AA man may well bring a horse to the water, but he cannot make him drink with­out he will.@ So wrote John Heywood many centuries ago, and the proverb is no less true as we near the year 2000.

     You can train a horse to do many things ­jump, race, charge into an opposing army, and pull heavy loads.  Sometimes, though, horses give their riders fits.  They kick, buck, go the wrong direction, lie down when you want them to stand, and, of course, drink only when it pleases them.

     Faced with obstinate horses, riders have thoughts like these:

            # "Why do I always get bad horses?"

            # "I've never met such an ungrateful horse."

            # "I love horses.  Why does this one hate me?"

            # "This horse just wants to embarrass me."

# "You just can't get a good horse any more."

Substitute the word employee for the word horse in each of the sentences above to discover how a lot of managers think about the people they su­pervise.  Notice, too, that these comments spring from the manager's point of view, not the worker's.  Managers don't often seem to care what goes on in the mind of the employee - and that's a big mistake.

     Given the state of our organizational life, managers need a better understanding of what motivates employees and keeps them happy and committed.   You need to find out just what motivates your employees and how to set up a program that insures that corporate goals mesh with employees' needs.

     You'll also need to allow employees some independence and a share of the decision-making power.  It can work miracles.  It's the employee-training equivalent of leaving clean, sparkling water with­in reach of the horse, then letting the horse de­cide when to drink.  While unsettling for some managers, giving such freedom to employees may solve a lot more problems than you knew you had.