Published Date: 30th Sep 2016

By: Dr. Anila Kazmi

We often come across a word quite loud in our day to day working “Recognition”, or it is depicting the same word, which could be in a different way or form, perhaps credit or appreciation; well is sounds so familiar. But when we approach to the act of performance, recognition at times is bowled out or I must say it is overlooked to the some extent.

The word Recognition itself holds a very certain and important aspect in our life. For instance when we look around it is nearly almost everywhere and there. It is the value of identification, acknowledgement, and existence, so leading to an utterly true concept, especially when it comes to behavioral consequences.
The word Recognition is a huge and broad one, and if we look into the same, the burden itself will require buying more time in order to debate upon the various influencing characteristics it holds.
The interest being highlighted in the momentum and according to a matter of interest, is asking our self that is recognition really a great motivator? When we talk about an employee or staff working in an organization; well in my view the answer is surely a Yes!

Employee or Staff recognition is an acknowledgement of a person’s or team’s actions, conduct, effort or any dealing that ropes the organization’s goals and values, and which has visibly been outside normal expectations.

To be effective at work, the Management of an organization needs to understand the psychology of graciously approving others for their good work, finding positive ways and methods to apply the principles of employee recognition and to encourage others to initiate it in their working relationships.
Appreciation is an essential human requirement. Employees react confidently, when expressions of gratitude are made through recognition of their good work because it confirms their work is valued. Correctly measured and a well-respected employee’s job performance will definitely reflect on job satisfaction, following a rise in productivity, thus motivation is hooked in, having a marked impact on further improvement of performance.

When we talk about the cost for having recognition system in an organization, it is quite petite while on the other hand, the benefits are no doubt hefty, but yes when implemented successfully in accordance to the effectiveness.

Here, the main concern or rather should say a matter to ponder, is that at times the management just pass-by the word recognition, and even if it is being tapped, the response is not that kind of amazingly charming. And eventually the turn out of performance slowly moves to the other side, as the employee loses motivation and even morale elements for enhancements.

Surveys and researches have proven that staff recognition brings the benefit of instant and influential reinforcement of preferred behavior leading to sets an example to other employees.
A simple and honest gesture like thank you to an employee’s true contribution can become responsible for a morale boosting drive. This is how we make important possessions of recognition blend into having a perfect function system. The list of benefits of having such a system can go a way long, but highlighting few significant ones are; increased individual efficiency, thus pointing to the act of recognizing desired behavior which increases the repetition of the desired behavior, and therefore productivity. This is classic behavioral psychology. The armored deeds and behaviour pattern of a well recognized employee will support the organization’s mission and key performance display, few being:

* Having more employee satisfaction and fulfillment of work – leading to more time spent focusing on the job and less time of complaining or being unreasonable.
* Higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers, either internal or external.
* Enhanced team working spirit.
* Retention of quality employees increases – lower employee turnover.
* Better safety records and fewer on the job mishaps.
* Lower unenthusiastic or negative effects such as absenteeism and stress, boredom etc.

So, if the word Recognition itself is given its due esteem and the its value is measured the way it should actually be and understood, then we can hopefully see better outcomes in the working scenarios and excellence in changing not only the work environment but having properly matched behavioral attributes, better mutual understandings, lesser conflicts and above all adding a brighter appeal in order to have a peaceful ambiance at work.

( The writer is Group Head, Department of Quality Assurance Dr. Ziauddin Hospitals).

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