answer the discussion question and then make one comment to friend who answer the discussion question

Discussion Question

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A large organization hires you as a consultant to identify ways to enhance employee motivation. The company explains that their organization has employees in a wide range of job types from factory assembly line workers doing routine physical tasks to design engineers doing complex, cognitive work. They also employ people in roles such as business-to-business sales, customer care, IT, HR, marketing, accounting, finance, and administration.

Apply what you learned in Chapter 5 about Job Design, along with the research discussed in the videos for Chapter 5 by Dan Ariely and Dan Pink. Given these diverse jobs and needs, what methods for motivating employees would you recommend to upper management? If you customize motivation strategies for each group of employees, how would you maintain feelings of fairness among employees in different job types? How do your recommendations compare to employee motivational strategies you have experienced in the real world?

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Friend Reply

Jessica

Inorder to increase motivation, I believe it would first be beneficial todetermine what this companies greatest motivators are. This could beachieved by going to each department and talking to people about whatthey need, like, and dislike of their job, department, and company as awhole. If a majority of people say they would like paid sick time,vacation days, longer breaks, bonuses, promotions, a variety in dailytasks, casual Fridays, really the possible responses are endless,because everyone is motivated by different things, this increasesoutcome valences by “individualizing rewards by allowing employees tochoose the rewards of greatest value to them” (McShane, Von Glinow,2019, p.115). I think even though there would be a variety of differentresponses, some trends would still be apparent. These trends could thenbe used to figure out what drives a large portion of employees. Keepingin mind that these motivators should make sure that employees are ableto equally fulfill each of the drives mentioned in the four-drive theory(drive to acquire, bond, comprehend, defend) especially since everyoneshares the same four drives. I think it also helps to keep in mind thatmotivators don’t always have to be something complex, sometimes it’ssomething that can easily be achieved. The video by Dan Ariely showedthat something as simple as recognizing someone’s work could give theirwork more meaning and encourage them to do more work (in his experimentsheets of paper). Dan also saw that when that recognition wasn’t given,their motivation decreased substantially (about half the motivation).Both of Dan’s experiments showed that, “Adding motivation isn’tdifficult, but eliminating motivation is EASY” which is also somethingthat should be taken into account. I think that determining motivationby group would be nearly impossible to keep fair especially since thetasks of each job are different. Unlike the video where Dan Pink’sexperiment shows that unfairness is observed after the monkeys completethe same task yet get different rewards. Motivators should directlycorrespond to reward the tasks needed to complete the job. Job design isimportant in determining the tasks associated with a specific job, andtherefore the motivators needed for that job. In my experience timeoff/getting to leave early was the best motivator for my team. Apredetermined amount of work needed to be completed, but the time framewas irrelevant, you were also paid a predetermined amount. So as long asthe work was done, you could leave when it was finished. This alsoencourages employees to cut corners, so management was always there as a“check and balance” to ensure this didn’t happen. I enjoyed it becauseyou could get off early if you put in the extra effort, which is niceespecially on Fridays. I think the biggest motivator, no matter whatdepartment, position, etc. is recognition of effort. If you take thetime to tell someone what they are doing is valued and appreciated itwill make an impact, most likely increasing an employees intrinsicmotivation.

Jordan

Withany motivation technique, it is important to adjust the technique tofit the work that is being done. This is much like Dan Pink discussed inhis video: monetary rewards are only beneficial when used with tasksthat require no cognitive skills, so monetary rewards should be reservedfor assembly line workers. With the other jobs that require morecognitive skills, the rewards should be adjusted to be notmonetary-based, as monetary rewards have been demonstrated to negativelyimpact performance in the jobs requiring cognitive skills (according toDan Pink). This might include simple rewards such as longer lunchbreaks. Considering the video by Dan Ariely, motivation for thecognitive-intensive jobs can be as simple as mere recognition. Often,this is enough to motivate employees, which Ariely describes as the“meaningful condition,” or feeling that what you are doing matters andis worth your time.

To keep things fair and to ensure that no employees feel that therewards are not equal across the company, it can be as simple as whenemployees meet the criteria for earning a reward, they can take theirpick from all the rewards listed, so that they are rewarded in the waythat best suits them. This would allow management to select rewards itis comfortable with passing out while allowing employees the choice ofreward to remove any potential accusations of favoritism or unfairness.

In my own work history, I have not experienced many opportunities forlegitimate rewards such as the ones I discussed above. Often, thecompany would just be rewarded with a blanket reward, such as food, forsomething that was accomplished by the group. This is why I feel thatsetting individual criteria and allowing for employees to select from alist of personal rewards when the meet those criteria would be moremotivating than the standard pizza that is provided for simplycompleting what is expected of you.

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the book “M: Organizational Behavior. McShane & Von Glinow, 4th ed”

Chapter 5 Employee Motivation