DB 5

Chapter 5

Respond to 3 other student posts. Right now, one 1 has posted. Will update the

document when more have been added.

Student Post #2 (Smarter Goals)

SMARTER goals are just as it sounds…. smarter. Why set goals that are not smart? The book talks about

goal setting is the process of motivating employee’s and clarifying their role perceptions by establishing

performance objective. This definition is all good, but to me it really is not helpful. It does not help me

understand truly how to set proper goals. The definition of SMARTER goals is much more well

defined. Setting SMARTER goals is broken down by setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant,

time-framed, exciting, and reviewed goals. The first S for specific is very important because if the goal is

not well defined and clear then how can one expect and employee to be able to meet a

goal? Measurable goals are a must because if an employee can meet a set goal, but as a manager you

cannot measure the actions that took place then how can you ensure the goal happened? Achievable is

also very important because you cannot expect someone to reach a goal that is never achievable. The

employee will give up long before ever getting close to achieving an unachievable goal! Relevant and

time-framed are very important as well as the goal needs to make sense and be able to be completed

within a specific time-frame. Something going on forever will not be able to keep one’s attention and

hard work. This leads into the next objective for exciting, you must be able to keep one’s attention and

have them engaged in what they are trying to accomplish. The final objective is reviewable. The goal

must be able to be reviewable and the employee must be able to receive feedback to understand how

they did with the set goal.

Everyone should be able to meet a goal when it is set by the SMARTER objective from the young kids to

a corporate setting. My 3 boys need to be able to meet goals that I set and understand my full

expectations. If I do not set specific goals, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-framed, exciting, or

also reviewed goals then how should I expect them to be able to do as I say? If I tell them to do

something specific; however, I leave out key components like exactly when I was expecting the goal to

be completed by and yet I fault them for not getting it done how can I get frustrated with them? It is my

fault for not being clear with my full expectations. It’s the same thing if a teacher gives us an

assignment, but does not give us the deadline when it is due then why should we be penalized when it is

not turned in on-time? This is why SMARTER goals are very important for all from those setting them to

those making sure to achieve them.

Student Post #3 (Job Design/Specialization)

One thing that stands out to me in this chapter is job design and job specialization. My family owns a

business, where I have been working for the past 7 years. Job design is the tasks that we complete daily

or during certain shifts. While, job specialization is something that is not huge for the business, but can

be very important when it comes to big events in our downtown.

For job design, there are normal daily task that are expected of the employees to complete, while

different shifts may be assigned different tasks to complete. For example, the person who works

Monday morning is in charge of putting the coffee and ice cream order together, for the next employee

to order on Tuesday morning. Job design for daily tasks include opening/closing the store, serving

customers, stocking shelves, cleaning, and restocking. During normal day to day hours, each employee is

expected to be specialized in all aspects on the business (beer, wine, coffee, ice cream...etc.). During the

day, you work by yourself, so you need to be able to understand how to do everything the business has

to offer. Each employee may have something they have a little bit more knowledge about or enjoy

doing, but it is important for us to be well rounded. It could hurt business if an employee is unable to

answer questions about beer or wine, because the customers will not fully be informed and have their

questions answered. Another thing that comes into play with job design, is different shifts make more

tips, so to motivate employees, we rotate the "money" shifts, that way we all get the chance to work

during that time. You are also able to be put on money shifts, if you are proficient at the job, this

motivates employees to want to learn and work hard.

During an event, such as July 4th, where we are constantly busy for 4 hours, job specialization does

become a factor. One of the employees may be quickest at serving beer, or moving the line along or

have a loud voice to communicate things to customers, so that becomes their job. While another

employee, is quicker at knowing all the coffee flavors and how to make them, so they will make coffees

the event. Throughout the years, we have learned that job specialization for big events works best,

because we are efficient at the jobs we are put at, we only have one or two task to juggle, and we

become proficient.

What does job design or job specialization look like at where you work? How do job design strategies

motivate you?