Chester. I . Bernard (1886-1961)

Chester. I . Bernard
He was the president of the new jersey bell telephone company. He saw the organization as a social system and also he felt that managements primary functions were:

1. The formulation of objectives
2. The acquisition of resources to meet the objectives.
But he stressed the importance of communication in the achievement of objectives or goals . He believed that an enterprise can only operate efficiently and  survive when the aims or goals and needs of its individual workers are kept in balance. Thus, people form informal groups like clubs and cliques within a formal organization in order to meet their personal goals. To ensure its survival, a firm must have consideration for the informal organization formed within it. This is a contribution to the management thought that anticipated the human relation theories.


The basic factors that motivate:
1. Good working conditions
2. Recognition in status
3. Opportunity for personal growth
4. Money and other financial rewards
5. More responsibility and power
6. Participation in planning
7. Independence of action
8. Competition
9. Challenging work
10. Security



Measurement of motivation.
The techniques are:

1) Attitude survey
- Conducted through interview or questionnaires in which scores or marks are used to give quantitative values to attitudes and motivation.


2) Labour turnover
- It is a measure of the rate at which people leave an organization. The measurement takes the forn of :
No of people leaving in a period                      X     100
Average number of employees in a period


When labour turnover becomes excessive, it might be an indication that employees are dissatisfied and frustrated and this may reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization.

The cost of labour turnover may be high in terms of:
a) selection and recruitment expenses on new employees.
b) Training and learning course for new employees
c) Loss of investment in the departed staff.

To obtain specific reasons for labour turnover, the leaving staff should be given exist interviews or asked to complete questionnaires.



3) Absenteeism:
This is also an indication that employees motivation is poor. Absenteeism is costly because it reduces output and disrupts the work of employees. Specific questions should be asked in order to know the reasons for high rates of absenteeism.


4) No of stoppage due to industrial dispute:
This is also a measure of motivation because the higher the number of stoppages, the lower the motivation of the work force.


5) The no of accidents:
This is another indicator of the lack of motivation because most accidents are caused by sheer carelessness or wilful display of aggression against the management and the company.