Achieving the Organizational Objectives - Essay Example

For a company to be successful in achieving the company’s goals and objectives through the incentive plans, it should ensure that the incentives related directly to the exact actions that are crucial in the attainment of the objectives. Basing incentives on traditional plans such as promotion may not necessarily result in a meeting of the company’s objectives. The incentives can be either in the form of momentary or non-momentary rewards (Bohlander, 2010). Monetary rewards include salary increments and bonuses, while non-monetary include recognition and promotion.

How incentives plans help or do not help in achieving the organizational objectives Research has shown that incentives based on performance result in immense success in, attainment of the company goals. Such an incentive plan harmonizes the company’s preferences with the individual employees’ preferences. In hiring new worker, this kind of plan can be particularly useful in screening out only the best employees who are merited to do a certain job. It acts as a motivator pushing the worker to increase their job input.

Another benefit accrued to performance-based incentives is that workers tend to give better results in situations where their performance is assessed individually compared to team assessment (Bohlander 2010). Workers tend to be loyal to such companies and show a desire to work in such firms or longer period. A firm that uses performance-based incentives attracts competent workers who are not afraid of being put under the spotlight. An incentive plan may fail to fulfill its intended objective if the employees are not made to understand the intention of the incentive.

They should honestly communicate the objectives of the plan. This will integrate the employees in the plan, by making clear communication. The rewards obtained from its implementation should exceed the cost. The most effective incentive plan is self-sustaining. An incentive plan may fail depending on the type of incentive used. Not all incentives work for everyone. The management should settle for an incentive plan that favors the majority of the workers (Caruth & Handlogten 2001). Failure to sufficiently differentiate between high and low performance may result in the incentive plan not achieving its purpose.

For instance, if the incentive given to the higher performers has a minimal difference to the one given to the average performer, the high performing workers may feel that the company does not recognize their effort. This would result in the workers being demoralized and demotivated: the opposite of what the company intended to achieve by coming up with the plan. The incentive should measure up to the effort the workers put in the job. The employees who show less effort should receive less reward compared to the higher performers.

Another reason why an incentive plan may fail is if it is inflexible. For it to be fruitful, it should first be introduced on a trial base targeting a small group. This is to ensure it is effective and correcting the flaws that it may have before it is implemented. The plan should be constantly modified to meet the needs that may arise (Caruth & Handlogten 2001). The timing may also ensure the success or failure of the plan. For it to be successful, the timing of the issuing of the reward should be tied to the qualifying event.

The basic salary should be harmonized with inflation as well as to the increase in responsibilities.