Employees Are Motivated By Being Part of a Team

Motivation is more likely when employees believe that the company is a good place to work and that they are a fundamental part of a team.

Something people notice when visiting your company whether in the office or on a job is whether or not the employees seem to function as a team. You can become much more successful if you encourage the various departments within the company to work together. If each member of the team believes that his contribution is important to the others he will be motivated to increase his performance. This concept satisfies a basic human need - the need to feel important and needed and to be part of something larger than just one’s self.

How can you help foster this teamwork?

One of the most common team breakdowns in the construction industry is between the accounting departments and the production department. Many offices use two completely separate systems and have very little (or very poor) communication between these groups. The accounting department has to beg and plead for information, such as project budgets and approval of payable invoices. The project management department resents the nagging and distrusts the reports they do get because of errors.

You can help solve this problem by using an integrated software system. The key lies in providing each group with what they want and need from the other group.

Purchase orders, subcontracts and change orders can bridge the gap between departments and make teamwork so much easier. By learning how to effectively create budgets directly from the estimating software, you have eliminated the "begging" that the accounting department previously had to do for budgets. And, with properly prepared purchase orders and subcontracts, the accounting department no longer has to wait forever for invoices to be coded, only to have a big "rush" on entry when they finally get the invoices back. The invoices are effectively "pre-coded" when the purchase orders and subcontracts are issued.

From the project manager's point of view, reports can be trusted more because the invoices are pre-coded so there is minimal chance for clerical error.

Everyone's job is easier and more pleasant and now the departments who were formerly at odds with each other can work together as a team. It won't take long for the increased productivity in both of these departments to begin to show on the bottom line.