What is open-book management? How is it effective in motivating appropriate employee behavior? ... (Read 87 times)

lilldybug07 · **on:** Jul 6, 2018

What is open-book management? How is it effective in motivating appropriate employee behavior?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

The economic recession of the last few years saw employees at the receiving end of job insecurity, layoffs, tight budgets, minimal or no pay raises, benefit cuts, no bonuses, and long hours doing the work of those who had been laid off.

Assuming that you were a manager during these difficult times, how would you motivate your employees?
What will be an ideal response?

yahahah24021 · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 6, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Answer: Many organizations of various sizes involve their employees in workplace decisions by opening up the financial statements (the books). They share that information so that employees will be motivated to make better decisions about their work and better able to understand the implications of what they do, how they do it, and the ultimate impact on the bottom line. This approach is called open-book management. The goal of open-book management is to get employees to think like an owner by seeing the impact their decisions have on financial results. Since many employees don't have the knowledge or background to understand the financials, they have to be taught how to read and understand the organization's financial statements. Once employees have this knowledge, however, managers need to regularly share the numbers with them. By sharing this information, employees begin to see the link between their efforts, level of performance, and operational results.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: In tough economic circumstances like the last recession, managers must be creative in keeping their employees' efforts energized, directed, and sustained toward achieving goals. They should look at ways to motivate employees that didn't involve money or that were relatively inexpensive. They can rely on actions such as holding meetings with employees to keep the lines of communication open and to get their input on issues; establishing a common goal, such as maintaining excellent customer service, to keep everyone focused; creating a community feel so employees could see that managers cared about them and their work; and giving employees opportunities to continue to learn and grow. And, of course, an encouraging word always goes a long way.