AWWA ACE90046

In 1984, the San Antonio (Texas) City Water Board had a unique opportunity to introduce motivational programs in a setting that allowed comparative measurement of productivity changes. This paper looks at the employee work environment into which the programs were introduced, the motivational programs used, and the resulting changes in productivity. Distribution system workers were targeted. An important factor in the work environment was the catastrophic failure of plastic service lines. When not performing emergency repairs, the crews devoted their time to replacing the plastic pipe with copper. This situation allowed for comparative productivity studies. The motivational programs focused on three areas: goal setting, recognition, and morale. Before goals were set, crews lay a maximum of 130 services; after setting a one-week goal, that number jumped to 183 and later increased to 200. Recognition programs included a crew of the month competition based on safety, vehicle cleanliness, attendance, number of customer complaints, and productivity. To develop a group identity, hats and other novelty and clothing items bearing the company logo were purchased and sold to employees or used as awards. Food and iced drinks were used frequently as awards or morale builders. Productivity was tracked using data from work orders by category of work and service center. In laying pipe, productivity doubled.