Motivation as an Important Element for the Performance of an Organization - Case Study Example

The performance of employees is often found to be derailed by the threat of losing a job, but sometimes it may also prove as a driving force, for the employee to work hard and perform well for survival.  The status of the company mainly deals with its health, whether it has sufficient sources to balance the inputs and outputs, and does the company has enough revenue generation capacity to pay all the employees.

Mistrust is another problem that was found prevalent among the employees of the company. The employees were often found complaining of problems with the pay bills and distribution of bonuses. They raised the issue of biasedness to be present among the ranks within the organization. The problem was the transference. Employees were not aware of the proceedings that were carried out behind the scene, and at the end of every month, they found some discrepancy between what they expected to earn, and what they had actually earned. Another problem that was found closely associated with the level of mistrust among the employees was the absence of equality; rather the employees complained that there is an unequal distribution of bonuses.

Solution

Explicit rewards are those gains that can be measured. They are based on simple mathematics principles, where an individual is paid according to his or her performance. Further, a company can use an explicit reward scheme to motivate its employees, by setting clear bonuses and defining the tasks. It is often observed that managers are too occupied by traditional notions like presence and absence, they pay people for their regularity, but regularity is not always equal to productivity. The purpose of paying bonuses for regularity is to ensure the presence of individuals at the job site and provide maximum output. However, employees may get regular but their productivity is found to be unsatisfactory.

Giving autonomy to the employees can work in two ways it can work as a reward as well as a motivator for better performance. It allows the employee to enjoy a certain degree of freedom within their workplace. Further, it induces an individual to make his or her own decisions, and it also makes them under the idea of capitalizing on the opportunities that come their way.

Analysis of Maslow’s theory of hierarchal needs suggests that an employee tends to give his maximum performance when he or she is able to satiate their needs properly. Among all the tangible needs of employees, the need of tying a bond with the employing agency is very important, and it plays a crucial role in the development and performance of an employee.

Alternative

The Engstrom Plant could employ some of the lessons from the industrial psychology textbook into practice. The company should develop a relationship with its employees that is not limited to any particular gain, rather, the employees must be made to realize that they belong to this company. In this way, the employees are expected to feel secure about their job at the company, and they will also feel a sense of responsibility towards the company, and henceforth, they are expected to perform well.