Staffing Motivational Quotes

In many ways, the U.S. bureaucracy has moved away from the Weberian ideal of an energetic and efficient organization staffed by people chosen for their ability and technical knowledge. The system as a whole is less merit-based: rather than coming from top schools, 45 percent of recent new hires to the federal service are veterans, as mandated by Congress. And a number of surveys of the federal work force paint a depressing picture. According to the scholar Paul Light, “Federal employees appear to be more motivated by compensation than mission, ensnared in careers that cannot compete with business and nonprofits, troubled by the lack of resources to do their jobs, dissatisfied with the rewards for a job well done and the lack of consequences for a job done poorly, and unwilling to trust their own organizations.

Tyson experimented with the model of owning farms outright and staffing them with well-trained workers. This seemed like a natural fit for Tyson, because it left the farm within the company’s control. But the limitations showed up quickly. It was hard to motivate hired hands to do the work, which involved hauling loads of dead chickens out of a barn where the ammonia fumes were so strong they burned the eyes. Hired hands just didn’t raise the best birds, no matter how much you paid them or what kind of incentives you provided. They didn’t have skin in the game. Owning farms also had another downside: Chicken houses were a terrible investment of the company’s money. The buildings served only one purpose, and they lost their value quickly as they wore out. A quick set of calculations revealed that Tyson Feed and Hatchery would never have the kind of capital it would need to buy all the land and build all the houses required to supply itself with chickens. To counter these problems, Tyson settled on the model of using independent contract farmers. A farmer who owned his chicken houses was deeply motivated to care for the birds. He had a mortgage and debt from the chicken houses hanging over his head. It made a man get up early in the morning, and it kept him going until late at night.

Loyal employees are the essential backbone of a vision driven business.